What is Mutualism? write type and example.

Question:

What is Mutualism? write type and example.

Answer:

Mutualism:

The term mutualism can be simply defined as a relationship in which both species are mutually benefited. This relationship can either be within the species or between the two different species. The species with this relationship is termed as symbionts.

Mutual relationship is seen in all living organisms including human beings, animals, birds, plants and other microorganisms like bacteria, virus, and fungi. Mutualism is a sort of symbiosis.

Mutualism is a type of relationship between the host and a symbiont, where both organisms benefit and no one is harmed. This relationship may either continue for longer or for shorter-term. The term mutualist is used to indicate the small partner and the host are the other partners present in the Mutualism.

For example, Ants live and feed on the nectar of acacia trees. Here ants are the mutualist and acacia trees is the host.

The acacia tree provides home and food for the ants. As they have hollow huge thorns – homes for the ants and yellow swellings on the leaves- food for the ants. In reverse ants acts a guard attacking insects and protects the tree from grazing animals.

Types of Mutualism

There are five types of Mutualism.

Obligate Mutualism

In obligate mutualism the relationship between two species, in which both are completely dependent on each other. Most of the symbioses and some non-symbiotic are the best examples of obligate mutualism

For example Yucca plant and the moth.

The yucca plant, the habitat of the dry and arid climate of the southwestern United States. The flower of the yucca plant relies on the moth for the pollination process. In turn, the moth is benefited by laying its eggs on the flower and feeding the larvae with the seeds.

Facultative Mutualism

In facul­tative mutualism, the partners may coexist without a depending on each other. They, how­ever, form a diffuse relationship involving a varying mixture of species.

For example Honeybees and plants.

Honey bees visit many different plants species for the nectar from the flower and these plants will be visited by the number of the insect as pollinators for pollination.

Trophic Mutualism

In trophic mutualism, the partners are specialized in complemen­tary ways to obtain energy and nutrients from each other.

For example The cows and the bacteria.

Cows cannot digest the plant’s cellulose. The bacteria present in the rumens of cows helps in digesting plants cellulose. In reverse bacteria gets food and warm environment, which is required for their growth and development.

Defensive Mutualism

In defensive mutualism, one partner receives food and shelter and in return, it helps the partner by defending against the herbivores or predators or parasites.

For example The aphids and the ants.

 The aphids produce honeydew to the ants, which is carried to their nests at night for protecting them from the predators and escort. These aphids are carried back to the plant the next morning. In return, ants are benefited by assembling the aphid’s eggs and storing in their nest chambers to survive the cold winter months.

Dispersive Mutualism

In dispersive mutualism, one partner receives food in return for helping flower in transferring their pollen.

For example Honeybees and the Plants.

Honey bees travel from one flower to another in search of nectar from the flower which is required to prepare honey, in return plants are benefited by the pollination as the honey bee spread the pollen from one plant to another.

Examples Of Mutualism

Following are the important examples of mutualism:

Humans and Plants

The human requires oxygen for life and plants use the carbon dioxide for photosynthesis. Here both human and plants are mutually benefited. Humans use the oxygen given by the plants. In return, plants use carbon dioxide, which is exhaled by the Humans.

Oxpeckers and Rhinos

The bird oxpecker lives on the rhino and removes all bugs and parasites on the animal skin by eating them. The Rhino provides the bird with food and in return, the bugs removed from the skin of the rhino. Both rhino and the oxpecker is benefited.

Write theory of evolution.

Question:

Write theory of evolution.

Answer:

Charles Darwin, an English naturalist of the 19th century made an extensive study of nature for over 20 years. He collected the observations on animal distribution and the relationship between the living and extinct animals and finally found that the present living animals share similarities to some extent not only between them but also with the other species that existed millions of years ago and among which some have become extinct.

Charles Darwin is known as the father of evolution due to his contribution to the establishment of the theory of evolution. His theory helped in removing all the conventional old believes which said that the formation of various species was a supernatural phenomenon or act of the Almighty. Darwin’s evolutionary theory of natural selection gave a more rational explanation of the formation of new species. As per natural selection, various species originated from a single species as a result of adaptation to the changing environment.

