Explain the interactions between members of a species?

There are mainly two types of interactions between members of a species. They are known as cooperative and competitive interactions. In cooperative interactions the other members are helped. It includes mating, parental care, group formation, altruistic behavior, communication etc.
The mating is also known as cohabitation. In this a cooperation occurs which is external. Before the mating courtship period do occur in some birds and mammals. It also occurs in some plants. The parental care involves the care of young ones and eggs. It involves the protection and food for young ones. It occurs in the plants as well as animals. There occur a number of interactions between the surroundings and organism.
The care of eggs occurs in earthworm and cockroach. They lay eggs in protective egg coverings known as oothecae. In Cyclops and prawn females carry their egg till it is hatched. In cat fish and sea horse these functions are carried by the males. In alytes the male mid wife carries a number of eggs about the thigh level. The male guards the egg which is laid in a nest in case of bowfin fish. They have specific nests and incubate the egg. These things can be performed by male or female. The eggs of cuckoo are laid in the nests of crow. The young ones may or may not need the parental care. The worker bee takes care of honey bee larvae. The female scorpion carries the young one at its back. There are the skin pouches to hold the young ones in case of marsupial frog and Surinam toad. In case of birds, some young ones are independent. Some of the young ones are dependent as they are naked and helpless. It includes sparrow, dove, pigeon etc. They are fed by their parents. There occurs a parental care in all mammals. The female provides nutrition to her offs spring through the milk which is secreted by the mammary gland. It also occurs in the egg laying mammals. The animals like kangaroo have a pouch which provides shelter and food to the off spring. The off spring of rats, cats, dogs etc. are naked and helpless. They are fed by their parents and are not independent. In case of primates mammals the parental care extends for a long time. It is of the maximum duration in human beings.
The group formation is also known as aggregation. There are different types of group formations. In case of rats and mice there partner keeps on changing. The sparrows show seasonal variations. Some animals are isolated. Their opposite sexes come in contact only when there is a mating period. It involves hamster, spiders, insects etc. The animals such as wolf, foxes are monogamous. They do not change their partner. Their family resembles a human family which involves an adult male, adult female and an offspring. The animals such as seal, deer, zebra etc. are polygamous. They change their partner. Their family is dominated by the adult male which is not like monogamous animals. There is an animal known as orangutan which has multiple mother infant families. It roams in a particular area and looks for the female in heat. It shows copulation with her. The mother provides a protection top the young ones.
There are some animals which occur in the group. Their grouping is a temporary phenomenon. It occurs when there is a mating period. They occur in herds and flocks. They form groups during migration and hibernation. It occurs in the birds and snakes respectively. They can also form permanent grouping. It is known as shoals which is defined as the grouping of fishes, swarms which is defined as the grouping of locusts, troops which is defined as the grouping of monkeys, herds which is defined as the grouping of elephant, lions and zebras flocks which is defined as the grouping of sheep, goats and birds. In some species of elephant their herd is composed of females. Their off springs are also part of it. They have a female as their leader. The males form their temporary society. They have no order. Red deer is one such example. The mountain gorilla and baboon has mixed multi male herds.
The herds always have a social order which is classified on the basis of sex and battles. The females are subordinate to males. In case of zebra the dominance is established by the battle. The lower ranks are established by the eldest female and her foal. The youngest female and her foal receive attention. The battle in some animals can be true or false. The other factors which show dominance are the feathers, organ of defense and an aggressive posture. The threat display is the most efficient way of maintaining order. The hens follow peck order when the most dominant individual becomes injured or old. A new leader is chosen and the feeding and sleeping rhythms are determined by the dominant leader. Some of the members act as guards which are set by leader. The leader also manages the charging of intruder. The dominant individuals in the higher rank have the top most priority in food, mating and resting place. The other members have to wait for their turn. The animal group which is dominated by the female is known as matriarchy. It includes the red deer and African elephant. The animal group which is dominated by the male is known as patriarchy. It includes the zebra, antelope and monkey.
The animal societies are also known as the insect societies. This is well organized and integrated which occurs in bees, termites, ants and wasps. They live in the nests which are known as hive in case of bees. They live in the nests which are known as ant hill in case of termites. There is a great division of labor among the insect society. They occur in the different forms known as polymorphism. It includes the king, queen and workers. The workers store food by collecting it. They build the nests in architecture form and they rear young ones. They also play a defensive role as they protect form enemies. A few of them cultivate fungi which act as a food for other organisms. The reproduction is done by king and queen. The best food and protection is provided to the queen. It gives rise to the young ones. The males play a crucial role in mating. The bee hive has thousands of individuals with one queen, 1000 drones and the rest of workers. The sterile females form workers. The termite colony has immature individuals as workers. They do not have the ability to become adults. The individuals of different castes have same parents but they do differ in morphology.
