Occasionally this is a parasitic relationship, but usually it is mutualistic.
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But researchers call this relationship "mutualistic" in a study published Wednesday in Biology Letters.
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In one study, however, aggressive spiders in so-called mutualistic relationships suffered compared to docile spiders.
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Other mutualistic teams include ants and acacia trees, pollinators and flowers, and anemones and clown fishes.
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A year later, they formalized the idea in a manifesto supporting multicolored and mutualistic "zebra" companies.
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Few studies have examined the role that personality plays in shaping interactions between species, especially mutualistic interactions.
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Rather, the fittest species are those which coöperate: they cohabit in intricate ecosystems; they are symbiotic and mutualistic.
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His teammates do complement him, yes, but their relationship to him is less mutualistic than Harden's with his own supporting cast.
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Pruitt's most anti-environment quality, however, is conflict of interest, stemming from his mutualistic relationship with the oil and gas industry.
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The US alone faces a loss of more than $14 billion dollars in agricultural revenue, should this mutualistic relationship be allowed to vanish.
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They're not helping the host, so it's not a mutualistic association, but they're not doing a huge amount of damage to the host either.
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It also forms a mutualistic relationship with small Lybia crabs.
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While this is one specific way to enable mutualistic interactions, many others are possible in Avida. Interactions that begin as parasitic may even evolve to be mutualistic under the right conditions. In most cases, coevolution will result in concurrent interactions between multiple phenotypes. Thus, observed networks of mutualistic interactions can inform our understanding about the outcomes and processes of coevolution in complex communities.
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Cichlid–catfish mutualistic defence of young in Lake Malawi, Africa. Oceologia 66: 358–363.
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Despite occasional appearances to the contrary, Aureoboletus mirabilis is mycorrhizal, and forms close mutualistic associations with hemlock roots.
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Perkinsela is a genus of kinetoplastids. Species are obligate intracellular components of Neoparamoeba and their relationship is considered mutualistic.
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So the usual mutualistic exchange of food for pollination is still there; it just exists in a different format.
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Mutualism is often conflated with two other types of ecological phenomena: cooperation and symbiosis. Cooperation refers to increases in fitness through within-species (intraspecific) interactions. Symbiosis involves two species living in proximity and may be mutualistic, parasitic, or commensal, so symbiotic relationships are not always mutualistic. Mutualism plays a key part in ecology.
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T. lanuginosus is a secondary sugar fungus and can participate in mutualistic relationships with some true cellulose decomposers of composts.
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Some other symbiont hosts of Labyrinthula are Chaetomorpha media, a green algae and Thecamoeba hilla where they live as mutualistic symbiont.
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Myrmecophytes share a mutualistic relationship with ants, benefiting both the plants and ants. This association may be either facultative or obligate.
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L. pulchrissimus have a mutualistic relationship with rabbitbrush. The flies feed on its nectar and pollinate the brush in the process.
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They also engage in mutualistic relationship with cleaner gobies of genus Elacatinus, allowing them to feed on ectoparasites on their bodies.
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Hermit crab, Calcinus laevimanus, with sea anemone. Mutualism or interspecies reciprocal altruism is a long-term relationship between individuals of different species where both individuals benefit. Mutualistic relationships may be either obligate for both species, obligate for one but facultative for the other, or facultative for both. Bryoliths document a mutualistic symbiosis between a hermit crab and encrusting bryozoans.
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During the early stages of nodule formation, the plant-rhizobial relationship actually resembles a pathogenesis more than it does a mutualistic association.
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This mutualistic relationship is present throughout the senita moth's range, which suggests there is strong selective pressure on traits that maintain mutualism.
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It might also include the analysis of predator-prey dynamics, competition among similar plant species, or mutualistic interactions between crabs and corals.
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This relationship is sometimes referred to as mycotrophy, though this term is also used for plants that engage in mutualistic mycorrhizal relationships.
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It has been demonstrated that the shrimp has a similar filter-feeding diet to its host and the relationship is likely mutualistic.
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Their young are then brought up together.McKaye, K.R. (1985). Cichlid–catfish mutualistic defence of young in Lake Malawi, Africa. Oceologia 66: 358–363.
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This mutualistic micro- organism lives in the metapleural glands of the ant.. Actinobacteria are responsible for producing the majority of the world's antibiotics today.
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Hornbills have a mutualistic relationship with dwarf mongooses, in which they forage together and warn each other of nearby birds of prey and other predators.
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Acropyga acutiventris is an ant in the subfamily Formicinae. It lives underground in tropical regions and forms a mutualistic association with the mealybug, Xenococcus annandalei.
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Melipona beecheii often has mutualisms with flowering plants. M. beecheii pollinates the flowers by carrying both nectar and pollen between plants, allowing them to collect food for themselves and their colony in the process. While it is not yet clear which specific flowering plants M. beecheii forms mutualistic relationships with, the patterns and habits have been studied so a mutualistic relationship has been confirmed.
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Tegeticula is a genus of moths of the family Prodoxidae, one of three genera known as yucca moths; they are mutualistic pollinators of various Yucca species.
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Microbiology, by Prescott, Harley & Klein 6th editionHenderson's Dictionary of Biology, by Eleanor Lawrence, 14th edition Morris et al. have described the process as "obligately mutualistic metabolism".
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Parategeticula is a genus of moths of the family Prodoxidae, one of three genera known as yucca moths; they are mutualistic pollinators of various Yucca species.
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This ant tends sap-sucking insects to retrieve their honeydew, but it does not have the strong mutualistic relationship with these insects that many other ants do.
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Mutualisms can be broadly divided into two categories. Firstly, obligate mutualism, where two mutualistic partners are completely interdependent for survival and reproduction. Secondly, facultative mutualism, where two mutualistic partners both benefit from the mutualism, but can theoretically survive in each other's absence. Mutualisms are remarkably common, in fact all organisms are believed to be involved in a mutualism at some point during their lives (Bronstein et al. 2004).
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Thus, cheaters can persist in a population because their exploitative behavior gives them an advantage when they exist at low frequencies but these benefits are diminished when they are greater in number. Others have proposed that cheating (exploitive behavior) can stabilize cooperation in mutualistic systems. In many mutualistic systems, there will be feedback benefits to those that cooperate. For instance, the fitness of both partners may be improved.
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Pocillopora spp. have several mutualistic symbionts including the crab, Trapezia sp., and certain snapping shrimps which protect it from attack by its major predator, the crown-of-thorns starfish.
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Ecol Lett 13, 154–161Bastolla, U., et al. (2009) The architecture of mutualistic networks minimizes competition and increases biodiversity. Nature 458, 1018–U1091) and continuing to inspire new research.
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Acropyga epedana is an ant in the subfamily Formicinae. It lives permanently underground in the Chiricahua Mountains in Arizona and forms a mutualistic association with the mealybug Rhizoecus colombiensis.
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This mutualistic relationship is so crucial to the Mediterranean jellyfish's growth and survival that the preliminary step of premature medusa formation will not initiate without the presence of zooxanthellae.
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P. argus lays eggs near nests of Lasius niger, the ant with which they form a mutualistic relationship. This mutualistic relationship benefits the adult butterfly by reducing the need for parental investment. Once the eggs hatch, the ants chaperone the larvae, averting the attacks of predatory organisms like wasps and spiders as well as parasites. In return, the ants receive a saccharine secretion fortified with amino acids from an eversible gland on the larvae's back.
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This is particularly likely to be true for the definition of mutualism adopted here, where herbivory can paradoxically be mutualistic, for example in a situation where a plant overcompensates by producing more biomass when grazed on. Therefore, any species identified as particularly important to conserve will probably have mutualistic partners. It is beyond the purview of this article to discuss all these mutualisms, so the focus will be on specifically animal- plant mutualisms.
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The Plebejus argus butterfly lays eggs near nests of L. niger, forming a mutualistic relationship. This mutualistic relationship benefits the adult butterfly by reducing the need for parental investment. Once the eggs hatch, the ants chaperone the larvae, averting the attacks of predatory organisms like wasps and spiders as well as parasites. In return, the ants receive a saccharine secretion fortified with amino acids from an eversible gland on the larvae's back.
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Cheating and constraints of cheating are not limited to intraspecific interactions; it can also occur in a mutualistic relationship between two species. A common example is the mutualistic relationship between cleaner fish Labroides dimidiatus and reef fish. Bshary and Grutter found that cleaner wrasse prefers the client tissue mucus over ectoparasites. This creates a conflict between the cleaner fish and reef fish, because the reef fish only benefit when the cleaner fish eats the ectoparasites.
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Many host fish have mutualistic arrangements with certain shrimps such as Ancylomenes pedersoni, whereby the fish visits a "cleaning station" and the shrimps remove and feed on the cymothoid parasites.
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Neoparamoeba is a genus of Amoebozoa. Species contain intracellular kinetoplastid parasites, of the genus Perkinsela, which are maintained in close contact with the nucleus and are considered obligatory and mutualistic.
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R. Accad. Sci. Ist. Bologna (5)3:119-152 This ant has a mutualistic relationship with a Cecropia tree. The specific name alfari honours a Costa Rican zoologist Anastasio Alfaro.
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In other words, host-sharing species will not even be sister species and may compete for resources. The origin of cheating within a mutualistic lineage has also been shown in yucca moths.
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Mycorrhizal amelioration of heavy metals or pollutants is a process by which mycorrhizal fungi in a mutualistic relationship with plants can sequester toxic compounds from the environment, as a form of bioremediation.
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Others harbour mutualistic algae (Zooxanthellae) in their tissues; the spotted jellyfish (Mastigias papua) is typical of these, deriving part of its nutrition from the products of photosynthesis, and part from captured zooplankton.
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The alloparent-young relationship can be mutualistic or parasitic, and between or within species. Cooperative breeding, joint brood care, reciprocal allonursing, brood parasitism and cuckoldry represent situations in which alloparenting plays a role.
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Girl with young cat Cat on a walk being held affectionately Hundreds of millions of cats are kept as pets around the world. Cats have either a mutualistic or commensal relationship with humans.
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Dinoroseobacter shibae is a facultative anaerobic anoxygenic photoheterotroph belonging to the family, Rhodobacteraceae. First isolated from washed cultivated dinoflagellates, they have been reported to have mutualistic as well as pathogenic symbioses with dinoflagellates.
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Decomposition of the fecal pellet by the microbes increases its nutrient value and the isopod is able to re-ingest the pellets. When the isopods consume nutrient-poor litter, the microbes enrich it for them and isopods prevented from eating their own feces can die. This mutualistic relationship has been called an “external rumen”, similar to the mutualistic relationship between bacteria and cows. While the bacterial symbionts of cows live inside the rumen of their stomach, isopods depend on microbes outside their body.
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Rhizopogon vinicolor is a species complex of ectomycorrhizal fungus which forms a mutualistic relationship with the Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga spp.). The species was first described scientifically by American mycologist Alexander H. Smith in 1966.
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Many of these organisms contribute to the formation of reefs. Also, Unicellular dinoflagellates live in the tissues of corals, and have a mutualistic relationship in which the dinoflagellates provide the corals with organic molecules.
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5 - 20% of the total plant carbon fixed during photosynthesis is supplied as root exudates in support of rhizospheric mutualistic biota. Microbial populations are typically higher in the rhizosphere than in adjacent bulk soil.
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At both small and large spatiotemporal scales, mutualistic interactions influence patterns of species richness, distribution, and abundance.J.J. Stachowicz, "Mutualism, Facilitation, and the Structure of Ecological Communities," BioScience, vol. 51, Mar. 2001, pp. 235-246.
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This case of interspecific brood care, which in some cases results in full adoption, is unique in that it is uncommon to see care of heterospecifics where the relationship is mutualistic for all parties.
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Ralfsia verrucosa is a species of crustose brown seaweed in the family Ralfsiaceae. It grows intertidally in temperate waters around the world. In South Africa it is part of a mutualistic relationship with a limpet.
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Wilkie 1998. They maintain a mutualistic relationship with certain plants; the plants serve as a nutritious and abundant food source for the duikers, and simultaneously benefit from the extensive dispersal of their seeds by the duikers.
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Mutualistic networks made up out of the interaction between plants and pollinators were found to have a similar structure in very different ecosystems on different continents, consisting of entirely different species. The structure of these mutualistic networks may have large consequences for the way in which pollinator communities respond to increasingly harsh conditions and on the community carrying capacity. Mathematical models that examine the consequences of this network structure for the stability of pollinator communities suggest that the specific way in which plant-pollinator networks are organized minimizes competition between pollinators, reduce the spread of indirect effects and thus enhance ecosystem stabilitySuweis, S., Grilli, J., Banavar, J. R., Allesina, S., & Maritan, A. (2015) Effect of localization on the stability of mutualistic ecological networks. "Nature Communications", 6 and may even lead to strong indirect facilitation between pollinators when conditions are harsh.
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Zooflagellates have one or more flagella but do not have plastids or cell walls. A few are mutualistic, such as those that live in the guts of termites and aid the bacteria present in breaking down wood.
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In this mutualistic relationship, the fungus derives its own nutrition from the roots. In its interactions with the soil, kauri is thus able to starve its competitors of much needed nutrients and compete with much younger lineages.
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Some of the research done on Wolinella succinogenes includes its mutualistic relationship with hydrogen-producing organisms, including Ruminococcus albus. Their relationship is based on interspecies hydrogen transfer. Wolinella succinogenes molecular hydrogen using a fumarate reductase, producing succinate.
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It is believed that approximately 22% of Scotoplanes globosa are attended by at least one of these crabs. At this time, scientists are unsure whether the relationship between S. globosa and N. diomedea is mutualistic or commensal.
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Muscatine, Leonard, and Howard Lenhoff. "Symbiosis: On the Role of Algae Symbiotic with Hydra." Science 142 (19681): 956-58.e This work was significant in establishing the presence of mutualistic relationships in both aquatic and terrestrial environments.
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The parasitic relationship between P. rebeli caterpillars and their ant hosts is thought to have evolved from a mutualistic relationship. P. rebeli larvae prey upon ant brood while producing sugar-rich secretions which worker ants imbibe. In an experiment, P. rebeli individuals which consumed ant larvae developed more quickly than those who did not. In addition, despite their nourishing offering to the ant colony, they invariably imposed a net loss in the survival rates of workers and brood, demonstrating that the species is parasitic (rather than mutualistic) at all stages in its host colony.
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An ant guards its aphids Ants tending aphids Some species of ants farm aphids, protecting them on the plants where they are feeding, and consuming the honeydew the aphids release from the terminations of their alimentary canals. This is a mutualistic relationship, with these dairying ants milking the aphids by stroking them with their antennae. Although mutualistic, the feeding behaviour of aphids is altered by ant attendance. Aphids attended by ants tend to increase the production of honeydew in smaller drops with a greater concentration of amino acids.
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Mycorrhiza, a mutualistic interaction between a plant's roots and a fungus Some hosts participate in fully mutualistic interactions with both organisms being completely dependent on the other. For example, termites are hosts to the protozoa that live in their gut and which digest cellulose, and the human gut flora is essential for efficient digestion. Many corals and other marine invertebrates house zooxanthellae, single-celled algae, in their tissues. The host provides a protected environment in a well-lit position for the algae, while benefiting itself from the nutrients produced by photosynthesis which supplement its diet.
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Siegel M. R. and L. P. Bush. (1997). Toxin production in grass/endophyte associations. Plant Relationships. 185-207. This association between tall fescue and the fungal endophyte is a mutualistic symbiotic relationship (both symbionts derive benefits from it).
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Arsenophonus is a genus of Morganellaceae, of the Gammaproteobacteria. Arsenophonus are an increasingly discovered symbiont of insects from a diversity of insect taxa. Arsenophonus species are usually male-killers or mutualistic endosymbionts. Arsenophonus nasoniae infects the Nasonia parasitic wasps.
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However, the symbiosis is not mutualistic in all circumstances and may often be parasitic, with a detrimental effect on plant growth. Rarely, some plant species can parasitise the fungi. Spores of Glomus prior to germinating produce an electric current.
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Adults feed on nectar while caterpillars can feed on buckwheats, lupines, trefoils, and milkvetches. Like many other lycaenid butterflies, it has a mutualistic relationship with ants, who protect Acmon blue larvae in exchange for honeydew that the larvae secrete.
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A member of the genus Caristius associates with the siphonophore Bathyphysa conifera, using it for shelter, stealing meals, and perhaps nibbling on its host as well, yet protecting it from amphipod parasites such as Themisto. This symbiotic relationship appears mutualistic.
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Many fungi have important symbiotic relationships with organisms from most if not all kingdoms. These interactions can be mutualistic or antagonistic in nature, or in the case of commensal fungi are of no apparent benefit or detriment to the host.
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Chlorogonium is a genus of green algae in the family Haematococcaceae.See the NCBI webpage on Chlorogonium. Data extracted from the This alga has a notable mutualistic relationship with the American toad, allowing the tadpoles to develop faster when covered with Chlorogonium.
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Irrawaddy dolphins have a mutualistic relationship of co-operative fishing with traditional fishers. Fishers in India recall when they would call out to the dolphins, by tapping a wooden key also known as a lahai kway,Koss, Melissa. "Orcaella Brevirostris." Animaldiversity.umich.edu.
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Kirkus Reviews praised the novel's "strong, supple narrative with tense action." Brian Stableford argues that the novel and other of her works such as Fledgling hover between parasitism and mutualistic symbiosis since the aliens may confer powers, but at a price.
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Whether the relationship between humans and some types of gut flora is commensal or mutualistic is still unanswered. Some biologists argue that any close interaction between two organisms is unlikely to be completely neutral for either party, and that relationships identified as commensal are likely mutualistic or parasitic in a subtle way that has not been detected. For example, epiphytes are "nutritional pirates" that may intercept substantial amounts of nutrients that would otherwise go to the host plant. Large numbers of epiphytes can also cause tree limbs to break or shade the host plant and reduce its rate of photosynthesis.
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A. fischeri colonization of the light organ of the Hawaiian Bobtail Squid is currently studied as simple model for mutualistic symbiosis, as it contains only two species and A. fischeri can be cultured in a lab and genetically modified. This mutualistic symbiosis functions primarily due to A. fischeri bioluminescence. A. fischeri colonizes the light organ of the Hawaiian Bobtail Squid and luminesces at night, providing the squid with counter-illumination camouflage, which prevents the squid from casting a shadow on the ocean floor. A. fischeri colonization occurs in juvenile squids and induces morphological changes the squids light organ.
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Phenotypic strategy switches of microbes capable of provoking sepsis Some authors suggest that initiating sepsis by the normally mutualistic (or neutral) members of the microbiome may not always be an accidental side effect of the deteriorating host immune system. Rather it is often an adaptive microbial response to a sudden decline of host survival chances. Under this scenario, the microbe species provoking sepsis benefit from monopolizing the future cadaver, utilizing its biomass as decomposers, and then transmitting through soil or water to establish mutualistic relations with new individuals. The bacteria Streptococcus pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, Proteus spp.
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In a cleaning symbiosis, the clownfish feeds on small invertebrates that otherwise have potential to harm the sea anemone, and the fecal matter from the clownfish provides nutrients to the sea anemone. The clownfish is protected from predators by the anemone's stinging cells, to which the clownfish is immune. The clownfish emits a high pitched sound that deters butterfly fish, which would otherwise eat the anemone, making the relationship appear mutualistic. Symbiosis (from Greek , , "living together", from , , "together", and , bíōsis, "living"), , is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different biological organisms, be it mutualistic, commensalistic, or parasitic.
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Of the three species, N. rajah shows the tightest 'fit', particularly in the green waveband. In 2011, it was reported that N. rajah has a similar mutualistic relationship with the summit rat (Rattus baluensis).Wells, K., M.B. Lakim, S. Schulz & M. Ayasse 2011.
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At least 59 infaunal species have been recorded from the pitchers of N. ampullaria.Adlassnig, W., M. Peroutka & T. Lendl 2011. Traps of carnivorous pitcher plants as a habitat: composition of the fluid, biodiversity and mutualistic activities. Annals of Botany 107(2): 181–194.
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A. pubescens, like most leafcutter ants, subsist mostly through a mutualistic relationship with fungi of the genus Leucocoprinus. They cultivate the fungi with masticated leaves taken from nearby trees. They are mostly found in isolated 'islands' of trees found in Paraguayan chaco savannahs.
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In symbioses involving cyanobacteria, at least one of the partners must be photoautotrophic in order to generate sufficient amounts of carbon for the mutualistic system. This role is usually allocated to cyanobionts in symbiotic relationships with non-photosynthetic partners such as marine invertebrates.
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The Agaonidae (fig wasps) are the only pollinators of nearly 1000 species of figs, and thus are crucial to the survival of their host plants. Since the wasps are equally dependent on their fig trees for survival, the coevolved relationship is fully mutualistic.
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Colletotrichum (sexual stage: Glomerella) is a genus of fungi that are symbionts to plants as endophytes (living within the plant) or phytopathogens. Many of the species in this genus are plant pathogens, but some species may have a mutualistic relationship with hosts.
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The family Agaonidae is a group of pollinating and nonpollinating fig wasps. They spend their larval stage inside the fruits of figs. The pollinating wasps (Agaoninae, Kradibiinae, and Tetrapusiinae) are the mutualistic partners of the fig trees. The nonpollinating fig wasps are parasitic.
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Like most other corals, they contain photosynthetic algae, called zooxanthellae. Dipsastraea speciosa and the algae have a mutualistic relationship. The algae live within the coral polyps and use sunlight to make energy. The coral provides protection and the compounds needed for photosynthesis.
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The species name is inherited from Tegeticula corruptrix, a derived parasitic species of yucca moth. Epicephala corruptrix has a potential to corrupt the mutualistic relationship with its host because the species induces gall formation in pollinated flowers which then hardly produce seeds.
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Insects may also form adaptations to contend with ant aggression, resulting in either mutualistic or parasitic bonds with ant colonies. Some beetles from the family Coccinellidae have developed behaviors, body shapes, and chemical mimicry in order to prey on ant-tended aphids.
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The ants provide protection from predators. Treehoppers mimic thorns to prevent predators from spotting them. Others have formed mutualisms with wasps, such as Parachartergus apicalis. Even geckos form mutualistic relations with treehoppers, with whom they communicate by small vibrations of the abdomen.
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V. harveyi is a pathogen of several aquatic animals, and is notable as a cause of luminous vibriosis in shrimp (prawns). V. fischeri (or Aliivibrio fishceri) is known for its mutualistic symbiosis with the Hawaiian bobtail squid, which is dependent on microbial luminescence.
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Jordano obtained his bachelor's degree in the University of Cordoba, in Spain, in Biology, Ecology and evolutionary biology. His Ph.D is from the University of Sevilla, Spain where he focused on ecological and evolutionary consequences of mutualistic interactions between animals and plants.
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However, Myristica is probably pollinated by true ants, a case of myrmecophily. A few New Guinea Myristica species have evolved hollow stem swellings in which ants reside. This facilitates a mutualistic relationship known as myrmecophily, and is similar to that of Cecropia.
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Rhizobium leguminosarum is a bacterium which lives in a mutualistic symbiotic relationship with legumes, and has the ability to fix free nitrogen from the air. R. leguminosarum has been very thoroughly studied—it has been the subject of more than a thousand publications.
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Elateroidea) appeared. The first jewel beetles (e.g. Buprestidae) are present, but they remained rare until the Cretaceous. The first scarab beetles were not coprophagous but presumably fed on rotting wood with the help of fungus; they are an early example of a mutualistic relationship.
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This extra growth probably strengthens the coral and at the same time provides protection for the worm. It appears to be a mutualistic arrangement, the worm sometimes stealing food particles from the coral polyps, but also helping keep the coral surface clear of sediment.
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Pagurus dalli, commonly known as the whiteknee hermit, is a species of hermit crab in the family Paguridae. It is found in the northeastern Pacific Ocean at depths down to about . It usually lives in a mutualistic symbiosis with a sponge, or sometimes a hydroid.
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This type of mycorrhiza occurs in the subfamily Monotropoideae of the Ericaceae, as well as several genera in the Orchidaceae. These plants are heterotrophic or mixotrophic and derive their carbon from the fungus partner. This is thus a non-mutualistic, parasitic type of mycorrhizal symbiosis.
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The green-headed hillstar is one of few hillstars that appears to have a mutualistic relationship with the Chuqiraga plant genus. an estimate of 91% of its range overlaps with that of the Chugiraga. This Plant genus is reliant on northern hillstars for pollination.
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Vertical transmission of symbionts is the transfer of a microbial symbiont from the parent directly to the offspring. Many metazoan species carry symbiotic bacteria which play a mutualistic, commensal, or parasitic role. A symbiont is acquired by a host via horizontal, vertical, or mixed transmission.
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This relationship appears to be mutualistic, with the plant providing shelter for the bats and in return receiving additional nitrogen input in the form of faeces. It has been estimated that the plant derives 34% of its total foliar nitrogen from the bats' droppings.
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Note that the wasp example is not incidental; bees, which, it is postulated, evolved specifically due to mutualistic plant relationships, are descended from wasps. Animals are also involved in the distribution of seeds. Fruit, which is formed by the enlargement of flower parts, is frequently a seed- dispersal tool that attracts animals to eat or otherwise disturb it, incidentally scattering the seeds it contains (see frugivory). Although many such mutualistic relationships remain too fragile to survive competition and to spread widely, flowering proved to be an unusually effective means of reproduction, spreading (whatever its origin) to become the dominant form of land plant life.
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Researchers have again tried to demonstrate the absolute minimal level of evolution needed to secure a yucca plant and moth mutualism. The researchers attempt to find an answer as to how integral coevolution was as the driving force behind various adaptions between the yucca moth and plant species. Phylogenetic examination was also used here to reconstruct the trait evolution of the pollinating yucca moths and their non-mutualistic variants. Certain mutualistic traits have predated the yucca moth-plant mutualism, such as larval feeding in the floral ovary; however, it suggests that other key traits linked to pollination were indeed a result of coevolution between the two species.
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Groups of organisms, that is greater than a single pair of a host and parasite, can also form mutualistic ectosymbiotic interactions. Bark beetles can work in a dynamic mutualistic fashion with fungi and mites attached to their exoskeletons, both of which feed off of trees to provide vital energy to the beetles while the beetles provide necessary organic material to the fungi and mites to survive. In this case, the relationship between the fungi and mites is functional because while both do the same job, they are optimally functional at different temperatures. Mutualist interactions can be evolutionary unstable because of the constant battle to maximize one's self- benefits.
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The first host to be noticed in ancient times was human: human parasites such as hookworm are recorded from ancient Egypt from 3000 BC onwards, while in ancient Greece, the Hippocratic Corpus describes human bladder worm. The medieval Persian physician Avicenna recorded human and animal parasites including roundworms, threadworms, the Guinea worm and tapeworms. In Early Modern times, Francesco Redi recorded animal parasites, while the microscopist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek observed and illustrated the protozoan Giardia lamblia from "his own loose stools". Hosts to mutualistic symbionts were recognised more recently, when in 1877 Albert Bernhard Frank described the mutualistic relationship between a fungus and an alga in lichens.
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Instead, it harbors a community of algae, zooplankton, and debris in the bladders that indicates U. purpurea favors a mutualistic interaction in place of a predator–prey relationship.Richards, J.H. (2001) Bladder function in Utricularia purpurea (Lentibulariaceae): Is carnivory important? American Journal of Botany, 88(1): 170–176.
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Houseflies (Musca domestica) have a mutualistic relationship with the bacterium K. oxytoca. This bacterium can live on the surface of the housefly eggs and has a deterrent effect on the fungi growing in manure, thus benefiting the fly larvae which are competing with the fungi for nutrients.
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These functions serve not only to protect the larva from other bacteria, but they also digest complex molecules which allow the larva to easily absorb nutrients without expending a lot of energy. The bacteria, in turn, receive a supply of food which results in a mutualistic relationship.
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Multiple species can join the protective cooperative, expanding the mimicry ring. Müller thus provided an explanation for Bates' paradox; the mimicry was not, in his view, a case of exploitation by one species, but rather a mutualistic arrangement, though his mathematical model indicated a pronounced asymmetry.
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Tierra del Sol Institute. Tucson, Arizona. 2010. There may actually be some mutualistic interactions between the parasite and the host in some Phoradendron species. The presence of Phoradendron juniperinum on host Juniperus monosperma, for example, has been suggested to increase dispersal of the host's seeds by birds.
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In other words, cheating is a stable strategy used by individuals in a population where many other individuals cooperate. Another study supports that cheating can exist as a mixed strategy with mutualism using a mathematical game model. Thus, cheating can arise and be maintained in mutualistic populations.
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They saw a decrease in the rhizobium reproductive success by 50%. West et al. created a model for legume sanctioning the bacteria and hypothesizes that these behaviors exist to stabilize mutualistic interactions. Another well-known example of plant-organism interaction occurs between yuccas and yucca moths.
