Cheating, also known as exploitation, between organisms is a form of parasitism or specialized predation in which an organism engages in what appears to be a mutualistic relationship with another organism, but does not in fact provide any benefit to the other organism. The relationship between the organisms may be symbiotic, in which case cheating is a form of parasitism, or non-symbiotic, in which case cheating is a form of predation or herbivory.
Cheating is often found in situations where there are generalized non-specific mutualisms between broad classes of organisms, such as the relationship between flowering plants and animal pollinators or between mycorrhizal fungi and plants.
Examples
Some insects and birds engage in a behavior called nectar robbing in which they apparently harvest nectar without pollinating the plant;[1] nectar robbers are often close relatives or mimics of pollinating species. Another example would be myco-heterotrophic plants that take carbon from fungi in a shared mycorrhizal network without contributing anything to the fungal symbiont. These parasitic plants act as "mycorrhizal cheaters" in such systems.[2]
References
- ^ Maloof, Joan E; Inouye, David W (Oct 2000). "Are nectar robbers cheaters or mutualists?". Ecology 81 (10): 2651–2661. ISSN 0012-9658. http://faculty.salisbury.edu/~jemaloof/manuscripts/Ecology.htm.
- ^ Bidartondo, Martin I.; Bruns, Thomas D.; Weiß, Michael; Sérgio, Cecília; Read, David J. (April 2003). "Specialized cheating of the ectomycorrhizal symbiosis by an epiparasitic liverwort". Proceedings of the Royal Society 270 (1517): 835–842. doi:. http://journals.royalsociety.org/content/0810c8umw0r3f546/fulltext.pdf. Retrieved on 2008-09-06.
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