Download mutualism - SMIC Biology

MUTUALISM:
 Definition: a relationship between 2 species in which both benefit from it.
 Example: humans give CO2 to plants, & plants provide O2 for humans/animals.
TYPES OF MUTUALISM
 Trophic Mutualism: interaction in which both species benefit of resources.
Example: termites feed on wood because of protists & bacteria in them, which
converts dead trees into organic matter.
 Defensive Mutualism: One species gets food/shelter when protecting other
species from harmful things such as parasites. Example: ants protect acacia trees
from parasites, & get shelter from the trees instead.
 Dispersive Mutualism: One species gets food exchange for pollen and/or seeds.
Example: in pollination, plants have nectar for animals like bees, who are covered in
pollen and spread plantgrowth.
Parasitism:
The relationship between two organisms where one lives in or on the other,
achieving all or most of their nutritional needs while weakening the other, which is
called the host.
Or
Parasitism includes a parasite and a host. The parasite lives in or on the host,
satisfying its nutritional needs while weakening the host.
The parasite can come in various sizes. Some are microscopic, and some are highly
visible with bald eyes.
Examples:
When you mention parasites, most people would think “tapeworms”. Tapeworms are
the most commonly known parasite. They live inside the intestines of other living
organisms – mammals specifically. They absorb partially digested food inside the
host’s intestines. But tapeworms are boring.
Next up is Guinea Worms. They are quite like Tapeworms, but quite different, too.
-live inside water flea
-Grow up till 2-3 feet (a 3 years old baby length)
- semi-comes out, giving the person a burning sensation
- Human put the stinging area in water
- comes out of human body
Cymothoa Exigua
Effects fish – mostly red snappers
- Suck blood from tongue
- When they grow, the tongue loses more blood and eventually falls off
- They attach themselves to the leftover tongue muscle (it’s possible,
somehow)
-
The fish can use them as normal tongues
They just continue living
Leucochloridium Paradoxum
Leuy, for short, is born in feces. They have a dream
- Get eaten by snails
- Go into their eyestalks & make them swell like caterpillars
- Now they go into the snail’s brain.
- They make the snail linger in the middle of nowhere
- Birds eat the snails EYESTALKS
- They eat the inside of the birds and once they are full grown, reproduce
- Babies are released through poo
The Emerald Jewel Wasp
- the female wasp isn’t satisfied with just reproducing
- she gets a cockroach as a birthday gift for her dear kids
- she captures a cockroach and quickly penetrate its body, injecting venom
- the venom paralyzes their front part
- she then injects more in a peculiar place of its brain
- this venom blocks very specific receptors of neurotransmitters
- this makes the cockroach drop defense
- then bring the roach to her burrow
- lay eggs on it and then rip of the antennae for blood (energizer)
- goes out of the burrow and block it with pebbles and rocks
- eggs hatch and the baby wasps go inside the still-half-alive roach
- eats the inside and when they grow, they come out
- spread the zombification
Wolbachia
- the Wolbachia destroys the sexual mechanics of entire species
- bacteria that destroys cockroaches, wasps, moths and even other
parasites
- they cause males physically develop into female
- all females start reproducing asexually
- all babies are female
- the species will have females forever
- reason: they can only infect the next generation by female, and so they
destroy all male
Commensalism—a type of symbiosis
--a biological relationship when one species benefits from an interaction. The host
maybe either positively or negatively affected.
[Ex]: epiphytic plants: when grown on another plant they gain access to substrate up
on and grow very high. The host is not affected.
[Ex]: Barnacles sticking to the skin of a whale: When barnacles are crustaceans
(something having a hardy body with a hard shell). This gives a perfect environment
for the barnacle to form. When sticking to a living organism these barnacles are able
to get the nutrients they need. This also does not affect the host.
Commensalism: It is a situation in which two organisms are associated in a
relationship in which one benefits from the other and the other organism is not
affected as much.
The organisms associated in the relationship are called the commensals.
[Ex]: Goby species live on toxic sea-urchins for protection
-Crab+Shrimps love to have relationships with anemones for protection
--Pearlfish normally spends time in the intestines of the sea cucumber and then
comes out from the anus. It feeds on small crustaceans. Living in the sea cucumber
gives it a safe place to live.