ware3939-blog

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Mutualism Basics

Mutualism Blog Continued....

This blog is mutualism continued... Mutualism simply stated is the way that two organisms of different species exist in a relationship in which each individual organism benefits from the action of the other. Mutualism is another relationship that plays a vital role in ecology. Mutualistic relations are highly vital for terrestrial ecosystem function as about 50% of plants rely heavily on this relationship in order for survival. 

Image from: 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjtupmFkYPfAhXTCjQIHR6TDTEQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fecosystemsbymanuela.weebly.com%2Fmutualism.html&psig=AOvVaw1OSRUQZisMFk89me9ecHI3&ust=1543908376693093

Measuring the fitness benefits of individuals in a mutualistic relationship is not always straightforward as it may seem. This relationship is most likely to develop between organisms with widely different living requirements. Most of the time in a mutualistic relationship both of the organisms have evolved together. At some point each organism was part of each other’s environment, so they adapted to the environment and made use of each other in a way where both of them can benefit somehow. This relationship is very common among many different ecosystems and scientists are starting to realize the important role they play in ecology. 

Image from: 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiGoZ6ikYPfAhWPEXwKHYOvANwQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.toondoo.com%2Fcartoon%2F2323057&psig=AOvVaw2MSe5MilgiqzmoCrmEvex7&ust=1543908433133630

A very simple mutualistic relationship could be between a bee and a flower. Simply the bee receives nectar from the flowers to make their honey and the bees travel around from flower to flower bringing pollen with them, resulting in what we call pollination. To give a quick recap, mutualism is when two organisms are involved in a relationship and both organisms involved benefit each other in some way. 

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Commensalism v.2

Communalism Continued Blog.....

Commensalism in biology, simply put, is a relationship between two species in which one species obtains food or benefits in other ways without harming or benefitting whoever the organism is. there is much confusion between this relationship and mutualism, but mutualism is where BOTH organisms benefit in some way. The commensal may benefit from this relationship by receiving nutrients, shelter or support from the host species, which is in no way affected at all. Similar to parasitism, in this relationship, the host is bigger than the commensal the majority of the time. 

Image from: 

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dXVCIKcjf44/T-_voB4MPBI/AAAAAAAAP6k/Zwr5B4bRgkE/s1600/IMG_9457.JPG

In some cases this relationship can eventually turn into mutualism but not all of the time. There is some controversy between biologists argue that any close interaction between two organisms is unlikely to be completely neutral for either party. Pretty much this statement means that there are some biologists out there that are saying that no two organisms involved with each other can not have any neutral activity between them, either both are being harmed, both are being benefitted, or one is being harmed and the other is not. A good and simple biological commensalistic relation ship would be between a fern and a tree. In this case the fern is the organism that benefits because the tree offers the fern shelter, shade and giving it a place to live.

Image from: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwi8laDAi4PfAhWJiFQKHTetDUkQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmaggiesscienceconnection.weebly.com%2Finterdependence-in-nature.html&psig=AOvVaw2egjkVqt50dEC0TsQU_Gu-&ust=1543906791567425

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Parasitism Continued

Parasitism Blog

Parasitism in biology is simply is a relationship between two species where the parasite lives under the host causing it some harm. Similar to predation, parasitism is a form of consumer-resource interaction when the majority of the time, the parasite is much smaller than its host. Parasites are very scary because when they are living off animals, they can reproduce at incredible rates and will slowly end up taking over its host down the road. 

Image from: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjC6ryQgoPfAhWollQKHYUsCYIQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.britannica.com%2Fplant%2Fparasitic-plant&psig=AOvVaw3pR7nepAaDMTVrR6gvuAFV&ust=1543904371823014

Parasites can effectively reduce the fitness of animals by using a technique called specialized pathology. But not all of the time does the parasite kill its host. This differs from predation where the predator kills its prey. The majority of parasites attach themselves to their host in their benefit to reproduce. Believe it or not, parasites are considered to be ecologically important! 

Image from: 

http://parasiticplants.blogspot.com

Parasites can shape a community structure through their effects on trophic interactions, competition and biodiversity to name a few things. It is said by specialists that the ecological interactions of parasites are often challenging to observe. To recap, in some way parasitism can be beneficial, but in terms of biology almost every time the host is being harmed.