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This common practice has led to producers branching out and selling not only bumblebees but other insects who may have mutualistic relationships with plants. The total profit of this industry has been recorded to produce over €111 million a year, with €61 million coming in from bumblebees alone.
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The collection remains at Kazan University. It had recently been shown that each lichen species consisted of a mutualistic symbiosis between a fungus and one or more algae. This may have inspired his theory of symbiogenesis. Merezhkovsky rejected Darwinian evolution, believing that natural selection could not explain biological novelty.
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In a mycorrhizal association, the fungus colonizes the host plant's root tissues, either intracellularly as in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF or AM), or extracellularly as in ectomycorrhizal fungi. The association is sometimes mutualistic. In particular species or in particular circumstances mycorrhizae may have a parasitic association with host plants.
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JMBA2-Biodiversity Records: 1-6. This species can reach in total length. The most common host of the whalesucker appears to be the blue whale. Chitinous material indicative of parasitic copepods or amphipods have been found in the stomachs of whalesuckers, suggesting a mutualistic relationship with their hosts.
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The tripartite Xenorhabdus- nematode-insect interaction represents a model system in which both mutualistic and pathogenic processes can be studied in a single bacterial species. In laboratory, some species are virulent directly injected within the insect host, whereas others species need the nematode to penetrate into the insect.
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However, the resin, unlike mucilage, is unable to carry digestive enzymes. Therefore, Roridula species do not directly benefit from the insects they catch. Instead, they form a mutualistic symbiosis with species of assassin bugs that eat the trapped insects. The plant benefits from the nutrients in the bugs' feces.
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This is due to the limited benefits offered to both the parasite and the host, with the possible outcome for at least one of the species to die out if the other species begins to take advantage of the other. In the case that the mutualistic behavior persists for enough generations, the dynamic can evolve into parasitism, which is a more stable dynamic due to the increased benefit to the parasite that propagates the behavior. In this case the parasite takes advantage of the previously mutualistic host and parasite dynamic, gaining greater benefits for itself. The head louse is an ectosymbiotic parasite that feeds off of the blood of humans by attaching itself to the scalp.
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Some species form elaborate chambers and tunnels that house scale insects with top and bottom layers while others form a very thin hyphal network. Microscopic characteristics, such as the number of basidiospores produced on a basidia, presence of pillars supporting the top layer (if applicable), number of cells in a basidia, and shape of haustoria (infectious cells) that form within the scale insects are used to distinguish species. Septobasidium is unique in that it is one of a few genera within the family Septobasidaceae that exists in symbiotic relationships with scale insects ranging from obligately parasitic to mutualistic. This type of fungus is fairly unique for having a mutualistic relationship with scale insect hosts, rather than killing them.
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Syntrophy has been hypothesized to play a significant role in energy- and nutrient-limited environments, such as deep subsurface, where it can help the microbial community with diverse functional properties to survive, grow and produce maximum amount of energy. Anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) is carried out by mutualistic consortium of a sulfate-reducing bacterium and an anaerobic methane-oxidizing archaeon. The reaction used by the bacterial partner for the production of H2 is endergonic (and so thermodynamically unfavored) however, when coupled to the reaction used by archaeal partner, the overall reaction becomes exergonic. Thus the two organisms are in a mutualistic relationship which allows them to grow and thrive in an environment, deadly for either species alone.
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Azteca is a strictly Neotropical genus of ants in the subfamily Dolichoderinae. The genus is very diverse and contains around 84 extant species and two fossil species. They are essentially arboreal and many species have mutualistic associations with particular plant species, where the genus Cecropia presents the most conspicuous association.
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According to the American mutualist William Batchelder Greene, each worker in the mutualist system would receive "just and exact pay for his work; services equivalent in cost being exchangeable for services equivalent in cost, without profit or discount".Greene, William Batchelder (1875). "Communism versus Mutualism". Socialistic, Communistic, Mutualistic and Financial Fragments.
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Because C. sjostedti benefits from the holes created by boring beetle larvae, this species facilitates parasitism of trees by the beetles. As a result, the mutualistic relationship between whistling thorn trees and resident ants breaks down in the absence of large herbivores, and trees become paradoxically less healthy as a result.
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As with most legumes, snow peas host beneficial bacteria, rhizobia, in their root nodules, which fix nitrogen in the soil—this is called a mutualistic relationship—and are therefore a useful companion plant, especially useful to grow intercropped with green, leafy vegetables that benefit from high nitrogen content in their soil.
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Once the elaiosome is consumed the seed is usually discarded in underground middens or ejected from the nest. Although diaspores are seldom distributed far from the parent plant, myrmecochores also benefit from this predominantly mutualistic interaction through dispersal to favourable locations for germination as well as escape from seed predation.
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The genera Anthorrhiza, Hydnophytum, Myrmecodia, Myrmephytum, and Squamellaria are succulent epiphytes that have evolved a mutualistic relationship with ants. Their hypocotyl grows out into an ant-inhabited tuber. Some shrubs or trees have ant holes in their stems (e.g. Globulostylis). Some Rubiaceae species have domatia that are inhabited by mites (viz.
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A large percentage of herbivores have mutualistic gut flora to help them digest plant matter, which is more difficult to digest than animal prey. This gut flora is made up of cellulose-digesting protozoans or bacteria living in the herbivores' intestines."symbiosis." The Columbia Encyclopedia. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008.
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Bascompte, J., Jordano, P., Melián, C. J., & Olesen, J. M. (2003). The nested assembly of plant–animal mutualistic networks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 100(16), 9383-9387. : The structure of plant-pollinator networks may have large consequences for the way in which pollinator communities respond to increasingly harsh conditions.
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While carrion flowers do produce a small amount of nectar, this does not necessarily make its relationship to necrophagous insects mutualistic. Insects lay eggs on the carrion flowers, meaning they mistake them for oviposition sites. The nectar acts as a lure to bring the insects closer to the reproductive parts of the flower.
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Kirchhoff, T. (2020). The myth of Frederic Clements’s mutualistic organicism, or: on the necessity to distinguish different concepts of organicism. History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, 42(2), article 24. Clements observed little overlap in kinds of species from type to type, with many species confined to just a single type.
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Because predators and prey move around in and use information about their environment, these experiments are typically carried out using spatially structured populations. On the other hand, host- parasite and mutualistic coevolution are often done in well-mixed environments, though the choice of the environment is at the discretion of the experimenter.
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Polistes instabilis seem to have a mutualistic relationship with Croton suberosus, a neotropical shrub. The shrub produces nectar as a reward to pollinators. In return for pollinating, workers get to feed on the nectar. In addition, workers defend the shrub against herbivores such as caterpillars that are trying to feed on it.
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Such effects are most severe in mutualistic and parasitic relationships. An example of coextinction is the Haast's eagle and the moa: the Haast's eagle was a predator that became extinct because its food source became extinct. The moa were several species of flightless birds that were a food source for the Haast's eagle.
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Altering the environment puts stress on a plant to increase its phenotypic plasticity, causing species to change faster than predicted. These plastic responses will help the plants respond to a fast changing environment. Understanding how native species change in response to the environment will help gather conclusions of how mutualistic relationships will react.
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He described many gall wasp species. In 1842, Theodor Hartig described what is now known as the Hartig net, a network of fungal hyphae that penetrate feeder roots and surround epidermal cells. The Hartig net is part of the structure of ectomycorrizae, mutualistic symbioses between fungi and plant roots. He died in Braunschweig.
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Mycorrhiza is a type of mutualistic symbiotic association between plants and fungi, which are well-equipped to absorb nutrients, including phosphorus, in soil. These fungi can increase nutrient uptake in soil where phosphorus has been fixed by aluminum, calcium, and iron. Mycorrhizae can also release organic acids that solubilize otherwise unavailable phosphorus.
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Glistening Carnivores: the Sticky-leaved Insect-eating Plants. Poole, Dorset, England: Redfern Natural History Productions. It benefits indirectly from catching prey, as several species of Pameridea are unaffected by the stickiness of the leaves. R. dentata then absorbs the nitrogen from the droppings of the insects, resulting in an obligate mutualistic relationship.
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It is well accepted and understood that there is a mutualistic relationship between plants and rhizobial bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi enabling the plants to survive in an otherwise nitrogen-poor soil environment. Co-evolution is described as a situation where two organisms evolve in response to one another. In a study reported in Functional Ecology,Functional Ecology, Vo. 26, Issue 2, pages 457–468, Luke G. Barrett, Linda M. Broadhurst, and Peter H. Thrall these scientists investigated whether such a mutualistic relationship conferred an evolutionary advantage to either plant or symbiont. They did not find that the rhizobial bacteria studied had any evolutionary advantage with their host but did find great genetic variation among the populations of rhizobial bacteria studied.
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Myrmecochory is thus a coevolved mutualistic relationship between plants and seed-disperser ants. Myrmecochory has independently evolved at least 100 times in flowering plants and is estimated to be present in at least 11 000 species, but likely up to 23 000 or 9% of all species of flowering plants. Myrmecochorous plants are most frequent in the fynbos vegetation of the Cape Floristic Region of South Africa, the kwongan vegetation and other dry habitat types of Australia, dry forests and grasslands of the Mediterranean region and northern temperate forests of western Eurasia and eastern North America, where up to 30–40% of understorey herbs are myrmecochorous. Speed dispersal by ants is a mutualistic relationship and benefits both the ant and the plant.
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Three African bird species (Village Weaver Ploceus cucullatus, Common Bulbul Pycnonotus barbatus, and Mouse‐brown Sunbird Anthreptes gabonicus) regularly feed on the sap flowing from holes made by local wine tappers in Oil‐palm trees Elaies guineensis in the Bijagós archipelago, Guinea‐Bissau. However, the most familiar examples of increased access to resources through facilitation are the mutualistic transfers of nutrients between symbiotic organisms. A symbiosis is a prolonged, close association between organisms, and some examples of mutualistic symbioses include: ; Gut flora:Associations between a host species and a microbe living in the host’s digestive tract, wherein the host provides habitat and nourishment to the microbe in exchange for digestive services. For example, termites receive nourishment from cellulose digested by microbes inhabiting their gut.
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It is a myrmecophyte noted for its mutualistic association with a species of ant, Camponotus schmitzi. As an ant-fed plant it lacks many of the features that characterise the carnivorous syndrome in Nepenthes, including viscoelastic and highly acidic pitcher fluid, the waxy zone of the pitcher interior, and possibly even functional digestive enzymes.
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The most notable positive relationship is that of roots and mycorrhizae. It is estimated that 80-90% of plants are colonized by mycorrhizae in nature. Mycorrhizae are known to promote plant growth and increase water use efficiency. Plants establish these mutualistic relationships with bacteria and fungi by modulating the composition of the root exudates.
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Electron micrograph of Caenorhabditis elegans.jpg Caenorhabditis elegans- microbe interactions are defined as any interaction that encompasses the association with microbes that temporarily or permanently live in or on the nematode C. elegans. The microbes can engage in a commensal, mutualistic or pathogenic interaction with the host. These include bacterial, viral, unicellular eukaryotic, and fungal interactions.
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Populations of mutualistic myrmecophyte-inhabiting ants may be space limited, and therefore P. spinicola use the largest-volume thorns for the queen's chamber and other large-volume thorns for egg nurseries. The smallest eggs will be found in the queen's chamber, before being redistributed to other larger thorns to be nursed through early life stages.
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Animal Behavior 69, 117–126 (2005). There are also potential mutualistic benefits for individuals involved in the alliance 3. Such benefits may include more effective female guarding which in turn further enhances the reproductive success of alliance members. These findings further demonstrate that the formation of male alliances is highly variable and context dependent.
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Moraxella osloensis is a Gram-negative oxidase-positive, aerobic bacterium within the family Moraxellaceae in the gamma subdivision of the purple bacteria. M. osloensis is a mutualistic symbiont of the slug-parasitic nematode Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita. In nature, Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita vectors M. osloensis into the shell cavity of the slug host in which the bacteria multiply and kill the slug.
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A number of hornbills have associations with other animal species. For example, some species of hornbills in Africa have a mutualistic relationship with dwarf mongooses, foraging together and warning each other of nearby birds of prey and other predators. Other relationships are commensal, for example following monkeys or other animals and eating the insects flushed up by them.
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Species with many links tend to establish interactions both within and among environments and to exhibit a greater contribution to nestedness.Vidal, Mariana M., Erica Hasui, Marco A. Pizo, Jorge Y. Tamashiro, Wesley R. Silva, and Paulo R. Guimarães. "Frugivores at Higher Risk of Extinction Are the Key Elements of a Mutualistic Network." Ecology 95.12 (2014): 3440-447. Web.
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Lichen associations may be examples of mutualism, commensalism or even parasitism, depending on the species. There is evidence to suggest that the lichen symbiosis is parasitic or commensalistic, rather than mutualistic. The photosynthetic partner can exist in nature independently of the fungal partner, but not vice versa. Photobiont cells are routinely destroyed in the course of nutrient exchange.
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Primary endosymbionts are usually transmitted exclusively vertically, and the relationship is always mutualistic and generally obligate for both partners. Primary endosymbiosis is surprisingly common. An estimated 15% of insect species, for example, harbor this type of endosymbiont. In contrast, secondary endosymbiosis is often facultative, at least from the host point of view, and the associations are less ancient.
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When disturbed, it releases compounds that inhibit the locomotion of other fish. At high enough concentrations, the toxin causes the predator to lose equilibrium and tip over. It takes part in a mutualistic relationship with a species of coral, Acropora nasuta. When the coral is damaged by toxic Chlorodesmis algae, it produces a compound that attracts the fish.
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Hummingbirds and the plants they visit for nectar have a tight co-evolutionary association, generally called a plant–bird mutualistic network. These birds show high specialization and modularity, especially in communities with high species richness. These associations are also observed when closely related hummingbirds, for example two species of the same genus, visit distinct sets of flowering species.
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Microflora are a community of bacteria that exist on or inside the body, and possess a unique ecological relationship with the host. This relationship encompasses a wide variety of microorganisms and the interactions between microbes. These interactions are often a mutualistic relationships between the host and autochthonous flora. Microflora responsible for harmful diseases are often allochthonous flora.
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The relationship between plants and mycorrhizal fungi is an example of mutualism because plants provides fungi with carbohydrates and mycorrhizal fungi help plants absorb more water and nutrients. Since mycorrhizal fungi increase plants' uptake of below-ground resources, plants who form a mutualistic relationship with fungi have stimulated shoot growth and a higher shoot to root ratio.
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The frog has been spotted in close association with the Colombian lesserblack tarantula. It is possible that they have a mutualistic relationship in which the spider may protect the frog and its eggs from predators while the frog protects the spider's eggs from ants, as observed between frog Chiasmocleis ventrimaculata and the same species of tarantula.
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Chiasmocleis ventrimaculata, also known as the dotted humming frog, is a species of frog in the family Microhylidae. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, swamps, and intermittent freshwater marshes. The frog is known to have a mutualistic relationship with the burrowing tarantula Xenesthis immanis.
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Mutualistic relationships can be thought of as a form of "biological barter" in mycorrhizal associations between plant roots and fungi, with the plant providing carbohydrates to the fungus in return for primarily phosphate but also nitrogenous compounds. Other examples include rhizobia bacteria that fix nitrogen for leguminous plants (family Fabaceae) in return for energy- containing carbohydrates.
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At least 21 species of fungus have a mutualistic relationship with hazel. Lactarius pyrogalus grows almost exclusively on hazel, and hazel is one of two kinds of host for the rare Hypocreposis rhododrendri. Several rare species of Graphidion lichen depend on hazel trees. In the UK, five species of moth are specialised to feed on hazel including Parornix devoniella.
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Effects of DSE on host plants range from pathogenic to mutualistic, depending on environmental factors as well as both host and fungus genotypes. However, the majority of DSE studied showed that inoculation of DSE increased total, root, and shoot biomass by up to 80%.Newsham, K.K. 2011. A meta-analysis of plant responses to dark septate root endophytes.
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The grizzly bear has several relationships with its ecosystem. One such relationship is a mutualistic relationship with fleshy-fruit bearing plants. After the grizzly consumes the fruit, the seeds are excreted and thereby dispersed in a germinable condition. Some studies have shown germination success is indeed increased as a result of seeds being deposited along with nutrients in feces.
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Nepenthes rajah has evolved a mutualistic relationship with mountain treeshrews (Tupaia montana) in order to collect their droppings. The inside of the reflexed lid exudes a sweet nectar. The distance from the pitcher mouth to the exudate is the same as the average body length of the mountain treeshrew. These proportions also hold true for N. lowii and N. macrophylla.
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This damages their ability to aerate the soil. Living roots drill millions of tiny holes in the soil and thus provide oxygen. They also create room for beneficial insects and annelids (the phylum of worms). Some types of roots contribute directly to soil fertility by funding a mutualistic relationship with certain kinds of bacteria (most famously the rhizobium) that can fix nitrogen.
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Although pest insects attract the most attention, many insects are beneficial to the environment and to humans. Some insects, like wasps, bees, butterflies and ants, pollinate flowering plants. Pollination is a mutualistic relationship between plants and insects. As insects gather nectar from different plants of the same species, they also spread pollen from plants on which they have previously fed.
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A tree covered with leafy foliose lichens and shrubby fruticose lichens A lichen ( or, sometimes in the UK, , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.Introduction to Lichens – An Alliance between Kingdoms . University of California Museum of Paleontology. Lichens have properties different from those of their component organisms.
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Thelephora palmata is an ectomycorrhizal species, forming mutualistic associations with conifers. Fruit bodies grow singly, scattered, or in groups on the ground in both coniferous and mixed forest and grassy fields. A preference has been noted for moist ground, and locations along woodland paths. An uncommon species, fruit bodies can be difficult to see because they blend well into their surroundings.
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At first the anemone clings to the new shell with its tentacles until its base has a firm grip on the shell. This is a mutualistic arrangement with both crab and anemone deriving benefit. The crab is protected by the stinging cells of the anemone and the anemone gains transport and a greater supply of food comes within its reach.
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The strict definition of phoresis excludes cases in which the relationship is permanent (e.g. that of a barnacle surviving on a whale) or those in which the phoront gains any kind of advantage from the host organism (e.g. remoras attaching to sharks for transportation and food). In this way, phoresis is a commensal relationship and deviations result in mutualistic or parasitic relationships.
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Some parasitic species have a mutualistic relationship with a polydnavirus that weakens the host's immune system and replicates in the oviduct of the female wasp. One family of chalcid wasps, the Eucharitidae, has specialized as parasitoids of ants, most species hosted by one genus of ant. Eucharitids are among the few parasitoids that have been able to overcome ants' effective defences against parasitoids.
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C. thermophilum was plated on Midnight Medium (CTM) media to culture it for pure isolation. Genomic sequencing of the bacterium revealed that it did not contain genes for the enzymes to reduce sulfate, yet it was dependent on a reduced sulfur source. The researchers likely speculated that it shared a mutualistic relationship with the cocultures of Meiothermus sp. and Anoxybacillus sp.
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Angomonas deanei is a flagellated trypanosomatid. It is an obligate parasite in the gastrointestinal tract of insects, and is in turn a host to symbiotic bacteria. The bacterial endosymbiont maintains a permanent mutualistic relationship with the protozoan such that it is no longer able to reproduce and survive on its own. The symbiosis is similar to that found in another protist Strigomonas culicis.
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Oligochlora is most similar to the extant genus Neocorynura, from which it can be separated by the shapes of the mesoscutum and preoccipital ridge or the monotypic genus Thectochlora which also has a mutualistic relationship with specialized acarid mites. The genus also superficially resembles the genus Corynura but differs in a number of features including the lack of eye hairs.
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While host-parasite and mutualistic interactions are determined by task-based phenotypes, predator-prey interactions are determined by behavior. Predators are digital organisms that have evolved from ancestral prey phenotypes to locate, attack, and consume organisms. When a predator executes an attack instruction (acquired through mutation), it kills a neighboring organism. When predators kill prey, they gain resources required for reproduction (e.g.
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Serratia are found in over 70 species of healthy, dead, and diseased insects. These include crickets, grasshoppers, bees, aphids, and fruit flies. Most of them reside in insects as bacterial flora and some form mutualistic symbiotic relationships with their hosts. For example, in aphids, strains of S. symbiotica play a key nutritional role by providing the host with vitamins and amino acids.
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Members from the family Silphidae are known to have mutualistic relationships with other organisms. Nicrophorinae have a mutual relationship with phoretic mites. Mites from the genus Poecilochirus produce deutonymphs that crawl on Nicrophorinae and are transported to carrion. Once they arrive at the carrion, deutonymphs leave the adult Nicrophorinae and proceed to feed on nearby fly eggs and immature larvae.
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Bacteroides are normally mutualistic, a substantial portion of the mammalian gastrointestinal flora, and they process complex molecules into simpler ones. As many as 1010-1011 cells per gram of human feces have been reported. They can use simple sugars when available; however, the main sources of energy for Bacteroides species in the gut are complex host-derived and plant glycans.
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Claviceps spp. fungus growing on wheat spikes, a common endophyte of the grasses. The fungal endophytes are a diverse group of organisms forming associations almost ubiquitously throughout the plant kingdom. The endophytes which provide indirect defense against herbivores may have come from a number of origins, including mutualistic root endophyte associations and the evolution of entomopathogenic fungi into plant- associated endophytes.
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At least one endosymbiont lives inside the protist to help digest cellulose and lignin, a major component of the wood the termites eat. The cellulose gets converted to glucose then to acetate, and the lignin is digested directly to acetate. The acetate probably crosses the termite gut membrane to be digested later. Mixotricha forms a mutualistic relationships with bacteria living inside the termite.
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The larval stages of E. elvina have been found in mutualistic associations with several ant species, such as the electric ant, Brachymyrmex musculus, Paratrechina spp. and fire ants among others. This type of an association is generally referred to as Myrmecophily. The Tentacle Nectary Organ (TNO) found that the eighth abdominal segment of the larval stages plays a special role in this interaction.
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The black rat is a reservoir host for bubonic plague: the oriental rat fleas that infest these rats are vectors for the disease. In biology and medicine, a host is an organism that harbours a parasitic, a mutualistic, or a commensalist guest (symbiont). The guest is typically provided with nourishment and shelter. Examples include animals playing host to parasitic worms (e.g.
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In Hirudo medicinalis, these supplementary factors are produced by an obligatory mutualistic relationship with two bacterial species, Aeromonas veronii and a still-uncharacterised Rikenella species. Non-bloodsucking leeches, such as Erpobdella punctata, are host to three bacterial symbionts, Pseudomonas, Aeromonas, and Klebsiella spp. (a slime producer). The bacteria are passed from parent to offspring in the cocoon as it is formed.
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In contrast to most lactic acid bacteria, this bacterium mainly breaks down lipids, forming free fatty acids. Recent research has focused on possible benefits incurred from consuming P. freudenreichii, which are thought to cleanse the gastrointestinal tract. P. freudenreichii has also been suggested to possibly lower the incidence of colon cancer. This mutualistic relationship is unusual in propionibacteria, which are largely commensal.
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In addition, the lip acts as a decoy, as the male bee confuses it with a female that is visiting a pink flower. Pollen transfer occurs during the ensuing pseudocopulation. Cross section of a Ficus glomerata (fig) fruit showing the syconium with pollinating fig wasps inside. Figs in the genus Ficus have a mutualistic arrangement with certain tiny agaonid wasps.
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What then prevents cheaters from undermining mutualistic systems? One main factor is that the advantages of cheating are often frequency-dependent. Frequency-dependent selection occurs when the fitness of a phenotype depends on its frequency relative to other phenotypes in a population. Cheater phenotypes often display negative frequency-dependent selection, where fitness increases as a phenotype becomes less common and vice versa.
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It seems that some species avoid nests with their marked scent. When there are no invaders, M. Symmetochus commonly have aggressive conflict with their hosts. Therefore, it seems that when M. Symmetochus lives with a host with no outside danger, they serve as parasites, but when the hosts live near other threats, they have a mutualistic relationship with their hosts.
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The bluestreak cleaner wrasse, Labroides dimidiatus, is one of several species of cleaner wrasses found on coral reefs from Eastern Africa and the Red Sea to French Polynesia. Like other cleaner wrasses, it eats parasites and dead tissue off larger fishes' skin in a mutualistic relationship that provides food and protection for the wrasse, and considerable health benefits for the other fishes.
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Domestication has been defined as "a sustained multi- generational, mutualistic relationship in which one organism assumes a significant degree of influence over the reproduction and care of another organism in order to secure a more predictable supply of a resource of interest, and through which the partner organism gains advantage over individuals that remain outside this relationship, thereby benefitting and often increasing the fitness of both the domesticator and the target domesticate." This definition recognizes both the biological and the cultural components of the domestication process and the effects on both humans and the domesticated animals and plants. All past definitions of domestication have included a relationship between humans with plants and animals, but their differences lay in who was considered as the lead partner in the relationship. This new definition recognizes a mutualistic relationship in which both partners gain benefits.
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Frontispiece of Belt's The Naturalist in Nicaragua (1874) Thomas Belt (1832 – 21 September 1878), an English geologist and naturalist, was born at Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1832, and educated in that city. He is remembered for his work on the geology of gold bearing minerals, glacial geology, and for his description of the mutualistic relationship between certain bullthorn Acacia species and their Pseudomyrmex ants.
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The evolutionary adaptation from an aquatic to a terrestrial lifestyle necessitated a diversification of ecological strategies for obtaining nutrients, including parasitism, saprobism, and the development of mutualistic relationships such as mycorrhiza and lichenization.Taylor and Taylor, pp. 84–94 and 106–107. Recent (2009) studies suggest that the ancestral ecological state of the Ascomycota was saprobism, and that independent lichenization events have occurred multiple times.
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Lichens are mutualistic associations between fungi, usually an ascomycete with a basidiomycete, and an alga or a cyanobacterium. Several lichens, including Arthopyrenia halodytes, Pharcidia laminariicola, Pharcidia rhachiana and Turgidosculum ulvae, are found in marine environments. Many more occur in the splash zone, where they occupy different vertical zones depending on how tolerant they are to submersion.Freshwater and marine lichen-forming fungi Retrieved 2012-02-06.
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The evolutionary adaptation from an aquatic to a terrestrial lifestyle necessitated a diversification of ecological strategies for obtaining nutrients, including parasitism, saprobism, and the development of mutualistic relationships such as mycorrhiza and lichenization.Taylor and Taylor, pp. 84–94 and 106–107. Recent (2009) studies suggest that the ancestral ecological state of the Ascomycota was saprobism, and that independent lichenization events have occurred multiple times.
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Parasitic fungi derive some or all of their nutritional requirements from plants, other fungi, or animals. Unlike mycorrhizal fungi which have a mutualistic relationship with their host plants, they are pathogenic. For example, the honey fungi in the genus Armillaria grow in the roots of a wide variety of trees, and eventually kill them. They then continue to live in the dead wood, feeding saprophytically.
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Vocalizing. The golden lion tamarin has a mutualistic interaction with 96 species of plants found in the Atlantic Forest. This interaction is based on seed dispersal and food sources for the tamarins. The tamarins show repeat visits to those plants with abundant resources. They tend to move around their territories, and therefore, seeds are dispersed to areas far from the parent shadow, which is ideal for germination.
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Foraging insects can see wave-lengths that flowers reflect (ranging from 300 nm to 700 nm). Pollination being a mutualistic relationship, foraging insects and some plants have coevolved, both increasing wave-length range: in perception (pollinators), in reflection and variation (flower colors). Directional selection has led plants to display increasingly diverse amounts of color variations extending into the ultraviolet color scale, thus attracting higher levels of pollinators.
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R. Soc. Edinb. 52, 855–902 (1921). that the establishment of rootless early land plants in skeletal soils was promoted by their mutualistic symbiotic partnership with soil fungi. They went on to reveal how the simulated high CO₂ Palaeozoic atmosphere and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi synergistically enhanced plant fitness to create uniquely strong selection pressures favouring the establishment of mycorrhiza-like partnerships in 'lower' land plants.
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Coral reefs are among the most productive and biologically diverse ecosystems on Earth. Differences in exposure to wave patterns create a variety of habitat types. The coral need a mutualistic symbiotic relationship with zooxanthellae algae in order to build a reef. The single celled algae derive their nutrients by using photosynthesis, and the coral provide shelter to the algae in return for some of the nutrients.
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These fungi form meiotic spores called ascospores, which are enclosed in a special sac-like structure called an ascus. This phylum includes morels, a few mushrooms and truffles, unicellular yeasts (e.g., of the genera Saccharomyces, Kluyveromyces, Pichia, and Candida), and many filamentous fungi living as saprotrophs, parasites, and mutualistic symbionts (e.g. lichens). Prominent and important genera of filamentous ascomycetes include Aspergillus, Penicillium, Fusarium, and Claviceps.
