Insects and Their Symbiotic Interactions

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 One important aspect of ecology is learning about symbiotic interactions. These are interactions between 2 or more organisms which have positive, neutral, and negative consequences. Mutualism, commensalism, predation, and parasitism are the main 3 interactions that are seen in nature. In mutualistic Interactions each organism benefits in some way. For example, bees and flowers both benefit from their interactions. Bees collect nectar from inside the flower and as this happens the pollen in the flower sticks to the bees (Cook 2019). The picture below illustrates this concept.

The bee travels from flower to flower pollinating them as the go. In parasitic interaction one individual benefits while the other is harmed in some fashion. One example would be wasps that lay their eggs in caterpillars. There are also many different types of parasitism that I will elaborate on later. In communalistic interactions one organism is benefiting while the other experiences no benefit or harm. An example of this would be army ants and some bird species. The birds follow the army ants path giving the bird more opportunities for larger invertebrates to feed on. This benefits the birds but has no effect on the ants. In the last interaction one organism feeds on another which results in the death of that organism. This is very well known especially for humans since we hunt and kill animals for food. These types of interactions are important because they provide organisms with food, habitats, and sometimes protection.

As I mentioned earlier there are a few different types of parasitism. We might see different insects parasitizing plants, other insects and even other parasites. These types of insects either lay eggs or feed on the outside of their host or on the inside of their host. This is referred to as ecto-parasitism and endo-parasitism. Some ectoparasites include ticks, fleas, mosquitoes, and some wasp species. One specific wasp family that lays their eggs on plants is Cynipidae. These wasps make structures called galls in which their offspring develop in (Hadley 2019). Other families are known for ovipositing eggs into existing galls made by other organisms. In this case the wasp larvae feed on the original gall inhabitant and leave after pupation. Below is a picture of galls of made by gall wasps.

Many wasp species are also endoparasites. This is because they oviposit their eggs into other organisms and their larvae inhabit that organism until pupation. For example, cabbage loopers are a specific species that Ichneumon wasps are parasitoids to. Ichneumon wasps will use their long ovipositor to inject cabbage loopers with their eggs. After their eggs hatch, the larvae will begin to feed on the internal tissue of the cabbage looper. The larvae will often avoid certain organs in the caterpillar to ensure that it stays alive until the wasps are fully developed. When the wasps are ready to pupate, they create a small pupa on the outside of the caterpillar and later chew their way out to find a mate (Science Learning Hub 2019). Because of how common parasitism is it can be assumed that many parasitic wasp species have specific organism that they go after. Those organisms are often lepidopteran species like the cabbage looper mentioned earlier. This interaction serves as a biological control for caterpillars because of how many specialized parasitoids there are in nature.

There is also a thing called hyper parasitism, where one parasitic species targets another parasitic species. For example, some very small ichneumonid wasps will oviposit their eggs into the larvae or pupa of another larger ichneumonid wasp.

Overall symbiotic relationships are an important part of our natural world. These interactions benefit some organisms in an ecosystem and can cause harm to others. I found parasitic interactions fascinating because I know very little about them. I had no clue there were enough wasp species to parasitize every lepidoptera species in the world. After doing more research and learning about wasps and their interactions with other organisms I know have a special appreciation for them!


Sources

Cook, M. (2019, March 2). How do flowers & bees help each other?. Sciencing. https://sciencing.com/do-flowers-bees-other-5796565.html

Hadley, D. (2019, June 17). What are gall wasps?. ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/gall-wasps-family-cynipidae-1968088

Parasitoid wasp life cycle. Science Learning Hub. (May 2019). https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/2770-parasitoid-wasp-life-cycle

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