INTERDEPENDENCE AMONG LIVING ORGANISMS 1. A specific group of organisms that have the same characteristics is known as species. 2.

Organisms from the same species mate together to produce offsprings, for example the species of Home sapience. 3. Organisms of the same species that live and reproduce in a particular habitat will form a population. For example, in a pond habitat there are populations of fish, shrimps and water hyacinths. 4. A habitat is the place where on organism stays in its naturel state. 5. In a habitat, an organism can eat reproduce and get shelter. 6. Habitat of several organisms :

7. A community is formed when a few populations of different types of animals and plants live a habitat. An example of a community is the population of animals ( fish ) and plants ( weeds ) living together, interacting and influencing each other in a pond. 8. An ecosystem is formed when a community of living organisms in a habitat interacts with one another as well as with the non-living environment. 9. An ecosystem consist of the living or biotic components in the environment. 10. The biotic components in an ecosystem are plants, animals and microorganisms. 11. The non-living components of an ecosystem or abiotic components consist of water, gases, light, soil, temperature and rocks. 12. The eco-balance of the environment is closely related to the oxygen cycle, carbon dioxide cycle, nitrogen cycle and food web. 13. Human beings are part of the ecosystem because they depend on living things and non-living things in order to survive. If the ecosystem is interrupted, human lives will also be disturbed 14. A few elements in an ecosystem need to be maintained in order to keep the ecosystem balance : (a) The size of each population. (b) The composition of gases in air, water and soil

(c) The composition of mineral salts in the soil. 15. The biotic and abiotic components are interdependent with one another to create a balanced ecosystem which changes only slighly over time. Interaction in an environment 1. Living things interact with each other and with non-living things in order to survive. 2. The interaction between living things and non-living things lead to balance in an ecosystem. 3. The example of interaction between living things and non-living things is shown below.

(a) Aquatic plants obtain mineral salts from the soil in the pond. (b) Aquatic animals depend on aquatic plants to supply oxygen for the process of respiration. (c) Aquatic plants depend on aquatic animals to obtain carbon dioxide for photosyntesis. (d) Small fishes and tadpoles eat aquatic plants. (e) Big fishes eat small fishes. (f) Kingfisher eats fish. (g) Water lettuce, water hyacinth, lotus and land plants obtain sunlight for the process of photosyntesis.

4. Interaction between living things and non-living things is important as it maintains (a) balance in a environment ( the number and types of living thing within the environment remain the same ). (b) balance in the carbon and oxygen cycles ( oxygen and carbon dioxide content in atmosphere remain the same ). INTERACTION AMONG LIVING ORGANISMS (A) The various forms of interaction 1. Living things interact among themselves in order to obtain food and protection. 2. Interaction may involve animal and animal, plant and plant or animal and plant.

3. Interaction between living organisms in an ecosystem will : (a) Create equilibrium in the environment. (b) Control the size of a population in a community. 4. There are three types of interactions among organisms : (a) Predator-prey (b) Symbiosis that consits of commonsalism, mutualism and parasitism. (c) Competition. 5. Predator-prey relationship. (a) The animals that hunt other animals for food are called predators, while the hunted animals are preys. (b) The predators which are carnivores have powerful jaws, sharp and strong teeth, good stereoscopic vision, sharp claws or hard and strong beaks. (c) The preys have a wide field of monoscopic vision to detect predators or are able to camouflage with their surroundings in order to escape from the predators. (d) The examples are tigers (predators) and horses (preys), eagles (predators) and rabbit (preys). (e) Diagram 4.1 shows the predator-prey relationship. INTERACTION AMONG LIVING THINGS

Symbiosis 1. In symbiosis, different organism live together in a close relationship. 2. In symbiosis, one organism always benefits by receiving food, a place to stay and shelter. The other organism may benefit, be at a disadvantage or is not affected 3. There are three types of symbiotic relationship, i.e. commensalism. parasitism and mutualism. Commensalism 1. Commensalism is a relationship between two organisms. One organism bnefits from the other. Th second organism is not adversely affected by the relationship.

2. For example, the staghorn fern grows on a tree. This helps it easily obtain sunlight. The plant that it grows on is not adversely affected. 3. Examples of plants that live on trees to obtain sunlight are (a) the staghorn fern (b) the money plant (c) the pigeon orchid (d) the bird's nest fern 4. Examples of animals taht live on other animals to obtain food that fall out of the host's mouth, as well as for shelter and transport are (a) barnacles that live on the shells of crabs, cockles or snails (b) remora fish that live on a shark Parasitism 1. Parasitism is another type of interaction between two organism. Only one organism benefits. The other organism is negatively or adversely affected. 2. A parasite is the organism that lives on or inside the other organism. The host is the organism on which the parasite lives. 3. The host is negatively affected by this interaction. The parasite may even kill the host. 4. A parasite obtains food, shelter and transport from the host. 5. For example, a tick that lives on a host feeds on the host's blood. 6. Other examples are (a) stem borers and oil palm leaves (b) tree barnacles and trees (c) aphids and mustard plants Mutualism 1. Mutualism is an interaction betwee two different organisms that live together in which both organisms benefit. They obtain nutrition and shelter from each other.

