PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Specialists
Specialists can only live in specific conditions.
For Example, the koala. The koala has a diet of only eucalyptus leaves.
Generalists
Generalists are able to survive a wide variety of conditions and changes in the environment.
For example, the raccoon. The raccoon has a natural range that includes most of North and Central America, and eats berries, insects, eggs, and small animals.
Conformers
Animals that allow some aspect of their internal physiology to vary along with environmental conditions.
For Example, lizards. Lizards can change their body temperature as a result of the environment they are in.
Regulators
Regulators are animals that maintain internal constancy in the face of external variability.
For example, humans. A humans body temperature will not change in different environments.
Mutualism
Mutualism is the way two organisms of different species exist in a relationship in which each individual benefits from the activity of the other.
For Example, flowers and bees. Bees get the nectar they need to make honey by traveling between flowers. The bee brings pollen from one plant to another for pollination of the flowers.
Parasitism
Parasitism is a relationship between two species of plants or animals in which one benefits at the expense of the other, sometimes without killing the host organism.
For example, a tick on a dog. The tick feeds on the blood of the dog at the cost of the dog loosing perfectly healthy blood.
Commensalism
Commensalism is a relationship between individuals of two species in which one species obtains food or other benefits from the other without either harming or benefiting the latter.
For Example, cows and cattle egret. The cattle egret sits on the cow and as the cow grazes it kicks up bugs and the cattle egret eats the bugs. The cow however is unaffected by the cattle egret.
Predation
Predation is a relationship between two organisms of different species in which one of them acts as predator that captures and feeds on the other organism that serves as the prey.
For example, the lion and the zebra. The zebra feeds on species of grass and the lion preys and feeds on the zebra.
Competition
Competition is a conflict between organisms for a limited essential resource.
For example, chipmunks and squirrels. They compete for only acorns. They do not compete for nests or mates because they are not a limited resource.
