Commensalism

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Commensalism

In ecology

Ecology

Ecology is the science study of the distribution and Abundance of life and the interactions between organisms and their nature environment ....
, commensalism is a class of relationship between two organisms where one benefits and the other is not significantly harmed or benefited. The term derives from the English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
word commensal, meaning "sharing of food" in human social interaction, which in turn derives from the Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
com mensa, meaning "sharing a table". It is contrasted with mutualism

Mutualism

Mutualism is a biological interaction between two organisms, where each individual derives a fitness benefit, for example increased survivorship....
, in which both organisms benefit, and parasitism

Parasitism

Parasitism is a type of Symbiosis relationship between two different organisms where one organism, the parasite, takes from the host , sometimes for a prolonged time....
, in which one organism gains at the other's expense.

lass="link1" onMouseover='showByLink("m258478",this)' onMouseout='hide("m258478")'href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Symbiosis">symbioses

Symbiosis

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Commensalism'

Start a new discussion about 'Commensalism'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

In ecology

Ecology

English language

Latin

Mutualism

Parasitism

Types

Like all ecological

Ecology

Ecology is the science study of the distribution and Abundance of life and the interactions between organisms and their nature environment ....
interactions, commensalisms vary in strength and duration from intimate, long-lived symbioses

Symbiosis

The term symbiosis commonly describes close and often long-term interactions between different biological species. The term was first used in 1879 by the Germany mycology Heinrich Anton de Bary, who defined it as "the living together of unlike organisms"....
to brief, weak interactions through intermediaries. Originally it was used to describe the use of waste food by second animals, like the carcass eaters that follow hunting animals but wait until they have finished their meal.

Phoresy: One animal attaching to another animal for transportation only. This concerns mainly arthropod

Arthropod

Arthropods are animals belonging to the Scientific classification Arthropoda , and include the insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and others....
s, examples of which are mite

Mite

Mites, along with ticks, belong to the subclass Acarina and the class Arachnida. Mites are among the most diverse and successful of all the invertebrate groups....
s on insect

Insect

Insects are the biggest class of arthropods and the only ones with wings. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet. They are most diverse at the equator and their diversity declines toward the poles....
s (such as beetle

Beetle

Beetles are the group of insects with the largest number of known species. They are placed in the order Coleoptera , which contains more described species than in any other order in the animal, constituting about 25% of all known life-forms....
s, flies

Fly

True flies are insects of the Order Diptera , possessing a single pair of insect wing on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax....
, or bee

Bee

Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants. Bees are a monophyly lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the unranked taxon name Anthophila....
s), pseudoscorpion

Pseudoscorpion

A pseudoscorpion, , is an arachnid belonging to the order Pseudoscorpionida, also known as Pseudoscorpiones or Chelonethida.Pseudoscorpions are generally beneficial to humans since they prey on moth larvae, carpet beetle larvae, Psocoptera, ants, mites, and small Diptera....
s on mammal

Mammal

Mammals are a class of vertebrate animals whose name is derived from their distinctive feature, mammary glands, with which they feed their young....
s or beetles, and millipede

Millipede

Millipedes are arthropods that have two pairs of arthropod leg per segment . Each segment that has two pairs of legs is a result of two single segments fused together as one....
s on bird

Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
s. Phoresy can be either obligate or facultative (induced by environmental conditions). Inquilinism

Inquiline

File:Wyeomyia smithii 1.jpgIn zoology, an inquiline is an animal that lives commensalism in the nest, burrow, or dwelling place of an animal of another species....
: Using a second organism for housing. Examples are epiphytic

Epiphyte

File:Cadzow oak epiphyte 2.JPGAn epiphyte is an organism that grows upon or attaches to a living plant. Epiphyte is one of the subdivisions of the Raunki?r plant life-form....
plant

Plant

Plants are Life organisms belonging to the Kingdom Plantae. They include familiar organisms such as trees, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae....
s (such as many orchids) which grow on tree

TREE

TREE was a Boston hardcore punk band formed in the summer of 1990. They were active in the Boston music scene until disbanding in 2002....
s, or birds that live in holes in trees. Metabiosis: A more indirect dependency, in which the second organism uses something the first created, however after the death of the first. An example is the hermit crab

Hermit crab

Hermit crabs are Decapoda crustaceans of the superfamily Paguroidea . They are not closely related to true crabs. Hermit crabs are quite commonly seen in the intertidal zone, for example in tide pools....
s that use gastropod shells to protect their bodies.

The question of whether the relationship between humans and some types of our gut flora

Gut flora

The gut flora are the microorganisms that normally live in the digestive tract of animals. Though widely known as the "intestinal microflora", this is technically a misnomer since the word root "flora" pertains to plants and biota refers to microbial life such as bacteria other than plants....
is commensal or mutualistic

Mutualism

Mutualism is a biological interaction between two organisms, where each individual derives a fitness benefit, for example increased survivorship....
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

Parasitism

Parasitism is a type of Symbiosis relationship between two different organisms where one organism, the parasite, takes from the host , sometimes for a prolonged time....
in a subtle way that has not been detected. For example, epiphytes are "nutritional pirates" that may intercept substantial amounts of mineral 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. Similarly, the phoretic mites in the image above may hinder their host by making flight more difficult, which may affect its aerial hunting ability or cause it to expend extra energy while carrying these passengers.

Commensalism

Types

See also