What is Ecology?
Ecology is the study of an organisms relationship with other organisms and their surroundings. In ecology, environments and ecosystems play a large role in the study. Ecosystems on earth vary due to changes in the sun's relationship with the earth, the relationships with water in those areas, and their temperatures. These all create various biomes, which are contiguous areas with similar climates. Some examples of biomes are deserts, tundra, rain forests, etc. These all vary due mostly to the sun's relationship with the earth although other factors can change an area to be a certain biome. Within these biomes, however, you get various interactions between organisms and relationships with their surroundings. This can be seen in a predator/prey relationships in which an animal relies on another as a food source. This can result in something called a food chain in an ecosystem. Symbiosis is another form of relationships in an ecosystem which resonates different relationships like mutualism, when two organisms benefit from one another, commensalism, when one organism gains and the other is unaffected, and parasitism, when one organism gains and the other is harmed. Within an ecosystem, there are different roles of each organism where they rely on a resource and do something to help the ecosystem. Sometimes other animals have the same role which causes competition.
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The Ecology of the Goblin Shark
The Goblin Shark lives in an ocean biome, in deep sea areas. The preferred habitat is very deep under water, along coastlines. One of the main characteristics of this habitat is that it is extremely dark. This can be seen in the goblin shark's adapted clear flesh. Often times, goblin sharks are caught by deep sea fishers and brought around the 1000 meter mark underwater [5]. Underwater currents can sometimes be extremely strong, especially when there are earthquakes. This often drives the goblin shark to move to other areas, being sighted. Little is known about the goblin shark's temperature preference although it is assumed that, like most deep sea sharks, it swims towards warmer currents. The nutrients far under water come in an enormous quantity, absorbing themselves into plants, having large amounts of protein and vitamins. However, the goblin shark's gain of resources doesn't feed directly on the surrounding nutrients. Crustaceans or smaller organisms, that the goblin shark eats, feed on plants that are rich in these nutrients. The goblin shark is a tertiary organism, meaning that it feeds on only secondary consumers. Secondary consumers feed on plant eating animals, which can be seen in fish that feed on smaller organisms that eat plant life. A niche is an organism's role in an environment. The goblin shark just swims around and occasionally eats other organisms, although it does have some competition from the velvet belly lantern shark which eats similar organisms and lives in similar habitats, causing competition with the goblin shark.
The goblin shark lives in a deep sea ecosystem
The velvet belly lantern shark. The only known competitor with the goblin shark.