A symbiotic relationship is when two organisms of different species "work together," each benefiting from the relationship. One example of a symbiotic relationship is that of the oxpecker (a kind of bird) and the rhinoceros or zebra. Oxpeckers land on rhinos or zebras and eat ticks and other parasites that live on their skin. The oxpeckers get food and the beasts get pest control. Also, when there is danger, the oxpeckers fly upward and scream a warning, which helps the symbiont (a name for the other partner in a relationship).

Animal Habitats

Animals live everywhere on earth--in every kind of terrain and every kind of climate. An animal's living place is called its habitat. Most animals are only adapted to live in one or two habitats. A baracuda which is a salt water fish could not live in a fresh water lake. A walrus could not live in a desert. A rattlesnake could not live for very long in the arctic. Some animals migrate in the spring and again in the fall to find warmer habitats with an abundance of food.

Arrangement of Habitat
The four elements of habitat must be arranged so that the animal can use them. For example, if the only source of water is across an interstate highway, chances are good that the animal will be hit by a car or truck. There might be enough water in this habitat, but the arrangement of it will make it difficult for the animal to survive.

The Importance of Habitat
Each species of animal has its own habitat requirements. It seems obvious that wild animals need adequate habitat to survive. Yet many people don't understand the vital role of habitat, even though they are eager to protect animals. Without protecting habitat, protecting individual animals becomes meaningless. If animals do not have suitable habitats, they will die

Habitat

Food

All animals need food to meet their energy needs: to grow, reproduce, escape predators and survive chilling winters or long migrations. Each species selects particular foods from many items that are present in its environment. Not just any kind of food will do. For a bighorn sheep to survive, for example, there must be enough grass to last throughout the winter, and the grass must also have sufficient nutritional value. The quality of food, as well as the amount present, is important for survival. Food quality may vary with the season, or even the location. Food must also be accessible to the animals. In winter, deep, crusted snows may bury much of the food supply. An important objective for wildlife management is to conserve important feeding areas, and to increase the amount and quality of food available for wildlife. Winter food shortage is the most important limiting factor for many wildlife species.

Shelter

Birds and mammals need shelter or cover to hide in, and to protect them from bad weather. Dense vegetation is the most common kind of cover, but cover may also include rock piles, burrows in the ground, holes in logs or water bodies. Some small animals, like beaver and muskrats, build their own cover in the form of houses. Plant cover is removed by many modern land uses like logging, cattle grazing and open pit mining.

Water

Like humans, all animals need water to survive. Many of our wildlife species get enough water from the food they eat, such as succulent plants, but some also need to drink water, particularly in dry regions.

Space

Animals need space to survive. Overcrowding leads to severe competition for food and breeding sites and eventually to malnutrition and rapid spread of disease and parasites. Most animals are territorial to some extent; that is, they will occupy specific sites and keep other animals out. Their territoriality tends to ensure spacing and prevent overcrowding. Because of the need for space, a given area will only support so many animals, no matter how much food, water or shelter they receive.

Many wildlife species have very particular needs for breeding sites. Dense forest cover is needed by cow elk to conceal their newborn calves and by tree-nesting birds to hide their nests. Bald eagles need large old trees to support their bulky nests, and these trees must be near the shorelines where they feed. Hole-nesting birds need snags and old trees in which to excavate nests, falcons need cliff ledges and seabirds that nest in colonies need secluded islands. Some mammals, like wolves and bears, need particular soil conditions for digging their maternity dens. Wildlife managers try to protect breeding sites, and to improve them where possible.

Arrangement

Wildlife species must have access to food, water, cover and space. If one of these components is removed from the habitat, the animal cannot survive.

Measuring Habitat
In measuring habitat, we must consider quality as well as quantity of land. Many of the areas critical for wildlife are also in great demand by humans for other reasons. Valleys are good habitat for many animals but, unfortunately, also make the best agricultural areas or good reservoirs. Delta areas essential for waterfowl breeding often have high real estate potential. Where we share areas used by wildlife, as in cattle ranching, we often ignore the needs of the native wildlife for the sake of other land-use interests.