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Amanita ravenelii is a mycorrhizal fungus, meaning it forms mutualistic associations with shrubs and trees.Jenkins, 1986, pp. 5–6. Mushrooms grow on the ground solitarily, scattered, or in groups in mixed coniferous and deciduous forests. Although the specific tree associations preferred by A. ravenelii are unknown, in general, Amanita from section Lepidella tend to associate with diploxylon pine (that is, pines in subgenus Pinus), oak, and hickory.
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The prey does not have to be attracted towards the predator for the predator to benefit: it is sufficient for the predator simply not to be identified as a threat. Wicklerian-Eisnerian mimics may resemble a mutualistic ally, or a species of little significance to the prey such as a commensal. For example, the spider Arachnocoris berytoides resembles Faiditus caudatus, a spider commensal of ants.
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It has been reported that the frog may have a mutualistic relationship with tarantulas of the genus Aphonopelma in Mexico. As observed in microhylid frog Chiasmocleis ventrimaculata and tarantula Xenesthis immanis, the spider may protect the frog from predators while the frog protects the spider's eggs from ants, an interaction that may occur with other microhylids as well as the Túngara frog, which is a leptodactyloid.
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Symbiodinium is one of the most studied symbionts. Their mutualistic relationships with reef-building corals form the basis of a highly diverse and productive ecosystem. Coral reefs have economic benefits – valued at hundreds of billions of dollars each year – in the form of ornamental, subsistence and commercial fisheries, tourism and recreation, coastal protection from storms, a source of bioactive compounds for pharmaceutical development, and more.
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Azteca muelleri forms a spongy nest in cavities inside the trunk and branches of a Cecropia tree. This is a mutualistic arrangement as the ants defend the tree against herbivorous animals while the ants benefit from food bodies provided by the tree. A. muelleri is very aggressive. Another insect that also lives in the hollow twigs and branches of C. pachystachya is the beetle Coelomera ruficornis.
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Much remains to be understood about the selective advantages conferred upon myrmecochorous ants. No single hypothesis explains the evolution and persistence of myrmecochory. Instead, it is likely that a combination of beneficial effects working at different spatio-temporal scales contribute to the viability of this predominantly mutualistic interaction. Three commonly cited advantages to myrmecochorous plants are increased dispersal distance, directed dispersal, and seed predator avoidance.
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Unlike some other remora species, parasitic copepods comprise a negligible part of the diet of the white suckerfish, suggesting it may not have a mutualistic relationship with its host. The white suckerfish responds to a touch on its belly by forcefully erecting its pelvic fins, possibly an adaptation to avoid crushing by its host. Nothing is known about their reproduction. It is used in Chinese medicine.
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The frog is noted to have a possibly mutualistic relationship with tarantulas such as Poecilotheria ornata and Poecilotheria subfusca, sharing tree holes of which some were observed to contain eggs and/or juveniles from the spider, frog, or both. As observed between frog Chiasmocleis ventrimaculata and tarantula Xenesthis immanis, the spider may protect the frog from predators while the frog protects the spider's eggs from ants.
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Orchid mycorrhizal fungus from Zambia on agar plate, Jodrell Laboratory, Kew Gardens Mutualistic fungi can enter at various orchid life stages. Fungal hyphae can penetrate the parenchyma cells of germinated orchid seeds, protocorms, late-staged seedlings, or adult plant roots. The fungal hyphae that enter the orchid have many mitochondria and few vacuoles., thus increasing their metabolic capacity when paired with an accepting symbiote.
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At the larval stage, the Eumaeus atala caterpillar exclusively eats the leaves of the coontie. A half dozen caterpillars can completely strip a coontie bare and a large coontie population is needed to sustain the Eumaeus atala population. Mealybug destroyers, Cryptolaemus montrouzieri, are commonly found on Z. floridana. They form a mutualistic relationship by providing the plant protection from pests in exchange for food.
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Blue coppers are seen on the western coast of the United States and the Southwest region in Canada, particularly British Columbia and Alberta. The males are often confused with Boisduval’s blue ,Article in Canadian Biodiversity Information Facilitity another species of butterfly. Blue coppers prefer to live in areas where species of Eriogonum are found. Blue copper larvae sometimes form mutualistic associations with Formica francoeuri, an ant species.
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A synomone is an interspecific semiochemical that is beneficial to both interacting organisms, the emitter and receiver, e.g. floral synomone of certain Bulbophyllum species (Orchidaceae) attracts fruit fly males (Tephritidae: Diptera) as pollinators. In this true mutualistic inter-relationship, both organisms gain benefits in their respective sexual reproductive systems – i.e. orchid flowers are pollinated and the Dacini fruit fly males are rewarded with a sex pheromone precursor or booster.
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Nitrogen is also essential for plant photosynthesis because it is a component of chlorophyll. Nitrogen fixation contributes nitrogen to the plant and to the soil surrounding the plant's roots. Mimosa pudica's ability to fix nitrogen may have arisen in conjunction with the evolution of nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Nitrogen fixation is an adaptive trait that has transformed the parasitic relationship between the bacteria and plants into a mutualistic relationship.
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Mountain treeshrews have a mutualistic relationship with several pitcher plants species such as Nepenthes lowii, Nepenthes macrophylla, and Nepenthes rajah. They defecate into the plants' pitchers while visiting them to feed on sweet, fruity secretions from glands on the pitcher lids.Greenwood, M., Clarke, C., Lee, C.C., Gunsalam, A., Clarke, R. H. (2011). A unique resource mutualism between the giant Bornean pitcher plant, Nepenthes rajah, and members of a small mammal community.
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A wide variety of plants are used as sources of nectar and pollen. As with other carpenter bees, the larvae are fed a mixture of pollen and nectar. The females have a mutualistic association with phoretic mites that are transported from nest to nest in an abdominal chamber, called the acarinarium. The mites feed on nest fungi that may otherwise infest the nectar and pollen provisions of the larvae.
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The parasitism is not necessarily entirely detrimental to the host species. A 16-year dataset was used in 2014 to find that parasitized crows' nests were more successful overall (more likely to produce at least one crow fledgling) than cuckoo-free nests. The researchers attributed this to a strong-smelling predator-repelling substance secreted by cuckoo chicks when attacked, and noted that the interactions were not necessarily simply parasitic or mutualistic.
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Yeasts also form an important part of the Drosophila microbiome, with a mutualistic relationships to yeast being described in other Drosophila species. The yeast species found to be most frequently associated with D. suzukii were Hanseniaspora uvarum, Metschnikowia pulcherrima, Pichia terricola, and P. kluyveri. Although certain fungal pathogens have been shown to experimentally infect D. suzukii, the wild fungal infections of D. suzukii remain to be explored comprehensively.
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Brocky, Karoly - Mother and Child (1846-50) This is from mother to child (more rarely father to child), often in utero, during childbirth (also referred to as perinatal infection) or during postnatal physical contact between parents and offspring. In mammals, including humans, it occurs also via breast milk (transmammary transmission). Infectious diseases that can be transmitted in this way include: HIV, hepatitis B and syphilis. Many mutualistic organisms are transmitted vertically.
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Both of these mutualistic relationships enhance nutrient uptake. The Earth's atmosphere contains over 78 percent nitrogen. Plants called legumes, including the agricultural crops alfalfa and soybeans, widely grown by farmers, harbour nitrogen-fixing bacteria that can convert atmopheric nitrogen into nitrogen the plant can use. Plants not classified as legumes such as wheat, corn and rice rely on nitrogen compounds present in the soil to support their growth.
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The presence of plants and their communication with other community members fundamentally shapes the phytobiome. Root exudates contain numerous sugars, amino acids, polysaccharides and secondary metabolites. The production of these exudates is heavily influenced by environmental factors and plant physiology and can alter the community composition of the rhizosphere and rhizoplain.The secretion of flavonoids helps to recruit Rhizobia bacteria that form a mutualistic symbiosis with numerous plant species.
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In addition, Shori's hybridity also symbolizes an enhanced or "correct" type of mutualistic symbiosis, as she literally embodies human and Ina DNA working together. Thus, Butler connects hybridity to the survival of not just the Ina, but also of humanity. As Pramrod Nayar contends, in Fledgling hybridity means to take on the qualities of the other race and thus becomes a "companionate species" of others in order to survive.
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As hosts and parasites evolve together, their relationships often change. When a parasite is in a sole relationship with a host, selection drives the relationship to become more benign, even mutualistic, as the parasite can reproduce for longer if its host lives longer. But where parasites are competing, selection favours the parasite that reproduces fastest, leading to increased virulence. There are thus varied possibilities in host–parasite coevolution.
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Domesticated species and the human populations that domesticate them are typified by a mutualistic relationship of interdependence, in which humans have over thousands of years modified the genomics of domesticated species. Genomics is the study of the structure, content, and evolution of genomes, or the entire genetic information of organisms. Domestication is the process by which humans alter the morphology and genes of targeted organisms by selecting for desirable traits.
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Phoretic relationships can become parasitic if a cost is inflicted upon the host, such as if the number of mites on a host begins impeding its movement. Parasitic relationships could also be selected for from phoretic ones if the phoront gains a fitness advantage from the death of a host (e.g. nutrition). Mutualistic relationships could also develop if the phoront began to confer a benefit to the host (e.g. predator defense).
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Mesorhizobium mediterraneum is a bacterium from the genus Mesorhizobium which was isolated from root nodule from Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) in Spain.ATCCUniProtRhizobium mediterraneum was transferred to Mesorhizobium mediterraneum. This species, along with many other closerly related taxa, has been found to promote production of chickpea and other crops worldwide by forming symbiotic relationships. As a typical species nodulating chickpea, Mesorhizobium mediterraneum forms a mutualistic symbiosis with the legume crop.
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Degenerate cysts are present in clusters, though rare, and lose much of their mutualistic benefit to the host they reside in due to a decrease in photosynthetic efficiency. The young zoosporangium and motile zoospore stages, though seen in zooxanthellae life cycles, are much rarer amongst clades. The zoospore resides in the zoosporangium until the cell wall of the cyst bursts. Zooxanthellae is only motile if it originates as a zoospore.
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Journal of Morphology, 273 (12) 1353-1366 , DOI: 10.1002/jmor.20063 An additional ectosymbiotic example of commensalism is the relationship between small sessile organisms and echinoids in the Southern ocean, where the echinoids provide substrate for the small organisms to grow and the echinoids remain unaffected. Branchiobdellid annelids are mutualistic parasites. They will attach to a signal crayfish and feed on diatoms, bacteria, and protozoans that accumulate on the exoskeleton.
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Dogs and sheep were among the first animals to be domesticated. Humans are involved in mutualisms with other species: their gut flora is essential for efficient digestion. Infestations of head lice might have been beneficial for humans by fostering an immune response that helps to reduce the threat of body louse borne lethal diseases. Some relationships between humans and domesticated animals and plants are to different degrees mutualistic.
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Their success in so many environments has been attributed to their social organisation and their ability to modify habitats, tap resources, and defend themselves. Their long co-evolution with other species has led to mimetic, commensal, parasitic, and mutualistic relationships. Ant societies have division of labour, communication between individuals, and an ability to solve complex problems. These parallels with human societies have long been an inspiration and subject of study.
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These ants also consume honeydew and engage in mutualistic symbiotic relationships with other herbivorous insects, such as aphids. The little fire ants are effective predators that have a venomous sting that can subdue large insects and vertebrate prey. Little fire ants establish colonies under rocks and plant litter. These ants are also considered a residential pest as they establish colonies in furniture, food, and clothing in people's homes.
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Males, in the species where they occur, have legs and sometimes wings, and resemble small flies. Scale insects are herbivores, piercing plant tissues with their mouthparts and remaining in one place, feeding on sap. The excess fluid they imbibe is secreted as honeydew on which sooty mold tends to grow. The insects often have a mutualistic relationship with ants, which feed on the honeydew and protect them from predators.
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Clark's nutcracker There is a mutualistic interaction between Clark's nutcracker and two pines of the subalpine zone. Most pine species are wind-dispersed and their seeds are flat and winged. However, whitebark pine and limber pine both have non-winged, succulent seeds that have probably co-evolved with Clark’s nutcrackers. These birds, which use the seeds as a staple food source, cache seeds in the soil and in cracks of rocks.
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Couch proposed in 1938 that the symbiotic relationship between Septobasidium and scale insects was mutualistic. He suggested that at a population level, scale insects benefit from certain species of Septobasidium that provide protection from predators, and prevent desiccation. Couch also remarked that some scale insects remain uninfected while others are infected and rendered sterile. Some Septobasidium species provide no discernable shelter and parasitize all scale insects associated with the fruiting body.
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Epacris pulchella, an ericoid mycorrhizal epacrid from eastern Australia. Western Azalea, Rhododendron occidentale, a western North American ericoid mycorrhizal species. The ericoid mycorrhiza is a mutualistic relationship formed between members of the plant family Ericaceae and several lineages of mycorrhizal fungi. This symbiosis represents an important adaptation to acidic and nutrient poor soils that species in the Ericaceae typically inhabit,Cairney, J. W. G. and A. A. Meharg. 2003.
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Hygrophorus bakerensis is an ectomycorrhizal species, and forms a mutualistic relationship with compatible host plant by forming a sheath around their root tips. In this way, the fungus gains carbon and other essential organic substances from the tree and in return helps the trees take up water, mineral salts and metabolites. It can also fight off parasites and predators such as nematodes and soil pathogens. Associated tree species include Douglas-fir.
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H. numata is known for its mimicry of Melinaea butterflies. Both H. numata and the species of Melinaea it resembles are unpalatable to predators, making this a case of Müllerian mimicry, a mutualistic reinforcement of the same negative signal. Both males and females are attracted to red or orange flowers, or indeed to pieces of cloth colored red or orange. Eggs typically are found on low-growing vines of Passiflora.
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Molecular phylogenetic analysis of multigene DNA sequence data indicates the taxon Clavicipitaceae is paraphyletic, and consists of three well-defined clades, at least one of which is shared with members of another fungal family (Hypocreaceae). The evolution within the Clavicipitaceae is marked by interkingdom host jumping, and the range of this large and heterogeneous fungal group spans mutualistic plant symbionts, as well as parasites of plants, insects, and other fungi.
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Symbiosis (mutualism) appears in fiction, especially science fiction, as a plot device. It is distinguished from parasitism in fiction, a similar theme, by the mutual benefit to the organisms involved, whereas the parasite inflicts harm on its host. Fictional symbionts often confer special powers on their hosts. After the Second World War, science fiction moved towards more mutualistic relationships, as in Ted White's 1970 By Furies Possessed, which viewed aliens positively.
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Revista Brasileira De Zoologia, (2), 372. The fungus is fed the mycophagous larvae and queen, while workers are nourished primarily by the sap of cut plants, and very little by the mutualistic fungus making them respectively, phytophagous, and mycophagous. The presence of leaf-cutter ants is so common in the Neotropics, that they are considered to be the main herbivores of these areas.,Varela, R., & Teresa C., P. (2003).
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A symbiotic relationship is a close relationship between species in which at least one species benefits. In the case of hummingbirds and flowers, both species receive benefits, creating a mutualistic relationship. Hummingbirds rely on nectar for energy, and ornithophilous flowers need hummingbirds’ assistance with pollination in order to reproduce. While the birds are feeding, pollen sticks to their beaks, which will rub off on the next flower they visit, pollinating it.
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In Fledgling, humans and Ina are bonded into a form of mutualistic symbiosis, a type of relationship that Shari Evans connects to the concept of "partnership" as defined in Butler's Parable of the Talents: "offering the greatest possible benefit while doing the least possible harm". While in the Parable novels the purpose of partnership is to ameliorate the negative effects of beings or processes that cannot be resisted or avoided, in Fledgling mutualistic symbiosis serves to challenge the idea that the Ina are a superior species by making Ina and humans interdependent of each other. As Susana Morris explains, even though the Ina can satisfy their need for companionship, physical contact, and sexual pleasure with one another, they also must have a deep emotional connection with their symbionts in order to survive. Likewise, humans crave intimacy with one particular Ina after they have been infected by her or his venomous bite, and may die when they lose their Ina.
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This plant has a mutualistic relationship with predatory ants of the Crematogaster genus. The tree has hollow twigs in which the ants make their nest and provides the ants with food bodies located on the leaf stipules; the ants feed on these and defend the tree against herbivorous insects. Many fewer food bodies are produced by trees that have no ants inhabiting them than are produced by those where ants are present.
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Polyozellus multiplex is an ectomycorrhizal species, meaning that the hyphae of the fungus grow in a mutualistic association with the roots of plants, but the fungal hyphae generally do not penetrate the cells of the plant's roots. The species grows in coniferous woods under spruce and fir, and more frequently at higher elevations. It is most often encountered in summer and fall. This species is northern and alpine in distribution, and rarely encountered.
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Copeia 2010(1): 71-75. The eggs and young are fiercely guarded by the parents. The young kampango only leave the protection of their parents when around long, but before that most have typically already been eaten by egg- and fry-stealing cichlids like Mylochromis melanonotus and Pseudotropheus crabro. At other times Pseudotropheus crabro has a mutualistic relationship with the kampango, as it will clean it by feeding on parasites and dead tissue.
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Blackwell Science, London, UK. While much of the interaction of herbivory and plant defense is negative, with one individual reducing the fitness of the other, some is beneficial. This beneficial herbivory takes the form of mutualisms in which both partners benefit in some way from the interaction. Seed dispersal by herbivores and pollination are two forms of mutualistic herbivory in which the herbivore receives a food resource and the plant is aided in reproduction.
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Some sponges produce anti-fouling compounds which they release into the surrounding water to try to prevent other organisms colonizing their surface. Nevertheless, an ongoing study of sponges colonized by zoanthid corals showed positive benefits to the sponge in growth and survival rates so the association seems to be mutualistic. The sexes are separate in Umimayanthus parasiticus. Oocytes start developing in February and become mature when the water temperature rises to about in July.
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Like other acacias, whistling thorns have leaves that contain tannins, which are thought to serve as deterrents to herbivory. Like all African acacias, they are defended by spines. In addition, Whistling thorn acacias are myrmecophytes that have formed a mutualistic relationship with some species of ants. In exchange for shelter in the bulbous spines (domatia) and nectar secretions, these ants appear to defend the tree against herbivores, such as elephants and giraffes,J.
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Mathematical models, examining the consequences of this network structure for the stability of pollinator communities suggest that the specific way in which plant-pollinator networks are organized minimizes competition between pollinatorsBastolla, U., Fortuna, M. A., Pascual-García, A., Ferrera, A., Luque, B., & Bascompte, J. (2009). The architecture of mutualistic networks minimizes competition and increases biodiversity. Nature, 458(7241), 1018-1020. : and may even lead to strong indirect facilitation between pollinators when conditions are harsh.
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The ants also collect pearl bodies which form on the leaves, stems, and stalks of the plant. Ants performing this activity include species in genera such as Camponotus, Pheidole, Crematogaster, and Pseudomyrmex. When ants are present on a plant, they rid it of lepidopteran larvae which would feed upon it, such as Smyrna blomfildia, Urbanus esmeraldus, and Pleuroptya silicalis. This provides a benefit for both plant and ant in a mutualistic relationship.
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An ectomycorrhizal species, Ramaria botrytis forms mutualistic associations with broadleaf trees, particularly beech. In a study to determine the effectiveness of several edible ectomycorrhizal fungi in promoting growth and nutrient accumulation of large-fruited red mahogany (Eucalyptus pellita), R. botrytis was the best at improving root colonization and macronutrient uptake. Records of associations with conifers probably represent similar species. Fruit bodies grow on the ground singly, scattered, or in small groups among leaves in woods.
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Mycorrhizae are “fungus roots”, a mutualistic association between a fungus (Myco) such as Aspergillus oryzae and plant roots (rhiza). This provides an interface between plants and soil. The fungus grows into the roots of crops and out into the soil, increasing the root system many thousand-fold. The fungi use their enzymes to convert soil nutrients into a form that crops can use and turn plant carbohydrates into soil amendments, “sequestering” carbon.
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Symbiotic bacteria in the trypanosomatid protozoa are descended from a β-proteobacterium of the genus Bordetella. With A. deanei, the bacteria have co-evolved in a mutualistic relationship characterised by intense metabolic exchanges. The endosymbiont contains enzymes and metabolic precursors that complete essential biosynthetic pathways of the host protozoan, such as those in the urea cycle and the production of haemin and polyamine. The symbiotic bacterium belongs to β-proteobacterium family Alcaligenaceae.
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Different lifestyles such as mutualistic and pathogenic have been proposed. Members of the clade are spread all over temperate and polar oceans, and are also considerable in sea ice ecosystems. They are suggested to be extensive within coastal sediments, deep pelagic ocean, and deep sea sediments. The roseobacter clade has immense diversity of metabolic proficiency and regulatory circuits, which can be credited to their prosperity in a vast number of marine ecosystems.
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Others have deimatic behaviours, such as rearing up and waving their front ends which are marked with eyespots as if they were snakes. Some papilionid caterpillars such as the giant swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes) resemble bird droppings so as to be passed over by predators. Some caterpillars have hairs and bristly structures that provide protection while others are gregarious and form dense aggregations. Some species are myrmecophiles, forming mutualistic associations with ants and gaining their protection.
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This bacterium is often involved in mutualistic relationships with legumes. It performs atmospheric nitrogen fixation for the plants and in exchange it receives organic carbon through the process of rhizodeposition. Free-living bacteria become housed inside specialized root cells in root nodules, which creates anaerobic microhabitat in which efficient N-fixation can occur. This mutualism has been observed with many plant species, including Medicago polymorpha and Medicago truncatula plants from around the world.
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Wolbachia is a genus of intracellular bacteria that infects mainly arthropod species, including a high proportion of insects, and also some nematodes. It is one of the most common parasitic microbes and is possibly the most common reproductive parasite in the biosphere. Its interactions with its hosts are often complex, and in some cases have evolved to be mutualistic rather than parasitic. Some host species cannot reproduce, or even survive, without Wolbachia colonisation.
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Pea enation mosaic virus (PEMV) is a plant pathogenic virus. The two RNAs of the disease are now categorised as two separate, mutualistic viruses: PEMV-1 is an Enamovirus, while PEMV-2 is an Umbravirus. It is spread by green or pea aphids and affects legumes as pea, alfalfa, broadbean or sweet pea mostly in temperate regions. Symptoms include chlorotic, translucent or necrotic lesions, malformation of leaves and stipules, and plant distortion.
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Microbial ecology studies have also addressed if resource availability modulates the cooperative or competitive behaviour in bacteria populations. When resources availability is high, bacterial populations become competitive and aggressive with each other, but when environmental resources are low, they tend to be cooperative and mutualistic. Ecological studies have hypothesised that competitive forces between animals are major in high carrying capacity zones (i.e. near the Equator), where biodiversity is higher, because of natural resources abundance.
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Other authors define a situation as mutualistic where both benefit, and commensal, where the unaffected host benefits the symbiont. A nutrient exchange may be bidirectional or unidirectional, may be context dependent and may occur in diverse ways. Microbiota that are expected to be present, and that under normal circumstances do not cause disease, are deemed normal flora or normal microbiota; normal flora can not only be harmless, but can be protective of the host.
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Neolectales, in turn, is the only order belonging to the class Neolectomycetes, which belongs to the subdivision Taphrinomycotina of the Ascomycota. Neolecta is found in Asia, North America, Northern Europe and southern Brazil. The species all live in association with trees, and at least one, N. vitellina, grows from rootlets of its host, but it is not known whether the fungus is parasitic, saprotrophic, or mutualistic. It is said to be edible.
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Nepenthes macrophylla has formed a mutualistic relationship with the mountain treeshrew (Tupaia montana). The pitchers of N. macrophylla exude a sugary reward on the reflexed pitcher lid and provide a perch for the visitor. The treeshrews eat this exudate and defecate into the pitchers, supplying the plant with valuable nitrogen. A 2010 study showed that the shape and size of the pitcher orifice of N. macrophylla exactly match the dimensions of a typical Tupaia montana.
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Other lycaenids may parasitize ant-plant relationships by feeding on plants that are tended by ants, apparently immune to ant attack because of their own appeasing secretions. Hemipterophagous lycaenids engage in a similar form of parasitism in ant-hemipteran associations. In light of the variability in outcomes of mutualistic interactions, and also the evolution of cheating in many systems, much remains to be learned about the mechanisms that maintain mutualism as an evolutionarily stable interaction.
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An ant garden is a mutualistic interaction between certain species of arboreal ants and various epiphytic plants. It is a structure made in the tree canopy by the ants that is filled with debris and other organic matter in which epiphytes grow. The ants benefit from this arrangement by having a stable framework on which to build their nest while the plants benefit by obtaining nutrients from the soil and from the moisture retained there.
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Thus, both insect and plant benefit, forming a highly mutualistic relationship. Another form of mutualism occurs between some larvae of butterflies and certain species of ants (e.g. Lycaenidae). The larvae communicate with the ants using vibrations transmitted through a substrate, such as the wood of a tree or stems, as well as using chemical signals. The ants provide some degree of protection to these larvae and they in turn gather honeydew secretions.
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Here they form a mutualistic relationship with the plant, producing ammonia in exchange for carbohydrates. Because of this relationship, legumes will often increase the nitrogen content of nitrogen-poor soils. A few non-legumes can also form such symbioses. Today, about 30% of the total fixed nitrogen is produced industrially using the Haber-Bosch process, which uses high temperatures and pressures to convert nitrogen gas and a hydrogen source (natural gas or petroleum) into ammonia.
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These describe the nature of the relationship between the two species. When α12 is negative, it means that N2 has a negative effect on N1, by competing with it, preying on it, or any number of other possibilities. When α12 is positive, however, it means that N2 has a positive effect on N1, through some kind of mutualistic interaction between the two. When both α12 and α21 are negative, the relationship is described as competitive.
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19 (2): 200-204. doi: 10.1111/j.0022-3646.1983.00200.x Another bacterium, Mesorhizobium loti, was found as contamination in a C. nivalis culture, but further testing suggested that this bacteria may be synthesizing vitamin B12 for the algae.Kazamia, E.; Czesnick, H.; Nguyen, T. T.; Croft, M. T.; Sherwood, E.; Sasso, S.; Hodson, S. J.; Warren, M. J.; Smith, A. G. (2012). “Mutualistic interactions between vitamin B12 –dependent algae and heterotrophic bacteria exhibit regulation”. Environ. Microbiol.
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The bioluminescent bacterium A. fischeri is the first organism in which QS was observed. It lives as a mutualistic symbiont in the photophore (or light-producing organ) of the Hawaiian bobtail squid. When A. fischeri cells are free-living (or planktonic), the autoinducer is at low concentration, and, thus, cells do not show luminescence. However, when the population reaches the threshold in the photophore (about cells/ml), transcription of luciferase is induced, leading to bioluminescence.
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They also theorise that the colour red that the flowers of most species Metrosideros have, which generally attracts birds, might somehow also serve to repel insects and thus leave more nectar for the geckoes. Metrosideros excelsa is a generalist, which is pollinated by both birds and insects. There does not appear to be any mutualistic relationship between the geckoes and Metrosideros excelsa, neither species requires the presence of the other to thrive.
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Disease suppressive soils function to prevent the establishment of pathogens in the rhizosphere of plants. These soils develop through the establishment of beneficial microbes, known as plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) in the rhizosphere of plant roots. These mutualistic microbes function to increase plant health by fighting against harmful soil microbes either directly or indirectly. As beneficial bacteria occupy space around plant roots they outcompete harmful pathogens by releasing pathogenic suppressive metabolites.
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In Lake Malawi, it has been observed that a select few species of cichlids will 'farm out' their young into catfish (Bagrus meridionalis) broods, a larger predatory fish. In many cases the cichlid parent will remain close by to participate in mutualistic defense of the young. In a study by Mckaye et al. (1985), 50% of observed catfish broods contained cichlid young; with the catfish offspring in these broods having six times greater survivorship.
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The acacia ant (Pseudomyrmex ferruginea) is a species of ant of the genus Pseudomyrmex. These arboreal, wasp-like ants have an orange-brown body around 3 mm in length and very large eyes. The acacia ant is best known and named for living in symbiosis with the bullhorn acacia (Acacia cornigera) throughout Central America. The ant and the acacia exemplify a coevolution of a mutualistic system, as described by evolutionary ecologist Daniel Janzen.
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Beewolves are large wasps that habitually attack bees; the ethologist Niko Tinbergen estimated that a single colony of the beewolf Philanthus triangulum might kill several thousand honeybees in a day: all the prey he observed were honeybees. Other predatory insects that sometimes catch bees include robber flies and dragonflies. Honey bees are affected by parasites including acarine and Varroa mites. However, some bees are believed to have a mutualistic relationship with mites.
