mutualism

mutualism, association between organisms of two different species in which each benefits. Mutualistic arrangements are most likely to develop between organisms with widely different living requirements.

Several well-known examples of mutualistic arrangements exist. The partnership between nitrogen-fixing bacteria and leguminous plants is one example. In addition, cows possess rumen bacteria that live in the digestive tract and help digest the plants the cow consumes. Associations between tree roots and certain fungi are often mutualistic (see mycorrhiza).

Intestinal flagellated protozoans and termites exhibit obligative mutualism, a strict interdependency, in which the protozoans digest the wood ingested by the termites; neither partner can survive under natural conditions without the other.

Acacia ants (Pseudomyrmex ferruginea) inhabit the bullhorn acacia (or bullhorn wattle; Vachellia cornigera). The ants obtain food and shelter, and the acacia depends on the ants for protection from browsing animals, which the ants drive away. Neither member can survive successfully without the other, also exemplifying obligative mutualism.

Yucca moths (Tegeticula) are dependent on yucca plants (Yucca) and vice versa: the moth acts as pollinator at the same time that she lays her eggs in the seedpods of the yucca; the larvae hatch and feed on some but not all the seeds. Both organisms benefit: the plant is pollinated, and the moth has a source of food for its larvae.