Biological Surplus

"Biological Surplus" is a scientific name for the number of animals in a given population that are "above" the carrying capacity.

For example, if there are 25 deer in a habitat that has a carrying capacity of 25, and 12 fawns are born and 2 adults die of natural causes, then the new population is 25 + 12 - 2 = 35. However, since the carrying capacity of the habitat has not changed, there will be 10 deer that will not be able to survive in this habitat. They will either move to other areas or will die of starvation, disease, predators or hunting. These 10 deer are the biological surplus–the "extra" animals that can be removed without changing the overall population.

Most game animals have a high biological surplus, and these surplus animals can be removed without affecting the population. In fact, if they are not removed by hunting, most will die anyway due to other causes (disease, starvation, roadkill, etc.).

If animals are being harvested or dying faster than they can be replaced, the number of breeding animals will be reduced, and the herd or flock will not be able to sustain its numbers.

It's important to have enough mature animals to produce new, young animals each year. It's also important to have enough young animals to replace the mature animals as they die off. Breeding stock is the correct mixture of adult and young animals needed to sustain a healthy population.

Wildlife managers must ensure that enough breeding stock survives to produce a new crop of wildlife each spring. In order to accomplish that, wildlife managers must assess how many animals are "surplus" to each game population and protect the remainder. Hunting seasons, bag limits and license quotas are tools that wildlife managers use to protect breeding stock.

Within each ecosystem, there are habitats which may also vary in size. A habitat is the place where a population lives. A population is a group of living organisms of the same kind living in the same place at the same time. All of the populations interact and form a community. The community of living things interacts with the non-living world around it to form the ecosystem. The habitat must supply the needs of organisms, such as food, water, temperature, oxygen, and minerals. If the population's needs are not met, it will move to a better habitat. Two different populations can not occupy the same niche at the same time, however. So the processes of competition, predation, cooperation, and symbiosis occur.

Ecosystems

Ecosystems (short for ecological systems) are functional units that result from the interactions of abiotic, biotic, and cultural (anthropogenic) components. Like all systems they are a combination of interacting, interrelated parts that form a unitary whole. All ecosystems are "open" systems in the sense that energy and matter are transferred in and out. The Earth as a single ecosystem constantly converts solar energy into myriad organic products, and has increased in biological complexity over time.

Natural ecosystems, made up of abiotic factors (air, water, rocks, energy) and biotic factors (plants, animals, and microorganisms). The Earth’s biosphere, including the atmosphere (air), hydrosphere (water), and litosphere (land), constitutes a feedback of cybernatic system that reflects what Rene Dubos referred to as "a co-evolutionary process" between living things and their physical and chemical environments. Ecosystem is made up of many smaller ecosystems interlocked through cycles of energy and chemical elements. The flow of energy and matter through ecosystems, therefore, is regulated by the complex interactions of the energy, water, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, and other cycles that are essential to the functioning of the biosphere.

Since ecosystems can be as small as a single tree or as large as entire forest, there
are lots and lots of different ecosystems in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. When
you want to talk about how a certain natural area functions together, you can call it
a biome. A biome is a very specialized ecosystem that only exists in a certain
area or climate. They are identified by factors like temperature, rainfall, soil type and
altitude.

1.01 Describe and compare several common ecosystems (communities of organisms and their interaction with the environment).

1.02 Identify and analyze the functions of organisms within the population of the ecosystem:

  • Producers.
  • Consumers.
  • Decomposers.

1.03 Explain why an ecosystem can support a variety of organisms.

1.04 Discuss and determine the role of light, temperature, and soil composition in an ecosystem's capacity to support life.

1.05 Determine the interaction of organisms within an ecosystem.

1.06 Explain and evaluate some ways that humans affect ecosystems.

  • Habitat reduction due to development.
  • Pollutants.
  • Increased nutrients.

1.07 Determine how materials are recycled in nature.