Apesian Mimicry

One key way that cuckoos mimic other animals is by copying their physical appearance. Cuckoos’ striped bellies look quite similar to the feather patterns of the Eurasian sparrowhawk; a fierce bird of prey. Other

Parasitism: A relationship where an organism such as a parasite is dependent on a host.

    The change of the relationship from symbiotic to parasitic begins with Sula's return to the Bottoms, signaled by the immense number of robins that entered the town.  Just like Sula, the appearance of the robins came as a

Commensalism is when one species can benefit from a relationship and not hurt the other. There are four different main types; chemical, inquilinism, metabiosis and phoresy. Chemical commensalism is most often observed between bacteria. It involves the species of one bacteria feeding on the chemicals produced or the waste products of the other bacteria. Inquilinism involves one species using the body of another organism as a platform or living space while the host does not benefit or is harmed. Metabiosis occurs when one species unintentionally creates a home for another species through one of its normal life activities. A phoresy takes place when one organism attaches to another organism specifically for the purpose of gaining transportation. An example of commensalism (inquilinism) is barnacles and whales. Barnacles are non-moving and they rely on currents to bring them food. Some barnacles attach themselves to whales in order to help them live. They can benefit as they are then transported over the ocean which exposes them to more feeding oppurtunities. The whale neither benefits or is harmed by the barnacles.

As an example, parasites are able to flourish by absorbing the nutrients of the organism that it chooses to inhabit. In doing so, the parasite can be seen as having a “home” which while it may cause some damage to the host, ultimately makes sure or attempts to cause fatal harm to the host. This is because it wants to be able to inhabit it for as long as possible. When looking at a predator/ prey relationship, the predator would fundamentally find nourishment from many other organisms in its environment and does not rely on one single “host”. The primary goal is to be able to gather as much energy as it physically can so it can move on to its next prey. What makes parasitoids unique is that it takes characteristics from both of these relationships in order to continue with its life cycle. An Adult parasitoid would inject its young into that of other insects. Once the larvae is developed, It would then carry on to feed from the inside of its host gathering nutrients until it reaches adulthood. Once done, they will leave the host thus continuing on with the

A relationship in which one organism benefits while the other remains unaffected is called commensalism. This term was originally used to describe the relationship between scavengers and the predators that killed the food eaten by scavengers. In this example, a predator kills and eats its meal then leaves the remains behind. The scavenger benefits from this by getting food, but the original predator is unaffected by this because it is done with its meal. The term now includes any relationship between two species where one species benefits, but the other is neither helped nor hurt. Another example of commensalism is illustrated by hermit crabs using the shells of dead gastropods for protection. The hermit crabs benefit from the protection

a. A parasite lives within or on a separate organism it acquires benefits at the hosts expense

In the comparison of the types of two-species interactions, Predation and Parasitism are the most similar by far, since both of them have a +/- interaction pattern, where one part benefits and one is taken from. Examples of Predation would be a fox hunting a rabbit, as the fox benefits by gaining food and the rabbit is disadvantaged by dying, or being seriously/ fatally injured; another example would be a cheetah hunting an antelope in the same respects of the fox and the rabbit. Good examples of Parasitism, would be bacterias in an organism, or a mosquito drawing blood from an animal. With bacteria, it benefits by taking the resources that the host organism needs, as the host doesn’t benefit by their resources being used by the bacteria. In

Mutualism - symbiosis that is beneficial to both organisms involved. An example of mutualism is when Oxpecker birds eat the ticks of a Rhino. The Oxpecker lands on a Rhino and eats the ticks on its back and other parasites that are living on its skin. The Oxpecker gets food. And the elephant gets the benefit of getting the tick off.

Companion animals are the hosts for many different parasites. Animal parasitism is a way of life in which a parasite species is living in or on a host species to support its livelihood (Olsen, Animal Parasites Their Life Cycles and Ecology, 1974). As the host species will cater for the parasites needs in terms of food and

Parasites, called guest, are organisms which attack other organism, called host. The parasite feeds nutrient and infects the tissue of the plant. The final result of the attack of a parasites is the death of the plant. An example of parasite of grapes is the caterpillar of grape berry moth. It attacks the berries and then this is infected by gray mould. It can be killed by pesticides with contact or systemic.

One of the latest apprentice for creativity and innovation is Bio-mimicry (1982) It comes from the Greek bios – life, and mimesis – imitation. Inspired by flora and fauna bio-mimetic designers and engineers have created astonishing products. Few of the examples are, Cephalopod Camouflage, Kingfisher inspired Bullet Train, Sunflower inspired Heliotrope, Humpback Whales inspired wind Turbines. (figure1&2) Automobile manufacturers have inspected analogues algorithms in their quest for securer vehicles. After the years of long research, in 2009 Nissan unveiled its Eporo robot car concept, based on the schooling behaviour of fish. (Nissan Motor Corporation, 2009)

Coexistence has been happening among many species since the beginning of time throughout nature. The way species exist is of great complexity as many factors such as: competition and predation play an important role (Chase et al. 2002; Holt 1984; Paine 1966). Ecosystems, communities and populations all face competition between their species. Studies are constantly being done to show how different species survive together or die trying and what is it that they are fighting to survive over. Different habitats, predator, prey, and so many other factors play a role in the survival of species like protists. Many laboratory studies have been done on two protists, Paramecium aurelia and Paramecium caudatum, to see different aspects of their

Symbiosis is the relationship between two living organisms. The main types of symbiosis are mutualism, parasitism and commensalism. The association between the two organisms can be beneficial to one or two of the species or in some cases be harmful, depending on the type of symbiosis.

Mimicry is the superficial resemblance between two or more organisms which are not taxonomically related. This resemblance may be in appearance, behavior, sound, scent and even location. Some sort of vocalization is produced by most of the birds. Almost every species of bird produces some sort of vocalization. Mockingbirds are those birds that mimic the call of other birds. Australia’s amazing Lyrebird is the world’s greatest mimic which is capable of mimic natural and artificial sounds from their environment. They imitate other bird calls, as well as human sounds such as car alarms and camera shutters. cuckoos fool other birds – they also mimic hawks. Parrots are renowned for their deafening calls that can be heard for miles. Parrots