symbiosis (sĭmbēō`sĭs), the habitual living together of organisms of different species. The term is usually restricted to a dependent relationship that is beneficial to both participants (also called mutualism) but may be extended to include parasitism, in which the parasite parasite, plant or animal that at some stage of its existence obtains its nourishment from another living organism called the host. Parasites may or may not harm the host, but they never benefit it.
..... Click the link for more information. depends upon and is injurious to its host; commensalism, an independent and mutually beneficial relationship; and helotism, a master-slave relationship found among social animals (e.g., the ant and the aphid aphid or plant louse, tiny, usually green, soft-bodied, pear-shaped insect injurious to vegetation. It is also called greenfly and blight. Aphids are mostly under 1-4 in. (6 mm) long.
..... Click the link for more information. ). True symbiosis is illustrated by the relationship of herbivorous animals (e.g., cockroaches, termites, cows, and rabbits) to the cellulose-digesting protozoans or bacteria that live in their intestines; neither organism could survive without the other. Other symbiotic relationships include the interdependence of the alga and the fungus that form a lichen lichen (lī`kən), usually slow-growing organism of simple structure, composed of fungi (see Fungi ) and photosynthetic green algae or
..... Click the link for more information. and the relationship between leguminous plants and the nitrogen-fixing bacteria, which is important in agriculture (see nitrogen cycle nitrogen cycle, the continuous flow of nitrogen through the biosphere by the processes of nitrogen fixation, ammonification (decay), nitrification, and denitrification.
..... Click the link for more information. ). Two obvious examples of a plant-to-animal relationship are yucca yucca (yŭk`ə), any plant of the genus Yucca,
..... Click the link for more information. and yucca moth, fig fig, name for members of the genus Ficus of the family Moraceae ( mulberry family). This large genus contains some 800 species of widely varied tropical vines (some of which are epiphytic); shrubs; and trees, including the banyan, the peepul, or bo tree, and
..... Click the link for more information. and fig wasp; in both cases the insect fertilizes the plant, and the plant supplies food for the larvae of the insect.

symbiosis

Any of several living arrangements between members of two different species, including commensalism, mutualism, and parasitism. The species involved are called symbionts. In commensalism, one species (the commensal) obtains nutrients, shelter, support, or locomotion from the host species, which is substantially unaffected (e.g., remoras obtain locomotion and food from sharks). In mutualism, both species benefit. Many mutualistic relationships are obligative; neither species can live without the other (e.g., protozoans in the gut of termites digest the wood ingested by the termites).

symbiosis (redirected from Symbiotics)

symbiosis

symbiosis
(redirected from Symbiotics)