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It seems that A. striatus is accomplished at providing its mutualistic fungus with a steady and predictable supply of nourishment. This can be proven in one study, for it shows that the ant uses similar amounts of a multitude of plant species throughout the year. Farmers may find themselves competing with A. striatus if the vegetation present in an area is intended for human consumption.,Diehl, E., Cavalli-Molina, S., & de Araujo, A. (n.d).
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This species forms a mutualistic relationship with coniferous trees. Although some authorities state that R. vinicolor associates exclusively with the Douglas-fir, others mention it being found in association with the ponderosa pine and other pines and firs. The trees benefit from the saprophytic fungus which makes nutrients available by breakdown of the leaf litter and rotting wood, while the fungus benefits from the trees' photosynthetic mechanisms which produce carbohydrates.Schultz, Stewart T. The Northwest Coast: A Natural History.
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In a research study, 10 different species of demosponge were found growing on a single Antarctic scallop. The demosponge Homaxinella balfourensis was one of the commonest epibionts growing harmlessly on the scallop's shell. The relationship between sponge and scallop may be symbiotic; the sponge avoids being engulfed in sediment while the scallop benefits from the protection provided by the sponge, which is distasteful to many predators. The hydroid Hydractinia angusta has a mutualistic relationship with the scallop.
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Butler's last publication during her lifetime was Fledgling, a novel exploring the culture of a vampire community living in mutualistic symbiosis with humans. Set on the west coast, it tells of the coming-of-age of a young female hybrid vampire whose species is called Ina. The only survivor of a vicious attack on her families that left her an amnesiac, she must seek justice for her dead, build a new family, and relearn how to be Ina.
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The chrysalis is olive green/brown and formed on the ground, where it is attended by ants of genera Myrmica, Lasius, Formica, Plagiolepiss, Paolo Mazzei, Daniel Morel, Raniero Panfili Moths and Butterflies of Europe and North Africa which will often take it into their nests. The larva creates a substance called honeydew, which the ants eat while the butterfly lives in the ant hill. The relationship between these ants and blue common larvae is described to be facultatively mutualistic.
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Many shallow water corals rely on photosynthetic symbiont protists, commonly known as zooxanthellae, to provide them with a large proportion of their nutrient requirements. If sea water temperatures rise, conditions may becomes stressful for the corals, and they may expel their zooxanthallae. This process is known as coral bleaching as, without their symbionts, the corals are white. Symbiodinium trenchi is a stress-tolerant species, a generalist able to form mutualistic relationships with many species of coral.
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Birds found in birch woodland include the chaffinch, tree pipit, willow warbler, nightingale, robin, woodcock, redpoll, and green woodpecker. The branches of the silver birch often have tangled masses of twigs known as witch's brooms growing among them, caused by the fungus Taphrina betulina. Old trees are often killed by the decay fungus Piptoporus betulinus and fallen branches rot rapidly on the forest floor. This tree commonly grows with the mycorrhizal fungus Amanita muscaria in a mutualistic relationship.
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In the middle part, the trunk or third body region, is full of vascularized solid tissue, and includes body wall, gonads, and the coelomic cavity. Here is located also the trophosome, spongy tissue where a billion symbiotic, thioautotrophic bacteria and sulfur granules are found. Since the mouth, digestive system, and anus are missing, the survival of R. pachyptila is dependent on this mutualistic symbiosis. This process, known as chemosynthesis, was recognized within the trophosome by Colleen Cavanaugh.
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The intestinal epithelium in humans is reinforced with carbohydrates like fucose expressed on the apical surface of epithelial cells. Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron', a bacterial species in the ileum and colon, stimulates the gene encoding fucose, Fut2, in intestinal epithelial cells. In this mutualistic interaction, the intestinal epithelial barrier is fortified and humans are protected against invasion of destructive microbes, while B. thetaiotaomicron benefits because of it can use fucose for energy production and its role in bacterial gene regulation.
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Fire ants have been known to form mutualistic relationships with several species of Lycaenidae and Riodinidae butterflies. In Lycaena rubidus, the larvae secrete a fluid that is high in sugar content. Fire ants bring the larvae back to the nest, and protect them through the pupal stage in exchange for feeding on the fluid. In Eurybia elvina, fire ants were observed to frequently construct soil shelters over later instars of larvae on inflorescences on which the larvae are found.
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Symbiodinium reach high cell densities through prolific mitotic division in the endodermal tissues of many shallow tropical and sub-tropical cnidarians. This is a SEM of a freeze-fractured internal mesentery from a reef coral polyp (Porites porites) that shows the distribution and density of symbiont cells. Many Symbiodinium are known primarily for their role as mutualistic endosymbionts. In hosts, they usually occur in high densities, ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions per square centimeter.
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Hyphae may be modified in many different ways to serve specific functions. Some parasitic fungi form haustoria that function in absorption within the host cells. The arbuscules of mutualistic mycorrhizal fungi serve a similar function in nutrient exchange, so are important in assisting nutrient and water absorption by plants. Ectomycorrhizal extramatrical mycelium greatly increases the soil area available for exploitation by plant hosts by funneling water and nutrients to ectomycorrhizas, complex fungal organs on the tips of plant roots.
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Some species feed on only one type of plant, while others are generalists, colonising many plant groups. About 5,000 species of aphid have been described, all included in the family Aphididae. Around 400 of these are found on food and fibre crops, and many are serious pests of agriculture and forestry, as well as an annoyance for gardeners. So-called dairying ants have a mutualistic relationship with aphids, tending them for their honeydew, and protecting them from predators.
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Industrial farming of chickens Since birds are highly visible and common animals, humans have had a relationship with them since the dawn of man. Sometimes, these relationships are mutualistic, like the cooperative honey-gathering among honeyguides and African peoples such as the Borana. Other times, they may be commensal, as when species such as the house sparrow have benefited from human activities. Several bird species have become commercially significant agricultural pests, and some pose an aviation hazard.
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All species studied so far carry the obligate mutualistic endosymbiont bacterium Blattabacterium, with the exception of Nocticola australiensis, an Australian cave dwelling species without eyes, pigment or wings, and which recent genetic studies indicates are very primitive cockroaches. Cockroaches, like all insects, breathe through a system of tubes called tracheae. The tracheae of insects are attached to the spiracles, excluding the head. Thus cockroaches, like all insects, are not dependent on the mouth and windpipe to breathe.
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It is how plants work together. In areas of high stress, the level of facilitation is especially high as well. This could possibly be because the plants need a stronger network to survive in a harsher environment, so their interactions between species, such as cross-pollination or mutualistic actions, become more common to cope with the severity of their habitat. Plants also adapt very differently from one another, even from a plant living in the same area.
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The family Aeolidiidae, as well as other Nudibranchia families, are often studied for their adaptable defense from the stinging nematocyst discharge of Cnidarian sea anemones in particular Actinia, Anemonia, Metridium, Sagartia and Urticina. Other food sources compose of zooxanthellae dinoflagellates which live in mutualistic relationship within the Nudibranch that provide nutrition in the tissues through photosynthesis. A. papillosa participate in "ingestive conditioning" in which they consume the nematocyst from their prey in response for predators in the same environment.
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Eurybia elvina, commonly known as the blind eurybia, is a Neotropical metalmark butterfly. Like many other riodinids, the caterpillars are myrmecophilous and have tentacle nectary organs that exude a fluid similar to that produced by the host plant Calathea ovandensis. This mutualistic relationship allows ants to harvest the exudate, and in return provide protection in the form of soil shelters for larvae. The larvae communicate with the ants by vibrations produced by the movement of its head.
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S. greggii has extrafloral nectaries, a trait shared with other senegalias. A tentative connection has been made between these glands and insects that would suggest a mutualistic relationship (as found in other Senegalia species). Ants are known to use the glands as a source of food and water, and may provide some defense for the plant against herbivorous insects. Like other arroyo trees in family Fabaceae, S. greggii is frequently afflicted with Desert Mistletoe, Phoradendron californicum.
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"Candidatus Sulcia muelleri" is an aerobic, gram-negative, bacillus bacteria that is a part of the phylum Bacteroidetes. S. muelleri is an obligate and mutualistic symbiotic microbe commonly found occupying specialized cell compartments of sap-feeding insects called bacteriocytes. A majority of the research done on S. muelleri has detailed its relationship with the host Homalodisca vitripennis. Other studies have documented the nature of its residency in other insects like the maize leafhopper (Cicadulina) or the spittlebug (Cercopoidea).
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Calliactis parasitica is a species of sea anemone associated with hermit crabs. It lives in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea at depths between the intertidal zone and . It is up to in size, with up to 700 tentacles, and is very variable in colour. The relationship between C. parasitica and the hermit crab is mutualistic: the sea anemone protects the hermit crab with its stings, and benefits from the food thrown up by the hermit crab's movements.
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Cheating is a term used in behavioral ecology and ethology to describe behavior whereby organisms receive a benefit at the cost of other organisms. Cheating is common in many mutualistic and altruistic relationships. A cheater is an individual who does not cooperate (or cooperates less than their fair share) but can potentially gain the benefit from others cooperating. Cheaters are also those who selfishly use common resources to maximize their individual fitness at the expense of a group.
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Retracting its tentacles maximises the photosynthetic potential of the anemone. The well-armed vesicles protect the pseudo-tentacles which may appear edible to a potential predator. At night, or when the animal is in a dim light, the crown of tentacles expands and the tentacles search for small invertebrates in the surrounding water, immobilising them with their cnidocytes. Boxer crabs in the genus Lybia have developed a mutualistic relationship with small sea anemones such as Triactis producta.
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Z. floridana plants are pollinated by two species of weevils, Rhopalotria slossoni and Pharaxonotha floridana. P. floridana pollinates the plants by using the pollen-bearing strobili as food for its larvae, transporting the pollen with it. The plant can regulate the mutualistic interaction by making the seed-bearing strobilis poisonous to these larvae. On the other hand, R. slossoni does not consume the pollen, but rather, takes shelter in male cones where they become dusted with pollen.
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Mosaic coevolution is a theory in which geographic location and community ecology shape differing coevolution between strongly interacting species in multiple populations. These populations may be separated by space and/or time. Depending on the ecological conditions, the interspecific interactions may be mutualistic, antagonistic or even an arms race showing variation in specific traits over a broad geographical area.Thompson, John N. "Coevolution: The Geographic Mosaic of Coevolutionary Arms Races." Current Biology 15.24 (2005): R992-994. Cell.com. Elsevier. Web.
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Parasites, represented as extraterrestrial aliens or unnatural beings, are seen in science fiction as distasteful, in contrast to (mutualistic) symbiosis, and sometimes horrible. Practical uses can be made of them, but humans who do so may be destroyed by them. For example, Mira Grant's 2013 novel Parasite envisages a world where people's immune systems are maintained by genetically engineered tapeworms. They form readily understood characters, since, as Gary Westfahl explains, parasites need to exploit their hosts to survive and reproduce.
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Nearly all species are terrestrial (a few are aquatic), occurring in a wide range of environments where most function as decayers, especially of wood. However, some species are pathogenic or parasitic, and yet others are symbiotic (i.e., mutualistic), these including the important ectomycorrhizal symbionts of forest trees. General discussions on the forms and life cycles of these fungi are developed in the article on mushrooms, in the treatments of the various orders (links in table at right), and in individual species accounts.
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This mutualistic relationship is further augmented by another symbiotic partner, a bacterium that grows on the ants and secretes chemicals; essentially, the ants use portable antimicrobials. Leafcutter ants are sensitive enough to adapt to the fungus' reaction to different plant material, apparently detecting chemical signals from it. If a particular type of leaf is toxic to the fungus, the colony will no longer collect it. The only two other groups of insects that have evolved fungus-based agriculture are ambrosia beetles and termites.
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Joy Sanchez- Taylor and Shari Evans recognize it as a form of social commentary: human beings must move away from parasitic, hierarchical relationships and toward symbiosis with each other and other species. Critic Susana Morris connects Fledglings symbiotic relationships to the Afrofuturistic feminist desire to portray liberation from current forms of hegemonic dominance. Thus, the "cooperation, interdependence, and complex understandings of power" that mutualistic symbiosis represents becomes Butler's "futurist social model, one that is fundamentally at odds with racism, sexism, and sectarian violence".
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West-Eberhard M. J. (1982) The evolution of swarming in tropical social wasps From Social Insects in the Tropics, Volume one. P. apicalis tending treehopper nymphs They have been recorded to tend species of treehopper, plant sap-feeding insects, during the daytime, an example of a mutualistic relationship. The wasp protects the treehopper nymphs from predators and parasites and in return feeds on honeydew which is produced by the nymphs. At night the carpenter ant species, Camponotus atriceps will tend the nymphs.
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Corals have been found to form characteristic associations with symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria.Applied and Environmental Microbiology, May 2012, vol 78, no 9, pages 3136–3144, Kimberly A. Lema, Bette L. Willis, and David G. Bourne Corals have evolved in oligotrophic waters which are typically poor in nitrogen. Corals must therefore form a mutualistic relationship with nitrogen fixing organism, in this case the subject of this study, namely Symbiodinium. In addition to this dinoflagellate, coral also form relationships with bacteria, archae and fungi.
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Karner blue butterfly larvae benefit from a facultative, mutualistic relationship with several ant species. In pitch pine-bear oak (Pinus rigida-Quercus ilicifolia) habitat in New York, significantly more larvae tended by ants survived (67%) than untended larvae (38%). The 19 ant species tending Karner blue butterfly larvae were from the subfamilies Formicinae, Myrmicinae, and Dolichoderinae, which are the most common in the area. The species of ant is likely to influence the degree of benefit gained by Karner blue butterfly larvae.
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Endophytes are micro-organisms living within the tissue of a plant as endosymbionts, without causing symptoms of disease. Some of them are mutualistic symbionts with beneficial effects on their host, such as improved growth or resistance against disease or environmental stress, and are being used as microbial inoculants. However, pathogens and saprophytes may also be endophytic at some point of their life cycle. Endophytes are distinct from mycorrhizal fungi or rhizosphere microbes in that they live entirely within the plant.
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Larval growth rates are thought to be determined mainly by temperature and food quality and availability. The larvae of P. icarus are oligophagous, meaning they utilize a range of host plants in the family fabaceae, as well as have a mutualistic relationship with ants. For both male and female larvae, the total development time is longer with longer day lengths, corresponding to earlier times in the season. When larvae are born earlier in the season, they take a longer time to develop.
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Lava lizards often scurry over marine iguanas when hunting flies; the iguanas generally ignore these visits Marine iguanas have mutualistic and commensal relationships with several other animals. Lava lizards may scurry over marine iguanas when hunting flies, and Darwin's finches, mockingbirds and Sally lightfoot crabs sometimes feed on mites and ticks that they pick off their skin. Marine iguanas typically ignore these visits. When underwater, they are often cleaned by fish, like Pacific sergeant majors that pick off moulting skin.
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699-724 In a newly developing environment, plant growth is often strongly influenced by the introduction of new organisms into that environment, where competitive or mutualistic relationships may develop. Often, competitive balances are eventually reached and species abundances remain somewhat constant over a period of generations. Studies done on the Norwegian Island of Svalbard, have been very useful in understanding the behavior of postglacial vegetation. Studies show that many vascular plants that are considered pioneers of vegetation development, eventually become less frequent.
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In its natural habitat C. elegans is constantly confronted with a variety of bacteria that could have both negative and positive effects on its fitness. To date, most research on C. elegans-microbe interactions focused on interactions with pathogens. Only recently, some studies addressed the role of commensal and mutualistic bacteria on C. elegans fitness. In these studies, C. elegans was exposed to various soil bacteria, either isolated in a different context or from C. elegans lab strains transferred to soil.
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Female mealybugs excrete honeydew, a thick, sugary fluid created as a byproduct of digestion (large colonies of mealybugs can produce enough honeydew to seep through bark and leaves, leaving shiny, sticky patches on the exterior of the plant). Some ants have developed a mutualistic symbiotic relationship with obscure mealybugs, tending and protecting the insects from natural enemies to increase the production of honeydew, on which the ants feed. This relationship is similar to the one that some ants have with aphids.
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In some situations, a conservation organization will want to conserve the mutualistic relationship. For example, many of the Hawaiian Islands have lost the vast majority of their native seed dispersers, and introduced bird species now act as very major seed dispersers of native species. In fact, these exotic species appear to actually facilitate the re-growth of native forests in some areas (Foster and Robinson 2007). In these situations, conserving the native mutualism may become less important than conserving the new one.
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The Rosebacter clade can be found in coastal areas living freely in bulk seawater or in coastal sediments. In these coastal ecosystems, Rosebacter clade interact with phytoplankton, macro algae and various marine animals living both mutualistic and pathogenic life styles. Rosebacter clade can also be found quite abundant in deep pelagic ocean, deep-sea sediments and even polar ocean. The reason why they are abundant in various marine habitats is because they have a diverse metabolic capabilities and regulatory circuits.
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Lactarius rufulus is a mycorrhizal species, and lives in a mutualistic association with oak species. The fungus forms an ectomycorrhizae—characterized by an external sheath that surround the rootlets of the oak. The fungus receives soluble carbohydrates that are byproducts of the plant's photosynthesis, while affording the plant greater access to soil nutrients needed for growth. The fruit bodies of L. rufulus grow scattered or in groups on the ground under oak, usually from January to March; their appearance is uncommon.
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This experiment showed that through fungal mycelia linkage of the roots of two plants, plants are able to communicate with one another and transfer nutrients as well as other resources through below ground root networks. Further studies go on to argue that this underground “tree talk” is crucial in the adaptation of forest ecosystems. Plant genotypes have shown that mycorrhizal fungal traits are heritable and play a role in plant behavior. These relationships with fungal networks can be mutualistic, commensal, or even parasitic.
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Most endophyte-plant relationships are still not well understood. Endophytes and plants often engage in mutualism, with endophytes primarily aiding in the health and survival of the host plant with issues such as pathogens and disease, water stress, heat stress, nutrient availability and poor soil quality, salinity, and herbivory. In exchange the endophyte receives carbon for energy from the plant host. Plant-microbe interactions are not strictly mutualistic, as endophytic fungi can potentially become pathogens or saprotrophs, usually when the plant in stressed.
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Commensalism, a concept developed by Pierre-Joseph van Beneden (1809–1894), a Belgian professor at the University of Louvain during the nineteenth century Poreau B., Biologie et complexité : histoire et modèles du commensalisme. PhD Dissertation, University of Lyon, France, 2014. is central to the microbiome, where microbiota colonize a host in a non-harmful coexistence. The relationship with their host is called mutualistic when organisms perform tasks that are known to be useful for the host, parasitic, when disadvantageous to the host.
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The mushroom is considered edible, but not highly regarded. An ectomycorrhizal species, S. pungens forms an intimate mutualistic relationship between its underground mycelium and the young roots of the associated host tree. The fungus—limited in distribution to California—fruits almost exclusively with Monterey and bishop pine, two trees with small and scattered natural ranges concentrated in the West Coast of the United States. Several studies have investigated the role of S. pungens in the coastal Californian forest ecosystem it occupies.
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The mould can reduce photosynthesis by the leaves and detracts from the appearance of ornamental plants. The scale's activities can result in stress for the plant, causing reduced growth and giving it a greater susceptibility to plant diseases. Mutualistic Formica fusca ants tending a herd of mealybugs Scale insect in the genus Cryptostigma live inside the nests of neotropical ant species. Many tropical plants need ants to survive which in turn cultivate scale insects thus forming a three-way symbiosis.
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Myrmecochory is usually classified as a mutualism but this is contingent on the degree to which participating species benefit from the interaction. It is likely that several different factors combine to create mutualistic conditions. Myrmecochorous plants may derive benefit from increased dispersal distance, directed dispersal to nutrient-enriched or protected microsites, and/or seed predator avoidance. Costs incurred by myrmecochorous plants include the energy required to provision diaspores, particularly when there is a disproportionate investment of growth-limiting mineral nutrients.
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The oldest of six colonies in this reef was approximately 700 years old, and was estimated to be growing at 10.3 mm per year. Meyer and Schultz (1985) demonstrated that P. furcata has a mutualistic relationship with the schools of French and white grunts (Haemulon flavolineatum and H. plumierii) that rest in their heads during the day. The fish provide it with ammonium, nitrates, and phosphorus compounds. Coral heads with resting grunts experience significantly higher growth rates and nitrogen composition than those without.
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All species studied so far carry the obligate mutualistic endosymbiont bacterium Blattabacterium, with the exception of Nocticola australiensise, an Australian cave-dwelling species without eyes, pigment or wings, which recent genetic studies indicate is a very primitive cockroach. It had previously been thought that all five families of cockroach were descended from a common ancestor that was infected with B. cuenoti. It may be that N. australiensise subsequently lost its symbionts, or alternatively this hypothesis will need to be re-examined.
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The black caracara are most often seen in pairs or family groups of 3-4, but can be spotted alone. They have been observed flying in straight patterns with continuous flapping, walking along rivers, and perching in tall trees. Other common sightings have famously associated them with tapir and capybara, as they have been observed picking ectoparasites from the fur. This interaction can be considered mutualistic as tapirs notably solicit nearby black caracara using a call, then lay still to facilitate tick removal.
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Southern black korhaan (Afrotis afra) - male This is an omnivorous species. Two-thirds of its diet is made up of arthropods, and it will eat termites, beetles, grasshoppers and ants. The rest of its diet is composed of plant matter, mostly seeds. It partakes in a mutualistic relationship with Acacia cyclops, a species of Acacia; the southern black korhaan benefits from the seeds as they are a readily available food source, and in return, disperses the seeds to good germination sites.
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Fungal-bacterial endosymbiosis encompasses the mutualistic relationship between a fungus and intracellular bacteria species residing within the fungus. Many examples of endosymbiotic relationships between bacteria and plants, algae and insects exist and have been well characterized, however fungal-bacteria endosymbiosis has been less well described. Fungal-bacterial endosymbiosis represents a diverse range of endosymbionts and hosts with respect to the initiation of the association and the benefits provided by and for each partner. Well-studied examples include Burkholderia species (sp.)/Rhizopus microsporus (R.
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Many of the fungal partners involved in the endosymbiotic relationship with the bacteria are also in mutualistic or parasitic relationships with other plants. The presence of intracellular bacteria living within these fungi add another level of complexity and suggests that at some level, the plant is benefitting indirectly from the interaction between fungi and bacteria. About 80% of natural and cultivated plants harbour AM fungi. These interactions increase nutrient availability in the plant and lead to increased plant growth and environmental stress-resistance.
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The way and degree to which different orchid species exploit these interactions varies. Orchid mycorrhizal interactions can range from wholly parasitic on the fungal partner, to a mutualistic interaction involving bidirectional nutrient transfer between the plant and mycorrhizal fungus. Orchid plants have an obligatory parasitic life stage at germination where all of their nutrients must be supplied by a fungus. After germination, the orchid mycorrhizal interactions will become specialized to utilize the carbon and nutrients available in the environment surrounding the interaction.
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Compared to other Poecilotheria species, this species is very agile and jumpy and can bite when provoked. The spider has been observed to have a possibly mutualistic relationship with frogs such as Ramanella nagaoi, sharing tree holes of which some were observed to contain eggs and/or juveniles from the spider, frog, or both. As observed between frog Chiasmocleis ventrimaculata and tarantula Xenesthis immanis, the spider may protect the frog from predators while the frog protects the spider's eggs from ants.
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Ommatokoita elongata is a long pinkish-white parasitic copepod, frequently found permanently attached to the corneas of the Greenland shark and Pacific sleeper shark. The parasites cause severe visual impairment, but it is thought that the sharks do not rely on keen eyesight for their survival. It was speculated that the copepod may be bioluminescent and thus form a mutualistic relationship with the shark by attracting prey, but this hypothesis has not been verified. It is the only species in the genus Ommatokoita.
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Actinodendron arboreum, the hell's fire anemone The venom is a mix of toxins, including neurotoxins, that paralyzes the prey so the anemone can move it to the mouth for digestion inside the gastrovascular cavity. Actinotoxins are highly toxic to prey species of fish and crustaceans. However, Amphiprioninae (clownfish), small banded fish in various colours, are not affected by their host anemone's sting and shelter themselves from predators among its tentacles. Several other species have similar adaptions and are also unaffected (see Mutualistic relationships).
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On the other hand, nonpredatory clients present a lower cost for cheating, and thus experience more cheating behaviors from the cleaners. Some evidence suggest that physiological processes can mediate the cleaners' decision to switch from cooperating to cheating in mutualistic interactions. For example, in the bluestreak cleaner wrasse, changes in cortisol levels are associated with behavior changes. For smaller clients, increase cortisol levels in the water lead to more cooperative behavior, while for larger clients, the same treatment lead to more dishonest behavior.
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However, some bacteria are more mutualistic, while others are more parasitic because they consume the plant's resources but fixes little to no N2. Moreover, these plants cannot tell whether the bacteria are more or less parasitic until they are settled in the plant nodules. To prevent cheating, these plants seem to be able to punish the rhizobium bacteria. In a series of experiments, researchers forced non- cooperation between the bacteria and the plants by placing various nodules in nitrogen-free atmosphere.
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An interspecific semiochemical that is beneficial to both interacting organisms, the emitter and receiver, e.g. floral synomone of certain Bulbophyllum species (Orchidaceae) attracts fruit fly males (Tephritidae: Diptera) as pollinators. In this true mutualistic inter-relationship, both organisms gain benefits in their respective sexual reproduction - i.e. orchid flowers are pollinated and the Dacini fruit fly males are rewarded with a sex pheromone precursor or booster; and the floral synomones, also act as rewards to pollinators, are in the form of phenylpropanoids (e.g.
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The most common plant species eaten was Humboldtia laurifolia, occurring at 676 trees/ha, with overall density at 1077 trees/ha. Humboldtia laurifolia is vulnerable and has a mutualistic relationship with ants, providing abundant food for lorises. Reports from the 1960s suggest that it once also occurred in the coastal zone, however it is now thought to be extinct there. The red slender loris differ from its close relative the gray slender loris in its frequent use of rapid arboreal locomotion.
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Clarke et al., 2009Fountain, 2009 Utricularia purpurea, a bladderwort, comes from another genus of carnivorous plants and may have lost its appetite for carnivory, at least in part. This species can still trap and digest arthropod prey in its specialized bladder traps, but does so sparingly. Instead, it harbors a community of algae, zooplankton, and debris in the bladders, giving rise to the hypothesis that the bladders of U. purpurea favor a mutualistic interaction in place of a predator-prey relationship.
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Endosymbiotic bacteria Wolbachia have been detected in 19 United Kingdom populations at 100% prevalence. When tested for phenotypes such as cytoplasmic incompatibility, sex ratio distortion, mutualistic or neutral relationship, there seemed to be no conclusive phenotype of the endosymbiotic bacteria. Although strains closely matched to the identified Wolbachia bacteria strain were shown to be sex ratio distorters, no sex ratio distortion was observed in the E. aurinia populations. Therefore, further research needs to be done to conclude what the phenotype of this symbiotic bacteria is.
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A number of ant genera are recorded as tending groups of hemipterans to varying degrees. In most cases the ants collect and transport the honeydew secretions from the hemipterans back to the nest for consumption. Not all examples of ant trophobiotic interactions are mutualistic, with instances such as ants attracted to Cacopsylla pyricola feeding on both the honeydew and the C. pyricola individuals. This interaction has been recorded in Ancient Chinese writings and is noted as one of the oldest instances of biological pest control.
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The red slender loris favors lowland rainforests (up to 700 m in altitude), tropical rainforests and inter-monsoon forests of the south western wet-zone of Sri Lanka. Masmullah Proposed Forest Reserve harbors one of few remaining red slender loris populations, and is considered a biodiversity hotspot. The most common plant species eaten was Humboldtia laurifolia, occurring at 676 trees/ha, with overall density at 1077 trees/ha. H. laurifolia is vulnerable and has a mutualistic relationship with ants, providing abundant food for lorises.
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Species selected include the lightning whelk (Sinistrofulgur sp.), the knobbed whelk (Busycon carica), the giant triton (Monoplex parthenopeus), the moon snail (Neverita duplicata) and the Florida rocksnail (Stramonita haemastoma). The sea anemone, Calliactis tricolor, is often found attached to the shell that is occupied by Clibanarius vittatus. This seems to be a mutualistic arrangement in which the crab benefits from the fact that potential predators are deterred by the anemone's stinging cells while the anemone gains a greater access to food as the crab moves around.
