Year 9 Science Ecology
Symbiosis
Symbiosis
Symbiosis is the relationship between two living organisms. The main types of symbiosis are mutualism, parasitism and commensalism. The association between the two organisms can be beneficial to one or two of the species or in some cases be harmful, depending on the type of symbiosis.
Commensalism
Commensalism is a biological term which is used to describe the relationship between two living organisms, where in which one benefits from the other without harming it. Commensal species benefits from its host by obtaining food, shelter, transportation and other support. The host species is rarely ever harmed by the Commensal species. The term commensalism was founded in 1876 by Belgian Paleontologist and Zoologist Pierre-Joseph Van Brenden. Commensalisms comes from the latin word “commensalis” which translates to “sharing a table”.
Commensal Relationship
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An example of two animals in a Commensal relationships is the remora fish and shark. The remora fish being the commensal species, attaches itself to its host’s belly using a special sucker disk in its mouth as seen in IMAGE A. It travels alongside the shark and uses it for transportation. The remora fish consumes the parasites which build up on their host’s body and benefits their host by keeping the shark clean. The remora fish also eats any leftover food which was previously consumed by the shark. In short, the remora fish benefits from its host by means of food and the host benefits by keeping clean and free from
Commensalism is when one species can benefit from a relationship and not hurt the other. There are four different main types; chemical, inquilinism, metabiosis and phoresy. Chemical commensalism is most often observed between bacteria. It involves the species of one bacteria feeding on the chemicals produced or the waste products of the other bacteria. Inquilinism involves one species using the body of another organism as a platform or living space while the host does not benefit or is harmed. Metabiosis occurs when one species unintentionally creates a home for another species through one of its normal life activities. A phoresy takes place when one organism attaches to another organism specifically for the purpose of gaining transportation. An example of commensalism (inquilinism) is barnacles and whales. Barnacles are non-moving and they rely on currents to bring them food. Some barnacles attach themselves to whales in order to help them live. They can benefit as they are then transported over the ocean which exposes them to more feeding oppurtunities. The whale neither benefits or is harmed by the barnacles.
Another example that actually portrays a symbiotic relationship well is the relationship between the monkeys and the bird Zazu. Numerous times throughout the movie, monkeys are eating the bugs off of Zazu’s beak and body. This example portrays a good example of mutualism since while the monkeys benefit due to the food, Zazu benefits since the bugs will stop irritating him showing how both benefit. One example in real life that does not however show mutualism is when humans eat tapeworms. This is an example of parasitism since the tapeworms gets food to eat whereas the humans lose their nutrients and might get their stomach enlarged due to the tapeworm growing in size just due to their ambition in losing weight gone wrong.
Harbor seals do not have many relationships, however they have two very important mutualistic-symbiotic relationships. Harbor seals share a mutualistic-symbiotic relationship with eagles. Eagles will eat the seals leftovers, which gives the eagle a meal, and gets rid of scraps that may attract unwanted animals. Harbor seals will also work together to achieve something, usually capturing large amounts of prey, creating a mutualistic relationship. Also harbor seals often
The coyote and badger is a great example of mutualism. Coyotes normally don’t hunt in packs or in tight knit groups but is often found hunting with the badger. The best example would be hunting in prairie dog fields. The coyote takes the prairie dogs on the ground while scaring other dogs into their holes where the badger is. When the badger hunts underground catching it’s prey it also scares dogs up to the ground where the coyote is. So basically the badger and coyote work together to corner up the prairie dogs and eat until they get their fill.
For instance, some shrimp are cannibalistic (National Geographic). Some shrimp hunt and kill other shrimp, even members of their own species. Shrimp are also capable of symbiotic relationships (Omar Badr Films). One such relationship is the goby fish and the pistol shrimp (Omar Badr
For example, a wolf and a tape worm relationship. The wolf is harmed and the tapeworm benefits. The tape worm habitat is in the wolf’s intestines eating all the nutrients that the wolf consumes.
Symbiotic relationships are those that evolve between two organisms that interact in a specific manner with each other. These can range from being facultative, where the relationship is not required by either organism, to interactions that are obligate and are required by both organisms to facilitate survival. There are many mechanisms and processes that bacteria and their hosts can use to initiate and maintain symbiotic interactions and a few examples will be described in this report.
There are different types of how different species in our ecosystem wok together. Relationships doesn’t only occur in humans but also in animals. It my either be mutualism or commensalism, but it can also be parasitism. Parasitism is when one organism is taking advantage of another organism without their free will. It is a way to survive for the parasite to gain nutrients, or even shelter. Mostly all parasites are within an organism internal structure, making it impossible for the host to live their daily activities. Parasites may even be killing their host.
Symbiosis is the interaction between two different organisms living in close physical association typically to the advantage of
This is an example of a symbiotic relationship,
If one faces these symbiotes, at first he most likely will see the burgeon-like body of Anthoza. It looks just like a large flower ready to blossom, spreading sweet aroma around, alluring careless creatures to her. But in fact this is not a flower and not even a plant – it’s a colony of small polyp-like animals, and a burgeon is not their body, but an organic structure
This informational video explains the term symbiosis. In the video, the narrator looks underwater to discover how symbiosis plays a role in aquatic animals. The video also uses animation to goes into in-depth details about mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism. The author also provided an image that gave an excellent summary of each type of relationship; by using the (-) sign to represent a harmful relationship, (+) sign to represent a beneficial relationship and (o) to represent a neither harmful nor beneficial relationship.
Symbiosis – What is It? Symbiosis describes a relationship between two organisms, and there are a variety of different symbiotic relationships that can be observed on the reef. They are:
As an example, parasites are able to flourish by absorbing the nutrients of the organism that it chooses to inhabit. In doing so, the parasite can be seen as having a “home” which while it may cause some damage to the host, ultimately makes sure or attempts to cause fatal harm to the host. This is because it wants to be able to inhabit it for as long as possible. When looking at a predator/ prey relationship, the predator would fundamentally find nourishment from many other organisms in its environment and does not rely on one single “host”. The primary goal is to be able to gather as much energy as it physically can so it can move on to its next prey. What makes parasitoids unique is that it takes characteristics from both of these relationships in order to continue with its life cycle. An Adult parasitoid would inject its young into that of other insects. Once the larvae is developed, It would then carry on to feed from the inside of its host gathering nutrients until it reaches adulthood. Once done, they will leave the host thus continuing on with the
1. A phoretic relationship is when two different species, who benefit from one another, travel together throughout their relationship. An example of phoresis is the species of fly, Dermatobia hominis. The fly attaches the larvae to another insect such as a mosquito and when the mosquito travels and feeds on an animal or human, the eggs hatch and the larvae burrows itself into it’s skin.