Parasitism & Mutualism
- The survival of some organisms in a community is dependent on other species within the same community
- This is known as interdependence
- Two examples of interactions that can create interdependence within a community include:
- Parasitism (parasitic relationships)
- Mutualism (mutualistic relationships)
Parasitic relationships
- Parasites are organisms that are adapted to live very closely with another species, known as the host (or the host species)
- The parasite lives either in or on the body of the host species
- The parasite gains resources (i.e. what it needs in order to survive) from the host
- This can include, food, shelter and a suitable location to reproduce (where offspring can feed and grow)
- However, the host doesn’t get any benefits from this relationship
- In fact, parasites often harm the host in some way
- An example of a parasitic relationship is fleas being a parasite to mammals (e.g. dogs)
- The fleas feed on the host’s blood but don’t provide anything to the host in return
Mutualistic relationships
- A mutualism is a type of relationship between two species within a community, where both organisms benefit in some way
- For example, bees and many species of flowering plants have a mutualistic relationship
- Bees gain nectar (i.e. food to provide them with energy) from flowers
- When bees visit flowers, pollen is transferred to their bodies
- As bees visit multiple different flowers, they spread the pollen to these flowers, pollinating them
- In this way, the flowers gain help in reproducing
