Mutualism: Nature’s essential relationship
In rice farms, domestic carabaos are often observed having one or two egrets near them. Scientists explain that like other large mammals and bird species in the wild, the carabao and egret have developed a special relationship wherein they mutually benefit from such interaction.
The egret feeds on the ticks and other pesky insects or parasites that suck the blood or cause irritation to the skin of the carabao.
Besides having a buffet of insects, egrets get some degree of protection provided by the carabao—especially from predators like snakes or large lizards and even domestic animals like cats or dogs. Who would want to go near a carabao with those deadly horns, anyway?
Mutualism
In the wild, this symbiotic relationship is also commonly observed among other plant or animal species.
Parrot fish feed on algae, taking them off from corals and allowing the latter to breathe better. Without the parrot fish to remove the algae, the corals can eventually “choke” to death.
Besides serving as a feeding ground, corals provide fish the protection they need against bigger fish that can snatch and make delicious meals out of the poor little creature.
The discovery of a specific species of insect bats using a specific tropical pitcher plant species to sleep in Borneo in 2019 has inspired scientists to take a closer look at this unique relationship between the Harwicke’s wooly bats and pitcher plants.
What a bat!
THE Hardwicke’s wooly bats are known to exist in Asia, including the Philippines. The International Union for Conservation of nature (IUCN) listed the Hardwicke’s wooly bats as a “least concern.”
This bat is highly adaptable. While it is generally known to inhabit in almost all types of forests, it is also found foraging in residential areas and roosting on rooftops.
It was also seen roosting on rattan vine leaves and even in bamboo thicket, on hollow trees or dead clusters of leaves.
Hotel for bats
SCIENTISTS say the pitcher plant, on the other hand, has evolved as a specialized roost for the Hardwicke’s wooly bats.
The plant has developed a lower level of digestive fluid which is tolerable for their visiting special friend to roost.
Scientists say that the plant, which is supposed to be carnivorous, seems to invite wooly bats through an ultrasonic reflector. This allows the bats to easily find them in the forest.
In roosting inside pitcher plants, the bats leave feces and urines that fertilize the plant, allowing it to grow healthy, even when it is eventually deprived of insects to digest.
Inspiring relationship
Jayson Ibanez, director of Research and Conservation at the Philippine eagle Foundation, described this mutualism between bats and pitcher plants as “a very inspiring nature-based relationship.”
Closer to home, Ibanez said there are other mutualism examples for bats in the Philippines with the animal working as pollinators of durian and jade vine, wherein the nectar-feeding bats benefit greatly from the plants as a food source.
Ibanez told the Businessmirror via Messenger on July 12 that bats are a misunderstood species and they have been put into bad light by the Covid-19 which became a global pandemic.
Natural pollinators
BATS, especially fruit bats, are keystone species and are known as nature’s tree farmers. As they feed on fruits, they drop the seeds that eventually grow to add vegetation to forests.
Insect bats, on the other hand, are known to be the silent pollinators in the wild. The bees and butterflies of the forests, whose ecosystem function can never be emphasized.
These hardworking, flying mammals, fly miles and miles away, go from forest to forest, tree to tree, transferring pollen allowing plants to bear fruit, said bat expert Philip Ariola.
Benefits outweighing costs
ARIOLA, an associate professor at the University of the Philippines los Baños (UPLB), told the Businessmirror in an interview via zoom on July 13 that what was discovered in by scientists about Hardwicke’s wooly bats and pitcher plants in Borneo more than 10 years ago may be happening in the Philippines, as well.
However, he admitted that there’s still no record of such a symbiotic relationship having been documented.
“When the news came up in 2011 or 2012, we were very excited, so whenever we see a pitcher plant, we try to look but we haven’t seen it,” he said.
What makes such a symbiotic relationship unique is that the benefits to both species outweigh the costs.
Intimate relationship
ACCORDING to Ariola, it is amazing how the bat is able to sneak into the pitcher plant to roost and leave it unscathed and alive.
Another unique characteristic in such a relationship between the Hardwiche’s wooly bat and pitcher plant, he said, is the fact that the bats are more beneficial to the plant.
“Usually, plants provide the food. But in this case, the bats provided the food,” Ariola, who has a Master’s degree in wildlife studies at UPLB, added.
There are other bats that rely on plants, like dried leaves, although this is very temporary, he noted.
Ariola said that in the Philippines, pitcher plants are also known to allow other species like frogs to breed inside the pitcher.
In 2005, he recalled a personal experience when he was doing research in the mountains in Camarines norte and discovered a frog inside a pitcher plant.
Ariola noted that such amazing relationships between plants and animals should be a subject for more research.
Interconnectedness
When asked for a comment, Asean Centre for Biodiversity executive director Theresa Mundita S. lim shared that mutualism is just one of the symbiotic relationships in the natural world that contributes to the health of an ecosystem.
“other relationships may not be equally beneficial to the species interacting with each other, such as ‘parasitism’ or ‘commensalism,’ but these demonstrate the interconnectedness of the diversity of species in an ecosystem,” lim told the Businessmirror via Messenger on July 10.
Essential relationships
“In a larger context, these relationships are essential to the continued existence of the species involved,” she said.
She explained that the pitcher plant benefits from the bat because the bat provides it nutrients to survive and thrive, while the wooly bat depends on the pitcher to protect itself from the heat and shelter during day time.
“Both have developed distinct characteristics that support their relationship. Another species of bats, for example, will not have the same adaptation that will allow it to fit perfectly into the body of this N. hemsleyana, without damaging the plant or hurting itself. So if the Hardwicke’s wooly bat goes extinct, the pitcher plant will lose a major source of its nutrients, and eventually disappear, as well,” she said.
Interdependency
LIM said the characteristics that support these symbiotic relationships between species may take millions of years to evolve, enough reason not to expect an immediate replacement of one that will allow the other to survive for long after its “partner” goes extinct.
“Hence, so it is across species. There is always a level of interdependency that will continue to keep the planet habitable for everyone, including humans,” she ended.