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Competition for Dummies

Competition blog II

Competition is when two organisms have an interaction and during this interaction both species are harmed. Competition is a very important topic both between and within species in ecology and a very important topic in community ecology. This relationship is one of many interacting biotic factors that can heavily affect the community of the culture. Like the majority of the other relationships, this relationship plays a very important role ecologically and economically. There are a couple types of competition and they are: interspecific and intraspecific.

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 Intraspecific competition is when two of the same species compete for the same resources in an ecosystem and this can make competition for the organisms competing even more intense. Interspecific competition is when two organisms of two different species are competing for a limited resource. If this type of competition gets vicious enough, it has the potential to impact populations and communities of the interspecific species very badly. 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjL4L_E-ILfAhXoyVQKHbeSBCgQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.andertoons.com%2Fcompetition%2Fcartoon%2F7904%2Fvendors-one-sells-balloons-the-other-sharp-little-pins&psig=AOvVaw18EWSTOTKJkN4B7J0SErIn&ust=1543901798611779

A good and simple example of competition in biology would be trees and the flowers that live under them. The tree gets big enough to take away all of the sun of the flowers beneath restricting them of the sunlight they need to be healthy and grow. 

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Predation Basics

Pair Blog

The biologic definition of predation is “it is a form of a symbiotic relationship between two organisms of different species in which one of the species is the predator that captures and eats the other species, they prey”. When the numbers of predators become scarce and low, this gives rise to the prey to grow larger in population size and when this occurs, usually it gives the predators time to reproduce, changing their hunting habits until they become strong enough as a population to begin hunting their normal prey again. 

Image from: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiM4cK14ILfAhUjLn0KHRiTDsMQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fanimalsake.com%2Fexamples-of-predator-prey-relationships&psig=AOvVaw3HgvfJXNfsDXuLQB5CrEZB&ust=1543895321811247

A good and simple example of this relationship would be between a giraffe and a tree. in this particular case, the giraffe acts as a herbivory predator, not harming another organism, but a plant. The giraffe eats the leaves off of the tree, with the leaves being their main source of their diet obviously. Predators are organisms that can easily adapt to their surroundings and have incredibly specialized hunting skills. Other adaption traits include the element of stealth, which is what a lot of predators use to catch their prey. 

Image from: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiNgo7u4ILfAhUhiVQKHfemDYgQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.giraffeworlds.com%2Fgiraffe_eating_leaves%2F&psig=AOvVaw1PJ3BbYYIQsH5MpCQuU0hK&ust=1543895440372620

Predation has played a very important role ecologically since the beginning of organisms, it is a relationship that helps the world go ‘round and helps sustain life.

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Cemetery Report Blog

Field Trip Report

Today we were lucky enough to be able to go onto a field trip to the Oakdale Cemetery to see and learn about the different vegetation that it contains that we have been learning about it class. This cemetery was originally founded and named the Gleenwood Cemetery. It contains approximately 900 trees and sadly oak trees are on the decline so they have to keep replanting them often. 

Image from: https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/42484/oak-dale-cemetery#

There are roughly 25 species of oak trees, give or take, and the Swamp White Oak, which is not as pointy as the others and has a curvy pattern, is one of the easiest oaks to transplant and can tolerate poor drainage much better than its ancestors can. Another very interesting tree we got to see there was the Amur Oak Tree and there about 3 or 4 in this cemetery location. We were able to see the Sweetgum and the John Quincy Adams Ward-Sculpture. Like I said before, this cemetery is on the decline in terms of oaks and they wish to plant more evergreen trees in the very near future. We were able to learn and see a little bit of the Arborvitae, which is an evergreen tree, and the Wilson Spruce. 

Image from: 

http://forestry.ohiodnr.gov/swampwhiteoak

We actually have a few of these on our campus and I always like to see them, personally, because they remind me of Christmas. We were also able to see the Hickory Tree and the Mulberry, which is not really a tree its more of a weed than anything and the berry it produces is not edible unfortunately. In this cemetery was the Tri-Color Beech which had colors of white, pink, red, and even some shades of blue. The Eastern Hemlock, Yellow Wood Tree, and the Black Walnut were also among the beautiful trees this cemetery contains. This field trip for our class was probably my most favorite because there was just so much to learn, so much information to soak in, and looking at all of these beautiful trees and looking at them makes me interested in  them even more.

