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Some relationships between humans and domesticated animals and plants are to different degrees mutualistic. [citation needed] For example, domesticated cereals that provide food for humans have lost the ability to spread seeds by shattering, a strategy that wild grains use to spread their seeds. [41]
Mutualism is an interaction between two or more species, where species derive a mutual benefit, for example an increased carrying capacity. Similar interactions within a species are known as co-operation. Mutualism may be classified in terms of the closeness of association, the closest being symbiosis, which is often confused with mutualism.
Social bonding is observed in many interspecies interactions such as those between humans and their household pets, humans and primates, and many other animals in the wild. [ 2 ] [ 14 ] [ 15 ] [ 20 ] Since social bonding involves communication and interactions between different species, it can lead to the development of interspecies friendships.
It is unusual for interspecies communication to be observed in an older animal taking care of a younger animal of a different species. For example, Owen and Mzee, the odd couple of an orphaned baby hippopotamus and a 130-year-old Aldabran tortoise, display this relationship rarely seen in the animal world. Dr.
This definition of mutualism should be suffice for this article, although it neglects discussion of the many subtitles of IF theory applied to mutualisms, and the difficulties of examining short-term compared to long-term benefits, which are discussed in Foster and Wenselneers (2006) and de Mazancourt et al. (2005) respectively.
Perhaps one of the most famous discoveries made by Muscatine in the field of trophic mutualism came about 10 years later in another aquatic based system-the relationship between algae and water hydra. [8] This work was significant in establishing the presence of mutualistic relationships in both aquatic and terrestrial environments.
Mutualism or interspecies reciprocal altruism is a long-term relationship between individuals of different species where both individuals benefit. [39] Mutualistic relationships may be either obligate for both species, obligate for one but facultative for the other, or facultative for both.
Ant–fungus mutualism is a symbiosis seen between certain ant and fungal species, in which ants actively cultivate fungus much like humans farm crops as a food source. There is only evidence of two instances in which this form of agriculture evolved in ants resulting in a dependence on fungi for food.