Providing Shelter for Multiple Organisms

a large oak tree is backlit against an open landscape with a light blue sky

Biological Strategy

English oak

AskNature Team

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Cooperate/Compete Between Different Species

From parasitism to mutualisms, there are endless interactions between organisms in nature. Interactions between species that lead to a negative outcome for one species are known as competition. Cooperation occurs when organisms work together for the benefit of each organism or species. While competition often occurs over resources or mates, the more biologists have begun to look for examples of cooperation in nature, the more they have found. For example, around 90% of plants have a beneficial partnership with fungi. Fungi provide the plant with nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, in exchange for sugars from the plant.

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Cooperate Within an Ecosystem

An ecosystem is a community of organisms (plants, animals, and microbes) interacting with one another and the nonliving components of their environment (such as air, water, and mineral soil). This interaction can be passive or active, and can cooperatively enhance the functioning of the ecosystem as a whole. For cooperation to contribute to maintaining communities within an ecosystem, it must be beneficial to at least some members of the community. Cooperation consists of symbiotic relationships, such as mutualism (in which two or more species in an ecosystem benefit) and commensalism (in which one species benefits and the effect on others is neutral). An example of a commensal relationship is that between bromeliad plants and trees: bromeliads live on trees without harming them. Bromeliads have mutualistic relationships with other species, including insects, frogs, and worms. The plants capture water in their base, forming a pond that these organisms join. The nutrients that these organisms excrete in their droppings nourish the bromeliad.

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Optimize Shape/Materials

Resources are limited and the simple act of retaining them requires resources, especially energy. Living systems must constantly balance the value of resources obtained with the costs of resources expended; failure to do so can result in death or prevent reproduction. Living systems therefore optimize, rather than maximize, resource use. Optimizing shape ultimately optimizes materials and energy. An example of such optimization can be seen in the dolphin’s body shape. It’s streamlined to reduce drag in the water due to an optimal ratio of length to diameter, as well as features on its surface that lie flat, reducing turbulence.

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Physically Assemble Structure

Living systems use physical materials to create structures to serve as protection, insulation, and other purposes. These structures can be internal (within or attached to the system itself), such as cell membranes, shells, and fur. They can also be external (detached), such as nests, burrows, cocoons, or webs. Because physical materials are limited and the energy required to gather and create new structures is costly, living systems must use both conservatively. Therefore, they optimize the structures’ size, weight, and density. For example, weaver birds use two types of vegetation to create their nests: strong, a few stiff fibers and numerous thin fibers. Combined, they make a strong, yet flexible, nest. An example of an internal structure is a bird’s bone. The bone is comprised of a mineral matrix assembled to create strong cross-supports and a tubular outer surface filled with air to minimize weight.

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Protect From Animals

Animals–organisms that range from microscopic to larger than a bus–embody a wide variety of harms to living systems, including other animals. They threaten through predation, herbivory, defense, and parasitism, and they compete for resources such as water, nutrients, and space. Any given living organism commonly faces threats from a variety of animals, requiring strategies that effectively defend from each. Trout and other bony fish, for example, escape predators by having scales made of very thin, flake-like pieces of bone covered with slippery mucus. They also have behavioral strategies such as camouflage, fast swimming, and twisting and turning to achieve release from a predator’s grip.

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Flowering Plants

Clade Angiosperms (“receptacle seed”): Dandelions, oaks, grasses, cacti, apples

With 416 families containing some 300,000 known species, angiosperms are the most diverse group of plants, and they can be found around the globe in a wide variety of habitats. They are characterized by seeds that grow enclosed in ovaries, which are enclosed in flowers. The floral organs then develop into fruits of myriad kinds and dimensions, from simple seed casings on maples to elaborate fleshy growths like papayas. The oldest flower known from fossils, Montsechia vidalii, appeared during the Jurassic Period 130 million years ago. They are the primary food source for herbivorous animals, which in turn makes them the indirect food source for carnivores as well.

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A mature oak tree provides shelter for hundreds of moths, birds, and bugs; each part of the tree houses its own inhabitants.

Image: Andrzej Barabasz (Chepry) Permission ( / Wikimedia Commons /

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Stieleiche bei Wilsede

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An old Quercus robur on the Ruissalo island in Turku, Finland

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Hammundeseiche bei Freidewald, Deutschland

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Hammundeseiche bei Friedewald, Deutschland

Image: Original uploader was Gouwenaar at nl.wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons /

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{{de|Schwammkugelgallegalle (''Andricus kollari'') an ''Quercus robur'', Stromtrasse neben der Startbahn West, Kelsterbach, Hessen, Deutschland}}

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{{de|Eichengalle (''Cynips quercusfolii'') an ''Quercus robur'', Stromtrasse neben der Startbahn West, Kelsterbach, Hessen, Deutschland}}

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{{de|Eichengalle (''Cynips agama'') an ''Quercus robur'', Stromtrasse neben der Startbahn West, Kelsterbach, Hessen, Deutschland}}

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{{de|Seidenknopfgalle (''Neuroterus numismalis'') an ''Quercus robur'', Stromtrasse neben der Startbahn West, Kelsterbach, Hessen, Deutschland}}

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{{de|Linsengalle (''Neuroterus quercusbaccharum'') an ''Quercus robur'', Stromtrasse neben der Startbahn West, Kelsterbach, Hessen, Deutschland}}

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Image: User Borch3kawki on pl.wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons /

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“A mature oak tree, standing a hundred feet tall, provides lodging, and often board as well, for more different kinds of animals than any other European tree. Thirty species of birds, forty-five different bugs and over two hundred species of moth have been collected from oaks. Each part of the tree has its own particular lodgers.” (Attenborough 1995:153)

Last Updated August 18, 2016

References

Book

The Private Life of Plants

21/08/1995 | David Attenborough

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