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Bush Tour Blog

Report on Bush tour Blog

There was a report done in 2016 that the first global satellite guesstimate that there are roughly three million trees that exist on planet earth. Its terrible to know this, but more and more trees are being cut down each and every day. A study was done, and it was said that there were at least 320,000 trees per person and today that number has declined drastically to about 400 trees per person. If that isn’t a wake-up call to our society then I do not know what is. For the trees we take down, it would only be right to plant some in their place, causing less damage to our wild life, plus they are beneficial to our health. We need to plant more trees also because they add shape and beauty to our environment. 

Image: from my iPhone 

An alien species means that it is an introduced life form and an invasive species means that it is a species that grows and causes damage to the environment and surrounding species. A dandelion is a great example of a pioneer plant and is natures’ way of telling you that that area is a bit damaged. In the state of Ohio, there are roughly more than 2,700 species of plants and 900 of them being non-native. Alien invasive species have a huge impact on our environment, for example, they result in a loss of habitat, impact living space and breeding sites for other plant species. Our first bush on the tour was called the Japanese Barberry and it is invasive to Ohio. Next, we saw the Euonymus and the Spirea, both are not invasive and native to the state.

Image: from my iPhone 

 The Spirea is a very pretty bush and can be used as a decorative ornament for the holidays. The Boxwood bush is also a very popular ornamental bush. The Japanese Tree Lylock is a very interesting plant, it is not native to Ohio and is the greenest plant I have ever seen. My personal favorite and most interesting in my opinion was the Devils Walking Stick. It is native to the United States, but not Ohio. The plants and bushes I talked about were not all that were talked about on the tour, these are just a few.

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Campus Tour Blog

Report for Campus Tour Blog

Campus is incredibly amazing if you go outside and get the chance to explore it to the full capacity. This was our last tour before our midterm and we got the chance to learn about all of the trees and plants that surround this beautiful campus and a few features to go along with each tree. We mainly looked at trees such as different kinds of maples, oak trees and even an elm just to name a few. The first tree that we visited was the elm tree. A few features of the elm tree are that it has toothed leaves, tough, leathery-feeling leaves, and has alternating leaf bugs. I noticed, along with the rest of the class, that the leaves have holes in them and it isn’t because the sun is burning a hole in them, its because the bugs hat are attracted to that tree eat the leaves for their food. 

Image: from my iPhone 

Next, we passed the sycamore tree which has features such as peeling bark, leaves very similar to a maple leaf, and has a hollow leaf stem. Even though the sycamore trees aren’t the tallest, they are massive in terms of circumference on the eastern half of the United States. We learned about the White Pine next and its an interesting tree because each group of needles has exactly five needles and it is consistent throughout the whole tree. The Shag Bark Hickory is also interesting because it is consistent with its name, the bark actually sheds off of the trunk and I personally find it interesting because where I come from it isn’t something you see often, its very rare. 

Image: from my iPhone

The Sweet Gum tree actually looks like sweet gum! This tree has weirdly shaped nuts and is simple. This tree was naturally grown here and got its name from the sap that comes from the wounds of the tree. There are so many different types of maple trees that exist. The Sugar Maple was my favorite of the tour today because it is a very popular shade tree and looks absolutely stunning in the fall. It is also popular ecologically for its hard wood. These trees were not all of the trees we saw on the tour, but these were the ones I enjoyed learning about the most. 

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Guest Lecture Blog

Guest Speaker Tracy Bleim

Today in class we had an incredible privilege of having a guest speaker and her name was Tracy Bleim. She talked to us about the many problems we are having with our environment and what the effects of these problems are causing. Air pollution is one of the nations’ biggest issues right now and when you have severe air pollution problems you need trees and plants to work together to help clean up the air and make the quality better. Granted, our air pollution problems have definitely improved over the past decade or two with technological advancements and improvements in the procedures of companies, but our forests are still getting destroyed and air pollution is still out there lingering. 

Image: from my iPhone 

Many people love trees not only because of what they do for our environment, but for their historical value as well. People also love trees and plants because they provide biodiversity for other living things. Tracy also taught us about the Northern White Cedars and the Cedar Bog, which is one of Ohio’s most unusual areas. There is a huge problem going on right now in the Northern White Cedars and the problem is water mold. The water mold is causing the roots of trees to rot killing them off very slowly. She stated that years down the road, if the mold continues to spread, it will eventually kill off all the trees that are in the area or are affected by this mold. The Cedar Bog is not technically a Bog, it is called a Fen and there are typically bogs within the fens. It is considered to be a fen when you can visually see the flow of water. 

