Question

Organisms present around us are interdependent as follows.
A. True
B. False

Answer 1

Hint: Interdependence is the fact of depending on each other for various purposes like food, nutrition, habitat, reproduction, etc. for their survival. This interdependency can be interspecies or intraspecies and it also includes the interdependency between an organism and its environment.

Complete answer:
A. Biotic and abiotic components together form the functional ecosystem. Both components have effects on each other. They interact and depend on each other for their successful survival on earth. Thus, the organisms around us show interdependence. The best example could be explained using any simple food chain.
B. Interaction among organisms are of two types:
1. Intraspecific interaction: involve interaction among organisms of the same species. This is basically a competitive interaction where one organism competes with another organism of the same species for survival. This type of interaction plays a major role in natural selection. Example two male birds fighting for mates in the same area.
2. Interspecific interaction: is the interaction among organisms of different species, which can be beneficial, harmful, or ineffective.
C. Interspecific interaction can further be of four main types:
1. Mutualism (+/+) where both the species gain benefits.
2. Commensalism (+/0) here while one organism benefits, the other one is unaffected.
Competition (-/-) both organisms compete with each other, thus both are affected by the presence of others.
3. Predation, parasitism, and herbivory (+/-) this type of relationship benefits one species and affects the other species.
A simple example of an interaction between the biotic and abiotic factors can be studied from a simple food chain (Producers – Consumers – Decomposers). The Producers require abiotic components like sunlight and carbon dioxide to synthesize their food, producers are then eaten up by consumers for their nutrition. Decomposers feed on dead and decayed organisms to break down into simple components that are used as abiotic components.

Additional Information:
1. Abiotic components play a major role in the natural selection of biotic components. Similarly, biotic components too have effects on abiotic components. Wherein, an increase in the number of biotic components has a huge effect on abiotic components like an increase in temperature, population, etc.
2. These components of the ecosystem also have an impact on themselves (within the group). That is, living organisms (biotic factor) interact with each other and directly or indirectly affect each other through parasitism (may cause diseases), predators (the act of one organism eating another organism, which if not controlled can reduce the population of prey).
3. The link between abiotic and biotic components involves two major sources:
- Food chain: cycling of nutrients within the ecosystem
- Energy flow through the ecosystem

Note: Ecosystems are known as balanced systems as the balance of different populations of the organism is maintained due to the interaction among the species and due to natural selection (interaction involving an organism and its physical environment). Interaction among organisms at an individual level can be either helpful to both the organism or harmful to one and beneficial to the other. But at the population level, all these interactions are beneficial as it stabilizes the population growth.