Explain how the interaction between sea anemone and clownfish is one of the best examples of commensalism in nature.
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Solution and Explanation
Step 1: Commensalism is an interaction where one species benefits while the other is neither harmed nor benefited.
Step 2: In the case of sea anemone and clownfish:
- The clownfish lives among the tentacles of sea anemones.
- The tentacles protect the clownfish from predators, as they are stinging in nature.
- The clownfish is immune to these stings due to a protective mucus layer on its body.
- The sea anemone does not receive any benefit or harm from this association.
Step 3: This interaction is a classic example of commensalism — clownfish benefits from protection while sea anemone remains unaffected.
Top Questions on Organisms and Populations
(a) (i) Describe the population growth curve applicable in a population of any species in nature that has limited resources at its disposal.
(ii) Give the equation of this growth curve.
(iii) Name the growth curve and depict a graphical plot for this type of population growth.OR
(b) (i) Explain the Species-Area relationship within a natural forest and also predict the nature of the graph when species richness is plotted against the area for a wide variety of taxa.
(ii) Depict the graphical relationship between species richness and area.
(iii) Give the equation of the Species-Area relationship for a wide variety of taxa on a logarithmic scale.- CBSE CLASS XII - 2025
- Biology
- Organisms and Populations
(a) (i) Describe the population growth curve applicable in a population of any species in nature that has unlimited resources at its disposal.
(ii) Explain the equation of this growth curve.
(iii) Name the growth curve and depict a graphical plot for this type of population growth.OR
(b) (i) Explain the conclusion drawn by Alexander von Humboldt during his extensive explorations in the wilderness of South American jungles.
(ii) Give the equation of the Species-Area relationship.
(iii) Draw a graphical representation of the relation between species richness and area for a wide variety of taxa such as birds, bats, etc.- CBSE CLASS XII - 2025
- Biology
- Organisms and Populations
- Explain how the interaction between a fig tree and its tight one-to-one relationship with the pollinator species of wasp is one of the best examples of mutualism.
- CBSE CLASS XII - 2025
- Biology
- Organisms and Populations
- Correctly depict (also indicate the trophic level) and describe the ecological pyramid of number with 32 birds dependent on 20 insects feeding on one banyan tree.
- CBSE CLASS XII - 2025
- Biology
- Organisms and Populations
- Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow:
In nature, we rarely find isolated, single individuals of any species; majority of them live in groups in a well-defined geographical area, share or compete for similar resources, potentially interbreed and thus constitute a population. The population has certain attributes whereas, an individual organism does not. A population at a given time is composed of individuals of different ages. The size of the population tells us a lot about its status in the habitat. Whatever ecological processes we wish to investigate in a population, be it the outcome of competition with another species, the impact of the predator or the effect of pesticide application, we always evaluate in terms of any change in the population size. The size, in nature, could be low or go into millions. Population size, technically called population density (N) need not necessarily be measured in numbers only. The size of a population for any species is not a static parameter. It keeps on changing with time depending on various factors including food availability, predation pressure and adverse weather. (a) The Monarch butterfly is highly distasteful to its predator because of a special chemical present in its body. How does the butterfly acquire this chemical?
(b) If population density at a time t + 1 is 800, Emigration = 100, Immigration = 200, Natality = 200 and Mortality = 150, calculate the population density at time t and comment upon the type of age pyramid that will be formed in this case.
Student to attempt either sub-part (c) or (d):
(c) What is the difference in a method of measuring population density in an area if there are 200 carrot grass plants to only single huge banyan tree?
\begin{center} OR \end{center} (d) Name two methods to measure the population density of tigers.- CBSE CLASS XII - 2025
- Biology
- Organisms and Populations
Questions Asked in CBSE CLASS XII exam
- An electric dipole of dipole moment \( \vec{p} = (0.8\,\hat{i} + 0.6\,\hat{j}) \times 10^{-29}\,\text{Cm} \) is placed in an electric field \( \vec{E} = 1.0 \times 10^7\,\hat{k}\,\text{V/m} \). Calculate the magnitude of the torque acting on it and the angle it makes with the x-axis, at this instant.
- CBSE CLASS XII - 2025
- Electric Dipole
- Calculate the binding energy per nucleon (in MeV) of a helium nucleus \(\left( ^4_2\text{He} \right)\). Given: \[ \begin{aligned} m\left(^4_2\text{He}\right) &= 4.002603\,\text{u} \\ m_n &= 1.008665\,\text{u} \\ m_H &= 1.007825\,\text{u} \\ 1\,\text{u} &= 931.5\,\text{MeV}/c^2 \end{aligned} \]
- CBSE CLASS XII - 2025
- Nuclear physics
- An electric field \( \vec{E} \) is given by:
\[ \vec{E} = \begin{cases} +100\, \hat{i} \dfrac{\text{N}}{\text{C}} & \text{for } x>0 \\ -100\, \hat{i} \dfrac{\text{N}}{\text{C}} & \text{for } x<0 \end{cases} \] A right circular cylinder of length \( 10\, \text{cm} \) and radius \( 2\, \text{cm} \), is placed such that its axis coincides with the x-axis and its two faces are at \( x = -5\, \text{cm} \) and \( x = 5\, \text{cm} \). Calculate: (a) the net outward flux through the cylinder, and (b) the net charge inside the cylinder.- CBSE CLASS XII - 2025
- Electric Flux
In a metallic conductor, an electron, moving due to thermal motion, suffers collisions with the heavy fixed ions but after collision, it will emerge with the same speed but in random directions. If we consider all the electrons, their average velocity will be zero. When an electric field is applied, electrons move with an average velocity known as drift velocity (vd). The average time between successive collisions is known as relaxation time (τ ). The magnitude of drift velocity per unit electric field is called mobility (μ). An expression for current through the conductor can be obtained in terms of drift velocity, number of electrons per unit volume (n), electronic charge (−e), and the cross-sectional area (A) of the conductor. This expression leads to an expression between current density (-j) and the electric field (E→ ). Hence, an expression for resistivity (ρ) of a metal is obtained. This expression helps us to understand increase in resistivity of a metal with increase in its temperature, in terms of change in the relaxation time (τ ) and change in the number density of electrons (n).
- CBSE CLASS XII - 2025
- Current electricity
When light travels from an optically denser medium to an optically rarer medium, at the interface it is partly reflected back into the same medium and partly refracted to the second medium. The angle of incidence corresponding to an angle of refraction 90° is called the critical angle (ic) for the given pair of media. This angle is related to the refractive index of medium 1 with respect to medium 2. Refraction of light through a prism involves refraction at two plane interfaces. A relation for the refractive index of the material of the prism can be obtained in terms of the refracting angle of the prism and the angle of minimum deviation. For a thin prism, this relation reduces to a simple equation. Laws of refraction are also valid for refraction of light at a spherical interface. When an object is placed in front of a spherical surface separating two media, its image is formed. A relation between object and image distance, in terms of refractive indices of two media and the radius of curvature of the spherical surface can be obtained. Using this relation for two surfaces of lens, ’lensemaker formula’ is obtained.