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Many animal species cooperate with each other in mutual symbiosis.One example is the ocellaris clownfish, which dwells among the tentacles of Ritteri sea anemones.The anemones provide the clownfish with protection from their predators (which cannot tolerate the stings of the sea anemone's tentacles), while the fish defend the anemones against butterflyfish (which eat anemones)
Not all examples of mutualism are also examples of cooperation. Specifically, in by-product mutualism, both participants benefit, but cooperation is not involved. For example, when an elephant defecates, this is beneficial to the elephant as a way to empty waste, and it is also beneficial to a dung beetle that uses the elephant's dung.
A further example of protocooperation is the connection between ants and aphids. The ant searches for food on trees and shrubs that are hosts to honeydew-secreting species such as aphids, mealybugs, and some scales. The ant gathers the sugary substance and takes it to its nest as food for its offspring.
The black walnut secretes a chemical from its roots that harms neighboring plants, an example of competitive antagonism.. In ecology, a biological interaction is the effect that a pair of organisms living together in a community have on each other.
Despite a different definition between mutualism and symbiosis, they have been largely used interchangeably in the past, and confusion on their use has persisted. [6] Mutualism plays a key part in ecology and evolution. For example, mutualistic interactions are vital for terrestrial ecosystem function as:
An example of such "whole-community" facilitation is substrate stabilization of cobble beach plant communities in Rhode Island, US, by smooth cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora). [6] Large beds of cordgrass buffer wave action, thus allowing the establishment and persistence of a community of less disturbance-tolerant annual and perennial plants ...
Human impacts on endangered prey species have been characterized by conservation scientists as an extreme form of asymmetric apparent competition, often through introducing predator species into ecosystems or resource subsidies. An example of fully asymmetric apparent competition which often occurs near urban centers is subsidies in the form of ...
While ecosystem management can be used as part of a plan for wilderness conservation, it can also be used in intensively managed ecosystems (e.g., agroecosystems and close to nature forestry). [10] Core principles and common themes of ecosystem management: [7] [13]