2. For example, (a) sea anemone and hermit crab (i) The sea anemone has tentacles that can sting, and protects the hermit crab with them. (ii) The sea anemone obtains transport and food ( food bits that drop ) from the hermit crab. (b) ox peckers and buffaloes Ox peckers eat the ticks and leeches that feed on buffaloes.

(c) the Egyption Plover bird and crocodiles The Egyption Plover bird eats leeches as well as food particles stuck between the crocodile's teeth. (d) nitrogen-fixing bacteria and leguminous plants (i) Rhizobium bacteria live in the root nodules of leguminous plants. They convert the nitrogen in the air and change it to nitrates for the use of the plants. (ii) These bacteria obtain food and shelter from the leguminous plants. (e) green algae and fungus (i) The algae provide the fungus with food. (ii) The fungus protects the algae and release carbon dioxide for the algae to use during photosynthesis. (f) symbiotic bacteria and herbivorous animals (i) Symbiotic bacteria live in the digestive tract of herbivorous animals and help in the digestion of cellulose. (ii) The bacteria obtain food and shelter from the host. Competition 1. Competition occurs when organism compete for the same basic resources. 2. Plants compete to obtain water, sunlight, mineral salts and living space. 3. Animals compete to obtain water, food, living space and mates for reproduction. 4. Competition becomes more intense when basic resources are limted.

5. Stronger organisms are successful in controlling their terriroty. weaker and smaller organisms are driven out of the area. 6. For example, (a) flowering plants compete with weeds to obtain water and mineral salts. (b) lions in a pride compete for food. (c) plants in a tropical rainforest compete for basic needs. Taller trees obtain sunlight more easily. 7. Another example of competition occurs between Paramecium aurelia and Paramecium caudatum (a) Paramecium aurelia and Paramecium caudatum compete for food. (b) Paramecium aurelia succeeds.Biological control 1. Biological control is a method in which a predator, which is a natural enemy to a certain pest ( prey ), is used to control the population of that pest in an area. 2. Biological control is usually used in agriculture to control populations of pests without the use of pesticides. 3. The prey-predator interaction is applied in biological control. 4. Biological control has many advantages as compared to using pesticides. Biological control (a) does not pollute the environment (b) does not kill other organisms because natural enemies are used (c) is cheap and safe to use 5. For example, (a) owls and snakes eat rats (b) fire ants eat aphids on leaves 6. The two types of interaction that happen in biological control are (a) parasitism - the parasite destroys crops (b) prey-predator - eventually removes the pest 7. Other examples of biological control are (a) rearing guppies ina apond to eat mosquito larvae. (b) rearing cats to eliminate rats.

FOOD WEBS Producer, consumers and decomposers 1. Producers are all green plants that make food through photosynthesis. 2. Consumers are animals that eat plants or other animals. 3. Decomposers are organism that decompose dead organism ( animals or plants ) and change them into simple substances. Examples of decomposers are bacteria and fungi. 4. The sun is the main source of energy for all living organisms in a food chain. Food chains

1. A food chain is an energy link showing how energy in food is passed from plants ( producers ) to animals ( consumers ). 2. A food chain shows the interaction of several organisms with each other 3. When the organisms in a food chain die, they are decomposed by decomposers such as bacteria and fungi, into simple minerals. Food webs 1. A food web consists of several food chains that are interlinked. 2. The organisms in a food web interact with each other. 3. Just as in a food chain, dead organisms are decomposed by decomposers. Pyramid of numbers 1. A pyramid of numbers shows the number of organisms at each link of the food chain. 2. From the base of the pyramid to the top, (a) the number of organisms decrease (b) the size of the organisms increase (c) more energy is lost 3. Producers' number is the most and forms the base of the pyramid. 4. The number of producers is always greater than the number of primary consumers in order to provide sufficient food to the primary consumers.

5. The number of primary producers is greater than the number of secondary producers. Therefore, primary producers make up the second level of the pyramid, the level above the producers. 6. Secondary producers make up the third level of the pyramid. Tertiary consumers make up the fourth level of the pyramid and so on. 7. The final consumers are at the apex of the pyramid and are the least in number. 8. The flow of energy in a pyramid of numbers is the same as in a food chain.The flow of energy is a food web and pyramid of numbers 1. Green plants supply energy in the form of food, either directly or indirectly, to all organisms in a community. 2. The flow of energy in a food web and the pyramid of numbers starts with the producers and moves to the consumers. 3. However, not all the energy in a producer is transferred to consumers. 4. Some energy is lost as heat when the organism carries out its life processes such as respiration, reproduction, excreation and growth.Disturbances in the ecosystem 1. The numbers of organisms in an ecosystem must be maintained at equilibrium to ensure that all organisms have sufficient food supply. This situation will ensure that the balance of nature in an ecosystem is maintained. 2. Disturbances at any level of a pyramid of numbers will cause the equilibrium in a food chain to be disrubted. The number or organisms at each level of a pyramid of numbers will not be balanced. For example, if all the frogs in the area are captured. (a) the number of snakes will decrease because of a shortage of food. (b) the number of caterpillars will increase because of a shortage of predators. (c) the number of leaves will decrease because of the increase in caterpillars. 3. The increase or decrease in the number of organisms will affect the equilibrium of the ecosystem. 4. All living organisms in an ecosystem depend on one another. If one group of organisms is removed, the balance of nature will be disturbed.