Ecology/Evolution

Phoresy is when one animal attaching to another for transportation only, such as mites on insects (beetles, flies, or bees), pseudoscorpions on mammals or beetles, and millipedes on birds. Phoresy can be either obligate or facultative (induced by environmental conditions).

Adaptive radiation is when a single lineage produces many descendant species. In other words, it is when one species 'explodes' into a variety of closely related species, each of which evolves different modifications to allow it to specialize in some or other aspects of its lifestyle.

Four features can be used to identify an adaptive radiation:

- A common ancestry of component species: specifically a recent ancestry. Note that this is not the same as a monophyly in which all descendants of a common ancestor are included.
- A phenotype-environment correlation: a significant association between environments and the morphological and physiological traits used to exploit those environments.
- Trait utility: the performance or fitness advantages of trait values in their corresponding environments.
- Rapid speciation: presence of one or more bursts in the emergence of new species around the time that ecological and phenotypic divergence is underway.

tanx

You're welcome.

can i get more detailed stuff on phoresy

Sure, I will clarify it for you Shim.

Phoresy is when one organism utilizes another for transportation, but the passengers don't feed on the transportation. It is a special kind of commensal relationship in which one organism (the phoretic or phoront) attaches to another (the host) for a limited time period to enhance dispersal of the phoront from the natal (or birth) habitat, resulting in colonization of a new and potentially better habitat.

In addition to transport, the phoretic host may incidentally provide substrate, shelter, and even some indirect defense or protection for the phoront, but the strict definition of phoresy excludes any direct physiological benefit during transit.

For example, the host does not provide the phoretic with food while in transit nor does it contribute to the ontogeny (development) of the phoretic during transit. If feeding does occur, the more appropriate term to describe this relationship would be parasitism.

Although phoresy is not a form of parasitism, phoresy can eventually extend into a parasitic association. Alternatively, if the host receives a benefit from its passenger the relationship is again not phoresy, but a form of mutualism. Thus, this discrete definition of phoresy separates phoresy from all other forms of symbiotic interactions.

The term phoresy is uniformly applied throughout the plant and animal kingdoms and does not exclusively apply to interactions of, or with, insects. Seeds that hitchhike on fur and pants are phoretic.

The remora fish (Echeniedea: Remora remora) has a dorsal fin modified into a sucker that allows it to attach to the sides of larger fish and turtles, using them for phoretic transport. However, if the remora also snatches pulverized leftovers created during feeding by the host, this act violates the strict definition of phoresy.

Bio_man 8)

  thanx bro