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What is symbiosis?

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Symbiosis in the natural world is described as the close interactions between different species or the relationship of species living together (Oulhen et al. 2016).   It can be found all throughout the living world and wherever there is life there is probably at least one group of symbiotic species. It is usually why bees pollinate plants, parasites invade animals, how plants get nutrients from the soil and even possibly an important driving factor for the evolution of species and life as we know it today – but more on that in the later blogs (Bronstein et al. 2006)(Gilbert 2019)(Douglas 2014)(Aanen & Eggleton 2017)(Lopez-Garcia et al. 2017). Why is it important? Symbiotic relationships are often so heavily relied upon that an organism cannot grow as it normally would without it’s symbiotic partners (Gilbert et al 2015). This not only affects the species holding the relationship but can also be essential elements of entire ecosystems (Heide et al. 2012). Understandin...

References

Aanen, DK, Eggleton P 2017, ‘Symbiogenesis: Beyond the endosymbiosis theory?’, Journal of Theoretical Biology, Vol. 434, pp.99-103 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2017.08.001 Anderson, D 2017, 'A Varroa mite, Varroa destructor on a hanoeybee pupa', CSIRO Science image, viewed 02/05/2020, <https://www.scienceimage.csiro.au/image/7014> Arnal, C, Verneau, O, Desdevises, Y, 2005, ‘Phylogenetic relationships and evolution of cleaning behaviour in the family Labridae: importance of body colour pattern’, Journal of evolutionary biology, Vol. 19, no. 3, < https://doi-org.elibrary.jcu.edu.au/10.1111/j.1420-9101.2005.01059.x> Appelgren, A, Mccoy, K, Richner, H, Doligez, B 2016, "Relative fitness of a generalist parasite on two alternative hosts" A cross-infestation experiment to test host specialization of the hen flea Ceratophyllus gallinae (Schrank)", Journal of evolutionary Biology , Vol. 29, No. 99, Doi: 10.1111/jeb.12850 Appelgren, A, Saladin...