Tag: botany

Symbiosis is any type of close and long-term biological interaction or relationship between two different biological organisms, be it mutualistic or commensalistic. It is usually a form of beneficial relationship in which both organisms are benefited.

• A parasite is an organism that lives on or in a host organism and gets its food or nutrition from its host (plants and animals). There are three main classes of parasites that can cause disease in humans: protozoa, helminths, and ectoparasites.
• Parasites come in many shapes and sizes and include viruses and bacteria, various worms, plants, fungi, insects, and even birds and mammals.
  

• Drosera, commonly known as the sundews, is one of the largest genera of carnivorous plants with at least 194 species.
•  They lure, capture, and digest insects using stalked mucilaginous glands covering their leaf surfaces. 
• Sundews are perennial (or rarely annual) herbaceous plants. Sundews have been shown to be able to achieve a lifespan of 50 years.

• A lichen is a symbiotic association between one or two fungus species and an alga or cyanobacterium (blue-green algae). Lichens were once classified as single organisms, until the advent of microscopy, when the association of fungi with algae or cyanobacteria became evident.
• Lichens may have powdery masses on their surface. These are the tiny bits of the lichen body which will be shed to form new lichens.
  

Algal bloom is a rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae in an acquatic system. The nutrients like potassium and nitrogen are key nutrients for the growth of algae. The presence of these materials and availability of sunlight are key factors for the growth of algae.

Dodder plant, which belongs to the genus Cuscuta is a yellow, orange, or red (rarely green) parasitic plants. After dodder attaches itself to a plant, it wraps itself around it. If the host contains food beneficial to dodder, the dodder produces haustoria that insert themselves into the vascular system of the host. The original root of the dodder in the soil then dies.

For the canopy to spread over a large area the root system also has to be robust so as to provide enough nutrients and anchorage. Wide spreading and deep roots are tap root systems that are characteristic to dicotyledonous plants.

A parasite depends on its host to stay alive. Killing the host before the reproduction destroys parasite also as it needs host to produce its progeny generation after generation. This makes option D correct. In order to keep the host alive to produce many generations of parasite offspring, it is necessary for a parasite to become less virulent or gentle over many generations. This makes option A incorrect. Fast reproduction produces increase the number of parasite offspring but poses extra burden on host and makes the host survival harder. This makes option B incorrect. Similarly, sticking too long to a host decreases its survival chances and hence, parasite keeps switching the host over time. Option C is incorrect. Thus, the correct answer is option D.

Cuscuta (Dodder) plant is an obligate or total stem parasite. It lacks chlorophyll and has no connection with the soil after the seeding stage. Therefore it is totally dependent on the host for organic food materials and supply of water and minerals salts. The parasitic plant pierces the stem and sucks the nutrients from the host plant.

The Venus flower basket, or Euplectella aspergillum is a hexactinellid sponge in the phylum Porifera inhabiting the deep ocean. In traditional Asian cultures, this particular sponge (in a dead, dry state) was given as a wedding gift because the sponge symbiotically houses two small shrimp, a male and a female, who live out their lives inside the sponge. They breed, and when their offspring are tiny, the offspring escape to find a Venus flower basket of their own. The shrimp inside the basket clean it and, in return, the basket provides food for the shrimp by trapping it in its tissues and then releasing wastes into the body of the sponge for the shrimp. It is also speculated that the bioluminescent light of bacteria harnessed by the sponge may attract other small organisms which the shrimp eat.