There are a lot of differences between a human society and the insect society. The human society has many families. The human behavior is less instinctive and more of learned. The society works for the welfare of the individuals. The ranking is due to the differences in education, money, physical fitness and intellect. The insect society has one family. The insect behavior is more instinctive and less of learned. The society works for the welfare of the queen. The ranking is due to the differences in the development of individual.
The aggregations of animals help in the multiple functions. It protects from predators, help in rapid discovery of food, the transfer of learning and establishing the mating and specialization.
The altruistic behavior is a type of self destructive behavior which is done to help the other organisms. It occurs in cheetals which are also known as the spotted deer. The stag with the best antlers have support of the rest of group. When the tiger attacks their group the stag with best antlers is protected by the other individuals. Some of them sacrifice their life in order to protect the stag with best antlers. In a bee colony the workers sacrifice their lives to protect the queen. The phenomena of altruistic behavior occur in white ants and termites too.
There is an exchange of information among the members which belong to the same species and is referred as a communication. It can be visual, auditory, chemical and tactile. The visual communication involves the color, light, movement and their combination. The males can be differentiated from the females by their morphological characters. The direction and the distance of food source are provided by the worker bees. This is done with the help of dance movements. There are certain flies which are known as the fire flies which communicate by the flashes. The belly of male back fish works as a threat signal. The auditory communication involves the sound signals. The different animals exhibit different types of threat signals. The common signals are alarm calls and mating calls. There are certain species of monkey which develop the unique alarm calls for different predators. The mating calls are produced by different male organisms. The male red deer produces a roaring voice. The bird songs are indicative of the number of things. It tells us about the mating period, fear, hunger, threat calls and the parental concerns. The chemical communication is of different types. It includes the pheromones and allochemics. The pheromones are also known as the intra specific type. The allochemics are also known as the inter specific type. They are divided into the allomones and kairomones. The allomones are used to repel or attract the animal. The kairomones are a metabolic by product.
The pheromones are defined as the chemicals which are secreted by the animals which act as a signal for the same species. It acts as an alarm, path indicator and sex attractant. The smell or taste detects them. Their use is multipurpose in the dominance, trial and information. The trail making pheromones are released by the ants. They help to detect the path from the source of food. The dominant male in the group has specific glands which make scents. These are very helpful to attract the females. The females attract the males by the use of sex attractants. The dog has the ability to detect the bitch around a kilometer. The queen bee releases a pheromone that checks the worker bees. It helps to build royal cells. It is known as antiqueen substance. The pheromones are of different types. They can be primer, release or informer. This classification is based upon the changes which occur in the receivers. The physiological changes are brought by primer. No structural or behavioral changes occur. There are pheromones which are present in the feces of adult locust and are known as locustrol. It helps in the development of nymph locust by the dark coloration, fat deposition and the formation of wings. The releaser pheromones bring changes in the receiver animal. The informer pheromone does not have any impact upon the receiver. The preening in birds and grooming in primates are an example of tactile communication. The ants contact physically by the antennae. This helps them to detect the source of food. This type of communication is very helpful in the mating and courtship. This may also lead to confusion with the emission of different messages.
The home range constitutes an area in which an individual or a group of individuals freely move in the search of food, water and mates. It has multiple breeding groups. It is spread over few kilometers. The territory consists of an area which is protected by an individual or social group from the other members of the similar species. This is very helpful in providing food and shelter to the mate and its siblings. They are smaller in size as compared to the home range. The nest and shelter are included in it. Their home range can overlap but the same is not true with the territories. The territories are bounded by the body wastes like the urination in dogs and defecation in the rabbits. There are a couple of scent glands in the wild rabbits. These are present on the anus and chin. The male rabbit deposits the fecal pellet along with the secretion of anal gland. It occurs at the boundary of territory. The secretion of the chin glands occurs on grass and which signifies the territorial limits.
There are a lot of differences between a home range and territory. The home range is larger in size and natural. They overlap and look for an area in the search of food, water and mates. The territory is smaller in size and is not natural. They do not overlap and look for an area in the search of food and shelter to the mates. The members of the same species defend against each other in the territory. But in case of black birds there is a defense against the members of different species. There are the migratory birds which come to the northern part of India in winters. It is referred as a flock of wagtail. They select the land and settle down over there and form a territory. Their territory is not intruded by the other members. Some birds also act as a guard keeper which keeps an eye on the surroundings. They give an alarm when the predator approaches. This helps the birds to prepare better for the adverse conditions.