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The beetle is known to engage in mutualistic phoresis with mites of the genus Poecilochirus. Upon arrival at a carcass, these mites drop from the beetle and begin eating the eggs and larvae of the flies that preceded the beetles (and continue to lay more eggs even as the beetles are active). They will eventually return to the adults and be transported to the next carcass. Some of their young will hitch a ride with the beetles' young upon their emergence from the pupal stage.
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Many insects also engage in mutualistic relationships with fungi. Several groups of ants cultivate fungi in the order Agaricales as their primary food source, while ambrosia beetles cultivate various species of fungi in the bark of trees that they infest. Likewise, females of several wood wasp species (genus Sirex) inject their eggs together with spores of the wood-rotting fungus Amylostereum areolatum into the sapwood of pine trees; the growth of the fungus provides ideal nutritional conditions for the development of the wasp larvae.Deacon, p. 277.
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Curvularia protuberata is a species of fungus in the family Pleosporaceae. It forms a mutualistic relationship with Dichanthelium lanuginosum (panic grass) and Curvularia thermal tolerance virus that allows the grass to grow in soils that are far warmer than it normally tolerates. The mutualism allows the grass to thrive in soil that is 65 °C in Yellowstone National Park. Experiments have shown that the plant can only survive when it is infected by C. protuberata and when C. protuberata is also infected with the virus.
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If combined with its photobiont under appropriate conditions, its characteristic form emerges, in the process called morphogenesis.Brodo, Sharnoff & Sharnoff, 2001 In a few remarkable cases, a single lichen fungus can develop into two very different lichen forms when associating with either a green algal or a cyanobacterial symbiont. Quite naturally, these alternative forms were at first considered to be different species, until they were found growing in a conjoined manner. There is evidence to suggest that the lichen symbiosis is parasitic or commensalistic, rather than mutualistic.
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Endophytic fungi live inside plants, and those that form mutualistic or commensal associations with their host, do not damage their hosts. The exact nature of the relationship between endophytic fungus and host depends on the species involved, and in some cases fungal colonization of plants can bestow a higher resistance against insects, roundworms (nematodes), and bacteria; in the case of grass endophytes the fungal symbiont produces poisonous alkaloids, which can affect the health of plant-eating (herbivorous) mammals and deter or kill insect herbivores.
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Sennertia is a genus of mites in the Chaetodactylidae family. There are more than 70 species. Some of these mites are parasites or commensals of bees, but the presence in some bees of specialized structures for carrying mites (acarinarium) indicates the mutualistic nature of the relationship of some species (Sennertia sayutara, Sennertia devincta). Most species of the genus Sennertia settle on adult bees as heteromorphic deutonymphs, but the species Sennertia vaga has no deutonymph and settle on adult bees in the eating adult stages.
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The Orchidaceae are notorious as a family in which the absence of the correct mycorrhizae is fatal even to germinating seeds. Recent research into ectomycorrhizal plants in boreal forests has indicated that mycorrhizal fungi and plants have a relationship that may be more complex than simply mutualistic. This relationship was noted when mycorrhizal fungi were unexpectedly found to be hoarding nitrogen from plant roots in times of nitrogen scarcity. Researchers argue that some mycorrhizae distribute nutrients based upon the environment with surrounding plants and other mycorrhizae.
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Measuring the exact fitness benefit to the individuals in a mutualistic relationship is not always straightforward, particularly when the individuals can receive benefits from a variety of species, for example most plant-pollinator mutualisms. It is therefore common to categorise mutualisms according to the closeness of the association, using terms such as obligate and facultative. Defining "closeness", however, is also problematic. It can refer to mutual dependency (the species cannot live without one another) or the biological intimacy of the relationship in relation to physical closeness (e.g.
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In Central and South America, Eciton burchellii is the swarming ant most commonly attended by "ant-following" birds such as antbirds and woodcreepers. This behaviour was once considered mutualistic, but later studies found the birds to be parasitic. Direct kleptoparasitism (birds stealing food from the ants' grasp) is rare and has been noted in Inca doves which pick seeds at nest entrances as they are being transported by species of Pogonomyrmex. Birds that follow ants eat many prey insects and thus decrease the foraging success of ants.
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Coral growth usually relies on both food and sunlight, but because O. varicosa exists primarily as a deep-water coral, it typically lacks zooxanthellae. Only shallow water forms of O. varicosa contain zooxanthellae because they have more access to sunlight. Zooxanthellae, or coral symbionts, serve in a mutualistic relationship as a source of energy for coral colonies, while also receiving shelter between coral polyps. Zooxanthellae photosynthesize and transfer sugars to the coral polyp, but azooxanthellate, or aposymbiotic, coral colonies rely on obtaining energy through heterotrophy.
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Myrmecophilous aphids being tended by ants Myrmecophily ( ; literally "ant- love") is the term applied to positive interspecies associations between ants and a variety of other organisms such as plants, other arthropods, and fungi. Myrmecophily refers to mutualistic associations with ants, though in its more general use the term may also refer to commensal or even parasitic interactions. The term myrmecophile is used mainly for animals that associate with ants. There are an estimated 10,000 species of ants (Formicidae), with a higher diversity in the tropics.
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Lamellibrachia luymesi, a deep sea giant tubeworm, has an obligate mutualistic association with internal, sulfide-oxidizing, bacterial symbionts. The tubeworm extracts the chemicals that the bacteria need from the sediment, and the bacteria supply the tubeworm, which has no mouth, with nutrients. Some hermit crabs place pieces of sponge on the shell in which they are living. These grow over and eventually dissolve away the mollusc shell; the crab may not ever need to replace its abode again and is well-camouflaged by the overgrowth of sponge.
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The spider does not exhibit any behaviors that are outside of its normal scope, however the usual timing of the behaviors is altered. This is because the larva is using the spider's behaviors to increase its fitness and chance of survival. By increasing the levels of hormones that promote certain actions, the larva alters the normal behavior of the spider to its advantage. The larva also has a mutualistic relationship with polydnaviruses that suppresses the immune system preventing it from making any counter-action.
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A distinct factor of the sword-billed hummingbird is its extreme coevolution with the species Passiflora mixta. The two species evolved together during the early radiation of the Tacsonia clade, because the hummingbird exclusively pollinated P. mixta. The position of the flower's anthers and sigmas and the length of the corolla tube make it an inaccessible food source to nearly every species except E. ensifera. This mutualistic relationship lets the passionflower depend on the bird for pollination, while the bird obtains a high-quality food source.
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Some species of Paratrechina have been reported to engage in mutualistic association with caterpillars of Eurybia elvina, a metalmark butterfly. The ants are attracted to the tentacle nectary organ of the caterpillars, which produces exudates rich in sugar and amino acids. The ants are thought to provide protection to the caterpillars against natural enemies in return for this source of nutrition. However, it is important to note that this observation was made in 1987, long before major taxonomic changes to the genus in 2010.
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Additionally, genes expressed from the polydnavirus in the parasitised host alter host development and metabolism to be beneficial for the growth and survival of the parasitoid larva. Thus the virus and wasp have a Symbiosis (mutualistic) relationship. It appears in most cases that the PDVs DNA is required for successful Parasitism of Lepidoptera by the wasps. So, the full genome of the virus is integrated into the genome of the wasp and the virus only replicates in specific cells in the female wasp's reproductive system.
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Alpheus randalli with a goby of the genus Amblyeleotris Some pistol shrimp species share burrows with goby fishes in a mutualistic symbiotic relationship. The burrow is built and tended by the pistol shrimp, and the goby provides protection by watching out for danger. When both are out of the burrow, the shrimp maintains contact with the goby using its antennae. The goby, having the better vision, alerts the shrimp of danger using a characteristic tail movement, and then both retreat into the safety of the shared burrow.
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These insects mainly feed on small branches and flowers of Genista anglica, Genista lydia and Genista tinctoria (hence the species name),Ecological Flora of the British Isles but they have also been collected on Laburnum, Cytisus, Petteria, Spartium and Sophora species.Wink, M.; Witte, L., Storage of quinolizidine alkaloids in Macrosiphum albifrons and Aphis genistae (Homoptera: Aphididae), Entomol. Gener., 1991, 15, 4, 237-254 These aphids sometimes have a mutualistic relationship with ants. They are holocyclic (sex is involved, leading to egg production) and oviparae.
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The larvae and pupae of L. rubidus exhibit a mutualistic relationship with red ants. The caterpillars secrete a fluid through glands in the body wall that has a high sugar concentration, which attracts the red ants. The ants will carry the caterpillar to the nest, where they will defend it from predators in exchange for being able to feed on the fluid that the caterpillar secretes. L. rubidus will stay in the ant nest until it completes pupation and emerges from the chrysalis as a butterfly.
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They drown the insect, whose body is gradually dissolved. This may occur by bacterial action (the bacteria being washed into the pitcher by rainfall), or by enzymes secreted by the plant itself. Furthermore, some pitcher plants contain mutualistic insect larvae, which feed on trapped prey, and whose excreta the plant absorbs. Whatever the mechanism of digestion, the prey items are converted into a solution of amino acids, peptides, phosphates, ammonium and urea, from which the plant obtains its mineral nutrition (particularly nitrogen and phosphorus).
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Feeding on flax nectar Nectar is the normal diet but fruit and insects are frequently eaten, and pollen and seeds more occasionally. Particularly popular is the New Zealand flax, whose nectar sometimes ferments, resulting in the tui flying in a fashion that suggests that they might be drunk. They are the main pollinators of flax, kowhai, kaka beak and some other plants. Note that the flowers of the three plants mentioned are similar in shape to the tui's beak—a vivid example of mutualistic coevolution.
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They can be considered a type of viral vectors. Without the virus infection, phagocytic hemocytes (blood cells) will encapsulate and kill the wasp egg and larvae but the immune suppression caused by the virus allows for survival of the wasp egg and larvae, leading to hatching and complete development of the immature wasp in the caterpillar. Additionally, genes expressed from the polydnavirus in the parasitised host alter host development and metabolism to be beneficial for the growth and survival of the parasitoid larva. Thus the virus and wasp have a symbiotic (mutualistic) relationship.
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The long snouted bat has an obligate mutualistic relationship with the W. weberbaueri and as a result, this species is the primary pollinator and seed disperser for this species. This species of cactus produces fruit year around, even after 17 months without rain which allows minimal bat populations to persist. Platalina genovensium increases the successful fruit production from 40% to 77%, significantly increasing available food available in the ecosystem for rodents and birds. During and following drought, two species of hummingbird (Platagona gigas and Rhodopis vesper) also play a role in pollination.
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Vibrations can also be used to communicate between entirely different species; lycaenid (gossamer-winged butterfly) caterpillars, which are myrmecophilous (living in a mutualistic association with ants) communicate with ants in this way. The Madagascar hissing cockroach has the ability to press air through its spiracles to make a hissing noise as a sign of aggression; the death's-head hawkmoth makes a squeaking noise by forcing air out of their pharynx when agitated, which may also reduce aggressive worker honey bee behavior when the two are in close proximity.
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The long-tailed fiscal feeds on insects, particularly beetles and grasshoppers, as well as small vertebrates such as lizards, snakes and bird chicks. It occurs as single birds or in small groups and hunts in the typical fashion for a shrike, perched about two metres off the ground where it watches for and then dives onto prey. Prey is usually taken from the ground and sometimes from foliage, but only rarely from the air. The species has been reported to have a mutualistic relationship with red-billed buffalo weavers in Tsavo in Kenya.
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When the Abbey Church of Saint Faith declared that Charlemagne gifted to them the “A,” the church also welcomed the authority of Charlemagne’s name. A small church was legitimized by one proclamation in the beginning, but once Charlemagne was at the pinnacle of his power, the entire purpose of pilgrimages to the church changed. The relic became independent of Saint Faith and what the church was supposed to represent. Charlemagne’s influence single- handedly accomplished this, and he was rewarded with a mutualistic relationship between himself and the church.
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In highly nested networks, guilds of species that share an ecological niche contain both generalists (species with many links) and specialists (species with few links, all shared with the generalists). In mutualistic networks, nestedness is often asymmetrical, with specialists of one guild linked to the generalists of the partner guild. The level of nestedness is determined not by species features but overall network depictors (e.g. network size and connectance) and can be predicted by a dynamic adaptive model with species rewiring to maximize individual fitness or the fitness of the whole community.
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The nested structure of mutual networks was shown to promote the capacity of species to persist under increasingly harsh circumstances. Most likely, because the nested structure of mutualistic networks helps species to indirectly support each other when circumstances are harsh. This indirect facilitation helps species to survive, but it also means that under harsh circumstances one species cannot survive without the support of the other. As circumstances become increasingly harsh, a tipping point may therefore be passed at which the populations of a large number of species may collapse simultaneously.
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Often entire groups of tadpoles reach the toadlet stage at once and a mass migration to higher ground takes place usually to shaded areas of mid range and upland forests bordering the marshes from where they bred. Toadlets can be observed eating microscopic bugs as fast as they can in the ground area they roam between various vegetation; they are also known to eat ants, spiders, slugs and worms. Studies have shown that they have a mutualistic relationship with Chlorogonium algae, which makes tadpoles develop faster than normal. Tadpoles have several mechanisms to reduce predation.
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The fungus cultivated by the adults is used to feed the ant larvae and the adult ants feed on the leaf sap. The fungus needs the ants to stay alive, and the larvae need the fungus to stay alive. In addition to feeding the fungal garden with foraged food, mainly consisting of leaves, it is protected from Escovopsis by the antibiotic secretions of Actinobacteria (genus Pseudonocardia). This mutualistic microorganism lives in the metapleural glands of the ants.. Actinobacteria are responsible for producing the majority of the world's antibiotics today.
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Coyotes may occasionally form mutualistic hunting relationships with American badgers, assisting each other in digging up rodent prey. The relationship between the two species may occasionally border on apparent "friendship", as some coyotes have been observed laying their heads on their badger companions or licking their faces without protest. The amicable interactions between coyotes and badgers were known to pre-Columbian civilizations, as shown on a Mexican jar dated to 1250–1300 CE depicting the relationship between the two. Food scraps, pet food, and animal feces may attract a coyote to a trash can.
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Domesticated species and the human populations that domesticate them are typified by a mutualistic relationship of interdependence. Domesticated crop species tend to become increasingly reliant on human populations for dispersal due to the selection against natural seed dispersal methods and humans have become increasingly dependent on domesticated crop species to sustain growing populations. Because many crop species rely on humans for dispersal, and it is possible to use genomics to track the dispersal of domesticated species, the genomics of domesticated species can be used as a tool to track human movements throughout history.
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In order to avoid competition, some species of infective juveniles are able to judge the quality of a host before penetration. The infective juveniles of S. carpocapsae are repelled by 24-hour-old infections, likely by the smell of their own species’ mutualistic bacteria (Grewal et al. 1997). Interspecific competition between nematode species can also occur in the soil environment outside of hosts. Millar and Barbercheck (2001) showed that the introduced nematode Steinernema riobrave survived and persisted in the environment for up to a year after its release.
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At least one instance has been observed of a mutualistic relationship between the frog and a Poecilotheria tarantula, a spider of a size and aggression "quite capable of killing and eating small frogs." Instead, as observed in frog Chiasmocleis ventrimaculata and tarantula Xenesthis immanis, the spider may protect the frog from predators while the frog protect the spider's eggs from ants. Uperodon taprobanicus and the Poeciltheria species were observed emerging from the same tree hole and then standing closely next to each other with no predation of the frog occurring from the tarantula.
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Pathogenic exogenous bacteria can enter a closed biological system and cause disease such as Cholera, which is induced by a waterborne microbe that infects the human intestine. Exogenous bacteria can be introduced into a closed ecosystem as well, and have mutualistic benefits for both the microbe and the host. A prominent example of this concept is bacterial flora, which consists of exogenous bacteria ingested and endogenously colonized during the early stages of life. Bacteria that are part of normal internal ecosystems, also known as bacterial flora, are called Endogenous Bacteria.
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An aphid produces honeydew for an ant in an example of mutualistic symbiosis Honeydew drops on leaves Honeydew puddle under a tree Honeydew is a sugar-rich sticky liquid, secreted by aphids and some scale insects as they feed on plant sap. When their mouthpart penetrates the phloem, the sugary, high-pressure liquid is forced out of the anus of the aphid. Honeydew is particularly common as a secretion in hemipteran insects and is often the basis for trophobiosis. Some caterpillars of Lycaenidae butterflies and some moths also produce honeydew.
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Variations in salinity, light intensity, temperature, pollution, sedimentation, and disease can all impact the photosynthetic efficiency of zooxanthellae or result in expulsion from their mutualistic relationships. The physiological mechanisms behind endosymbiont expulsion remain under research but are speculated to involve various means of detachment of zooxanthellae or gastrodermal cells from host corals. During a bleaching event, entire gastrodermal cells containing zooxanthellae may leave the host. In other cases, gastrodermal cells will remain in the host tissues, but zooxanthellae contained in vacuoles may separately undergo damage or may physically leave the cells and entire surrounding environment.
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The endosymbiotic, photosynthetic algae which C. tuberculata hosts in its body are paramount to the jellyfish's prosperity. These mutualistic microorganisms are also known as zooxanthellae, originating from the dinoflagellate phylum, and they commonly engage in symbiotic relationships with many types of jellyfish. While the cnidarian hosts provide shelter for these symbionts, the dinoflagellates in return use their photosynthetic abilities to provide the C. tuberculata with energy for usage and storage. Fatty acids, for example, are the primary macromolecules for energy storage in cnidarians, and mainly are obtained from their carbon-fixing symbionts.
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Like all species in the genus Lactarius, L. subflammeus is mycorrhizal, forming mutualistic associations with trees. The fungus and the plant forms structures called ectomycorrhizae, a specialized sheath of hyphae on the surface of the root from which hyphae extend into the soil and into the outer cortical cells of the root. The fruit bodies of L. subflammeus grow scattered to grouped under conifers or in mixed conifer-hardwood forests near pine and spruce, from August to December. The fungus is widely distributed in the Pacific Northwest, where it is very common in conifer forests.
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Tylopilus plumbeoviolaceous is a mycorrhizal species, and the bulk of the fungus lives underground, associating in a mutualistic relationship with the roots of various tree species. The fruit bodies are found growing singly, scattered or clustered together during mid-summer to autumn in deciduous forests, often under beech or oak trees; however, it sometimes occurs in mixed hardwood- conifer forests under hemlock. A preference for sandy soil has been noted in one source. In North America, the mushroom can be found east of the Rocky Mountains, ranging from Canada to Mexico.
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Based on research that has been conducted in A. suspensa, there are no clear cases of mutualism with either plants, animals, or microbes. These flies resemble partially parasitic relationship with fruits and they may be influencing the ability of A. suspensa to maintain mutualistic relationships. Even though typically A. suspensa infest spoiled and rotten fruit, they may be influencing the ability for the fruit to disperse its seeds by making it less appealing to animals. At the same time, A. suspensa larva reap the benefits of the fruit for growth.
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The major flower-frequenting insect taxa include beetles, flies, wasps, bees, ants, thrips, butterflies, and moths. Insects carry out pollination when visiting flowers to obtain nectar or pollen, to prey on other species, or when pseudo- copulating with insect-mimicking flowers such as orchids. Pollination-related interactions between plants and insects are considered mutualistic, and the relationships between plants and their pollinators have likely led to increased diversity of both angiosperms and the animals that pollinate them. Anthecology brings together many disciplines, such as botany, horticulture, entomology, and ecology.
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Leafcutter ants protect and nourish various species of fungus as a source of food in a system known as ant-fungus mutualism. Leafcutter ants belonging to the genus Acromyrmex are known for their mutualistic relationship with Basidiomycete fungi. Ant colonies are closely associated with their fungus colonies, and may have co-evolved with a consistent vertical lineage of fungi in individual colonies. Ant populations defend against the horizontal transmission of foreign fungi to their fungal colony, as this transmission may lead to competitive stress on the local fungal garden.
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The latter supports the theory of vertical transmission of endophytic bacteria, implying a stable and mutualistic relationship between the host and its endobionts (Hollants, Leroux, et al., 2011). Bryopsis is thought to have intrinsic mechanisms that are highly selective for specific bacteria despite being exposed to a wide range of marine bacteria (Hollants, Decleyre, Leliaert, De Clerck, & Willems, 2011). The functionality of the presence of these endosymbionts is not well known however, they are thought to provide the algae an adaptive advantage (Hollants, Leliaert, Verbruggen, De Clerck, & Willems, 2013).
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Several species colonize plants, animals, or other fungi as parasites or mutualistic symbionts and derive all their metabolic energy in form of nutrients from the tissues of their hosts. Owing to their long evolutionary history, the Ascomycota have evolved the capacity to break down almost every organic substance. Unlike most organisms, they are able to use their own enzymes to digest plant biopolymers such as cellulose or lignin. Collagen, an abundant structural protein in animals, and keratin—a protein that forms hair and nails—, can also serve as food sources.
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It had been long held that butterfly species feeding on nectar had served as pollinator vectors, but the L. sinapis demonstrates that this is not always the case. An analysis of the relationship between the Phlox-Coliasis pollination system and the L. sinapis which feeds on the nectar, displays that the pollination efficiency is around 1%, extremely low for the need to successfully pollinate the host population. Thus, rather than being considered a mutualistic relationship, the L. sinapis is considered a parasite to the flowers from which they feed.
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Mutualism is a form of ectosymbiosis where both the host and parasitic species benefit from the interaction. There are many examples of mutualistic ectosymbiosis that occur in nature. One such relationship is between Branchiobdellida and crayfish in which the Branchiobdellida acts as a bacterial gut cleaner for the crayfish species. Another example is the iron-oxide associated chemoautotrophic bacteria found crusted to the gills of Rimicaris exoculata shrimp that provide the shrimp with vital organic material for their survival while simultaneously supporting the bacteria with different organic material that the bacterial cannot produce itself.
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Certain bacteria form close spatial associations that are essential for their survival. One such mutualistic association, called interspecies hydrogen transfer, occurs between clusters of anaerobic bacteria that consume organic acids, such as butyric acid or propionic acid, and produce hydrogen, and methanogenic Archaea that consume hydrogen. The bacteria in this association are unable to consume the organic acids as this reaction produces hydrogen that accumulates in their surroundings. Only the intimate association with the hydrogen-consuming Archaea keeps the hydrogen concentration low enough to allow the bacteria to grow.
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Nutrient exchanges and communication between a mycorrhizal fungus and plants. Mycorrhizal fungi form a mutualistic relationship with the roots of most plant species. In such a relationship, both the plants themselves and those parts of the roots that host the fungi, are said to be mycorrhizal. Relatively few of the mycorrhizal relationships between plant species and fungi have been examined to date, but 95% of the plant families investigated are predominantly mycorrhizal either in the sense that most of their species associate beneficially with mycorrhizae, or are absolutely dependent on mycorrhizae.
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They go on to explain how this updated model could explain why mycorrhizae do not alleviate plant nitrogen limitation, and why plants can switch abruptly from a mixed strategy with both mycorrhizal and nonmycorrhizal roots to a purely mycorrhizal strategy as soil nitrogen availability declines. It has also been suggested that evolutionary and phylogenetic relationships can explain much more variation in the strength of mycorrhizal mutualisms than ecological factors. Within mutualistic mycorrhiza, the plant gives carbohydrates (products of photosynthesis) to the fungus, while the fungus gives the plant water and minerals in exchange.
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Tortoises share a mutualistic relationship with some species of Galápagos finch and mockingbirds. The birds benefit from the food source and the tortoises get rid of irritating ectoparasites. Small groups of finches initiate the process by hopping on the ground in an exaggerated fashion facing the tortoise. The tortoise signals it is ready by rising up and extending its neck and legs, enabling the birds to reach otherwise inaccessible spots on the tortoise's body such as the neck, rear legs, cloacal opening, and skin between plastron and carapace.
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Tetraponera species are generally defined by the myrmecophytes they inhabit and the mutualistic relationship they share. These host plants always have hollow thorns or branches in which the ants can live and form a colony. Also, the myrmecophytes provide energy rich food sources such as extrafloral nectar and/or food bodies. All Tetraponera species have gut symbionts that allow them to digest amino acid-deficient food provided by their host plants; these gut bacteria are especially important for the species that only survive on the myrmecophyte-provided foods.
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For example, mutualistic interactions are vital for terrestrial ecosystem function as more than 48% of land plants rely on mycorrhizal relationships with fungi to provide them with inorganic compounds and trace elements. As another example, the estimate of tropical forest trees with seed dispersal mutualisms with animals ranges from 70–90%. In addition, mutualism is thought to have driven the evolution of much of the biological diversity we see, such as flower forms (important for pollination mutualisms) and co-evolution between groups of species.Thompson, J. N. 2005 The geographic mosaic of coevolution.
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This form of seed dispersal has been implicated in rapid plant migration and the spread of invasive species. Seed dispersal via ingestion by vertebrate animals (mostly birds and mammals), or endozoochory, is the dispersal mechanism for most tree species. Endozoochory is generally a coevolved mutualistic relationship in which a plant surrounds seeds with an edible, nutritious fruit as a good food for animals that consume it. Birds and mammals are the most important seed dispersers, but a wide variety of other animals, including turtles, fish, and insects (e.g.
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Black smoker in the High Rise portion of the Endeavour Hydrothermal Vents. Viruses are the most abundant life in the ocean, harboring the greatest reservoir of genetic diversity. As their infections are often fatal, they constitute a significant source of mortality and thus have widespread influence on biological oceanographic processes, evolution and biogeochemical cycling within the ocean. Evidence has been found however to indicate that viruses found in vent habitats have adopted a more mutualistic than parasitic evolutionary strategy in order to survive the extreme and volatile environment they exist in.
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S. pungens is often found growing near Chroogomphus vinicolor (pictured). Suillus pungens is an ectomycorrhizal (EM) basidiomycete that forms symbiotic relationships almost exclusively with Monterey pine (Pinus radiata) and bishop pine (Pinus muricata); some collections have been made under knobcone pine (Pinus attenuata) and ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), but only within the range of Monterey pine. All these trees have small scattered natural ranges largely restricted to California. An EM symbiosis is a mutualistic relationship between an EM fungus and the root tip of a compatible EM plant.
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Some ants and scale insects have a mutualistic relationship; the ants feed on the honeydew and in return protect the scales. On a tulip tree, ants have been observed building a papery tent over the scales. In other instances, scale insects are carried inside the ant's nest; the ant Acropyga exsanguis takes this to an extreme by transporting a fertilised female mealybug with it on its nuptial flight, so that the nest it founds can be provisioned. This provides a means for the mealybug to be dispersed widely.
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Entomopathogenic fungi can attack suitable scales and completely overgrow them. The identity of the host is not always apparent as many fungi are host- specific, and may destroy all the scales of one species present on a leaf while not affecting another species. Fungi in the genus Septobasidium have a more complex, mutualistic relationship with scale insects. The fungus lives on trees where it forms a mat which overgrows the scales, reducing the growth of the individual parasitised scales and sometimes rendering them infertile, but protecting the scale colony from environmental conditions and predators.
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The symbiotic relationship between the Hawaiian bobtail squid Euprymna scolopes and the marine gram-negative bacterium Aliivibrio fischeri has been well studied. The two organisms exhibit a mutualistic relationship in which bioluminescence produced by A. fischeri helps to attract pray to the squid host, which provides nutrient-rich tissues and a protected environment forA. fischeri. Bioluminescence provided by A. fischeri also aids in the defense of the squid E. scolopes by providing camouflage during its nighttime foraging activity. Following bacterial colonization, the specialized organs of the squid undergo developmental changes and a relationship becomes established.
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Cells of the innate immune system prevent free growth of microorganisms within the body, but many pathogens have evolved mechanisms to evade it. One strategy is intracellular replication, as practised by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, or wearing a protective capsule, which prevents lysis by complement and by phagocytes, as in Salmonella. Bacteroides species are normally mutualistic bacteria, making up a substantial portion of the mammalian gastrointestinal flora. Some species like B. fragilis for example are opportunistic pathogens, causing infections of the peritoneal cavity inhibit phagocytosis by affecting the phagocytes receptors used to engulf bacteria.
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The harsh conditions present in the subalpine zone are sufficient to keep competitive interactions at a minimal level. Species interactions theory predicts that competition should be low in stressful environments and that positive, mutualistic interactions should be favored (e.g.) In fact, lichens, which are mutualisms between fungi and algae or cyanobacteria, are common in subalpine and alpine ecosystems. The clumpy nature of subalpine vegetation is also in part a manifestation of a positive interaction, whereby individuals increase their fitness by having neighbors that reduce the effects of high wind and cold temperatures.
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X. annandalei sucks sap from the roots of the host trees. It is attended and cared for by the ant, Acropyga acutiventris, which lives in colonies underground and has a mutualistic association with the mealybugs which live inside its nest. The excess sugar in the sap is excreted as honeydew which is removed by the ants which may stimulate its production by palpating the mealybug's abdomen. When the young ant queens leave the nest on their nuptial flight, they carry female mealybugs in their jaws ready for the foundation of new colonies.
