In nature, every organism does not live in isolation, but in close interaction with other species. Their nature can be different - from mutually beneficial to dangerous. In our article, we will get acquainted with examples of lodging, parasitism and sodomy.
The main types of environmental interactions
The most striking manifestations of environmental interactions are spatial and nutritional relationships. The main ones are the following:
- Neutralism in which species do not exert any influence on each other.
- Amensalism, when one species is oppressed, while the other receives neither harm nor benefit.
- Protocooperation is a mutually beneficial, but not mandatory cohabitation of different types.
- Predation is a relationship in which one type is a source of food for others.
- Parasitism - one organism lives off the nutrients of another.
- Commensalism is a type of relationship in which one type benefits clearly without affecting the other. His examples are lodging, parasitism and absenteeism.
Housing: Definition and Examples
In this type of relationship, one organism uses the other as a permanent shelter or temporary shelter. Examples of quartered biology are very common among plants. There is even a separate group of such organisms. They are called epiphytes. This term comes from two Greek words: “epi” - “from above” and “phytos” - “plant”. These include many types of mosses, vines, orchids, ferns.
Epiphytes do not cause any harm to plants that are their place of growth. They are used solely as a support. This feature allows epiphytes not to depend on the state of the soil and to be located closer to the sun. Algae epiphytes also exist, which inhabit other species of lower or aquatic flowering plants.
A typical example of lodging in the animal kingdom is the mustard fish. She lays her eggs in the mantle of the bivalve mollusk, Toothless. This is a reliable protection for future offspring.
On the body of huge buffalo, I live in small birds. They clean the animal’s hair, finding pieces of food for themselves. Therefore, they are called that - drags.
And on the body of sharks, which are dangerous predators, small fish take refuge. They are called so - sticky. With the help of a muscle sucker, they are attached to the body of the predator, traveling for a long time in this way. Sticks can also attach to slopes and turtles.
Small fish can also be found between the tentacles of large jellyfish. Since the former are predators, cod and haddock fry are reliably protected from other dangerous inhabitants of the sea.
Other types of commensalism
In addition to lodging, examples of commensalism are parasitism and cohabitation. In the first case, one animal species eats up the remnants of the food of another. So, hyenas follow the lions, eating the remnants of their prey. Different types of bacteria, which feed on the same chemical elements, are an example of cohabitation .
Thus, commensalism is an ecological type of interaction between organisms, in which one species receives significant benefits, while the other does not feel any harm. Its varieties are lodging, parasitism and absenteeism.