Symbiotic relationships
To understand what a symbiotic relationship is, we must first know what symbiosis means. Symbiosis is the interaction between two different organisms that are living near each other. There are three types of symbiotic relationships: mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism. Here are some examples.
Mutualism
Mutualism is where two organisms live in close proximity and both benefit from each other. An example of mutualism in the desert is the phainopepla and desert mistletoe. The bird, phainopepla, eats the mistletoe berries and benefits by gaining energy from this food. The desert mistletoe benefits by the phainopepla when it drops its seeds to the ground, letting the mistletoe tree's seed to grow.
commensalisim
Commensalism is where one organism lives in close proximity to another organism, but only organism is affected and the other is not bothered at all. An example of commensalism in the desert is the cactus wren and the cactus. The cactus wren benefits from the cactus by building its nest around the cactus, protecting its young. The cactus is not affected or damaged by the cactus wren, though.
Parasitism
Parasitism is where one organism lives in close proximity to another organism, but one organism benefits from the interaction and the other is negatively impacted. An example of parasitism in the desert is the desert mistletoe and the desert willow tree. While the mistletoe is growing, the mistletoe acquires nutrients from the willow tree. While the mistletoe is benefiting, the willow tree can die from this process because it is losing nutrients.