Looking outside the book
Inducible: capable of being formed, activated or expressed in response to a stimulus.
What are the pros and cons of this and find or think of an example outside of the book that organisms use for predators or parasites.
Pros: does not interfere too much with competition and low energy cost, good for unpredictable seasons or rare occasions
Cons: may take time to activate once stimulated
Examples: some stressor in environment activates it, causes a physical, chemical or behavioral trait.
Would the length of the exploitation of a parasite to its host (long) vs a predator to its prey (short) be too great of a factor to simply conclude that a a parasite cannot be a predator? (come up with examples from in or outside of the article to defend your position)
Side A: yes
Side B: no
Side A: some keep the host alive as its their ticket to success, they reduce virulence to the host.
Side B: Some eat the host tissue (predator like), they are still exploiting the host just, over a long period of time, many other factors that predators and prey both share.
What is a predator?
An organism that consumes another organism for their own benefit.
Constitutive: formed or expressed without regard to environmental conditions.
What are the pros and cons of this and find or think of an example outside of the book that organisms use for predators or parasites.
Pros: always active and no wait time, goo for predictable environments
Cons: high energy cost, growth factors costs
Example: Constant physical traits or chemical compounds produced, can discourage different predators from attacking.
Normally food webs or energy pyramids for different ecological systems do not include parasites, would it be more useful or complicated to add them to what we have to better understand the ecosystem?
Side A: Useful (include where you think they should go)
Side B: Too complex (include why they are not worth including if they can play a huge role in an ecosystem)
Side A: they participate in energy flow in ecosystem, they can affect many levels of the web/pyramid, size shouldn't affect whether or not they are included.
Side B: they are more long-term symbiotic, can affect all levels (disorganized), are parasites really predators?, one host can have multiple different types of parasites (maybe too complex to include).
an organism that obtains resources from and exerts a direct negative effect on another organism.
What does DMIE stand for?
Find or think of an example outside the book where a predator or parasite causes this.
Density Mediated Indirect Effect
Example where predator eats prey and decreases prey population (direct kills), and a third species is indirectly affected (can be food source of prey having a population increase).
When it comes to classifying an ecological interaction, is it better to focus on the outcome of the interaction or the mechanism behind it? (Think of Parasites and Predators)
Side A: Outcome
Side B: Interaction
Both are pretty important
Side A: Both "natural enemies", cause trait/behavioral changes, both (not always parasites) consume host tissue.
Side B: parasites fitness sometimes dependent on host survival (sometimes reduce virulence), predators focus on lethality, parasites have a longer and more intimate interactions, parasites can affect cellular and genetic mechanisms.
Define Virulence
The degree of damage, severity, or illness that a microorganism can inflict on its host.
What does TMIE stand for?
Find or think of an example outside the book where a predator or parasite causes this.
Trait Mediated Indirect Effect
Examples that relate to a behavioral, morphological, or physiological changes caused overtime by a predator, or a parasite(no direct killing), prey/host changes can cause smaller resource acquiring/competitiveness having the third species be indirectly affect by these changes.
Should predators and parasites be studied together as "natural enemies" or should they continue to be studied separately and why?
Side A: together
Side B: sperately
Side A: they both harm and exploit other organisms, they both affect ecosystems, Ideas from both these organism can also provide new ways for us to understand them in different ways, similar outcomes
Side B: Too many key differences: predators consume prey while parasites live long term with host, very different mechanisms, parasites can be dependent on keeping hosting being alive.
Answer: overall with all the similarities and differences the article's theme throughout this is that predators and parasites should studied in an overlapping manner as there are many trends and similarities between the two
Define Trophic Level
position of an organism in a food chain.