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The movement by animals of items involved in plant reproduction is usually a mutualistic association. Pollinators may increase plant reproductive success by reducing pollen waste, increasing dispersal of pollen, and increasing the probability of sexual reproduction at low population density. In return, the pollinator receives nourishment in the form of nectar or pollen. Animals may also disperse the seed or fruit of plants, either by eating it (in which case they receive the benefit of nourishment) or by passive transport, such as seeds sticking to fur or feathers.
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Intracellular hyphae extend up to the cortical cells of the root and penetrate the cell walls, but not the inner cellular membrane creating an internal invagination . The penetrating hyphae develop a highly branched structure called an arbuscule which have low functional periods before degradation and absorption by host's root cells. A fully developed arbuscular mycorrhizal structure facilitates the two-way movement of nutrients between the host and mutualistic fungal partner. The symbiotic association allows the host plant to respond better to environment stresses, and the non-photosynthetic fungi to obtain carbohydrates produced by photosynthesis.
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The genera Lactarius, Lactifluus, Multifurca and Russula form a mutualistic ectomycorrhizal root symbiosis with trees and shrubs, exchanging mineral nutrients for photosynthetic sugar. They are one of several fungal lineages that have evolved such a lifestyle and are sometimes referred to as the "/russula- lactarius" clade in the scientific literature. Worldwide, they are one of the most frequently encountered lineages on ectomycorrhizal roots. While some tropical species were initially believed to be parasitic, the observation that species fruiting on tree trunks do form ectomycorrhiza in tropical Guyana supports the view of an exclusively symbiotic lineage.
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Suillus salmonicolor occurs in a mycorrhizal association with various species of Pinus. This is a mutualistic relationship in which the subterranean fungal mycelia creates a protective sheath around the rootlets of the tree and a network of hyphae (the Hartig net) that penetrates between the tree's epidermal and cortical cells. This association helps the plant absorb water and mineral nutrients; in exchange, the fungus receives a supply of carbohydrates produced by the plant's photosynthesis. Two-, three-, and five- needled pines have all been recorded to associate with S. salmonicolor.
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Immature specimen with cap not fully expanded; bruising is evident on the stipe. Exsudoporus frostii is a mycorrhizal species, meaning that the fungus forms associations with the roots of various species of trees. These associations are mutualistic, because the fungus absorbs mineral nutrients from the soil and channels these into the plant, while the plant provides the fungus with sugars, a product of photosynthesis. The characteristic feature of the mycorrhiza is the presence of a sheath of fungal tissue that encases the terminal, nutrient-absorbing rootlets of the host plant.
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Lithophaga simplex bores into living colonies of coral. In the Red Sea it is commonly found in the massive coral Astreopora myriophthalma. The mollusc was at one time considered to be a parasite of the coral because its tunnelling activities weakened the coral structure and made it more liable to suffer damage. However it has now been found that the ammonium products that the mollusc excretes serve as nutrients, and the benefits of these to the coral colony may outweigh the disadvantages of structural weakening, so the relationship between the two is probably mutualistic.
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There are many different types of primary producers out in the Earth's ecosystem at different states. Fungi and other organisms that gain their biomass from oxidizing organic materials are called decomposers and are not primary producers. However, lichens located in tundra climates are an exceptional example of a primary producer that, by mutualistic symbiosis, combine photosynthesis by algae (or additionally nitrogen fixation by cyanobacteria) with the protection of a decomposer fungus. Also, plant-like primary producers (trees, algae) use the sun as a form of energy and put it into the air for other organisms.
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Some carnivorous plants may also be able to increase their rate of capture through mimicry. Luring is not a necessary condition however, as the predator still has a significant advantage simply by not being identified as such. They may resemble a mutualistic symbiont or a species of little relevance to the prey. Two bluestreak cleaner wrasse cleaning a potato grouper, Epinephelus tukula A case of the latter situation is a species of cleaner fish and its mimic, though in this example the model is greatly disadvantaged by the presence of the mimic.
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Parker Method also called the loop method for analyzing vegetation, useful for quantitatively measuring species and cover over time and changes from grazing, wildfires and invasive species. Demonstrated by American botanist Thayne Tuason and an assistant. Plant ecology is the science of the functional relationships between plants and their habitats – the environments where they complete their life cycles. Plant ecologists study the composition of local and regional floras, their biodiversity, genetic diversity and fitness, the adaptation of plants to their environment, and their competitive or mutualistic interactions with other species.
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CSSV is primarily transmitted by mealybugs. These mealybugs have a mutualistic relationship with ants which provide protection in return for sugar exudates. Fourteen species of mealybugs within the family Pseudoccidae act as vectors for CSSV, but Planococcoides njalensis and Planococcus citri are the most important mealybug vectors. Transmission is semi-persistent, meaning that the virus is taken up into the vector's circulatory system, but does not replicate within it. The feeding period required for acquisition of the virus is, at minimum, 20 minutes, but optimally 2–4 days.
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It is a territorial animal, defending its area first with loud cries towards the invading troops. If this proves to be fruitless, it brawls aggressively; these aggressive interactions can range from a simple chase or igniting a fight when feeling aggravated. On the other hand, when around mutualistic species, they do not engage vigorously. Mating Lion-tailed macaque behaviour is characterized by typical patterns such as arboreal living, selectively feeding on a large variety of fruit trees, large interindividual spaces while foraging, and time budgets with high proportion of time devoted to exploration and feeding.
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In the following year he was appointed to take charge of some mines in Nicaragua, where he passed four active and adventurous years the results being given in his The Naturalist in Nicaragua] (1874), a widely regarded work. In this volume the author expressed his views on the former presence of glaciers in that country. In this book, he also first described the mutualistic relationship of certain Acacias and the ant we now know as Pseudomyrmex spinicola. These are a species of red myrmecophyte-inhabiting neotropical ants which are found only in Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
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Suweis, S., Grilli, J., Banavar, J. R., Allesina, S., & Maritan, A. (2015) Effect of localization on the stability of mutualistic ecological networks. "Nature Communications", 6 The relationship between complexity and stability can even be inverted in food webs with sufficient trophic coherence, so that increases in biodiversity would make a community more stable rather than less. Interaction strength may decrease with the number of links between species, damping the effects of any disturbanceDiego P. Vázquez, Carlos J. Melián, Neal M. Williams, Nico Blüthgen, Boris R. Krasnov and Robert Poulin. (2007) Species abundance and asymmetric interaction strength in ecological networks.
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However, while symbiotic, the relationship is probably not mutualistic, since the algae give up a disproportionate amount of their sugars (see below). Both partners gain water and mineral nutrients mainly from the atmosphere, through rain and dust. The fungal partner protects the alga by retaining water, serving as a larger capture area for mineral nutrients and, in some cases, provides minerals obtained from the substrate. If a cyanobacterium is present, as a primary partner or another symbiont in addition to a green alga as in certain tripartite lichens, they can fix atmospheric nitrogen, complementing the activities of the green alga.
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Butler devotes several moments in the novel to portray the discomfort this required loss of agency causes in the human symbionts. Nevertheless, Fledgling is the first time that Butler illustrates a co-dependent relationship from the point of view of the dominating partner, unlike in previous works such as her novel Dawn or her celebrated short story "Bloodchild". Scholars have linked Fledglings mutualistic symbiosis to various theoretical positions. Pramrod Nayar sees it as a fictional depiction of the relationship that professor Donna Haraway defines as "companion species" in "Encounters with Companion Species: Entangling Dogs, Baboons, Philosophers, and Biologists".
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The elongated tips of the flower produces sexual attractants and attracts pollinators in pseudocopulation, where the pollinators think the flower is a female. Thynnid wasps are often attracted to the flower with the notion of copulating with the flower. Caladenia dilatata has a mutualistic relationship with mycorrhizal fungi, where the fungus acquires some nutrition from the orchid, and the orchid requires the fungus to germinate. However, the orchid’s dependence on the fungus is not well known. Although the orchid’s fire ecology is not well understood, it is believed that forest fires help clear surrounding vegetation, increasing light levels and temperature at ground level.
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Many plants and fungi exchange carbon and nutrients in mutualistic mycorrhizal relationships. Some 400 species of myco-heterotrophic plants, mostly in the tropics, however effectively cheat by taking carbon from a fungus rather than exchanging it for minerals. They have much reduced roots, as they do not need to absorb water from the soil; their stems are slender with few vascular bundles, and their leaves are reduced to small scales, as they do not photosynthesize. Their seeds are very small and numerous, so they appear to rely on being infected by a suitable fungus soon after germinating.
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Suillus americanus is a mycorrhizal species, a mutualistic relationship where the fungus forms a sheath on the surface of the root from which hyphae extend outward into the soil, and inwards between the cortical cells with which they interface to form a Hartig net. The main benefit for the fungus is constant access to a supply of carbohydrates produced by the plant's photosynthesis, while the plant benefits from an enhanced supply of mineral nutrients from the soil, taken up by the hyphae of the fungus. It grows in association with pines, particularly eastern white pine (Pinus strobus).
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This new definition recognizes a mutualistic relationship in which both partners gain benefits. Domestication has vastly enhanced the reproductive output of crop plants, livestock, and pets far beyond that of their wild progenitors. Domesticates have provided humans with resources that they could more predictably and securely control, move, and redistribute, which has been the advantage that had fueled a population explosion of the agro-pastoralists and their spread to all corners of the planet. Houseplants and ornamentals are plants domesticated primarily for aesthetic enjoyment in and around the home, while those domesticated for large-scale food production are called crops.
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Coelomera ruficornis lives on Cecropia pachystachya, a tree with a mutualistic association with the ant Azteca alfari. The ants live in the hollow branches and shoots, a newly-mated queen having entered through the prostoma, an indented groove at a node in the stem. The ants then protect the tree against leaf-cutting ants and other herbivorous insects. The adult female beetle also chews a hole in the prosoma, a task which may take as long as 24 hours, inserts the tip of her abdomen into the hole and lays a batch of about 65 eggs inside the hollow stem.
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If the multiple relationships of A. decemarticulatus were not complex enough, they also commonly interact with an assassin bug, Zelus annulosus, which often resides on H. physophora plants. However, these bugs have adapted physiological and behavioral characteristics that allow them to avoid the predation of A. decemarticulatus, while also maintaining a mutualistic relationship with the plant. Similar to the ants, Z. annulosus normally lives on younger H. physophora individuals, where the females lay eggs on the stem. As they begin to develop, the young bugs will live among the trichomes of the stem and hunt on the leaves of the plant.
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However, without the Queen of Spades card, the game cannot go on. Analogously, the BQH posits that some genes and/or biological functions are very costly to maintain, and thus dispensing of them provides an evolutionary advantage to the individual. However, these functions/genes are extremely important for the survival of the community (as a whole) causing it to be retained by certain members leading to commensalistic and/or mutualistic interactions. Compared to the Red Queen hypothesis, it is a fairly recent hypothesis; thus, it has not been thoroughly tested and the mechanisms driving it have not been fully elucidated.
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These include such as Boletus scaber, now Leccinum scabrum, Tylopilus felleus, Chalciporus piperatus and Suillus luteus. Most boletes have been found to be ectomycorrhizal fungi, which mean that they form a mutualistic relationship with the roots system of certain kinds of plants. More recently, Boletus has been found to be massively polyphyletic, with only a small percentage of the over 300 species that have been assigned to Boletus actually belonging there and necessitating the description and resurrection of many more genera. The name is derived from the Latin term bōlētus 'mushroom' from the Ancient Greek , ', ultimately from , ' 'lump' or 'clod'.
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Mycena interrupta in Myrtle Forest, Collinsvale, Tasmania The Fungi of Australia form an enormous and phenomenally diverse group, a huge range of freshwater, marine and terrestrial habitats with many ecological roles, for example as saprobes, parasites and mutualistic symbionts of algae, animals and plants, and as agents of biodeterioration. Where plants produce, and animals consume, the fungi recycle, and as such they ensure the sustainability of ecosystems. Knowledge about the fungi of Australia is meagre. Little is known about aboriginal cultural traditions involving fungi, or about aboriginal use of fungi apart from a few species such as Blackfellow's bread (Laccocephalum mylittae).
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Caps of older specimens break up into yellowish brown scales from the center outward. Like all milk-caps (Lactarius and Lactifluus), L. deceptivus is mycorrhizal, meaning the fungus forms a mutualistic association with certain trees and shrubs. The subterranean mycelium of the fungus forms an intimate association with tree roots, enveloping them in a sheath of tissue that allows both organisms to exchange nutrients they would otherwise be unable to obtain. The fruit bodies of the fungus grow solitarily, scattered, or in groups on the ground in conifer or hardwood forests, often under oak (Quercus) or hemlock (Tsuga).
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The evolution of digital communities and their ecological networks also allows for a perfect 'fossil record' of how the number and patterns of links among interacting phenotypes evolved. The selection pressures and parameters can also be controlled to an extent that is impossible in experimental evolution of living organisms. For example, the stability- diversity debate is a long-standing debate about whether more diverse ecological networks are also more stable. Mathematical models were able to show that a mixture of antagonistic and mutualistic interactions can stabilize population dynamics and that the loss of one interaction type may critically destabilize ecosystems.
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Early in Moran's career she studied an aphid species local to Arizona, Melaphis rhois, which has a peculiar life cycle migrating to moss from a complex gall on sumac. While Moran's initial hypothesis was that this was a complex adaptation to changing seasons, it turned out that it was an ancient adaptation dating back over 50 million years. This work attracted the attention of Paul Baumann at the University of California at Davis, an expert in microbial diversity with an interest in aphid microbial diversity culminating in a 15-year collaboration on the mutualistic relationship between aphids and their symbionts.
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Their societies are based on an ant-fungus mutualism, and different species of ants use different species of fungus, but all of the fungi the ants use are members of the family Lepiotaceae. The ants actively cultivate their fungus, feeding it with freshly cut plant material and keeping it free from pests and molds. This mutualistic relationship is further augmented by another symbiotic partner, a bacterium that grows on the ants and secretes chemicals; essentially, the ants use portable antimicrobials. Leaf cutter ants are sensitive enough to adapt to the fungi's reaction to different plant material, apparently detecting chemical signals from the fungus.
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Astraeus hygrometricus is an ectomycorrhizal fungus and grows in association with a broad range of tree species. The mutualistic association between tree roots and the mycelium of the fungus helps the trees extract nutrients (particularly phosphorus) from the earth; in exchange, the fungus receives carbohydrates from photosynthesis. In North America, associations with oak and pine are usual, while in India, it has been noted to grow commonly with chir pine (Pinus roxburghii) and sal (Shorea robusta). The false earthstar is found on the ground in open fields, often scattered or in groups, especially in nutrient-poor, sandy or loamy soils.
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New trees begin their life as an epiphyte, a strategy which allows them to avoid competition for light and land. F. citrifolia commonly attacks palms, bald cypress, oaks and other trees, strangling them as it grows. Ficus citrifolia is under strong selective pressure to flower and produce fruit year round due to its mutualistic relationship with its pollinating agaonid wasp. Agaonid wasps have a symbiotic relationship with figs such that a given agaonid species acts as a pollinator for just one species of fig, and a particular fig species is pollinated by just one species of wasp.
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Two bluestreak cleaner wrasse cleaning a potato grouper, Epinephelus tukula Mimicry of mutualistic species is seen in coral reef fish, where the models, certain cleaner fish, are greatly disadvantaged by the presence of the mimic. Cleaner fish are the allies of many other species, which allow them to eat their parasites and dead skin in a mutually beneficial cleaning symbiosis. Some allow the cleaner to venture inside their mouths and gill cavities to hunt these parasites. However, one species of cleaner, the bluestreak cleaner wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus), is the unknowing model of a mimetic species, the sabre-toothed blenny (Aspidontus taeniatus).
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The physiology of a resident Symbiodinium species often regulates the bleaching susceptibility of a coral. Therefore, a significant amount of research has focused on characterizing the physiological basis of thermal tolerance and in identifying the ecology and distribution of thermally tolerant symbiont species. Symbiodinium trenchi is a stress-tolerant species and is able to form mutualistic relationships with many species of coral. It is present in small numbers in coral globally and is common in the Andaman Sea, where the water is about 4 °C (7 °F) warmer than in other parts of the Indian Ocean.
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Hummingbird hawkmoth drinking from Dianthus, with pollination being a classic example of mutualism Mutualism describes the ecological interaction between two or more species where each species has a net benefit. Mutualism is a common type of ecological interaction. Prominent examples include most vascular plants engaged in mutualistic interactions with mycorrhizae, flowering plants being pollinated by animals, vascular plants being dispersed by animals, and corals with zooxanthellae, among many others. Mutualism can be contrasted with interspecific competition, in which each species experiences reduced fitness, and exploitation, or parasitism, in which one species benefits at the "expense" of the other.
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Not all lycaenid butterflies need ants, but about 75% of species associate with ants, a relationship called myrmecophily. These associations can be mutualistic, parasitic, or predatory depending on the species. In some species, larvae are attended and protected by ants while feeding on the host plant, and the ants receive sugar-rich honeydew from them, throughout the larval life, and in some species during the pupal stage. In other species, only the first few instars are spent on the plant, and the remainder of the larval lifespan is spent as a predator within the ant nest.
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The customary assumption that plant growth promotion is the main way fungal mutualists improve fitness under attack from herbivores is changing; alteration of plant chemical composition and induced resistance are now recognized as factors of great importance in improving competitive ability and fecundity. Plants undefended by chemical or physical means at certain points in their life histories have higher survival rates when infected with beneficial endophytic fungi. The general trend of plants infected with mutualistic fungi outperforming uninfected plants under moderate to high herbivory exerts selection for higher levels of fungal association as herbivory levels increase.Clay, K. (1997).
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Decorator crabs of many species camouflage themselves with pieces of seaweed, shells, small stones, and living organisms such as hydrozoa, sponges, and sea anemones to evade predators. They pick up these pieces and stick them to their shells as semi-permanent camouflage, keeping them until they next moult. Their shells are covered with curved hairs to hold the decorations. The relationship with some of these animals, such as sea anemones is mutualistic; in the case of aposematic animals like stinging sea anemones, the crabs are making use of the warning coloration of these partners to ward off predators.
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A determining factor regarding Oriental bittersweet's ability to outcompete native plant species is its ability to form mutualistic associations with mycorrhizal fungi, specifically arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Oriental bittersweet growth is highly dependent on the absorption of phosphorus. In a recent study, growth was found to be greater when arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi were present in soil with low phosphorus concentrations, compared to when the plant was placed in an environment with high soil phosphorus concentrations with no arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi were present. The results from this study show the importance of symbiotic relationships in allowing Oriental bittersweet to effectively uptake nutrients from its surroundings.
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Dr. Gordon and his laboratory are currently focused on understanding the mutualistic interactions that occur between humans and the 10-100 trillion commensal microbes that colonize each person's gastrointestinal tract. To tease apart the complex relationships that exist within this gut micobiota, Dr. Gordon's research program employs germ- free and gnotobiotic mice as model hosts, which may be colonized with defined, simplified microbial communities. These model intestinal microbiotas are more amenable to well-controlled experimentation. Jeffrey Gordon has become an international pioneer in the study of gut microbial ecology and evolution, using innovative methods to interpret metagenomic and gut microbial genomic sequencing data.
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If the ant colony is disturbed and the ants are forced to disperse, each takes a female mealybug to the new nest site, carrying it in her mandibles. When the soil is warm and damp, the ants and mealybugs remain just below the surface, but during cold, dry weather they descend to greater depths. This mutualistic arrangement seems to occur throughout the range of the ant. X. annandalei has not been found anywhere except in association with A. acutiventris in its nest, and while being transported by the queen who carries a female mealybug on her nuptial flight.
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A Cryptolepas infection on captive beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) elicited an immune response by the skin, and the barnacles were ejected after a few weeks. Gray whales have been observed rubbing against the gravelly seafloor to dislodge barnacles. Coronula on a gray whale Conversely, some whales may use barnacles as weapons or protective armor to add power to a strike in mating battles or against killer whales (Orcinus orca), or as a deterrent to being bitten by killer whales. This would make the relationship between whale barnacles and certain whales mutualistic in which both parties benefit.
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Amanita aestivalis is a mycorrhizal species, meaning it forms a mutualistic relationship in which the vegetative hyphae of the fungus grow around and enclose the tiny roots of trees and shrubs. In this way, the plant is better able to absorb phosphorus and other soil nutrients, while the fungus receives moisture, protection, and nutritive byproducts of the plant's metabolism. Fruit bodies of the fungus grow on the ground in deciduous, coniferous, and mixed forests. A preference has been noted for oak woods containing Tsuga or Pinus species, as well as beech wood with Picea, Abies, and Betula.
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This competition can occur at varying rates due to the ratio of carbon to nitrogen in detritus and the ongoing mineralization of nitrogen in the soil. Mycorrhizae and heterotrophic soil microorganisms compete for both carbon and nitrogen depending upon which is limiting at the time, which itself heavily depends on the species, scavenging abilities, and the environmental conditions affecting nitrogen input. Plants are less successful at uptake of organic nitrogen, such as amino acids, than the soil microflora that exist in the rhizosphere. This informs other mutualistic relationships formed by plants with relation to nitrogen uptake.
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There are some key differences, though; in Batesian mimicry the model and signal receiver are enemies (the predator would eat the protected species if it could), whereas here the crop and its human growers are in a mutualistic relationship: the crop benefits from being dispersed and protected by people, despite being eaten by them. In fact, the crop's only 'protection' relevant here is its usefulness to humans. Secondly, the weed is not eaten, but simply killed (either directly or by not planting the seed). The only motivation for killing the weed is its effect on crop yields.
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The association is often very specific, with the heterotrophic plants only associating with selected fungus partners, including Russulaceae. Russulaceae are also an important group of orchid mycorrhizal fungi. This symbiosis is mutualistic in the case of green orchids, but a partly or fully epiparasitic relationship in the case of myco-heterotrophic and mixotrophic orchids, respectively. In some cases, the association with Russulaceae is, as in monotropoid mycorrhiza, very specific: the Mediterranean orchid Limodorum abortivum predominantly associates with Russula delica and closely related species; in Corallorhiza maculata, different genotypes of the same species have distinct Russula partners.
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In the natural environment, Wolbachia and the Asian tiger mosquito are in a symbiotic relationship, so both species benefit from each other and can evolve together. The relationship between Wolbachia and its host might not have always been mutualistic, as Drosophila populations once experienced decreased fecundity in infected females, suggesting that Wolbachia evolved over time so that infected individuals would actually reproduce much more. The mechanism by which Wolbachia is inherited through maternal heredity is called cytoplasmic incompatibility. This changes the gamete cells of males and females, making some individuals unable to mate with each other.
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In the aggregating anemone (Anthopleura elegantissima), the colour of the anemone is largely dependent on the proportions and identities of the zooxanthellae and zoochlorellae present. The hidden anemone (Lebrunia coralligens) has a whorl of seaweed-like pseudotentacles, rich in zooxanthellae, and an inner whorl of tentacles. A daily rhythm sees the pseudotentacles spread widely in the daytime for photosynthesis, but they are retracted at night, at which time the tentacles expand to search for prey. Ocellaris clownfish among the tentacles of a sebae anemone Several species of fish and invertebrates live in symbiotic or mutualistic relationships with sea anemones, most famously the clownfish.
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Polydnaviruses are a unique group of insect viruses that have a mutualistic relationship with some parasitic wasps. The polydnavirus replicates in the oviducts of an adult female parasitoid wasp. The wasp benefits from this relationship because the virus provides protection for the parasitic larvae inside the host, (i) by weakening the host's immune system and (ii) by altering the host's cells to be more beneficial to the parasite. The relationship between these viruses and the wasp is obligatory in the sense that all individuals are infected with the viruses; the virus has been incorporated in the wasp's genome and is inherited.
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Further studies revealed that in a lab setting, the cleaner fish undergoes behavioral change in face of deterrents against eating their preferential food. In several trials, the plate of their preferential food source was immediately removed when they eat it, to mimic "client fleeing" in natural settings. In other trials, the plate of their preferential food source chased the cleaner fish when they eat it, mimicking "client chasing" in natural setting. After only six learning trials, the cleaners learned to choose against their preference, indicating that punishment is potentially a very effective countermeasure against cheating in mutualistic relationships.
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The wasp's host spectrum in North America includes the endangered Pinus palustris The sirex woodwasp and Amylostereum areolatum have a mutualistic symbiotic relationship. The sirex woodwasp is, together with Sirex juvencus and S. nitobei from eastern Asia, one of three symbionts of the fungus that in the first instance benefits from its vector function. Additionally, the wasp creates the optimal conditions for the infestation through the fungus by drilling into the underlying wood layers and weakening the host tree. The fungus has adapted to this process in the course of evolution and only rarely creates fruit bodies.
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The specificity, host range, and degree of colonization of mycorrhizal fungi are difficult to analyze in the field due to the complexity of interactions between the fungi within a root and within the system. There is no clear evidence to suggest that arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi exhibit specificity for colonization of potential AM host plant species as do fungal pathogens for their host plants. This may be due to the opposite selective pressure involved. In pathogenic relations, the host plant benefits from mutations that prevent colonization, whereas, in a mutualistic symbiotic relationship, the plant benefits from mutation that allow for colonization by AMF.
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Pollination systems are mostly mutualistic, meaning that the plant benefits from the pollinator's transport of male gametes and the pollinator benefits from a reward, such as pollen or nectar. As nectar robbers receive the rewards without direct contact with the reproductive parts of the flower, their behaviour is easily assumed to be cheating. However, the effect of robbery on the plant is sometimes neutral or even positive. For example, the proboscis of Eurybia elvina does not come in contact with the reproductive parts of the flower in Calathea ovandensis, but this does not lead to significant reduction in fruit-set of the plant.
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In a holistic approach, the hosts and their associated microbiota are assumed to have coevolved with each other. According to the "separation" approach (upper part of the figure on the right), the microorganisms can be divided into pathogens, neutral, and symbionts, depending on their interaction with their host. The coevolution between host and its associated microbiota may be accordingly described as antagonistic (based on negative interactions) or mutualistic (based on positive interactions). As of 2020, the emergence in publications about opportunistic pathogens and pathobionts has produced a shift towards a holistic approach in the coevolutions theory (lower part of the figure on the right).
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Other species have adapted to live as inquilines in ant and termite colonies, and some live in mutualistic relationships with mammals whereby they eat fleas and other parasites, benefiting the host. A few species, notably those of the genus Aleochara, are scavengers and carrion feeders, or are parasitoids of other insects, particularly of certain fly pupae. Although rove beetles' appetites for other insects would seem to make them obvious candidates for biological control of pests, and empirically they are believed to be important controls in the wild, experiments using them have not been notably successful. Greater success is seen with those species that are parasitoids (genus Aleochara).
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The Colombian lesserblack tarantulaCommon Names of Arachnids, American Arachnological Society (2003) (Xenesthis immanis) is a tarantula originating from Colombia. It is a relatively large spider with a body length reaching 6–7 cm, and frequently displays a commensal or mutualistic relationship with the microhylid frog Chiasmocleis ventrimaculata.Reginald B. Cocroft and Keith Hambler, "Observations on a Commensal Relationship of the Microhylid Frog Chiasmocleis ventrimaculata and the Burrowing Theraphosid Spider Xenesthis immanis in Southeastern Peru", Biotropica Vol. 21 No. 1 (1989) The relationship described is one where the spider may protect the frog and its eggs from predators while the frog protects the spider's eggs from ants.
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For example, in the stink bug Nezara viridula, the vertical transmission rate of symbionts, which females provide to offspring by smearing the eggs with gastric caeca, was 100% at 20 °C, but decreased to 8% at 30 °C. Likewise, in aphids, the vertical transmission of bacteriocytes containing the primary endosymbiont Buchnera is drastically reduced at high temperature. In like manner, the distinction between commensal, mutualistic, and parasitic relationships is also not absolute. An example is the relationship between legumes and rhizobial species: N2 uptake is energetically more costly than the uptake of fixed nitrogen from the soil, so soil N is preferred if not limiting.
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Infestations of scale insects, caused by their mutualistic relationship with the ants, has negatively impacted the canopy, and, in the long-term, could lead to decline of the habitat's health. The reduction of the Christmas Island red crab population due to the ants has led to the germination of plants which otherwise would have been eaten by the crabs, which could eventually dramatically alter forest structure. The yellow crazy ant population is controlled by placing bait laced with the insecticide Fipronil. Surveys from spring 2002 and fall 2003 indicate a reduction in imperial pigeon populations in baited areas, though this may simply be due to seasonal differences in habitation.
