Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The human population exploits and depends on many animal and plant species for food, mainly through agriculture, but also by exploiting wild populations, notably of marine fish. [ 10 ] [ 11 ] [ 12 ] Livestock animals are raised for meat across the world; they include (2011) around 1.4 billion cattle , 1.2 billion sheep and 1 billion domestic pigs .
Important aspects of group living include the frequency and type of social interactions (egoistic, cooperative, altruistic, revengeful) between individuals of a group (social life), the group size, and the organization of group members in the group. [citation needed] Terminology of animal groups also varies among different taxonomic groups.
Cooperation exists not only in animals but also in plants. In a greenhouse experiment with Ipomoea hederacea, a climbing plant, results show that kin groups have higher efficiency rates in growth than non-kin groups do. This is expected to rise out of reduced competition within the kin groups.
An animal that exhibits a high degree of sociality is called a social animal. The highest degree of sociality recognized by sociobiologists is eusociality . A eusocial taxon is one that exhibits overlapping adult generations , reproductive division of labor , cooperative care of young, and—in the most refined cases—a biological caste system .
The division of labor creates specialized behavioral groups within an animal society, sometimes called castes. Eusociality is distinguished from all other social systems because individuals of at least one caste usually lose the ability to perform behaviors characteristic of individuals in another caste.
Plant-animal interactions are important pathways for the transfer of energy within ecosystems, where both advantageous and unfavorable interactions support ecosystem health. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Plant-animal interactions can take on important ecological functions and manifest in a variety of combinations of favorable and unfavorable associations, for ...
[1] [2] Regardless, social groups come in a myriad of sizes and varieties. For example, a society can be viewed as a large social group. The system of behaviors and psychological processes occurring within a social group or between social groups is known as group dynamics.
Materials derived from plants are collectively called plant products. Edible plants have long been a source of nutrition for humans , and the reliable provision of food through agriculture and horticulture is the basis of civilization since the Neolithic Revolution .