Association
In ecological management, we shall study the association and adaptations that enable living organisms to live successfully in their environment. We will also focus on how our activities have disrupted the balance of the ecosystem, and the efforts we are now making to remedy these effects. We shall now look into the various associations in an ecosystem.
In ecosystems, living organisms interact with one another mainly through food relationships. Often , they are forced to compete with another. For example,
• photosynthesis producers compete for sunlight , inorganic nutritients and living space;
• consumers compete for readymade food (in the form of other living organisms and their products) and living space.
Predation is the common form of feeding interaction among consumers. It is the act of preying on another consumer. In any ecosystem, the population sizes of the organisms which are prayed upon limit the population sized of their predators.
They prey and predators of a given community live in the same habitat but they do not form close associations with another. So each individual predator is uncertain of its food supply until it captures its prey.
Note : prey that are primary consumers feed on plants or detritus and so are not faced with the uncertainty of hunting for food (though when food is scarce they may starve or migrate).
To overcome such an unsatisfactory situation, some organisms live in close association with
•other unrelated living organisms - symbiosis and
• dead organisms - saprophytism.
In these associations , the feeding activities are interrelated in a very close manner.
