SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP Mutualism 1.

An example of a mutualistic relationship is the cleaner fish that works with larger fish to remove parasites and diseased tissue from their scales, gills, or mouths. This cleaning may take place casually or at a cleaning station. The relationship may take place between species that are closely related, or more distantly related. One fish that act as cleaners when they are young is a hogfish, and another cleaner fish is a wrasse. 2. The bee and the flower. Bees fly from flower to flower gathering nectar, which they make into food, benefiting the bees. When they land in a flower, the bees get some pollen on their hairy bodies, and when they land in the next flower, some of the pollen from the first one rubs off, pollinating* the plant. This benefits the plants. In this mutualistic relationship, the bees get to eat, and the flowering plants get to reproduce. Commensalism 1. An example of commensalism is the relationship between the Anemone crab and an anemone. The Anemone crab lives in the protection of the anemones tentacles and catches its food without ever leaving the safety of the tentacles. However, the crab does not provide any service to the anemone. 2. The clownfish lives among the forest of tentacles of an anemone and is protected from potential predators. Parasitism 1. An example of a parasitic relationship is the Sacculina carcini, a barnacle that infests a host crab. This barnacle finds a hole in the exoskeleton of the crab, so microscopic hairs can penetrate the hole and the barnacle injects a few cells, and then appears as a slug on the underside of the crab. The barnacle absorbs nutrients from the crabs blood, but does not trigger any immune responses, so the crab continues with its daily life. The female Sacculina lays her eggs in the crabs brood pouch, and the instinct of the unsuspecting crab is to continue nurturing the contents of the pouch, and eventually aid in the dispersal of the barnacles eggs for future fertilization, which allows the parasite to continue on with its life cycle. 2. Tapeworms are segmented flatworms that attach themselves to the insides of the intestines of animals such as cows, pigs, and humans. They get food by eating the host's partly digested food, depriving the host of nutrients. Fleas harm their hosts, such as dogs, by biting their skin, sucking their blood, and causing them to itch. The fleas, in turn, get food and a warm home. Barnacles, which live on the bodies of whales, do not seriously harm their hosts, but they do itch and are annoying. Predation or prey-predator relationship 1. The fastest lions are able to catch food and eat, so they survive and reproduce, and gradually, faster lions make up more and more of the population. The fastest zebras are able to escape the lions, so they survive and reproduce, and gradually, faster zebras make up more and more of the population. An important thing to realize is that as both organisms become faster to adapt to their environments, their relationship remains the

same: because they are both getting faster, neither gets faster in relation to the other. This is true in all predator-prey relationships. 2. Another example of predator-prey evolution is that of the Galapagos tortoise. Galapagos tortoises eat the branches of the cactus plants that grow on the Galapagos islands. On one of the islands, where long-necked tortoises live, the branches are higher off the ground. On another island, where short-necked tortoises live, the branches are lower down. The cactuses, the prey, may have evolved high branches so that the tortoises, the predators, can't reach them. Amensalism 1. An example of .amensalism is the relationship between the bread mold Penicillium and a variety of bacteria. The secretion given off by the mold penicillin destroys many bacteria, hence its use in antibiotics. 2. Another example is the black walnut which secrets a chemical called juglone, which destroys most other plants in its root zone. A non-chemical example of amensalism is when trees' branches fall off. The branches falling to the ground cause damage to smaller plants beneath them Symbiosis 1. AFRICAN OXPECKERS African oxpeckers (Buphagus africanus and Buphagus erythrorhynchus) feed on the backs of zebra, elephants, hippopotamuses and other large African animals. Once thought to be friendly tick-eating helpers, theyre actually vampire birds, sucking blood out of open tick-wounds. This shows how the line between symbiotic assistant and parasite can be blurred. Oxpeckers do eat ticks as well, and some animals may be happy to sacrifice a bit of blood for this service. Oxpeckers may also be tolerated because they produce a hissing scream when startled like a personal danger alarm. 2. CELLS AND MITOCHONDRIA Over a billion years ago, one type of bacteria ate another or tried to. Surviving this ordeal, the prey became a permanent house guest in the wet, sheltered, food-rich environment of the predators body. Like an internal battery, the smaller bacteria adapted to turn food and oxygen into chemical energy for the larger one