biological interactions are the effects organisms in a community have on one another. in the natural world no organism exists in absolute isolation, and thus every organism must interact with the environment and other organisms. an organism's interactions with its environment are fundamental to the survival of that organism and the functioning of the ecosystem as a whole.elton, c.s. 1968 reprint. animal ecology. great britain: william clowes and sons ltd.   in ecology, biological interactions can involve individuals of the same species (intraspecific interactions) or individuals of different species (interspecific interactions). these can be further classified by either the mechanism of the interaction or the strength, duration and direction of their effects. species may interact once in a generation (e.g. pollination) or live completely within another (e.g. endosymbiosis). effects range from consumption of another individual (predation, herbivory, or cannibalism), to mutual benefit (mutualism). interactions need not be direct; individuals may affect each other indirectly through intermediaries such as shared resources or common enemies. == interactions categorized by effect == {| border="0" cellpadding="5" style="width:1px;; float:right; border-collapse:collapse; margin:1em;" class="toccolours" |- | style="text-align:center;"| {| border="1" cellpadding="3" style="border:1px solid gray; border-collapse:collapse;" |- | effect&nbsp;on x || effect&nbsp;on y || type of interaction |- | 0 || 0 || neutralism |- | 0 || - || amensalism |- | + || 0 || commensalism |- | - || - || competition |- | + || + || mutualism |- | + || - || antagonism |} |- | style="text-align:center;"|some types of relationships listed by the effect they have on each partner. '0' is no effect, '-' is detrimental, and '+' is beneficial. |} terms that explicitly indicate the quality of benef
Biological_interactions