Symbiosis by definition is defined by Webster as…….Living together.

When one says symbiotic relationship, the first thing that comes to ones mind, is Nemo, the clown fish, and the anemone. There are so many more in our natural world…..some of these, one would never know about, and some are so common that one never considers them to fall in that category…..as that means if one is married that it becomes a symbiotic relationship, even though we do not considerate to be such.

There are three types of symbiotic relationships…….Parasitism, commensalism, and mutualism. It will be discussed in depth in the following articles.

Parasitism is defined as a symbiotic relationship whereby one organism (plant or animal) lives on or in another and destroys or causes harm to the other in order to survive. Parasites usually go through several juvenile life stages and can use a different intermediate host in order to survive these different stages of their life to the end result of adult.

The moose in the U.S. are now dwindling because of liver flukes. The adult lives in the moose and lays its eggs which are excreted in the dropping of the moose. They drop in the water. Snails may eat some of these droppings as the feed on the plant life of an aquatic environment. This then serves as an intermediate host and the eggs develop into the juveniles stage. The moose then goes into the aquatic environment and in the process of eating aquatic plants swallow some of these snails. The juvenile stage then becomes adult because the moose is one of many hosts, the fluke then migrates to the liver and eats away at it until it lays eggs again.

There are many such parasites in the natural world. Humans are mostly interested in the ones that affect the human body. Some include Lyme disease carried by ticks, malaria carried by mosquitoes, plague carried by fleas, worms (both tape and round) carried by other animals and birds, trichinosis carried by hogs, flukes carried by fish and birds and other animals, and many more as the list goes on. These are all recognised as doing harm to humans, and are carried by all types of intermediate host.

However, there are many other parasites, that affect birds, fish, and animals. One cannot dissect any of these animals without finding any parasites. That is why it is important to cook the foods we eat thoroughly, in order to kill these parasites. Some of these parasites even enter the body by their own means and use no intermediate host.

A lot of different types parasites do not enter the bodies of their host but just stay on the surface of the body. Look at the mites of the birds that live among the feathers and suck the blood of their host. Lice and fleas that live in the fur of animals and also suck the blood. Did you know that fish also have lice? They do and they live on the scales of these fish. Shrimp, clams, and snails all are subject to possess parasites as well. So one can see in the animals world, nothing is safe from parasites.

Plants also possess parasites. As you take your walk in the woods, look for the mushrooms growing on trees. These mushrooms act as decomposers, yet they are decomposing a living organism making them a parasite.

Mistletoe is also a parasite that grows on the limbs of trees. It saps the branch for food and as it grows it ends up taking all the nourishment of that branch, and it eventually dies beyond the mistletoe.

One would not imagine that pretty things could be parasites, but there are also wildflowers that are parasitic. One group of wildflowers, that are the only wildflowers that do not possess chlorophyll, thus they can not manufacture their own food, and must parasitize in order to survive. Indian pipes…..white in color looking like an Indian peace pipe, fall into this category and parasite shallow tree roots. Pinesaps is another very pretty orange plant that parasitizes the pine to get its nutrients.

Insects also are parasites. There are many insects that catch other insects and take their ovipositors and insert it under the carapace of another insect and lay there eggs. These eggs are then guaranteed nourishment as they grow to adulthood. By the time they become adults, the host has been consumed.

In my experiences, I have seen many caterpillars with many egg cases implanted on their back. I have seen earthworms that have been parasitized. I even dug up a grub once that had eggs on it.

On a larger scale there are birds (cow bird as an example) that parasitize other bird nest. That means they lay their eggs in the nest of another species. This other species does not realize it and incubates the cowbird egg. When it hatch the owners of the nest, feed the baby and it becomes an adult at some one else’s expense. In doing so the parasitic bird usually grows faster and pushes the other babies from the nest….. killing them.

As one can see that no place in the natural world is there place that is free from the world of parasitism. That does not mean that one has to be afraid of it, and refrain from enjoying these cruel lifestyles of the different parasites. One just has to use commonsense and take some precautions to prevent ticks and fleas access to your body, and other parasites from entering your body by cooking foods properly.

All these things and ways that the different forms of life exist make our world so interesting and worth while to study and learn the their way of life more intimately. Whether one is a photographer and wants to stop time of these different forms of life in the camera, or one just want to observe how these creatures live……it proves interesting to find out how other forms of life adapt and compete just to live. So get out and do your thing.