1. Interaction of Animals
(competition and predation)

2. Every organism in a community has its own unique role to play.
This is called its niche.

3. Its niche also includes the place it lives,
its part of the food chain, the amount of
light and humidity it needs, and the
physical conditions in which it can survive

4. Two or more species cannot share the same niche. If 2 species try to
occupy the same niche for a long
period of time, one of the species will
die off.

5. Because there are not enough resources
to go around, organisms must struggle
with one another to get the things they
need to survive. This type of interaction
is known as competition.

6. One of the resources organisms struggle for is food
One of the resources organisms struggle for is food. They also compete for water, light, and suitable places to live

7. population in an ecosystem.
Competition can have a significant effect on the size and location of a
population in an ecosystem.

10. Examples of competition:
plants competing for light, water,
nutrients

11. Male lions fighting over females

12. Living things that catch, kill, and eat other living things
are called predators.

13. The organisms that are eaten by predators are called prey.

14. In catching and eating prey, predators help to reduce the size of prey
populations.

15. When predators are absent, prey species
can become too numerous and crowd
out other organisms