Image: from my iPhone 

The Cedar Bog has the highest plant diversity in the entire state of Ohio. If we continually strive to make the earth a better place our forests and other endangered environments will prosper and be preserved. But, if we continue to take no action on the problems that surround us, endangered habitats will end up going extinct, and at that point there is obviously no going back. So we need to do everything in our power to get people to acknowledge the problems that surround us so they can be defeated as soon as possible.

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Prairie Summary Blog

Prairies are considered to be part of the temperate grasslands, according to ecologists, with land amounts shrinking rapidly. This last Monday we were fortunate enough to have a guest speaker and her name was Michelle Comer and she was a prairie specialist who gave us a lot of information about the prairie that surrounds us before taking us outside and showing us around. Today we have lost about 90 percent of our prairie and now we only protect one tenth of just one percent of the total land area. 

Image from:  https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiI_LfeuILfAhW-JTQIHanZDPkQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fdnrec.alpha.delaware.gov%2Fwetlands%2F&psig=AOvVaw1ZpINq7d_L-Uy1vGG1oPxB&ust=1543884671903130

Prairies contain many threatened and extirpated species today and it has caught the attention of many specialists are now taking more precautions into protecting the land a lot better. We learned about several plants and trees and one, for example, was called the “bone set”. From what Ms. Comer said, this specific plant can help speed up the healing process of broken bones. Prairies are ecosystems considered to be part of several biomes such as grasslands, savannas and the shrublands biome. The formation of prairies in the north American continent started with the creation, or uplifting, of the Rocky Mountains near Alberta which is in Canada. 

Image from: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjc7PnwuoLfAhVJjlQKHVyaB8YQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffpdcc.com%2Fconservation%2Fa-tour-of-our-ecosystems%2Fwetlands%2F&psig=AOvVaw1ZpINq7d_L-Uy1vGG1oPxB&ust=1543884671903130

It is said by ecologists that the tallgrass prairie is tens of thousands of years old but has experienced some shrinkages due to animal grazing and wild brush fires. Some of the fires were also caused by early human civilization due to inexperience in being able to control their own fires. North American prairies usually have three types: wet, mesic, and dry. A wet prairie tends to be the biggest because the soil is always moist and rich which gives the plant life an opportunity to grow in abundance. The other two are not far behind, but the dry prairies are more prone to fires which also gives the soil nutrients for new plant life to grow.

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Wetlands Blog

Guest Speaker blog

We had, my class, a huge privilege to have a guest speaker and her name was Debbie Barger. She graduated from Urbana in 1972 and is the city’s first naturalist. A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is surrounded and flooded by water permanently or seasonally depending on what the location is. Wetlands are also a natural occurrence on all the continents, which consist of marshes, swamps and so on. I learned that many different species of animals and plants thrive in this environment. 

Animals such as deer love this type of environment because there are so many plants they can choose to eat from. We were also able to learn that the healthier deer eat, the more prongs they get on their antlers and, the stronger they are. In the areas with more water or rivers, that is where cat tail plants reside, and they are special because they filter both the water and the air and serve as a main food source for a lot of the animals that live here. In the mid-1800’s, the state of Ohio lost so many animals such as bears and beavers due to the human population over hunting and eating them. Wetlands highly depend on flooding, without it they wouldn’t exist. 

Flooding allows the soil to constantly be moving from place to place give all the plants the nutrients they need to flourish. Temperature varies based on where the wetland is located, as they are located in just about every climatic zone. A couple reasons wetlands are important are because they are a huge home for pollinators and serve as protection against storms. Again, wetlands are very important to our planet today because thy sustain such precious life that we cannot really afford to lose.

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Cemetery Field Trip

Field Trip Blog 1

Today we were lucky enough to be able to go onto a field trip to the Oakdale Cemetery to see and learn about the different vegetation that it contains that we have been learning about it class. This cemetery was originally founded and named the Gleenwood Cemetery. It contains approximately 900 trees and sadly oak trees are on the decline so they have to keep replanting them often. There are roughly 25 species of oak trees, give or take, and the Swamp White Oak, which is not as pointy as the others and has a curvy pattern, is one of the easiest oaks to transplant and can tolerate poor drainage much better than its ancestors can. Another very interesting tree we got to see there was the Amur Oak Tree and there about 3 or 4 in this cemetery location. We were able to see the Sweetgum and the John Quincy Adams Ward-Sculpture. 

