Classify organism interactions
See this course’s project requirements
A food-web and carbon-cycle model explaining a fictional ecosystem disturbance, with a supported prediction and an alternative explanation.
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What to include
- Classify organism roles and nonliving conditions.
- Draw all supplied food-to-eater and decomposer links.
- Separate carbon cycling from energy flow and calculate the supplied fraction.
- Classify interactions from both partners’ stated effects.
- Trace a disturbance with an alternative food path.
- Write a bounded explanation of the supplied counts and complete changed cases.
Review and revise
Use these criteria to check your work and choose what to improve.
- Method: applies the course-specific rules to the supplied cases with visible intermediate work.
- Accuracy: results agree with the stated facts, units, boundaries and independent checks.
- Reasoning: explains why the result follows and identifies a limitation or unresolved question.
- Transfer: completes changed cases and revises the final project when a relevant assumption changes.
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The idea in everyday life
Supplied fictional observations: rabbits and grasshoppers both use limited grass; frogs eat grasshoppers; flower receives pollen transfer while insect obtains nectar; a parasite obtains food from a host whose growth decreases. Additional association: bird nests near a shrub; no shrub effect has been measured.
Competition occurs when organisms use a limited shared resource. Predation benefits the eater while consuming prey. Mutualism benefits both interacting species; parasitism benefits one while harming its host. Classify from stated effects, and leave an unknown effect unknown rather than assuming every close association is mutualism.
Classify organism interactions — worked practice
Competition occurs when organisms use a limited shared resource. Predation benefits the eater while consuming prey. Mutualism benefits both interacting species; parasitism benefits one while harming its host. Classify from stated effects, and leave an unknown effect unknown rather than assuming every close association is mutualism.
Supplied fictional observations: rabbits and grasshoppers both use limited grass; frogs eat grasshoppers; flower receives pollen transfer while insect obtains nectar; a parasite obtains food from a host whose growth decreases. Additional association: bird nests near a shrub; no shrub effect has been measured.
1. 1. Effects
Write each partner’s stated benefit or cost.
You should see: Shared grass can create competition; predation helps frog at grasshopper cost.
2. 2. Classify
Classify the two explicit close interactions.
You should see: Flower/insect mutualism; parasite/host parasitism under the supplied effects.
3. 3. Reserve
Classify the bird/shrub observation cautiously.
You should see: Bird benefits; shrub effect is unknown, so mutualism is not established.
4. 4. Compare
Explain why competition is not identical to predation.
You should see: Shared-resource limitation differs from one organism consuming the other.
What to finish
An interaction table with evidence and an explicitly unresolved association.
Watch for this
Mutualism requires benefit to both partners. The record supplies a bird benefit but leaves the shrub effect unknown.
How can I tell I understand it?
Classify a changed shared-resource case without assuming a benefit to both sides.
Quick knowledge check
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Source & access notes · checked 2026-10-01
Web open/search showed the official page, its topic heading and relevant concept description. This is a content/source check, not a provider endorsement.
Access: Official page retrieved with the web reader on 2026-10-01; interactive tools and videos were not certified by retrieval.
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