All living organisms are interacting with each other. As for relationships with other living organisms, there are some types of symbiosis: mutualism which is a relationship where two organisms of different species benefit each other, and parasitism which is a relationship where one organism benefits at the expense of the other. Not only humans but also animals and plants cannot live on their own; this is the principle of nature.
Mutualism is a type of symbiotic relationship where two different organisms benefit from each other, while commensalism is a relationship where one obtains benefits from the other without harming or benefiting it.
Mutualism benefits each other
Mutualism is often found between animals that live together with other types of animals. This is easily found in the sea.
Sea anemones look like a bunch of fancy flowers. However, you don’t want to go near them because they have cnidocytes which contain venom in their tentacles and launch venom to intruders and prey. Nevertheless, clownfish are not harmed by the venom in the sea anemones’ tentacles because they have a mucus coat on their skin. Clownfish, which are well-known from the movie Finding Nemo, quickly hide in sea anemones when they are threatened by predators. Sea anemones protect clownfish by launching venom to the predator that is after clownfish and paralyzing it. This is not all. They provide clownfish with an amazing nest and food from the leftover prey. In exchange, clownfish attract prey to sea anemones and serve as sweepers by cleaning them. That’s why they are also called anemonefish.
Goby fish and shrimps are good friends, too. Goby fish live with shrimps in the caves shrimps have dug, and guard for the nearly-blind shrimps while they dig down a cave, risking their lives. When a shrimp’ predator appears, a goby fish touches the end of the shrimp’s antenna with its tail and lets the shrimp know the danger, and they quickly escape to the hole in the sand together.
Most scavengers which clean other animals’ bodies are in a mutualistic relationship. Wrasses, which are cleaner fish, groom other fish by rubbing their bodies against them, or by gently eating off the filth and parasites on their skin. Oxpecker and African Cape Buffalo, as well as small ground finch and Galapagos tortoises or land and marine iguanas, also have a symbiotic relationship through cleaning.
Many insects rely on each other, too. When the ant touches the aphid’s body with its antennae, honeydew, a sugar-rich liquid, is secreted from the aphid’s body. Ants get nutrition from this secretion. In exchange, ants move aphid eggs to their houses in winter and protect them. Bullhorn acacias provides bullhorn acacia ants with a safe nest, sweet sap, and food with abundant proteins called Beltian bodies. In return, bullhorn acacia ants cut any other plants that grow around the bullhorn acacia, using their sharp teeth. If any animal tries to eat a leaf off the bullhorn acacia tree, bullhorn acacia ants gather around it in a group and bite and poke it until it runs away.
Burying beetles and ticks, too, have a mutualistic relationship with each other. Burying beetles bury small animals’ dead bodies in the ground and lay eggs there. Sometimes, however, other insects lay eggs on them even before they bury the dead bodies in the ground. Then the burying beetle larvae have to compete with the larvae of other insects for food. To prevent this, various types of ticks are on the burying beetles. When a burying beetle finds a dead animal, ticks get down to the dead animal and eat all the eggs that other insects have laid. The ticks ride on the burying beetles and feed on the food that the burying beetles find, and the burying beetle larvae can grow well because they don’t need to fight against the larvae of other insects for food.
Commensalism, a relationship in which only one organism benefits from the other
One example of commensalism is the relationship between gobies and corals. Gobies take various kinds of sea creatures as a nest such as corals, sponges, and even urchins which have spines. Pleurosicya mossambica, also known as the ghost goby, have has rainbow colors and lives among soft corals. A ghost goby is only about 2.5 cm [1 in.] long, having a sucker on the bottom of its belly, and sticking to corals firmly. Ghost gobies get a safe nest from corals while the corals neither gains nor loses anything. As ghost gobies can change their colors to orange, yellow, or pink with blue dots, depending on the color of the corals, the predators cannot easily find ghost gobies hiding in coral reefs.
Crinoids look like plants or big flowers, but they are animals that are kindred species with starfish and urchins. Crinoids provide habitat for many other animals, but they are neither benefited nor harmed. Crinoid shrimps live only in crinoids. They hide in crinoids by changing their body colors to the same color as that of the crinoids. Crinoids serve as ideal habitat for other sea creatures because fish do not like the crinoids with bad-tasting chemicals and firm flesh.
The animals that relocate, using other animals as transportation, and the animals that serve as transportation for them have a commensalistic relationship with each other, too. Remoras attach themselves to big sharks or big fishes or turtles or even to boats, and travel a long distance. They travel to a new place by attaching themselves to other organisms, by using their suction discs on top of their heads. They can also hide under other organisms when they encounter predators.
All living organisms in nature have to live with other organisms can’t help interact with one another. The animals mentioned above are only a few examples of symbiosis.
Species are disappearing because of ongoing environmental destruction. According to a report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature [IUCN], about 20,219 species are threatened with extinction, including 41% of amphibians, 33% of reef building corals, 25% of mammals, 13% of birds, and 30% of conifers. When one species disappears, it can lead to the disappearance of other species in a symbiotic relationship. Through symbiotic relationships between organisms, God has taught us that we humans will also go extinct if we do not live together in harmony. Wisdom to live together is needed in both the natural world and the human world.
- Reference
- Bridget Giles, Lodgers and Cleaners (Parasites and Partners), Turtleback Books: A Division of Sanval, 2003
- Kieren Pitts, Hitchers and Thieves (Parasites and Partners), Heinemann Library, 2003