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In mutualistic relationships, the production of honeydew by trophobionts is rewarded by removal of dead hemipterans and protection from a variety of predators by the attendant ants. In some relationships the ants will build shelters for the farmed trophobionts, either to protect them or keep them from leaving the area. Some species of ants construct underground rooms to house the trophobionts and carry them between the host plant and housing area daily. In more complex obligate relationships (where both symbionts entirely depend on each other for survival) the ants will nest with the partner trophobionts in silk constructed leaf shelters or in underground colonies.
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These specialists are called nepenthebionts. Others, often associated with but not dependent on Nepenthes species, are called nepenthophiles. Nepenthexenes, on the other hand, are rarely found in the pitchers, but will often appear when putrefaction approaches a certain threshold, attracting fly larvae that would normally not be found in the pitcher infaunal community. The complex ecological relationship between pitcher plants and infauna is not yet fully understood, but the relationship may be mutualistic: the infauna is given shelter, food, or protection, and the plant that harbours the infauna receives expedited breakdown of captured prey, increasing the rate of digestion and keeping harmful bacterial populations repressed.
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In contrast to this mutualistic relationship, certain clingfish species that live among the spines of sea urchins appear to be part of a more varied relationship. It can be either commensal (the clingfish gains protection from the sea urchin spines, but apparently neither benefits nor is a disadvantage to the sea urchin) or parasitic (the clingfish gains protection, and eats tube feet and pedicellaria from its sea urchin host). No clingfish species is known to be exclusively herbivorous, but some are omnivorous and will feed extensively on a range of algae (brown, green and red), while other, more strictly carnivorous species may ingest plant material incidentally.
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Complicated forms of aggressive mimicry have also been observed in fish, creating a system that resembles Batesian mimicry. The false cleanerfish, Aspidontus taeniatus, is a fin-eating blenny that has evolved to resemble a local species of cleaner wrasse, Labroides dimidiatus, which engages in mutualistic cleaning with larger fish. By closely mimicking the coloration and the cleaner fish's distinctive dancing display, false cleanerfish are able to remain in close quarters with large predatory reef fish, and gain access to victims during foraging. Some aggressive mimics switch rapidly between aggressive mimicry and defensive behavior depending on whether they are in the presence of a prey or a potential predator.
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Lactarius alnicola is an ectomycorrhizal species, and engages in a mutualistic association with certain plant species. In this association, the hyphae of the fungus permeate large volumes of soil and obtain scarce elements, especially phosphorus—which is often limiting for plant growth—which they pass on to the plant in exchange for metabolic products of the plant's photosynthesis. The ectomycorrhizae that the fungus forms in association with Picea engelmannii have been shown to contain lactifers (latex-producing cells) and pigments similar to the fruit body. Fruit bodies of the fungus grow in groups on the ground under alders and conifers, usually appearing between July and October.
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In nature, species do not evolve in isolation but in large networks of interacting species. One of the main goals in evolutionary ecology is to disentangle the evolutionary mechanisms that shape and are shaped by patterns of interaction between species. A particularly important question concerns how coevolution, the reciprocal evolutionary change in local populations of interacting species driven by natural selection, is shaped by the architecture of food webs, plant-animal mutualistic networks, and host-parasite communities. The concept of diffuse coevolution, where adaptation is in response to a suite of biotic interactions, was the first step towards a framework unifying relevant theories in community ecology and coevolution.
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This species has been documented to compete for food resources with several other animal species. B. lecheguana competes with the ant species Camponotus blandus for the plant Banisteriopsis maliflora, and, consequently, the wasp is typically found on ant-free plants and has been known to interrupt its foraging when an ant approaches. This supports the hypothesis that B. lecheguana is in a mutualistic relationship with the plant B. maliflora, since the plant supplies nectar reserves to the wasp, and the wasp preys on herbivorous insect larvae living on the plant. Another study suggests that B. lecheguana may also compete with parasitoids for coffee leaf miner larvae in an agricultural setting.
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Ecological associations that include the production of a reward are usually interpreted as mutualistic (both partners benefit), but singing caterpillars and their associated ants do not conform to the rule. Secretion-harvesting ants form ecological associations with secretion-producing plants, and typically defend their plant resources from herbivores. However, ant-associated caterpillars successfully wedged themselves between plants and ants: they feed on plant tissue and are nonetheless protected by patrolling ants. Caterpillar secretions have been shown to be more nutritious than those produced by plants, as demonstrated in Thisbe irenea caterpillars and their and Croton host plants; – an efficient way for caterpillars to ensure ant presence and prevent harassment.
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Probably since early in their evolutionary history, the Ascomycota have formed symbiotic associations with green algae (Chlorophyta), and other types of algae and cyanobacteria. These mutualistic associations are commonly known as lichens, and can grow and persist in terrestrial regions of the earth that are inhospitable to other organisms and characterized by extremes in temperature and humidity, including the Arctic, the Antarctic, deserts, and mountaintops. While the photoautotrophic algal partner generates metabolic energy through photosynthesis, the fungus offers a stable, supportive matrix and protects cells from radiation and dehydration. Around 42% of the Ascomycota (about 18,000 species) form lichens, and almost all the fungal partners of lichens belong to the Ascomycota.
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Azteca ants form Colonies in the inter nodes of Cecropia trees which are native to Mexico and South America. The Tree provides the ants with food and shelter and the ants protect the tree from other insects thus engaging in a mutualistic relationship. Queens form colonies by burrowing into the inter node of the tree and then sealing off the entrance hole with parenchyma cells, after which they begin to lay eggs to produce the first brood. Any queens which decide to engage in pleometrosis can easily see the filled in hole and will chew through it quickly and join the fellow queen in the inter node.
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The fiords where A. fiordensis grows have nearly vertical rock walls, providing limited sites for attachment of organisms, so many other species live on these corals. One is the basket star Astrobrachion constrictum, which perches and coils its arms tightly around the coral's branches. This basket star is found in a number of places around New Zealand, but always in association with a black coral. It seems to be a mutualistic arrangement: coral polyps are more efficient at catching prey than the unbranched arms of a basket star; the basket star appropriates some of the prey, while also cleaning mucus off the coral and preventing epizoic organisms from settling on it.
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Galls (upper left and right) A knopper gall formed on an acorn on the branch of an English oak tree by the parthenogenetic gall wasp Andricus quercuscalicis. Herbivores are unable to digest complex cellulose and rely on mutualistic, internal symbiotic bacteria, fungi, or protozoa to break down cellulose so it can be used by the herbivore. Microbial symbionts also allow herbivores to eat plants that would otherwise be inedible by detoxifying plant secondary metabolites. For example, fungal symbionts of cigarette beetles (Lasioderma serricorne) use certain plant allelochemicals as their source of carbon, in addition to producing detoxification enzymes (esterases) to get rid of other toxins.
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Studies of tolerance to herbivory has historically been the focus of agricultural scientists (Painter 1958; Bardner and Fletcher 1974). Tolerance was actually initially classified as a form of resistance (Painter 1958). Agricultural studies on tolerance, however, are mainly concerned with the compensatory effect on the plants' yield and not its fitness, since it is of economical interest to reduce crop losses due to herbivory by pests (Trumble 1993; Bardner and Fletcher 1974). One surprising discovery made about plant tolerance was that plants can overcompensate for the damaged caused by herbivory, causing controversy whether herbivores and plants can actually form a mutualistic relationship (Belsky 1986).
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Since the path is always the same, it greatly reduces the risk of self-pollination (iterogamy) because the pollinator won't return to the same flower on that particular foraging session. Overall, plant species that are visited by trapliners have increased fitness and evolutionary advantages. Because of this mutualistic relationship between traplining hummingbirds and plants, traplining hummingbirds have been referred to as "legitimate pollinators", while territorial hummingbirds have been referred to as "nectar thieves". If an organism that traplines learns where a food source is once, they can always return to that food source because they can remember minute details about the location of the source.
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From the confrontation of the two genomes emerged that some genes persist as partially degraded. indicating that the function was lost during the process and that consequent events of erosion shortened the length as documented in Rickettsia. This hypothesis is confirmed by the analysis of the pseudogenes of Buchnera where the number of deletions was more than ten times higher compared to the insertion. In Rickettsia prowazekii, as with other small genome bacteria, this mutualistic endosymbiont has experienced a vast reduction of functional activity with a major exception compared to other parasites still retain the bio-synthetic ability of production of amino acid needed by its host.
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Remora front dorsal fins have evolved to enable them to adhere by suction to smooth surfaces and they spend their lives clinging to a host animal such as a whale, turtle, shark or ray. It is probably a mutualistic arrangement as the remora can move around on the host, removing ectoparasites and loose flakes of skin, while benefiting from the protection provided by the host and the constant flow of water across its gills. Although it was initially believed that remoras fed off particulate matter from the host's meals, this has been shown to be false; in reality, their diets are composed primarily of host feces.
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A representation of the endosymbiotic theory An endosymbiont or endobiont is any organism that lives within the body or cells of another organism most often, though not always, in a mutualistic relationship. (The term endosymbiosis is from the Greek: ἔνδον endon "within", σύν syn "together" and βίωσις biosis "living".) Examples are nitrogen-fixing bacteria (called rhizobia), which live in the root nodules of legumes; single-cell algae inside reef-building corals, and bacterial endosymbionts that provide essential nutrients to about 10–15% of insects. There are two types of symbiont transmissions. In horizontal transmission, each new generation acquires free living symbionts from the environment.
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Psammodesmus bryophorus camouflaged with symbiotic mosses Some millipedes form mutualistic relationships with organisms of other species, in which both species benefit from the interaction, or commensal relationships, in which only one species benefits while the other is unaffected. Several species form close relationships with ants, a relationship known as myrmecophily, especially within the family Pyrgodesmidae (Polydesmida), which contains "obligate myrmecophiles", species which have only been found in ant colonies. More species are "facultative myrmecophiles", being non-exclusively associated with ants, including many species of Polyxenida that have been found in ant nests around the world. Many millipede species have commensal relationships with mites of the orders Mesostigmata and Astigmata.
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In 1964, he served as a city councillor of Scandiano’s municipality; then in 1967, he served as board member of Hospital Santa Maria Nuova of Reggio Emilia. When the hospital became Ente Ospedaliero Provinciale, Giuseppe Soncini was appointed as Chairman. In 1970, Soncini became Chairman of Emilia Romagna’s Associazione Regionale Ospedali (AROER): in this period he promoted the important transition from a mutualistic healthcare system to a universal one. Between 1972 and 1977, he was also FIARO’s vice chairman: during the first two years, he was involved in negotiations for the first National Labour Agreement (ANUL in Italian), that included rules on private practice and on full-time medical practitioners.
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Tobacco hornworm caterpillar (Manduca sexta) parasitized by Braconidae wasp larvae Mutualism is a form of biological interaction wherein each individual involved benefits in some way. An example of a mutualistic relationship would be that shared by yucca moths (Tegeculidae) and their host, yucca flowers (Asparagaceae). Female yucca moths enter the host flowers, collect the pollen into a ball using specialized maxillary palps, then move to the apex of the pistil, where pollen is deposited on the stigma, and lay eggs into the base of the pistil where seeds will develop. The larvae develop in the fruit pod and feed on a portion of the seeds.
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Exactly how these associations evolve also remains unclear. In studying the coevolution of myrmecophilous organisms, many researchers have addressed the relative costs and benefits of mutualistic interactions, which can vary drastically according to local species composition and abundance, variation in nutrient requirements and availability, host plant quality, presence of alternative food sources, abundance and composition of predator and parasitoid species, and abiotic conditions. Because of the large amounts of variation in some of these factors, the mechanisms that support the stable persistence of myrmecophily are still unknown. In many cases, variation in external factors can result in interactions that shift along a continuum of mutualism, commensalism, and even parasitism.
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P. carabi is not attached by any physical means (such as a secreted anal stalk in the case of M. merderius) to N. vespilloides. When the males or females of N. vespilloides have finished breeding on a carcass the deutonymphs of P. carabi roam freely about the body of the beetles as they search for new carcasses to reproduce. It had been proposed that P. carabi deutonymphs, on arrival at a new carcass dismounted from the beetles and consumed fly eggs and larvae which would have competed for the beetle larvae for food. This relationship which benefited the beetles has been described as mutualistic.
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Patients and dentists both have a mutualistic, indispensable role in the construction of a fully functional denture, which include elements such as adequate retention, stability, extensions and aesthetic appearance. Apart from the balanced occlusion schemes as described above, other approaches for obtaining functional occlusion in complete dentures have been proposed. The concept of "Non-Balanced Occlusion" was based on the difficulty of achieving this, not only in the prosthetics laboratory, but for patients with displaceable mucosae. Then there is the much-quoted truism first cited by Boucher "Enter Bolus, Exit Balance"; whenever the patient masticates food on their working side, it negates the balance on the opposing side.
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The publication that describes this mutualistic behavior does not specify which Paratrechina species engaged in this behavior, and the only Paratrechina species currently known from Mexico, where this behavior was documented, is the exotic pest, the longhorn crazy ant (Paratrechina longicornis.). All other species in Mexico that were thought to be Paratrechina at the time of this publication (1987) are now classified as Nylanderia species. While it is possible that at least one of the species tending Eurybia elvina was Paratrechina longicornis, this is impossible to confirm from the original publication. Twenty-seven genera of Actinobacteria have been found in association with Paratrechina longicornis colonies and the soils surrounding their nests.
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However, some whales may make use of the barnacles as protective armor or for inflicting more damage while fighting, which would make the relationship mutualistic where both parties benefit; alternatively, some species may just increase the drag that the host experiences while swimming, making the barnacles parasites. After hatching, whale barnacles go through six molting stages before searching for a host, being prompted to settle by a chemical cue from the host skin. The barnacle creates a crown- shaped shell, and in most instances, deeply embeds itself into the skin for stability while riding a fast-moving host. The shell plates are made of calcium carbonate and chitin.
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Finally, the disease is known to infect certain weeds without showing symptoms, meaning it can survive in the absence of banana plants and remain undetected in a place where bananas are planted later. FOC is thought to persist only asexually, as no sexual phase (teleomorph) has been observed. Recombination events may occur via somatic hybridisation and the parasexual cycle. M J Carlile, S C Watkinson, G W Gooday, 2001, Parasites and Mutualistic Symbionts in 'The Fungi (Second Edition)' Eds: same as authors, Academic Press, pp 363-460, This means that the survival and dispersal of the disease relies on purely asexual spores and structures.
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After its assignment to the Sclerodermatineae, a suborder whose members are ectomycorrhizal, its ecological role came into question. In 2007, Andrew Wilson and David Hibbett of Clark University and Eric Hobbie of the University of New Hampshire employed isotopic labeling, DNA sequencing, and morphological analysis to determine that this species is also ectomycorrhizal. Like all mycorrhizal fungi, C. cinnabarinum establishes a mutualistic relationship with the roots of trees, allowing the fungus to exchange minerals and amino acids extracted from the soil for fixed carbon from the host. The subterranean hyphae of the fungus grow a sheath of tissue around the rootlets of the tree.
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Viruses are part of the hydrothermal vent microbial community and their influence on the microbial ecology in these ecosystems is a burgeoning field of research. Viruses are the most abundant life in the ocean, harboring the greatest reservoir of genetic diversity. As their infections are often fatal, they constitute a significant source of mortality and thus have widespread influence on biological oceanographic processes, evolution and biogeochemical cycling within the ocean. Evidence has been found however to indicate that viruses found in vent habitats have adopted a more mutualistic than parasitic evolutionary strategy in order to survive the extreme and volatile environment they exist in.
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The presence of two different species of large vertebrates in the same burrow is unusual. Modern examples of this association are usually the result of predator-prey interactions (for example, a predator storing the body of its prey in the burrow) or mutualistic relationships whereby the original occupant gains protection from predators by the presence of the second inhabitant. However, the benefit of cohabitation usually only works when there are multiple burrows, casting doubt on the possibility that the Thrinaxodon was benefiting from the presence of the Broomistega. Because the Broomistega skeleton lacks any sign of damage caused by the Thrinaxodon, the two were probably not predator and prey.
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Vavilovian mimicry can be classified as reproductive, aggressive (parasitic) and, in the case of secondary crops, mutualistic. It is a form of disjunct mimicry with the model agreeable to the dupe. In disjunct mimicry complexes, three different species are involved as model, mimic and dupe--the weed, mimicking a protected crop model, with humans as signal receivers. Vavilovian mimicry bears considerable similarity to Batesian mimicry (where a harmless organism mimics a harmful species) in that the weed does not share the properties that give the model its protection, and both the model and the dupe (in this case humans) are negatively affected by it.
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Yeast colonising nectaries of the stinking hellebore have been found to raise the temperature of the flower, which may aid in attracting pollinators by increasing the evaporation of volatile organic compounds. A black yeast has been recorded as a partner in a complex relationship between ants, their mutualistic fungus, a fungal parasite of the fungus and a bacterium that kills the parasite. The yeast has a negative effect on the bacteria that normally produce antibiotics to kill the parasite, so may affect the ants' health by allowing the parasite to spread. Certain strains of some species of yeasts produce proteins called yeast killer toxins that allow them to eliminate competing strains.
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In habitats increasingly changed by humans, the presence and actions of carnivores may become increasingly important. It has also been suggested that plants may have evolved adaptations to benefit from such multi-phase dispersal, making this a mutualistic process. For example, some evidence suggests that island populations have more thick-coated seeds relative to mainland, which may be an adaptation by the plants to tolerate a longer (or multi-phase) digestion as the seeds are transported long distances. However, as the phenomenon has rarely been studied systematically, the prevalence of this seed dispersal mechanism and its importance for plant dispersal is not well understood.
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Created by Eric Fogel, The Head is the story of Jim, a trade-school student in New York City who awakens one morning to find that his cranium has enlarged to mammoth proportions. A week later, out bursts Roy, a little purple alien with an odd sense of humor who has taken up residence in Jim's head. Roy needed a place to stay to adapt to the Earth's environment while on a mission to save the world from a power- hungry alien named Gork. Roy explains that there are two races of symbiotic aliens: his own, which is mutualistic; and Gork's, which is parasitic.
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The rhizoids of Nothia displayed three responses to fungal infestation: the hyphae of some (mutualistic) colonists were encased by plant cell walls; other (parasitic) fungi were met with typical host responses of increased rhizome cell size; while yet other fungi solicited an increase in thickness and pigmentation of cell walls. Once inside a plant cell, fungi produced spores, which are found in decaying plant cells; the cells may have decayed as a defence mechanism to prevent the fungi from spreading. Fungal interactions are known to promote speciation in modern plants, and presumably also affected Devonian diversity by providing a selection pressure. Mycorrhizae are also found in the Rhynie chert.
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Their close association with eukaryotic phytoplankton is supported by phylogenomic evidence suggesting that the Roseobacter lineage diverged from other Alphaproteobacteria at the same moment as the Mesozoic radiation of phytoplankton. Traits involved in symbioses of D. shibae include flagelar synthesis and type IV secretion system under the control of N-acyl homoserine lactone intercellular signal molecules (quorum sensing). D. shibae forms symbioses with Prorocentrum minimum, a toxic red tide-forming dinoflagellate, as well as other dinoflagellates associated with toxic algal blooms. In a mutualistic association, the P. minimum provides carbon sources and some vitamins essential for growth, and while D. shibae provides vitamins B_1 and B_{12}.
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Firms would be forced to compete over workers just as workers compete over firms, raising wages."Under the mutual system, each individual will receive the just and exact pay for his work; services equivalent in cost being exchangeable for services equivalent in cost, without profit or discount; and so much as the individual laborer will then get over and above what he has earned will come to him as his share in the general prosperity of the community of which he is an individual member." From "Communism versus Mutualism", Socialistic, Communistic, Mutualistic and Financial Fragments. (Boston: Lee & Shepard, 1875) by William Batchelder Greene Some see mutualism as between individualist and collectivist anarchism.
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Grutter and her colleague Robert Poulin, reviewing over thirty years of debate by biologists on cleaning symbioses, argue that "Cleaning symbioses may not be mutualistic associations but rather one-sided exploitation. However, one must then ask why no counter-adaptation has evolved in clients to free them from this exploitation. If clients are the puppets of cleaners, then the fitness consequences of being exploited must be small". They quote as an example of an early position, C. Limbaugh writing in 1961: "From the standpoint of the philosopher of biology, the extent of cleaning behavior in the ocean emphasizes the role of co-operation in nature as opposed to the tooth-and-claw struggle for existence".
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Leafhoppers protected by meat ants Some species of ant protect and farm aphids (Sternorrhyncha) and other sap-sucking hemipterans, gathering and eating the honeydew that these hemipterans secrete. The relationship is mutualistic, as both ant and aphid benefit. Ants such as the yellow anthill ant, Lasius flavus, breed aphids of at least four species, Geoica utricularia, Tetraneura ulmi, Forda marginata and Forda formicaria, taking eggs with them when they found a new colony; in return, these aphids are obligately associated with the ant, breeding mainly or wholly asexually inside anthills. Ants may also protect the plant bugs from their natural enemies, removing the eggs of predatory beetles and preventing access by parasitic wasps.
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Humans are colonized by many microorganisms; the traditional estimate is that the average human body is inhabited by ten times as many non-human cells as human cells, but more recent studies estimate that ratio as 3:1 or even 1:1. Some microorganisms that colonize humans are commensal, meaning they co-exist without harming humans; others have a mutualistic relationship with their human hosts. Conversely, some non-pathogenic microorganisms can harm human hosts via the metabolites they produce, like trimethylamine, which the human body converts to trimethylamine N-oxide via FMO3-mediated oxidation. Certain microorganisms perform tasks that are known to be useful to the human host but the role of most of them is not well understood.
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The relationship between some gut flora and humans is not merely commensal (a non-harmful coexistence), but rather a mutualistic relationship. Some human gut microorganisms benefit the host by fermenting dietary fiber into short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), such as acetic acid and butyric acid, which are then absorbed by the host. Intestinal bacteria also play a role in synthesizing vitamin B and vitamin K as well as metabolizing bile acids, sterols, and xenobiotics. The systemic importance of the SCFAs and other compounds they produce are like hormones and the gut flora itself appears to function like an endocrine organ, and dysregulation of the gut flora has been correlated with a host of inflammatory and autoimmune conditions.
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Nesting success is low for many species, particularly in areas of fragmented habitat. It was once suggested that the relationship between the obligate and regular ant-followers and the army ants, particularly Eciton burchellii, was mutualistic, with the ants benefiting by having the birds chase prey back down towards them. However, experiments where ant followers were excluded have shown that the foraging success of the army ants was 30% lower when the birds were present, suggesting that the birds' relationship was in fact parasitic. This has resulted in a number of behaviours by the ants in order to reduce kleptoparasitism, including hiding of secured prey in the leaf litter and caching of food on trails.
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In Lincoln County, Oregon This species grows solitarily or in small groups on the ground or in forest duff in mature coniferous forests, occasionally abundant on grassy edges of the forest, rarely on badly decayed conifer logs. It is an ectomycorrhizal mushroom, meaning that the fungal hyphae form sheaths around the rootlets of certain trees, exchanging nutrients with them in a mutualistic relationship. The fungus associates with alder, poplar and other hardwoods, and has been shown in laboratory culture to form ectomycorrhizae with Western Hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla). However, the fungus may have saprobic tendencies, as it has been noted to grow under California Redwood (sometimes in the rotted wood of old trunks), a tree not known to form mycorrizhae.
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Currently, cyanobionts have been found to form symbiosis with various organisms in marine environments such as diatoms, dinoflagellates, sponges, protozoans, Ascidians, Acadians, and Echiuroid worms, many of which have significance in maintaining the biogeochemistry of both open ocean and coastal waters. Specifically, symbioses involving cyanobacteria are mostly mutualistic, in which the cyanobionts are responsible for nutrient provision to the host in exchange for attaining high structural-functional specialization. Most cyanobacteria-host symbioses are found in oligotrophic areas where limited nutrient availability may limit the ability of the hosts to acquire carbon (DOC), in the case of heterotrophs and nitrogen in the case of phytoplankton, although a few occur in nutrient-rich areas such as mudflats.
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Some periodical cicada (Magicicada) species erupt in large numbers from their larval stage at intervals in years that are prime numbers, 13 or 17. At high-density sites, research finds that the number eaten by birds does not increase with the number of cicada individuals and the risk of predation for each individual decreases. In contrast to predator satiation, a different pattern is seen in response to mutualistic consumers, which benefit an organism by feeding from it (such as frugivores, which disperse seeds). For example, a vine's berries may ripen at different times, ensuring frugivores are not swamped with food and so resulting in a larger proportion of its seeds being dispersed.
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Species of Cecropia often display myrmecophytism as a form of biotic defense. D.W. Davidson said, :“In all the world, the genus Cecropia is unrivaled for the number of myrmecophytes, or true “ant-plants” counted among its species. Based on the proportion of Cecropia species producing Mullerian bodies in at least some parts of their distribution, myrmecophytes comprise the vast majority (80%) of species in the genus; most nonmyrmecophytes occur at higher elevations and on islands, where their ants are missing.” (Berg, Rosselli and Davidson, 2005: page 214) Myrmecophytism is a mutualistic relationship formed with ant colonies, where the ants protect the tree from herbivory and the trees provide shelter and food for the ants.
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P. arion larvae provide honeydew for the M. sabuleti workers, which raise the caterpillars in their nest. When the Myxoma virus was introduced to control rabbit populations in the UK, the subsequent increase in grassland caused a decrease in soil temperatures at ground level. This caused reductions in the M. sabuleti populations, which led to the extinction of the P. arion populations (Dunn 2005). However, this is actually a relatively weak example, because it was a local (rather than a global) extinction, and the nature of the interaction is often not viewed as mutualistic, because it has been long known that the M. sabuleti caterpillars eat M. sabuleti larvae (Elmes and Thomas 1992).
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However, studying the evolution of interspecific interactions, which involves dealing with more complex webs of multiple interacting species, has proven to be a much more difficult challenge. A meta-analysis of host-phage interaction networks, carried out by Weitz and his team, found a striking statistical structure to the patterns of infection and resistance across a wide variety of environments and methods from which the hosts and phage were obtained. However, the ecological mechanisms and evolutionary processes responsible have yet to be unraveled. Digital ecological networks enable the direct, comprehensive, and real time observation of evolving ecological interactions between antagonistic and/or mutualistic digital organisms that are difficult to study in nature.
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Two of the three yucca moth genera in particular, Tegeticula and Parategeticula, have an obligate pollination mutualism with yuccas. Yuccas are only pollinated by these moths, and the pollinator larvae feed exclusively on yucca seeds; the female moths use their modified mouthparts to insert the pollen into the stigma of the flowers, after having oviposited in the ovary, where the larvae feed on some (but not all) of the developing ovules. This obligate pollination mutualism is similar to the mutualistic relationship between the senita cactus and the senita moth. Species of the third genus of yucca moths, Prodoxus, are not engaged in the pollination mutualism, nor do the larvae feed on developing seeds.
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The earliest fossils possessing features typical of fungi date to the Paleoproterozoic era, some (Ma); these multicellular benthic organisms had filamentous structures capable of anastomosis. Other studies (2009) estimate the arrival of fungal organisms at about 760–1060Ma on the basis of comparisons of the rate of evolution in closely related groups. For much of the Paleozoic Era (542–251Ma), the fungi appear to have been aquatic and consisted of organisms similar to the extant chytrids in having flagellum- bearing spores. The evolutionary adaptation from an aquatic to a terrestrial lifestyle necessitated a diversification of ecological strategies for obtaining nutrients, including parasitism, saprobism, and the development of mutualistic relationships such as mycorrhiza and lichenization.
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The ensuing liquid obtained is fermented by microbes and turned into an alcoholic drink. As the grains used for traditional East Asian alcoholic fermentations are raw and unsprouted (read unmalted), the enzymes responsible for the conversion of carbohydrates to fermentable sugars are absent and thus fermentation cannot proceed. Culturing microbes on cereal grains is a time-honoured tradition from East Asia and the necessary way around this dilemma, as they exude the enzymes that allow liquefaction and saccharification to occur (up to fifty different enzymes have been isolated from Aspergillus oryzae starters). Their mutualistic symbiosis with fermentative yeast and bacteria initiates the complex saccharification- liquefaction-fermentation process to produce the sought after alcoholic liquid.
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Not all endophytic symbioses confer protection from herbivores – only some species associations act as defense mutualisms. The difference between a mutualistic endophyte and a pathogenic one can be indistinct and dependent on interactions with other species or environmental conditions. Some fungi which are pathogens in the absence of herbivores may become beneficial under high levels of insect damage, such as species which kill plant cells in order to make nutrients available for their own growth, thereby altering nutritional content of leaves and making them a less desirable foodstuff. Some endomycorrhizae may provide defense benefits but at the cost of lost reproductive potential by rendering grasses partially sterile with their own fungal reproductive structures taking precedence.
