Unit 3.4 Animal Behaviour and Plant Responses

AS 90716External4 Credits

Animal Behaviour and Plant Responses1. Environment – abiotic and biotic factors

2. Plant Responses

1. orientation (tropisms, nastic responses, taxes)

2. Plant hormones

3. Plant timing

3. Animal behaviour

1. Orientation (homing, migration)

2. timing (annual, daily, lunar, tidal)

4. interspecific relationships (predation, parasitism, mutualism, commensalism, competition for resources)

5. intraspecific relationships (territoriality, cooperative interactions, reproductive behaviours, hierarchical behaviour, competition for resources).

Abiotic Factors

Physical factors of the environment

Light

Intensity colour direction duration

Photo-

Gravity

allows organisms to tell “up” from “down” and their orientation in space

Geo-

?

Temperature

average range

Thermo-

Water

humidity soil moisture speed of current salinity turbidity depth average rainfall

Hydro-

Current

many aquatic animals align themselves with the direction of the current

Rheo-

Chemicals

inorganic nutrients carbon dioxide & oxygen saltiness and pH poisons macronutrients micronutrients pheromones

Chemo-

Touch

response to a solid object

Thigmo-

Sound

pitch loudness range

Pressure

important in the ocean high in the air formation of weather patterns

Wind

velocity gustiness direction

Substrate

rock sand mud soil

Fire

can affect germination recycling of minerals

Some definitions

Ecosystem – all living and physical factors in a specified area

Habitat – place / environment in which an organism lives

Limiting factor – any variable that limits the activity of an organism or population

Anthropomorphism – assigning human attributes to animals

Niche

Organisms way of life or role in ecosystemo opportunities of habitato adaptations of organism• structural• behavioural• physiological• life history

Gauses Principle

“ No two species with identical niches can co-exist for long in the same place “

tolerance

Optimum Range - preferred environmental conditions

Zone of Physiological Stress – organism feels stressed and uncomfortable

Upper and Lower limits of Tolerance – organism dies - unable to tolerate conditions

Zone of physiological

stress

Zone of physiological

stress

Zone of intolerance

Zone of intolerance

Species absent

Species absent

Tolerance

Lower limit of tolerance Upper limit

Popu

latio

n

Low Factor High

The Environment

Abiotic factors

Biotic factors

Response of organisms to environment

Response of organisms to abiotic factors

Response of organisms to biotic environment

Biotic Environment

living factors of the environment

Intraspecific relationships – within a species

Interspecific relationships – between species

Intraspecific Interrelationships

competition (for resources)

reproduction

aggresive (territories, hierarchies)

co-operative (group defense / hunting)

SymbiosesRelationship Sp. A Sp. B

mutualism + +

commensalism + 0

neutrality 0 0

antibiosis (amensalism) 0 -

exploitation (predation, parasitism, herbivory) + -

competition - -

Interspecific Interrelationships competition (for resources)

predator/prey

plant/animal (grazers, browsers etc)

succession (replacement of species over time)

stratification (vertical eg forest layers)

zonation (horizontal eg shore zones)

animal/animal and plant/plant