However, caterpillars not protected by ants suffer twice the mortality of attended caterpillars. The similarity of results in Reakirt's and silvery blues takes some of the mystery out of mutualism and ...

The discovery blurs the line between mutualism and parasitism and sheds light on the evolution of complex plant-insect interactions.

Parasitism is the selective force maintaining mutualism through the ages and today caterpillars engage several species of ants to reduce mortality from predation.

Living together is not always so convivial, and mutualism works in much the same way as its evil twin – parasitism. Like mutualism, parasitism is a type of symbiosis between two species.

In this activity, students will sort and classify interactions between pairs of organisms under the appropriate symbiotic relationship of commensalism, parasitism, and mutualism. Then students will ...

Rubén González, Anamarija Butković, Francisco J. Escaray, Javier Martínez-Latorre, Ízan Melero, Enric Pérez-Parets, Aurelio Gómez-Cadenas, Pedro Carrasco, Santiago F. Elena, Plant virus evolution ...

Worker ants perform important tasks like gathering food, taking care of eggs and larvae and nest building. However, some ...

Mutualism to parasitism Not all close species relationships are parasitic. Many organisms that live on or inside us are beneficial. Consider the bacteria in the digestive tracts of animals.

This relationship is a classic mutualism – the larger fish lose costly parasites and the cleaner wrasse get fed. Sometimes the cleaner wrasse “cheat” and nip their hosts, tipping the scale from ...

From Mutualism To Parasitism Not all close species relationships are parasitic. Many organisms that live on or inside us are beneficial. Consider the bacteria in the digestive tracts of animals.

In the September issue of Ecology Letters, Johnstone and Bshary demonstrate that when coral reef fish approach a 'cleaner' wrasse to have their parasites removed, the cleaner can take advantage of ...