Parasitism is one of 3 major Symbiotic relationship, the other 2 are Mutualism, Commensalism, though they do grade into each other.
Mutualism
Other corporations in organisms
When leafcutter ants “farm” fungi inside their nests to consume as food, the fungus gains housing and protection by their notoriously security-conscious hosts.
Reproduction for a female fig wasp can be a nightmarish process. When she is ready to lay her eggs, she leaves the fig in which she was born and became pregnant and searches for another. After she finds it, she enters it by squeezing through a narrow opening built for that exact purpose, often ripping off her wings and antennae in a violent act of motherly devotion.
Once inside the seed-filled chamber, two important things happen. The female wasp fulfils her biological imperative by laying her eggs. But in doing so, she also delivers pollen brought from her natal fig, which is the only way the host fig can be fertilised. After this transaction, the wasp dies while the fig goes on to develop.
http://theconversation.com/it-takes-two-how-mutualisms-evolve-in-a-world-of-selfish-genes-33480
When a Hawaiian bobtail squid feeds sugars and amino acids to the bioluminescent bacteria residing in their light organ, it gains camouflage from the light the bacteria emit to counter-illuminate; camoflash as the moon light. Many species of bacteria uses Quorum Sensing to coordinate their behaviour.
though these grade into each other, and it is often difficult to tell which is involved in a given relationship. In mutualism, both organisms benefit. In commensalism, one benefits and the other is unaffected; in parasitism, one benefits and the other is harmed.
Some of these relationships are so close that we speak of the composite of two species as one unit; for example, we speak of the composite of algae and fungi as lichens.
The unique relationship of Goby Fish & Pistol Shrimp.
Commensalism
an association between two organisms in which one benefits and the other derives neither benefit nor harm.
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_symbiotic_relationships
Parasitism; Parasitic Relationship
A parasitic relationship is one in which one organism, the parasite, lives off of another organism, the host, harming it and possibly causing death. The parasite lives on or in the body of the host.
Although parasites harm their hosts, it is in the parasite’s best interest not to kill the host, because it relies on the host alive and capable of provide what parasites lack to live (e.g. relying on host’s body and body functions; digestion, blood circulation).
Some parasitic animals attack plants. Aphids are insects that eat the sap from the plants on which they live. Parasitic plants and fungi can attack animals. A fungus causes lumpy jaw, a disease that injures the jaws of cattle and hogs. There are also parasitic plants and fungi that attack other plants and fungi. A parasitic fungus causes wheat rust and the downy mildew fungus attacks fruit and vegetables.
Some scientists say that one-celled bacteria and viruses that live in animals and harm them, such as those that cause the common cold, are parasites as well. However, they are still considered different from other parasites. Many types of parasites carry and transmit disease. Lyme disease is trasmitted by deer ticks.
A parasite and its host evolve together. The parasite adapts to its environment by living in and using the host in ways that harm it. Hosts also develop ways of getting rid of or protecting themselves from parasites. For example, they can scratch away ticks.
Some hosts also build a symbiotic relationship with another organism that helps to get rid of the parasite. Ladybugs live on plants, eating the aphids and benefiting by getting food, while the plant benefits by being rid of the aphids.
http://www.necsi.edu/projects/evolution/co-evolution/parasites/co-evolution_parasite.html
Brood Parasite
Mafia Hypothesis
Birds –
Monogamous bird species, intraspecific brood parasitism.
and etc Eurasian reed warbler raising a common cuckoo bird.
Avian brood parasites are specialists which parasitize only a single host species or a small group of closely related host species.The mechanisms of host selection by female cuckoos are somewhat unclear, though several hypotheses have been suggested in attempt to explain the choice. These include genetic inheritance of host preference, host imprinting on young birds, returning to place of birth and subsequently choosing a host randomly (“natal philopatry”), choice based on preferred nest site (nest-site hypothesis), and choice based on preferred habitat (habitat-selection hypothesis). Of these hypotheses the nest-site selection and habitat selection have been most supported by experimental analysis.
Adaptations for parasitism
Among specialist avian brood parasites, mimetic eggs are a nearly universal adaptation. There is even some evidence that the generalist brown-headed cowbird may have evolved an egg coloration mimicking a number of their hosts.
- And Parasitism also links to Mimicry – Helen’s Research
Alien-ic Project 