Many species interact in nature. There are three different ways that they rely or impact each other directly; mutualism, parasitism and commensalism. I would like to understand each of these more deeply. In this post I will focus on mutualism.
What is mutualism? It is interaction between organisms of two different species, in which each organism benefits from the interaction. these interaction are common and ubiquitous throughout all ecosystem. Mutualism may involve either exchange of resources, services or healthcare. For example, coral and zooxanthellae, zooxanthellae capture sunlight and convert it into oxygen as well as energy in form of sugars and lipids that are transferred to the coral tissues and provide with it nutrients to survive and grow. In return, the zooxanthellae are provided with carbon dioxide, phosphorus nitrogen as the by product of the coral’s metabolic process.[1]. Facultative mutualist are ones who population persist in the absence of a mutualist whereas obligate mutualist are ones whose populations go extinct in the absence of a mutualist [2]. In species-specific mutualisms, only a single partner species confers mutualistic benefits whereas generalized mutualisms, in array of species can provide necessary benefit [2]. For example, a plant that cannot produce seed in the absence of single pollinator species is engaged in species-specific, obligate mutualism, while a plant that can self-pollinate to some extent and that can be pollinated by multiple flower-visitors involved in a facultative, generalized mutualism [2].
References:
1.https://biology dictionary.net>mutualism
2.https:/www.sciencedirect.com>topics>mutualism
