Relationships
Herbivory Herbivory is the relationship between a producer and a consumer where the consumer feeds exclusively on producers. In the ecosystem surrounding Chernobyl a prime example of herbivory is the relationship between the many deer in the surrounding area and how they consume producers like grass and small shrubs. Producers that were both near and miles away from the initial nuclear meltdown cite suffered heavily from radiation exposure. Many died quickly from the exposure while others absorbed the radioisotopes that lingered in the air and were present in the soil and became contaminated. The deer and other herbivores in the area consumed the remaining producers which in turn made them take in the isotopes. It caused many of the herbivores to die from radiation exposure.
Predation Predation is the specific relationship between a predator and other consumers were predator hunts and uses the consumer as its source of food. A prime example of a predator in the ecosystem surrounding Chernobyl is the fox. Foxes prey on small mammals like rabbits, squirrels, and voles. Many of the small mammmals in the area after the explosion wither died from radiation exposure immediatly or died from starvation from the lack of producers for them to feed on. As a result the foxes and other predator's food sources were very limited and many either left the area or died from prolonged exposure to the radioisotopes.
Parasitism A parasitic relationship is where one organism (the parasite) lives off of another organism in order to gain sustanance. The host the parasite is feeding on is harmed but very little in order to insure its survival and thus the parasite as well. A good example of such relationship in the area surrounding Chernoybl is betweeen fleas and the many deer that live in the area. Due to the deer's reasources being contaminated by radioactive isotopes the deer in the affected area would have radiation poisoning. By gettingits sustanance from the deer and its contaminated blood the flea would absorb radionuclides from the deer. it would eventually kill off both the deer and the flea.
Mutualism A mutualistic relationship is where two different species of animal interact in a way that both species benifit. in the ecosystem located near Chernobyl a good example of a mutualistic relationship is between wild rabbits and deer. since they feed off of the same thing as herbivores they are normally found in the same place and over time they have started to rely on each other to sense dangers the other species cant detect as well as the other. However with both of their reasources being contaminated by the radioisotopes the deathrate for both species increaded dramatically and the mutualistic relationship was no longer pertanent since the predators had either died or moved out of the area.
Commensalism A commensalistic relationship is where two different species of animal interact in a way where one species benifits while the other remains completely unaffected. A example of a commensalistic relationship in the area surrounding Chernobyl is that several of the native song birds would chirp or whistle if they sensed or observed a predator in the location. The sound would then alert other animals in the area to the presence of the predator. After the nuclear explosion many of the birds died from the heavy amounts of the radiation released in the blast. Also a large majority of the bird emigrated from the area and thus nulified the commensalistic reltionship.
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