Editor's Note

Posted by Rowell |

In-A-Relationship

Sarah Mae D. Consolacion

The environment is a complex structure of different intertwining species. This species play as actors for the environment’s development and fertilization allowing it to flourish and produce more. In this context, the actors have to be in constant touch with each other so they may perform their apparent responsibility more efficiently. Hence, they are permanently in-a-relationship.

Notice how much comfort do plants give to the world. A part from their being so beautiful physique, they aid human through food production, cleaning the air and protecting them from devastating calamities like food. In order to do this, plants ought to multiply themselves so as to answer their basic purposes of existence. Their manner of conduction is through producing nectar containing- flower extremely attractive to insects and other interested animals like birds. Once these animals made a contact to the plant in the aim of sipping its nectar or gorging its beautiful flower then made another contact to a different plant species right after, pollination through the transfer of pollen from one plant to another take place. Hence, the plants had perpetuated its kind.

Let’s not overlook however the mechanism that took place in the process of perpetuation. When a bee for instance, settles in the flower of plants to sip its nectar, relationships have been turned on. We call this the commensalism-mutualism relationship. Since settling of the bee on the flower doesn’t harm the plant at anyway, but rather makes the plants be able to pollinate through the transfer of its pollen to another plant, so goes the name of relationship. It’s basically well understood in this line: “I’ll benefit from you, I won’t give you harm but profits instead.”

In some partnerships however, there is only one species who gains the advantage. The phenomenon is called parasitism. The lice and human association is a good representation of this. In the aim of perpetuating the lice’s kind as well as securing its nourishment, it resides to human’s head and sips all the nutrition it can. This however causes jeopardy in the part of the host. The lice’s residing on his head costs him/ his blood and vital nutrients the disturbance to the parasite caused whenever the head.

Competition is in addition of vital interaction for survival. In here, species both of similar and different kind struggle for some if not every necessary resource available. The plant in the virgin forest for instance compete for space, and even light from the sun. This due to the very thick canopy which makes sunlight enables to penetrate deep-down the forest.

Finally, predation where the strongest and most cunning dominates while lower forms are engulfed marks another cardinal mechanism of species survival. In this context, prey which is hunted by its predators has to exert all the efforts he can to escape and save his life. Meanwhile, the predator has to employ the best strategy he can so as not to let the prey vanish.

Nature had indeed so many ways of putting itself into order. Of all the interaction that exists, one vital principle stands at the centerpoint. That is, every species has to be in constant relationship with another species in order to allow life normally run and hence be balance.