Symbiosis
Symbiosis is the relationship between two organisms living close together. There are three types of symbiosis. They are commensal, parasitic, and mutualistic. Commensalism is when one organism benefits form another organism but the other organism is neither helped nor hurt. Parasitism is when one organism, the parasite, benefits at the expense of another organism. The parasite helps itself by hurting another organism. Mutualism is when both of the organisms benefit from one another.
An example of parasitism in the temperate grasslands are when the brown-headed cowbird lay their eggs in another birds nest. This is parasitic because it helps the brow-headed cowbird because it doesn't have to raise it's babies. It hurts the other bird because they have to take care of their own babies plus the one egg that the brown-headed cowbird left.
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An example of mutualism is between herbivores and the bacterias in their stomachs. When the herbivores eat grass, the bacteria in their stomach helps to break down the grass so that the animals can use the grass for nutrients. Another example is between the ox pecker and the buffalo. The ox pecker picks parasites such as ticks and bugs off of the ox pecker. This is mutualistic because the ox pecker gets food from picking parasites off of the buffalo and the buffalo benefits because the ox pecker is keep parasites off of the buffalo.
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An example of commensalism in the temperate grassland is when large nurse plants give protection to seedlings of new plants. The seedlings grow under the large nurse plant. This protects the seedlings from grazing. It also protects the seedlings from the dying in the heat of the summer and form freezing in the cold winter weather.
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