Editing Biological interaction (section)

=== Short-term interactions ===
[[File:Osprey eating a fish.jpg|thumb|[[Predation]] is a short-term interaction, in which the predator, here an [[osprey]], kills and eats its prey.]]
Short-term interactions, including [[predation]] and [[pollination]], are extremely important in [[ecology]] and [[evolution]]. These are short-lived in terms of the duration of a single interaction: a predator kills and eats a prey; a pollinator transfers pollen from one flower to another; but they are extremely durable in terms of their influence on the evolution of both partners. As a result, the partners [[coevolution|coevolve]].<ref name="Bengtson2002"/><ref name=Lunau/>

==== Predation ====

{{main|Predation}}

In predation, one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. Predators are adapted and often highly specialized for hunting, with acute senses such as [[eye|vision]], [[hearing]], or [[olfaction|smell]]. Many predatory animals, both [[vertebrate]] and [[invertebrate]], have sharp [[claw]]s or [[jaw]]s to grip, kill, and cut up their prey. Other adaptations include stealth and [[aggressive mimicry]] that improve hunting efficiency. Predation has a powerful [[selection pressure|selective effect]] on prey, causing them to develop [[antipredator adaptation]]s such as [[aposematism|warning coloration]], [[alarm call]]s and other [[signalling theory|signals]], [[camouflage]] and defensive spines and chemicals.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bar-Yam |title=Predator-Prey Relationships |url=http://necsi.edu/projects/evolution/co-evolution/pred-prey/co-evolution_predator.html |publisher=New England Complex Systems Institute |access-date=7 September 2018}}</ref><ref name="RSM2012">{{cite web |title=Predator & Prey: Adaptations |url=https://royalsaskmuseum.ca/pub/Lesson%20Plans/Resources/Predator%20and%20Prey%20Adaptations.pdf |publisher=Royal Saskatchewan Museum |access-date=19 April 2018 |date=2012 |archive-date=3 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180403131659/http://royalsaskmuseum.ca/pub/Lesson%20Plans/Resources/Predator%20and%20Prey%20Adaptations.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Vermeij |first=Geerat J. |title=Evolution and Escalation: An Ecological History of Life |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M3pCQ6ks5PEC&pg=PR11 |year=1993 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-00080-0 |pages=11 and passim}}</ref> Predation has been a major driver of evolution since at least the [[Cambrian]] period.<ref name="Bengtson2002">{{cite book |author=Bengtson, S. |year=2002 |contribution=Origins and early evolution of predation |title=The fossil record of predation. The Paleontological Society Papers 8 |editor-last1=Kowalewski |editor-first1=M. |editor-last2=Kelley |editor-first2=P. H. |pages=289–317 |publisher=The Paleontological Society |url=http://www.nrm.se/download/18.4e32c81078a8d9249800021552/Bengtson2002predation.pdf}}</ref>

==== Pollination ====
[[File:Hummingbird hawkmoth a.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Pollination]] has driven the [[coevolution]] of [[flowering plant]]s and their animal [[pollinator]]s for over 100 million years.]]
{{see also|Pollination|Plant-pollinator interactions}}
In pollination, pollinators including [[insect]]s ([[entomophily]]), some [[bird]]s ([[ornithophily]]), and some [[bat]]s, transfer [[pollen]] from a male flower part to a female flower part, enabling [[fertilisation]], in return for a reward of pollen or nectar.<ref name="crop_Type">{{Cite web | title=Types of Pollination, Pollinators and Terminology | work=CropsReview.Com | access-date=2015-10-20 | url=http://www.cropsreview.com/types-of-pollination.html}}</ref> The partners have coevolved through geological time; in the case of insects and [[flowering plant]]s, the coevolution has continued for over 100 million years. Insect-pollinated flowers are [[adaptation|adapted]] with shaped structures, bright colours, patterns, scent, nectar, and sticky pollen to attract insects, guide them to pick up and deposit pollen, and reward them for the service. Pollinator insects like [[bee]]s are adapted to detect flowers by colour, pattern, and scent, to collect and transport pollen (such as with bristles shaped to form pollen baskets on their hind legs), and to collect and process nectar (in the case of [[honey bee]]s, making and storing [[honey]]). The adaptations on each side of the interaction match the adaptations on the other side, and have been shaped by [[natural selection]] on their effectiveness of pollination.<ref name=Lunau>{{cite journal |last1=Lunau |first1=Klaus |title=Adaptive radiation and coevolution — pollination biology case studies |journal=Organisms Diversity & Evolution |date=2004 |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=207–224 |doi=10.1016/j.ode.2004.02.002|doi-access= |bibcode=2004ODivE...4..207L }}</ref><ref name=Pollan2001>{{cite book |author=Pollan, Michael |title=The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-eye View of the World |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=978-0-7475-6300-6 |date=2001|title-link=The Botany of Desire }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1=Ehrlich | first1=Paul R. |author1-link=Paul R. Ehrlich | last2=Raven | first2=Peter H. | author2-link=Peter H. Raven | year=1964 | title=Butterflies and Plants: A Study in Coevolution | journal=Evolution | volume=18 | issue=4 | pages=586–608 | doi=10.2307/2406212| jstor=2406212 }}</ref>

==== Seed dispersal ====
{{Main|Seed dispersal}}
'''Seed dispersal''' is the movement, spread or transport of [[seed]]s away from the parent plant. Plants have limited mobility and rely upon a variety of [[dispersal vector]]s to transport their propagules, including both [[abiotic]] vectors such as the wind and living ([[Biotic component|biotic]]) vectors like birds.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Lim|first1=Ganges|last2=Burns|first2=Kevin C.|date=2021-11-24|title=Do fruit reflectance properties affect avian frugivory in New Zealand?|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/0028825X.2021.2001664|journal=New Zealand Journal of Botany|volume=60 |issue=3 |pages=319–329|doi=10.1080/0028825X.2021.2001664|s2cid=244683146|issn=0028-825X}}</ref> Seeds can be dispersed away from the parent plant individually or collectively, as well as dispersed in both space and time. The patterns of seed dispersal are determined in large part by the dispersal mechanism and this has important implications for the demographic and genetic structure of plant populations, as well as migration patterns and species interactions. There are five main modes of seed dispersal: [[Gravitation|gravity]], wind, ballistic, water, and by animals. Some plants are [[serotinous]] and only disperse their seeds in response to an environmental stimulus. Dispersal involves the letting go or detachment of a diaspore from the main parent plant.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Academic Search Premier|date=1970|title=Annual review of ecology and systematics|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1091085133|journal=Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics|language=English|oclc=1091085133}}</ref>