community ecology Commensalism and other types of interaction

In commensal interactions, one species benefits and the other is unaffected. The commensal organism may depend on its host for food, shelter, support, transport, or a combination of these.

One example of commensalism involves a small crab that lives inside an oyster’s shell. The crab enters the shell as a larva and receives shelter while it grows. Once fully grown, however, it is unable to exit through the narrow opening of the two valves, and so it remains within the shell, snatching particles of food from the oyster but not harming its unwitting benefactor. Another form of commensalism occurs between small plants called epiphytes and the large tree branches on which they grow. Epiphytes depend on their hosts for structural support but do not derive nourishment from them or harm them in any way.

Many other kinds of interaction, however, range from antagonism to commensalism to mutualism, depending on the ecological circumstances. For example, plant-feeding insects may have large detrimental effects on plant survival or reproduction if they attack small or nonvigorous plants but may have little or no effect on large or vigorous plants of the same species. Some human diseases may cause only temporary discomfort or be life-threatening, depending on the age and physical condition of the person.

No interaction between species fits neatly into the categories of antagonism, commensalism, or mutualism. The interaction depends on the genetic makeup of both species and the age, size, and physical condition of the individuals. Interactions may even depend on the composition of the community in which the interaction takes place. For example, the moth Greya politella pollinates the flowers of a small herb called the prairie star (Lithophragma parviflorum). The female moth pollinates while she lays eggs (oviposits) in the corolla of the flower. As she pushes her abdomen down into a flower, pollen adheres to her. She flies on to the next flower to lay more eggs, where some of the pollen rubs off onto the stigma of the flower, causing pollination to occur. Although this unusual pollination mechanism is very effective in some local populations, in other communities different pollinators such as bee flies and bees are so common that their visits to the flowers swamp the pollination efforts of the moths. As a result, pollination by the moths makes up a very tiny proportion of all the pollinator visits that occur within that community and probably has little effect on plant reproduction or natural selection. This moth, therefore, is a commensal in some populations and a mutualist in others, depending on the local assemblage of pollinator species.