Like I said before, this cemetery is on the decline in terms of oaks and they wish to plant more evergreen trees in the very near future. We were able to learn and see a little bit of the Arborvitae, which is an evergreen tree, and the Wilson Spruce. We actually have a few of these on our campus and I always like to see them, personally, because they remind me of Christmas. We were also able to see the Hickory Tree and the Mulberry, which is not really a tree its more of a weed than anything and the berry it produces is not edible unfortunately. In this cemetery was the Tri-Color Beech which had colors of white, pink, red, and even some shades of blue. The Eastern Hemlock, Yellow Wood Tree, and the Black Walnut were also among the beautiful trees this cemetery contains. 

Image from: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjj78Gu64HfAhWDFXwKHRxcBwQQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.yourgardensanctuary.com%2Ftri-color-beech%2F&psig=AOvVaw3L60F2GYyUn-a_9OxMaCB_&ust=1543863903482433

This field trip for our class was probably my most favorite because there was just so much to learn, so much information to soak in, and looking at all of these beautiful trees and looking at them makes me interested in  them even more.

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Not a fan of Parasitism

Blog Post 3/10

 What exactly is parasitism?

Parasitism is the relationship between two species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing the host harm and could eventually cause it to die. Similar to predation, parasitism is a consumer-resource interaction. The parasites that cling to animals as a host reproduce at a faster rate than their host does. A good example would be a flea and a dog. The fleas on a dog most likely carry a disease that can make the dog very ill and the reproduction of the flea could eventually take over the dog and eventually kill it without any immediate treatment.

Photo from Google (https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fearthbath.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F09%2Ffleadog.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fearthbath.com%2Fcanine-health%2Ffleas-does-your-best-friend-have-hangers-on%2F&docid=9-8jcat0wre8XM&tbnid=ZBeoybZmvTDGiM%3A&vet=10ahUKEwjYhJjizrTeAhVE2FMKHSeaA_sQMwijASgBMAE..i&w=370&h=299&safe=active&bih=927&biw=1000&q=flea%20and%20a%20dog&ved=0ahUKEwjYhJjizrTeAhVE2FMKHSeaA_sQMwijASgBMAE&iact=mrc&uact=8)

The pair of organisms I chose for this relationship were fungi and a plant. There is a fungus that affects the carpenter ant called the “Zombie Fungus”. When the ant becomes infected with this fungus, or parasite, the fungus takes complete control over the body of the ant draining all the nutrients of the ant and hijacking its brain. When the fungus first enters the body of the host, it enters as a single-celled organism that float around in the bloodstream and eventually start to replicate itself.

Photo from Google (https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.theatlantic.com%2Fassets%2Fmedia%2Fimg%2Fmt%2F2017%2F11%2F29867355174_7c3c99f18c_k%2Flead_720_405.jpg%3Fmod%3D1533691913&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theatlantic.com%2Fscience%2Farchive%2F2017%2F11%2Fhow-the-zombie-fungus-takes-over-ants-bodies-to-control-their-minds%2F545864%2F&docid=QwwRzRCf9r614M&tbnid=tPvlFP8pinYlsM%3A&vet=10ahUKEwjiprbhzrTeAhXOtFMKHbrXAUIQMwg-KAAwAA..i&w=720&h=405&safe=active&bih=927&biw=1000&q=fungi%20and%20an%20ant&ved=0ahUKEwjiprbhzrTeAhXOtFMKHbrXAUIQMwg-KAAwAA&iact=mrc&uact=8)

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Predation no es muy Bueno!

Blog Post 2/10

What exactly is predation?

Predation is a form of a symbiotic relationship between two organisms of different species in which one of them is the predator that captures and eats the other organism that serves as the predators prey. In ecology, predation is necessary in some cases because if an area is overpopulated with a certain organism, then predation would be considered a good thing because it will act as a mechanism of population control. Usually as the number of predators rise in an area, the amount of prey typically decrease due to so many predators and vise versa with the prey. When predators overpopulate, this can be a bad thing because too many predators in one place and not enough prey are present, it will cause some of the predators to die.

There are several types of predation, some are carnivorous, herbivory and parasitism just to name a few. Carnivorous predation, for example, would be between a cheetah and a gazelle. Cheetahs are carnivores and their diet mostly consists of meat so they will be going after other animals most of the time. An example of herbivory predation would be between a giraffe and a tree. If there is an excess of giraffes and not enough leaves on the trees for them to eat, then that will eventually lead to death of several giraffes because the majority of the diet of the giraffe are leaves.

