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Parasitism has a derogatory sense in popular usage. According to the immunologist John Playfair, [144] In everyday speech, the term 'parasite' is loaded with derogatory meaning. A parasite is a sponger, a lazy profiteer, a drain on society. [144]
Kleptoparasitism is a feeding strategy where one animal deliberately steals food from another. This may be intraspecific, involving stealing from members of the same species, or interspecific, from members of other species. [3] [4] The term denotes a form of parasitism involving theft, from Greek κλέπτω (kléptō, 'steal'). [5]
Parasitism is a relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or in another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. [20] The parasite either feeds on the host, or, in the case of intestinal parasites, consumes some of its food.
Brood parasitism is a subclass of parasitism and phenomenon and behavioural pattern of animals that rely on others to raise their young. The strategy appears among birds , insects and fish . The brood parasite manipulates a host , either of the same or of another species, to raise its young as if it were its own, usually using egg mimicry ...
The significance and general relevance of this pattern are still a matter of some debate, as a great many exceptions exist, though a common explanation for the phenomenon when it occurs is that the parasites may have started as facultative parasites within the host species itself (such forms of intraspecific parasitism are well-known, even in ...
Mutualism can be contrasted with interspecific competition, in which each species experiences reduced fitness, and exploitation, and with parasitism, in which one species benefits at the expense of the other. [2] However, mutualism may evolve from interactions that began with imbalanced benefits, such as parasitism. [3]
Competition among members of the same species is known as intraspecific competition, while competition between individuals of different species is known as interspecific competition. According to the competitive exclusion principle , species less suited to compete for resources must either adapt or die out , although competitive exclusion is ...
Intraspecific brood parasitism, where a female lays in a conspecific's nest, as illustrated by the goldeneye duck (Bucephala clangula), do not involve mimicry [88] The parasitic butterfly Phengaris rebeli parasitizes the ant species Myrmica schencki by releasing chemicals that fool the worker ants to believe that the caterpillar larvae are ant ...