yego.me
💡 Stop wasting time. Read Youtube instead of watch. Download Chrome Extension

Competition, predation, and mutualism | Middle school biology | Khan Academy


3m read
·Nov 10, 2024

All across ecosystems, we know that organisms interact in specific ways, and scientists use special words to describe these types of interaction: competition, predation, and mutualism. So let's first talk about competition, which we have already talked about in other videos.

In this picture here, do you see competition? Pause this video and think about that. Well, one limited resource that these animals need to survive is water. There's only a limited amount in this watering hole over here, and so you can imagine there is competition not just amongst the members of a population, let's say between the zebra, but also between members of different species, between different populations in a community. The zebras are not just competing for water with each other, but also with these antelope or with these buffalo over here. There might also be competition for food. It doesn't seem like there's a lot of grass to eat for all of these animals that like to graze on grass.

So now let's move on to predation. Predation is when one organism eats another organism, usually to its own benefit. Do you see any predation happening here? Well, we don't see any of these animals chasing and killing each other. There might be other animals, like lions off-screen, that might hunt and kill and eat these animals right over here. But we know that these animals do eat grass. As I said, it's not just about hunting and killing and eating from one animal to another; it could be one organism to another. So the eating of the grass by these animals could actually be considered a form of predation, especially if it kills the grass.

A more obvious form of predation is this brown bear here that has gotten the salmon out of this river. It is clearly hunting and killing the salmon for its benefit, and it is likely that each of these bears are in competition with other bears for this limited resource.

So last but not least, let's think a little bit about mutualism. Mutualism happens when two organisms benefit from interacting with each other. Right over here, we have these starlings that actually hang out on this buffalo and pick lice and ticks off the buffalo's fur. This is mutualism because both parties benefit. The starlings are able to get food, and the buffalo no longer have these parasites—these things that are living off of the buffalo, sucking its blood out of its body and also probably not itching as much.

Now, based on how I just described it, there's not just mutualism here; there's also a predation, because these birds are actually hunting and killing the lice and the ticks on the buffalo's body. Now related to being a predator is another word known as being a parasite, and that's what the lice and the ticks are doing, where they're sucking the blood of the buffalo. But they're not considered predators; they're more parasites because they don't kill the buffalo; they're just taking some resources away from it.

So I'll leave you there. I encourage you, when you look at nature, when you go to a park next time, when you go watch a documentary, I encourage you to think about how competition, predation, and mutualism are happening in an ecosystem that you are seeing or that you're a part of.

More Articles

View All
10 Proven Ways To Master Your Focus
Your focus is your most valuable asset, right alongside your private data. That’s why billions of dollars are spent every year to make you lose track of time. The whole goal of every social platform is to grab your attention and keep it. Well, in this pro…
Jungle Pilots are Superheroes - Smarter Every Day 152
Hey, it’s me Destin. Welcome back to Smarter Every Day. I’m currently sitting in an airport with my oldest son and we’re on our way to Idaho. Destin: Where does Superman get his superpowers? Son: Krypton. Destin: The planet Krypton. What about Batman? Ho…
PSA: Why you SHOULDN’T get a 15-year Mortgage
What’s up you guys? It’s Graham here. So, this subject gets brought up a lot on my channel, but I’ve yet to make a dedicated video explaining why I don’t recommend getting a 15-year mortgage when you go and buy real estate. So here I am explaining how yo…
Storytelling: A Double-Edged Sword
There was once a village decimated by war, a war its people didn’t ask for. After four years, the killings ended, but the devastation had only just begun. Those who survived were left standing on the streets for hours, waiting for their only chance at a m…
5 Ways To Make More Money
What’s up you guys, it’s Graham here! So I’m gonna share with you how to make an extra $50,000 a month working part-time from home and reveal these incredible wealth-building secrets that anyone can do with no experience necessary. Just kidding! There’s w…
Intro to forces (part 2) | Physics | Khan Academy
Everything around us is being pushed and pulled in so many directions. For example, you may be pulling on a couch with your applied force, but friction will oppose that. Then there is gravity acting downwards, giving it its own weight. And then the floor …