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Ecology is the study of interactions that take place among organisms and their environment. |
The ringneck snake moves around
on the ground and interacts with the living things that live on the ground also, like the rodents and insects that the snake eats. |
An ecosystem is a community of living and non living things that work together. |
Biotic are the living factors in life such as, plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria. Abiotic is the non living things in life such as, sunlight, soil, atmosphere, and climate. An ecosystem needs abiotic and biotic factors because the biotic things eat all the abiotic factors. |
| How do animals relate with each other? |
Limiting factors in populations are good because it keeps the population of the animals down and at a controlled amount. Diversity of animals is also one way they relate with each other because if they were all the same animals then they would have to eat each other and they would just die off if they ate each other. Mutualism is a relationship between two different species of organisms that benefit each other. For example: Birds and mammals obtain a food benefit by eating berries and fruits. The plant then gets its seeds spread all over the land. 
Commensalism is a relationship between two different species of organisms that has one animal that benefits and the other is not affected. For example: The clown fish and the coral reef. Other fish can't go into the coral reef because they will get stung but the clown fish is used to the shock from the coral reef. 
Parasitism is a relationship between two different species of organisms that has one animal benefiting at the expense of the other animal. For example: A mosquito on a human. The human looses its blood but the mosquito gains because it's getting food. 
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