Examples of Amensalism
- Adenostoma Fasciculatum– commonly called chamise produces a chemical that is water-soluble. This chemical gets aggregated over the surface of chamise leaves during dry periods. At the time of rainfall, this accumulated chemical substance gets washed off due to water solubility nature and spreads into the soil where it hinders the germination process and growth of many plants.
- Juglans nigra commonly called the black walnut tree secretes a chemical Juglone from its roots. This chemical kills the plants that are around the black walnut tree.
- Another example of amensalism is small plants that grow under big trees. These big trees hinder the amount of available sunlight and obstruct the required sunlight to the small plants under them.
- Penicillin commonly called bread mold produces a chemical substance called penicillin. This penicillin is an antibiotic, i.e. kills bacteria.
- Algal Bloom causes the death of many fishes present in the water bodies.
What is Amensalism? Definition, Types, Examples
In an ecosystem, different types of biological interaction occurred for the proper functioning of an ecosystem. Amensalism is a type of interspecific interaction. Biological interaction is of two type-interspecific and intraspecific, they play a major role in maintaining the food webs.
The interaction of populations of two different species leads to interspecific interactions. These interspecific interactions could be either beneficial, neutral, detrimental to one of the species, or both. A ‘+’ sign for beneficial interaction is represented by a + sign, neutral interaction is assigned as 0 and detrimental interaction is represented as minus (-).
Population Interactions
|
Interaction |
Species A | Species B |
| Mutualism | + | + |
| Competition | – | – |
| Predation | – | + |
| Parasitism | – | + |
| Commensalism | 0 | + |
| Amensalism | 0 | – |