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Remoras (also called suckerfish) can swim freely but have evolved suckers that enable them to adhere to smooth surfaces, gaining a free ride (phoresis), and they spend most of their lives clinging to a host animal such as a whale, turtle or shark. However, the relationship may be mutualistic, as remoras, though not generally considered to be cleaner fish, often consume parasitic copepods: for example, these are found in the stomach contents of 70% of the common remora. Many molluscs, barnacles and polychaete worms attach themselves to the carapace of the Atlantic horseshoe crab; for some this is a convenient arrangement, but for others it is an obligate form of commensalism and they live nowhere else.
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Bacteroides species are normally mutualistic, making up the most substantial portion of the mammalian gastrointestinal microbiota, where they play a fundamental role in processing of complex molecules to simpler ones in the host intestine. As many as 1010–1011 cells per gram of human feces have been reported. They can use simple sugars when available; however, the main sources of energy for Bacteroides species in the gut are complex host-derived and plant glycans. Studies indicate that long-term diet is strongly associated with the gut microbiome composition--those who eat plenty of protein and animal fats have predominantly Bacteroides bacteria, while for those who consume more carbohydrates the Prevotella species dominate.
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The mistletoe plant is ambiguously claimed to be a food source for at least some species of Hypochrysops. This might be so, but raises some questions because most Lycaenidae have parasitic or mutualistic, often highly specific, relationships with various species of ants, and ants have been reported to carry the eggs of the Apollo jewel butterfly (Hypochrysops apollo apollo) into their colonies inside ant plants of the genus Myrmecodia. Myrmecodia species have certain superficial resemblances to "mistletoes", but are epiphytic, not markedly parasitic, and are not in any parasitic plant family; they are in fact in the coffee family, Rubiaceae. It seems likely that Hypochrysops apollo apollo at least, might feed exclusively on ant food and ant larvae.
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Root tips of the myco-heterotrophic plant alt=Club-shaped, crowded root-tips of a plant with its violet stem emerging in the middle Some of the ectomycorrhizal Russulaceae are also involved in other types of root symbioses with plants. A mutualistic association similar to ectomycorrhiza but with some hyphae penetrating into the plant root cells, termed arbutoid mycorrhiza, is formed by Russulaceae with shrubs of the genera Arbutus and Arctostaphylos, both in subfamily Arbutoideae of the Ericaceae. Some Russulaceae are associated with myco-heterotrophic plants of the Ericaceae subfamily Monotropoideae, forming monotropoid mycorrhiza. This is an epiparasitic relationship, where the heterotrophic plant ultimately derives its carbon from the primary, ectomycorrhizal plant partner of the fungus.
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Although not plants and therefore incapable of photosynthesis themselves, many sea anemones form an important facultative mutualistic relationship with certain single-celled algae species that reside in the animals' gastrodermal cells, especially in the tentacles and oral disc. These algae may be either zooxanthellae, zoochlorellae or both. The sea anemone benefits from the products of the algae's photosynthesis, namely oxygen and food in the form of glycerol, glucose and alanine; the algae in turn are assured a reliable exposure to sunlight and protection from micro- feeders, which the sea anemones actively maintain. The algae also benefit by being protected by the sea anemone's stinging cells, reducing the likelihood of being eaten by herbivores.
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According to legend, the sentient X-O Manowar armor known as Shanhara grew from a secret plant eons ago on the alien empire's home world of Loa. During the Vine's persecution at the hands of a mysterious race known as the Torment, it bonded with its first Vine Host, who went on to use its might to single- handedly repel the invasion force and win freedom for his people. The armor is living, composed of organics and exotic metals—a mutualistic symbiote, bonded to its host. For centuries, the Vine high priests searched for a wearer that could bear the power of Shanhara, but all such candidates were killed in the process.
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They mainly follow one of two major strategies within parasitism: either they are endoparasitic, developing inside the host, and koinobiont, allowing the host to continue to feed, develop, and moult; or they are ectoparasitic, developing outside the host, and idiobiont, paralysing the host immediately. Some endoparasitic wasps of the superfamily Ichneumonoidea have a mutualistic relationship with polydnaviruses, the viruses suppressing the host's immune defenses. Parasitoidism evolved only once in the Hymenoptera, during the Permian, leading to a single clade, but the parasitic lifestyle has secondarily been lost several times including among the ants, bees, and yellowjacket wasps. As a result, the order Hymenoptera contains many families of parasitoids, intermixed with non- parasitoid groups.
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Exploiters can take on several forms: individuals outside a mutualistic relationship who obtain a commodity in a way that confers no benefit to either mutualist, individuals who receive benefits from a partner but have lost the ability to give any in return, or individuals who have the option of behaving mutualistically towards their partners but chose not to do so. Cheaters, who do not cooperate but benefit from others who do cooperate, gain a competitive edge. In an evolutionary context, this competitive edge refers to a greater ability to survive or to reproduce. If individuals who cheat are able to gain survivorship and reproductive benefits while incurring no costs, natural selection should favor cheaters.
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It is believed that the development of the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis played a crucial role in the initial colonisation of land by plants and in the evolution of the vascular plants. It has been said that it is quicker to list the plants that do not form endomycorrhizae than those that do. This symbiosis is a highly evolved mutualistic relationship found between fungi and plants, the most prevalent plant symbiosis known, and AMF is found in 80% of vascular plant families in existence today. The tremendous advances in research on mycorrhizal physiology and ecology over the past 40 years have led to a greater understanding of the multiple roles of AMF in the ecosystem.
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This could include incorporating traditional Indigenous knowledge that prioritizes human existence with the environment as a mutualistic and protective one. Additionally, international movements in developing countries in the Global South are usually excluded in developed nations that assert hegemony over the economies of developing nations. This especially applies to the people of Latin America, that are battling multinational oil and mineral corporations that seek to cooperate with the ruling class and exploit fragile ecosystems, rather than provide real solutions to working people that mutually benefit the environment. This is apparent in Ecuador, where former President Rafael Correa, a left-leaning populist, incited “economic growth” as a reason to sell portions of the Amazon rainforest to oil companies.
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A microscopy image of a sample of human breast milk The human milk microbiota, also known as human milk probiotics (HMP), refers to the microbiota (community of microorganisms) residing in the human mammary glands and breast milk. Human breast milk has been traditionally assumed to be sterile, but more recently both microbial culture and culture-independent techniques have confirmed that human milk contains diverse communities of bacteria which are distinct from other microbial communities inhabiting the human body. The human milk microbiota which could be source of commensal, mutualistic, and potentially probiotic bacteria to the infant gut microbiota. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines "probiotics" as "living organisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host".
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A deer and two fawns feeding on foliage A sawfly larva feeding on a leaf Tracks made by terrestrial gastropods with their radulas, scraping green algae from a surface inside a greenhouse A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthparts adapted to rasping or grinding. Horses and other herbivores have wide flat teeth that are adapted to grinding grass, tree bark, and other tough plant material. A large percentage of herbivores have mutualistic gut flora that help them digest plant matter, which is more difficult to digest than animal prey.
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The most common ant symbiote (~ 50% of trees), C. mimosae, has the strongest mutualistic relationship, aggressively defending trees from herbivores while relying heavily on swollen-spines for shelter and feeding from nectar produced by glands near the base of leaves. (see also Crematogaster peringueyi) Because the ants compete for exclusive usage of a given tree, some species employ tactics to reduce the chance of a hostile ant invasion. Crematogaster nigriceps ants trim the buds of trees to reduce their lateral growth, thereby reducing chances of contact with a neighboring tree occupied by a rival colony. Tetraponera penzigi, the only species which does not utilize the nectar produced by the trees, instead destroys the nectar glands in order to make a tree less appealing to other species.
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Savory stated four key principles of Holistic Management® planned grazing, which he intended to take advantage of the symbiotic relationship between large herds of grazing animals and the grasslands that support them: # Nature functions as a holistic community with a mutualistic relationship between people, animals and the land. If you remove or change the behavior of any keystone species like the large grazing herds, you have an unexpected and wide-ranging negative impact on other areas of the environment. # It is absolutely crucial that any agricultural planning system must be flexible enough to adapt to nature’s complexity, since all environments are different and have constantly changing local conditions. # Animal husbandry using domestic species can be used as a substitute for lost keystone species.
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The species was identified by Embley and his coworkers in the course of a vaccine development against trichomoniasis. The vaginal secretions of women suffering from trichomoniasis were examined for the presence of certain proposed Lactobacillus strains exhibiting mutualistic behavior with Trichomonas vaginalis, facilitating sustainment of infection. The isolates initially designated L. fermentum were compared to the reference strains of a number of heterofermentative species using the DNA–DNA hybridization method, and have shown a maximal DNA homology of 35% with L. reuteri, far below the standard threshold of 70% recommended for species delineation. The new species L. vaginalis with type strain NCTC 12197 was proposed, and the description of its carbohydrate fermentation patterns as well as cellular fatty acid composition were provided.
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In humans, the gut flora is established at one to two years after birth; by that time, the intestinal epithelium and the intestinal mucosal barrier that it secretes have co-developed in a way that is tolerant to, and even supportive of, the gut flora and that also provides a barrier to pathogenic organisms. The relationship between gut flora and humans is not merely commensal (a non- harmful coexistence), but rather a mutualistic relationship. Human gut microorganisms benefit the host by collecting the energy from the fermentation of undigested carbohydrates and the subsequent absorption of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), acetate, butyrate, and propionate. Intestinal bacteria also play a role in synthesizing vitamin B and vitamin K as well as metabolizing bile acids, sterols, and xenobiotics.
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These bacteria have been observed in the mitochondria of the host cells, a trait that has never been described in any other symbiont of animals. Midichloria bacteria seem to consume the mitochondria they parasitize, possibly using them as a source of energy and/or molecules to multiply. The interaction of these symbionts with their host is currently unknown, though the 100% prevalence in the females of the host tick suggests a mutualistic association. Although there is no evidence that even up to 20 bacteria residing within the host cell mitochondria produce deleterious effects in Rhipicephalus bursi, the prevalence in R. bursi was estimated at 33% in females and 14% in males, suggesting that the relationship may be more complicated than previously thought.
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This abundance or excess of resources, causes animal populations to have R reproduction strategies (many offspring, short gestation, less parental care, and a short time until sexual maturity), so competition is affordable for populations. Also competition could select populations to have R behaviour in a positive feedback regulation Contrary, in low carrying capacity zones (i.e. far from the equator), where environmental conditions are harsh K strategist are common (longer life expectancy, produce relatively fewer offspring and tend to be altricial, requiring extensive care by parents when young) and populations tend to have cooperative or mutualistic behaviors. If populations have a competitive behaviour in hostile environmental conditions they mostly are filtered out (die) by environmental selection, hence populations in hostile conditions are selected to be cooperative.
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They are also known to imitate the calls of species (and possibly even behaviour as it was once recorded to fluff up and moving head and body like a jungle babbler when imitating its calls) that typically are members of mixed-species flocks such as babblers and it has been suggested that this has a role in the formation of mixed-species flocks. In some places they have been found to be kleptoparasitic on others in mixed-species flock, particularly laughingthrushes but they are most often involved in mutualistic and commensal relations. Several observers have found this drongo associating with foraging woodpeckers and there is a report of one following a troop of macaques. The greater racket-tailed drongo is a resident breeder throughout its range.
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In addition to continuing descriptive studies of the effects of infection by defense mutualist endophytes, there has been a sharp increase in the number of studies which delve further into the ecology of plant-fungus associations and especially their multi-trophic impacts. The processes by which endophytic fungi alter plant physiology and volatile chemical levels are virtually unknown, and limited current results show a lack of consistency under differing environmental conditions, especially differing levels of herbivory. Studies comparing the relative impacts of mutualistic endophytes on inducible defenses and tolerance show a central function of infection in determining both responses to herbivore damage. On the whole, molecular mechanisms behind endophyte-mediated plant defense has been an increasing focus of research over the past ten years.
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Additionally, the fungus produces the enzyme polyphenol oxidase, and can break down the complex organic polymer lignin—features characteristic of saprotrophic fungi. The formation of a rudimentary Hartig net, a characteristic of mycorrhizal fungi, indicated that G. carbonaria might be capable of forming mutualistic relationships under the right conditions. Vrålstad and colleagues suggest that its below-ground association with spruce roots protects it from physical damage in the event of a fire, and the extensive fruitbody production after a fire may reflect "a successful fungal escape from a dying host where the fungus no longer can maintain its biotrophic association". Large fruitings of the fungus are often associated with damage to the host tree, such as that which occurs with burning.
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Boletus edulis is mycorrhizal—it is in a mutualistic relationship with the roots of plants (hosts), in which the fungus exchanges nitrogen and other nutrients extracted from the environment for fixed carbon from the host. Other benefits for the plant are evident: in the case of the Chinese chestnut, the formation of mycorrhizae with B. edulis increases the ability of plant seedlings to resist water stress, and increases leaf succulence, leaf area, and water-holding ability. The fungus forms a sheath of tissue around terminal, nutrient- absorbing root tips, often inducing a high degree of branching in the tips of the host, and penetrating into the root tissue, forming, to some mycologists, the defining feature of ectomycorrhizal relationships, a hartig net.Smith, Sally; Read, David.
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Vavilovian mimicry can be classified as defensive mimicry, in that the weed mimics a protected species. This bears strong similarity to Batesian mimicry in that the weed does not share the properties that give the model its protection, and both the model and the dupe (in this case people) are harmed by its presence. There are some key differences, though; in Batesian mimicry, the model and signal receiver are enemies (the predator would eat the protected species if it could), whereas here the crop and its human growers are in a mutualistic relationship: the crop benefits from being dispersed and protected by people, despite being eaten by them. In fact, the crop's only "protection" relevant here is its usefulness to humans.
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Because E. burchellii is the only regular diurnal army ant specialised and regular ant- followers mostly occur in its Neotropical range, but Afrotropical birds do follow driver ants in the genus Dorylus. It was once suggested that the relationship between the obligate and regular ant-followers and the army ants, particularly Eciton burchellii, was mutualistic, with the ants benefiting by having the birds chase prey back down towards them. However experiments where ant followers were excluded have shown that the foraging success of the army ants was 30% lower when the birds were present, suggesting that the birds' relationship was in fact parasitic. This has resulted in a number of behaviours by the ants in order to reduce kleptoparasitism, including hiding of secured prey in the leaf litter and caching of food on trails.
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Tarsipe rostratus is a keystone species in the ecology of the coastal sands of Southwest Australia, complex assemblages of plants known as kwongan, and are likely to be the primary pollinator of woody shrubs such as banksia and Adenanthos. Their feeding activity involves visits to many individual plants and the head carries a small pollen load that can convey more effectively than the birds that visit the same flowers. The favoured species Banksia attenuata appears to be obliged to this animal as a pollination vector, and both species have evolved to suit their mutualistic interactions. The effect of fire frequency on the population was evaluated in a study over a twenty three-year period, giving indications of resilience of the species to the first fire in the area and a subsequent burn six years later.
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Another possible control option being explored would utilize ants to serve in a mutually beneficial relationship with the Opuntia cacti. Many ant species in the natural world participate in mutualistic relationships with various species of cactus and it is hoped that this general trend of interaction can be exploited to protect the Opuntia cacti from the Cactoblastis moth. This relationship would offer Opuntia protection from the invader, Cactoblastis, and would offer the ants a place to rear their young and receive nourishment.Robbins, M et all., "Patterns of Ant Activity on Opuntia Stricta (cactaceae), a Native Host-plant of the Invasive Cactus Moth, Cactoblastis Cactorum (lepidoptera: Pyralidae)", ‘’Florida Entomologist’’, 2011 In South Africa, a mutualism already exists between many species of cacti and ants to prevent the spread of Cactoblastis.
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Pseudonocardia is the type genus of the bacteria family Pseudonocardiaceae. Members of this genus have been found living mutualistically on the cuticle of the leafcutter antsSymbiont recognition of mutualistic bacteria by Acromyrmex leaf-cutting ants, Zhang, M.M., Poulsen, M. and Currie, C.R. (2007), International Society for Microbial Ecology, 1:313-320 because the bacteria has antibiotic properties that protect the fungus grown by the ants.Fungus- growing ants use antibiotic-producing bacteria to control garden parasites, Currie, C.R., Scott S.A., Summerbell R.C., and David M. (1999), Nature, 398:701-704 When they are grooming, their legs are passed over their mouth gland (metapleural gland) that produces the antibiotic and then their legs touch the fungi while they are walking around. The ants have metapleural glands that produce the antimicrobial components to eliminate the Escovopsis fungi.
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Black coral (pale) with a basket star coiled round a branch Black corals in the genus Antipathella host A. constrictum in a mutualistic association that seems to be a long-lasting arrangement: the basket stars coil their arms around the coral twigs and remain in the same locality for long periods, and possibly for life. The basket star has been found in a number of locations around New Zealand on the continental shelf but has never been found living freely, or living anywhere except in association with a black coral colony. The basket stars feed at night, uncoiling their arms from the coral and catching organic particles floating past. They also brush their arms against the coral surface and are probably feeding on detritus and any epizoic organisms that settle there.
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L. indigo is a mycorrhizal fungus, and as such, establishes a mutualistic relationship with the roots of certain trees ("hosts"), in which the fungi exchange minerals and amino acids extracted from the soil for fixed carbon from the host. The subterranean hyphae of the fungus grow a sheath of tissue around the rootlets of a broad range of tree species, forming so-called ectomycorrhizae—an intimate association that is especially beneficial to the host, as the fungus produces enzymes that mineralize organic compounds and facilitate the transfer of nutrients to the tree. Reflecting their close relationships with trees, the fruit bodies of L. indigo are typically found growing on the ground, scattered or in groups, in both deciduous and coniferous forests. They are also commonly found in floodplain areas that have been recently submerged.
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In this mutualism, fungal hyphae (E) increase the surface area of the root and uptake of key nutrients while the plant supplies the fungi with fixed carbon (A=root cortex, B=root epidermis, C=arbuscle, D=vesicle, F=root hair, G=nuclei). The mycorrhizal mutualistic association provides the fungus with relatively constant and direct access to carbohydrates, such as glucose and sucrose. The carbohydrates are translocated from their source (usually leaves) to root tissue and on to the plant's fungal partners. In return, the plant gains the benefits of the mycelium's higher absorptive capacity for water and mineral nutrients, partly because of the large surface area of fungal hyphae, which are much longer and finer than plant root hairs, and partly because some such fungi can mobilize soil minerals unavailable to the plants' roots.
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In humans, the gut microbiota has the largest numbers of bacteria and the greatest number of species compared to other areas of the body. In humans, the gut flora is established at one to two years after birth, by which time the intestinal epithelium and the intestinal mucosal barrier that it secretes have co-developed in a way that is tolerant to, and even supportive of, the gut flora and that also provides a barrier to pathogenic organisms. The relationship between some gut flora and humans is not merely commensal (a non-harmful coexistence), but rather a mutualistic relationship. Some human gut microorganisms benefit the host by fermenting dietary fiber into short- chain fatty acids (SCFAs), such as acetic acid and butyric acid, which are then absorbed by the host.
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This increased survivorship of the alloparent's young has been linked to the dilution effect, and the way that the geometry of the interspecific school is manipulated such that the cichlid young are forced to the periphery, where they are more vulnerable to predation. It is through this manipulation that the catfish young gain greater protection from predators. Although placed in a more vulnerable position, the cichlid young still benefit from the interaction; both their genetic and 'allo' parents defend against predators (mutualistic defense), and being a mouth breeding species, this 'farming out' (which frees them from the mouth) may allow the cichlid young to forage more and grow faster. It has also been observed that the bagrid catfish alloparent will allow the cichlid young to feed off the skin on its dorsal surface.
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The majority of plant species have various kinds of fungi associated with their root systems in a kind of mutualistic symbiosis known as mycorrhiza. The fungi help the plants gain water and mineral nutrients from the soil, while the plant gives the fungi carbohydrates manufactured in photosynthesis. Some plants serve as homes for endophytic fungi that protect the plant from herbivores by producing toxins. The fungal endophyte, Neotyphodium coenophialum, in tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) does tremendous economic damage to the cattle industry in the U.S. Various forms of parasitism are also fairly common among plants, from the semi- parasitic mistletoe that merely takes some nutrients from its host, but still has photosynthetic leaves, to the fully parasitic broomrape and toothwort that acquire all their nutrients through connections to the roots of other plants, and so have no chlorophyll.
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Yuccas have a very specialized, mutualistic pollination system, being pollinated by yucca moths (family Prodoxidae); the insect transfers the pollen from the stamens of one plant to the stigma of another, and at the same time lays an egg in the flower; the moth larva then feeds on some of the developing seeds, always leaving enough seed to perpetuate the species. Certain species of the yucca moth have evolved antagonistic features against the plant and do not assist in the plant's pollination efforts while continuing to lay their eggs in the plant for protection. Yucca species are the host plants for the caterpillars of the yucca giant-skipper (Megathymus yuccae), ursine giant-skipper (Megathymus ursus), and Strecker's giant-skipper (Megathymus streckeri). Large Joshua tree with thick trunk at Grapevine Springs Ranch, AZ Purplish fruits of Yucca aloifolia.
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In many cases, the chemical ecology of plants involves mutualistic interactions with other organisms. One of these involves interactions with fungi, and in particular, mycorrhizae- where fungi form a sheath on the outside of the roots, or penetrate the roots growing between root cells, and even pushing through cell walls of individual root cells. In this relationship, fungi produce chemicals that decompose organic matter in the soil around the root, absorb the inorganic nutrients released by this decomposition thanks to much larger surface area of the fungi threads, compared to the absorbing surface of the root, and pass some of the water and nutrient the plant, thus greatly enhancing the ability of the plant roots to extract nutrients and water from the soil. The fungi may also provide chemical protection (antibiotics) against harmful bacteria and fungi in the soil.
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Hydnellum peckii is a mycorrhizal fungus, and as such establishes a mutualistic relationship with the roots of certain trees (referred to as "hosts"), in which the fungus exchanges minerals and amino acids extracted from the soil for fixed carbon from the host. The subterranean hyphae of the fungus grow a sheath of tissue around the rootlets of a broad range of tree species, in an intimate association that is especially beneficial to the host (termed ectomycorrhizal), as the fungus produces enzymes that mineralize organic compounds and facilitate the transfer of nutrients to the tree. The ectomycorrhizal structures of H. peckii are among a few in the Bankeraceae that have been studied in detail. They are characterized by a plectenchymatous mantle—a layer of tissue made of hyphae tightly arranged in a parallel orientation, or palisade, and which rarely branch or overlap each other.
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The list is far from complete, and some plants, such as Roridula species, exploit the prey organisms mainly in a mutualistic relationship with other creatures, such as resident organisms that contribute to the digestion of prey. In particular animal prey organisms supply carnivorous plants with nitrogen, but they also are important sources of various other soluble minerals, such as potassium and trace elements that are in short supply in environments where the plants flourish. This gives them a decisive advantage over other plants, whereas in nutrient-rich soils they tend to be out-competed by plants adapted to aggressive growth where nutrient supplies are not the major constraints. Technically these plants are not strictly insectivorous, as they consume any animal that they can secure and consume; the distinction is trivial, however, because not many primarily insectivorous organisms exclusively consume insects.
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The acarinarium has evolved to enhance the mutualistic relationship between the mites and the host organism. There are numerous cases where mites are phoretic on organisms that benefit from the mites' presence; cases where the host's body has changed over evolutionary time to accommodate the mites are far less common. The best-known examples are among the Apocritan Hymenoptera, in which the hosts are typically nest-making species, and it appears that the mites feed on fungi in the host nests (thus keeping away the fungi from host's offspring or their provisions), or possibly other parasites or mites whose presence in the nest is detrimental to the hosts. It is especially telling that nearly all the examples involve only the females of the host species, as it is the females that build and provision the nests.
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Succulents like this jelly bean plant (Sedum rubrotinctum) need infrequent watering, making them convenient as houseplants. Domestication, from the Latin ', 'belonging to the house', is "a sustained multi-generational, mutualistic relationship in which one organism assumes a significant degree of influence over the reproduction and care of another organism in order to secure a more predictable supply of a resource of interest, and through which the partner organism gains advantage over individuals that remain outside this relationship, thereby benefitting and often increasing the fitness of both the domesticator and the target domesticate." This definition recognizes both the biological and the cultural components of the domestication process and the impacts on both humans and the domesticated animals and plants. All past definitions of domestication have included a relationship between humans with plants and animals, but their differences lay in who was considered as the lead partner in the relationship.
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Blattabacterium is a genus of obligate mutualistic endosymbiont bacteria that are believed to inhabit all species of cockroach studied to date, with the exception of the genus Nocticola. The genus' presence in the termite Mastotermes darwiniensis led to speculation, later confirmed, that termites and cockroaches are evolutionarily linked.Wendy Zuckerman, The roach's secret, New Scientist, 16 April 2011Nathan Lo & Paul Eggleton, Termite Phylogenetics and Co-cladogenesis with Symbionts, Bignell, D., Roisin ,Y., & Lo, N., ed (2011), Biology of Termites: A Modern Synthesis: 27-50, B. cuenoti was traditionally considered the only species in the genus Blattabacterium, which is in turn the only genus in the family Blattabacteriaceae; however, three new species have been described hosted by different species of cockroaches in the genus Cryptocercus: Blattabacterium relictus in Cryptocercus relictus, B. clevelandi in C. clevelandi and B. punctulatus in C. darwini, C. garciai, C. punctulatus and C. wrighti.
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Plants and fungi form mutualistic symbiotic relationships called mycorrhizae, which take several forms, such as arbuscular mycorrhizae (AM) and ectomycorrhizae (ECM), and are widespread in nature. Host plants provide photosynthetically derived carbohydrates to the mycorrhizal fungi, which use them in metabolism, either for energy or to increase the size of their hyphal networks; and the fungal partner provides benefits to the plant in the form of improved uptake of soil derived nutrients, drought resistance, and increased resistance to soil and foliar pathogens and other organisms. The physical unit created by interconnected networks of mycorrhizal fungal hyphae connecting plants of the same or different species is termed a common mycorrhizal network (CMN), or simply a mycorrhizal network, and it provides benefits to both partners. Mycorrhizal networks are created by the fungal partner and can range in size from square centimeters to tens of square meters and can be initiated by either AM or ECM fungi.
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It is assumed the archaean group called halophiles went through a similar procedure, where they acquired as much as a thousand genes from a bacterium, way more than through the conventional horizontal gene transfer that often occurs in the microbial world, but that the two microbes separated again before they had fused into a single eukaryote-like cell. Based on the process of mutualistic symbiosis, the hypotheses can be categorized as – the serial endosymbiotic hypothesis or theory (SET), the hydrogen hypothesis (mostly a process of symbiosis where hydrogen transfer takes place among different species), and the syntrophy hypothesis. These hypotheses are discussed separately in the following sections. An expanded version of the inside-out hypothesis proposes that the eukaryotic cell was created by physical interactions between two prokaryotic organisms and that the last common ancestor of eukaryotes got its genome from a whole population or community of microbes participating in cooperative relationships to thrive and survive in their environment.
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The secretions are a mixture of sugar and amino acid which in synergy is more attractive to the ants than either component in its own. The secretions of Narathura japonica caterpillars are thought to be more than merely providing nutrition, with components that cause behavior alteration in the ants, with a reduction in the locomotory activity of caterpillar attendants, increased aggression and protectiveness by Pristomyrmex punctatus ants, suggesting that the association are better treated as parasitic than mutualistic. Because caterpillars do not automatically pass honeydew, they must be stimulated to secrete droplets and do so in response to ant antennation, which is the drumming or stroking of the caterpillar's body by the ants' antennae. Some caterpillars possess specialized receptors that allow them to distinguish between ant antennation and contact from predators and parasites, and others produce acoustic signals that agitate ants, making them more active and likely better defenders of the larvae.
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Relationships between species in early science fiction were often imaginatively parasitic, with the parasites draining the vital energy of their human hosts and taking over their minds, as in Arthur Conan Doyle's 1895 The Parasite. After the Second World War, science fiction moved towards more mutualistic relationships, as in Ted White's 1970 By Furies Possessed; Brian Stableford argues that White was consciously opposing the xenophobia of Robert Heinlein's 1951 The Puppet Masters which involved a parasitic relationship close to demonic possession, with a more positive attitude towards aliens. Stableford notes, however, that Octavia Butler's 1984 Clay's Ark and other of her works such as Fledgling, and Dan Simmons's 1989 Hyperion take an ambivalent position, in which the aliens may confer powers such as Hyperion's ability to regenerate continually—but at a price, in its case an incremental loss of intelligence at each regeneration. In Star Trek, the Trill were a race of humanoids who incorporated a long- living symbiont.
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