Question

Write short notes on, (a) Predation (b) Mimicry (c) Mutualism (d) Antibiosis

Answer 1

(a) Predation: In predation, one organism kills and consumes another. Predation provides energy to prolong the life and promote the reproduction of the organism that does the killing, the predator, to the detriment of the organism being consumed, the prey.

(b) Mimicry: In evolutionary biology, mimicry is an evolved resemblance between an organism and another object, often an organism of another species. Mimicry may evolve between different species, or between individuals of the same species.

(c) Mutualism: Mutualism is the 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.

(d) Antibiosis: Antibiosis is a biological interaction between two or more organisms that is detrimental to at least one of them; it can also be an antagonistic association between an organism and the metabolic substances produced by another. Antibiosis is typically studied in host plant populations and extends to the insects which feed upon them.