The Theory of Evolution

Darwin had the following ideas regarding the theory of natural selection:

• Species keep on evolving or changing with time. As the environment changes, the requirements of an organism also change and they adapt to the new environment. This phenomenon of changing over a period of time as per the natural requirements is called adaptation.
• As per Darwin’s theory, only the superior changes are naturally selected and the inferior ones are eliminated. Thus, not all adaptations contribute to progressive evolution. For example, people living in tropical countries have more melanin in their body to protect them from the sunlight.
• Almost all organisms share common ancestry with some organism. According to Darwin, all organisms had one common ancestor at some point in time and kept on diverging ever since. His evolutionary theories support the convergent theory and divergent theory of evolution with examples.
• He also studied that the birds of Galapagos Island (Darwin’s finches) developed different beaks as per the availability of the food. This proved adaptive radiation. Similarly, he also observed the Australian Marsupials which showed a number of marsupials emerging from an ancestor.
• According to Charles Darwin, evolution is a very slow and gradual process. He concluded that evolution took place over a very long period of time. As we talk about the time period in evolution we usually refer to billions of years. The generation of a species from another takes a long period of time. It is a very steady process as the changes and adaptation take a long time to stabilize and give rise to a new species.

Natural selection takes place in four different ways as follows:

1. Variation – The changes accumulated over a period of time in an organism usually give rise to a new species.
2. Inheritance – It is the passing on of the variations over generations which ultimately leads to speciation.
3. A high rate of growth of population – This gives rise to more number of organisms being reproduced by a species than the environment can support.
4. Differential survival and reproduction – The superior variations lead to the survival of a particular organism and the inferior or negative variations leads to extinction. The superior variations are the ones inherited during reproduction.

Write causes of Leprosy, also write symptoms and treatment.

Question:

Write causes of Leprosy, also write symptoms  and treatment.

Answer: 

Causes of Leprosy

The pathogen Mycobacterium laprae, the causes leprosy

This disease is caused by bacteria, “Mycobacterium leprae” which is slow-growing. Leprosy is also termed as Hansen’s disease after the name of the scientist – Dr Gerhard Henrik Armauer Hansen who discovered this infectious disease in the year 1873.

Symptoms of Leprosy

Leprosy firstly affects the skin and then moves on to nerves present outside the brain and spinal cord which is known as the peripheral nerves.

Although it takes three to five years for these symptoms to appear after coming in contact with the bacteria, in some cases, symptoms appear after 20 years of being infected.

The time period between being exposed and the appearance of symptoms is known as the incubation period. If this period increases then, it is very difficult for doctors to diagnose the disease.

Following are some of the symptoms of leprosy:

• Severe pain.
• Bleeding Nose.
• Growth on skin.
• Enlarged nerves.
• Stiff, dry, and thick skin.
• Ulcers on the soles of the feet.
• Paralysis or muscle weakness.
• Non-sensitive lesions on the body.
• Numbness in hands, arms, feet, and legs.
• Eye problems that might even cause blindness.

Diagnosis of Leprosy

The diagnosis of leprosy is based on signs and symptoms. A skin test or a skin lesion biopsy is advised by the doctors to detect the disease.

Treatment of Leprosy

Leprosy treatment fully depends on the type of leprosy the patient is suffering from. Antibiotics are used by doctors to treat the infection. Long-term treatment includes two or more antibiotics which will carry from 6 months to a year.

People suffering from severe leprosy may need to take antibiotics for a longer time period. But, these antibiotics are unable to treat the nerve damage. There are some anti-inflammatory drugs that are used to control nerve pain and severe damage caused by leprosy.

What is Leprosy? list out the type of Leprosy.

Question:

What is Leprosy? list out the type of Leprosy.

Answer:

Leprosy is a disease that causes severe, scarring skin sores and nerve damage in the limbs. Leprosy disease has affected people on every continent. Leprosy is actually not that infectious but it spreads when a healthy person comes in regular and close contact with mouse droplets and leprosy patient. Children get more affected by this disease than adults. Almost, 180000 people all over the world get infected with leprosy.

The Leprosy disease mainly affects the peripheral nerves, skin, upper respiratory tract and the eyes. The most prevalent possibility of transmission is through the respiratory route. Leprosy is also transmitted through insects.

Let us have a detailed look at the Leprosy disease, different types of leprosy, causes of Leprosy, symptoms and treatment of Leprosy disease.

Types of Leprosy

There are six types of leprosy and are mainly classified based on the severity of symptoms, which include- Intermediate, Tuberculoid, Borderline tuberculoid, Mid-borderline, Borderline and Lepromatous leprosy.

Let us know more about each of them in detail.

Intermediate Leprosy

It is the earliest stage of leprosy. In this stage, patients suffer from flat lesions which may heal by themselves without progressing in case of strong immunity.