Photo from Google (https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.dailymail.co.uk%2Fi%2Fpix%2F2017%2F02%2F09%2F11%2F3CFE4ED200000578-0-image-a-57_1486639999306.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fnews%2Farticle-4207498%2FCheetah-brings-gazelle-incredible-chase.html&docid=sJGO2-CEF4LITM&tbnid=wZL7hkDiq-nQHM%3A&vet=10ahUKEwjM_Ln5lbLeAhUDu1MKHcBWCwAQMwhBKAEwAQ..i&w=962&h=642&safe=active&bih=974&biw=1920&q=cheetah%20and%20gazelle&ved=0ahUKEwjM_Ln5lbLeAhUDu1MKHcBWCwAQMwhBKAEwAQ&iact=mrc&uact=8)

The pair I chose specifically for this relationship is the Drosera Capensis and a Fly. This plant looks very pretty from a distance but if you are a small organism and don’t know what it will do to you, you better watch out it will get you!

Photo from Google (https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2Fthumb%2F0%2F0f%2FDrosera_capensis_bend.JPG%2F220px-Drosera_capensis_bend.JPG&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FDrosera_capensis&docid=7RcrNpJCQJ4V_M&tbnid=TEGbz9ldaUFmkM%3A&vet=10ahUKEwjLiorulLLeAhWOulMKHaASA_UQMwhKKA0wDQ..i&w=220&h=299&safe=active&bih=927&biw=940&q=drosera%20capensis%20and%20fly&ved=0ahUKEwjLiorulLLeAhWOulMKHaASA_UQMwhKKA0wDQ&iact=mrc&uact=8)

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What is Mutualism?

Blog Post 1/10

Mutualism is the way that two organisms of different species exist in a relationship in which each individual fitness benefits from the activity of the other. Mutualism also plays a very vital role in ecology. It can even be found in every day life and between plants and animals, organisms in general.

Mutualism is a type of relationship that benefits both or all parties that are involved. This relationship is something that is probably seen every day without you even knowing, an example would be with plants and animals and specifically for my biology class, a Phainopepla and a Mistletoe.

So, for people that have no idea what happens in this relationship, here is a very brief and simple explanation: it is a relationship between two people or organisms in which everyone involved is benefited in some way. Plants and humans, for example, is a simple example everyone can comprehend. Lets say you plant a plant or tree in your yard, you water it and it gets plenty of sunlight, the plant or tree grows to be very healthy and in turn, sucks in the carbon dioxide from the air and turns it into oxygen, which is beneficial for us.

Photo from Google (https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjGzKe9wa_eAhXQu1MKHaZHAP4QjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.123rf.com%2Fphoto_61190159_agriculture-nurturing-baby-plant-protect-nature-planting-tree.html&psig=AOvVaw3Wvje7FHRILYCttW_6_glI&ust=1541035117426802)

The pair of organisms i chose for this relationship are BIRDS and MISTLETOES

Desert Mistletoes reproduce each spring by making many juicy berries that each contain a single seed. The Phainopepla is the type of bird that is in mutualism with the mistletoe in this situation. The relationship between the two is that each spring, the Phainopepla would make a home in the mistletoe and eat the berries it produces. On the other hand, the bird would digest the berry, which contains a seed, and the bird would eventually travel somewhere else and drop the seed helping the mistletoe spread around.

Photo from Google (https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.laspilitas.com%2Fimages%2Fgrid24_18%2F10461%2Fimages%2Fbirds%2Fphainopepla%2Fyoung-male-phainopepla.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.laspilitas.com%2FCalifornia_birds%2FSilky_flycatcher%2FPhainopepla.html&docid=C4LHFDRbokVbiM&tbnid=vuMTPQZSrcsHRM%3A&vet=10ahUKEwjjx9W7xK_eAhWJ2FMKHYA8DwIQMwhBKAMwAw..i&w=710&h=397&safe=active&bih=974&biw=1920&q=phainopepla%20and%20desert%20mistletoe&ved=0ahUKEwjjx9W7xK_eAhWJ2FMKHYA8DwIQMwhBKAMwAw&iact=mrc&uact=8)

Stay alert for the next Blog! It will be about the relationship of Predation!