Tuberculoid Leprosy

It is the mild and less serious type of leprosy. People suffering from this disease have some patches of flat and pale-colored skin and have no sensation in the affected area because of nerve damage. This is less infectious than other forms. This infection heals on its own, or it can persist and progress to a more severe form.

Borderline tuberculoid Leprosy

The symptoms at this stage are quite similar to the tuberculoid but the infections may be quite smaller and more in number which may continue and revert to tuberculoid, or to any other advanced form.

Mid-borderline Leprosy

The sign and symptoms of this stage are quite similar to the Borderline tuberculoid leprosy. This includes reddish plaques with the numbness which may regress or progress to another form.

Borderline Leprosy

This type of leprosy is a cutaneous skin condition and the main symptoms include multiple wounds or scars including plaques, flat, raised bumps that may continue or regress.

Lepromatous Leprosy

It is considered a more severe type of disease with many lesions with bacteria. The affected region is full of bumps, numbness, muscle weakness and rashes. Other symptoms include limb weakness, hair loss and other body parts such as kidneys, nose and male reproductive system are also affected. It is more infectious than tuberculoid leprosy which never regresses. 

Write Symptoms of Sleeping Sickness, also write prevention.

Question:

Write Symptoms of Sleeping Sickness, also write prevention. 

Answer:

Symptoms of Sleeping Sickness

A lot of changes occur in the body after the infection. Few symptoms of sleeping sickness are listed below:

• An unclear speech.
• Seizures.
• Irritation.
• Swelling of the brain.
• Swelling of the lymph nodes.
• Causes weakness in the body.
• Feeling of sleeplessness.
• Severe sweating.
• Formation of red sores on places of infection.
• Severe fever conditions.
• Mood changes.
• Skin Rashes.
• Severe headaches.
• Develop severe pain in the joint.
• Personality changes.
• Feel difficulty in walking and etc.

Sleeping Sickness Prevention

Early recognition of the disease might help to avoid the difficulty and major risks. Some of the prevention and treatment measures include:

• Early treatment of the infected persons, including the person showing no symptoms.
• Using insecticides to protect oneself against the bite of Tsetse fly.
• By maintaining clearings around the villages and also residential areas.
• Use of repellents or fly traps to stay away from the flies.

 

Write Life Cycle and examples of Pteridophyta.

Question:

Write Life Cycle and examples of Pteridophyta.

Answer:

Pteridophytes show alternation of generations. Their life cycle is similar to seed-bearing plants, however, the pteridophytes differ from mosses and seed plants as both haploid gametophyte and diploid sporophyte generations are independent and free-living. The sexuality of pteridophytic gametophytes can be classified as follows:

1. Dioicous: the individual gametophyte is either a male producing antheridia and sperm or a female producing archegonia and egg cells.
2. Monoicous: every individual gametophyte may produce both antheridia and archegonia and it can function both as a male as well as a female.
3. Protandrous: the antheridia matures before the archegonia.
4. Protogynous: the archegonia matures before the antheridia.

Pteridophyta Examples

Following are the important examples of Pteridophyta:

• Whisk Fern
• Dicksonia
• Selaginella
• Lycopodium
• Equisetum
• Pteris
• Dryopteris
• Adiantum
• Man fern
• Silver fern

 

Write Pteridophyta Characteristics.

Question: 

Write Pteridophyta Characteristics.

Answer:

1. Pteridophytes are considered as the first plants to be evolved on land:

It is speculated that life began in the oceans, and through millions of years of evolution, life slowly adapted on to dry land. And among the first of the plants to truly live on land were the Pteridophytes.

2. They are cryptogams, seedless and vascular:

Pteridophytes are seedless, and they reproduce through spores. They contain vascular tissues but lack xylem vessels and phloem companion cells.

3. The plant body has true roots, stem and leaves:

They have well-differentiated plant body into root, stem and leaves.

4. Spores develop in sporangia:

The sporangium is the structures in which spores are formed. They are usually homosporous (meaning: one type of spore is produced) and are also heterosporous, (meaning: two kinds of spores are produced.)

Read More: Sporulation

5. Sporangia are produced in groups on sporophylls:

Leaves that bear the sporangia are termed as sporophylls. The tip of the leaves tends to curl inwards to protect the vulnerable growing parts.

6. Sex organs are multicellular:

The male sex organs are called antheridia, while the female sex organs are called archegonia.

7. They show true alternation of generations:

The sporophyte generation and the gametophyte generation are observed in Pteridophytes. The diploid sporophyte is the main plant body.