Co-Evolution: Relationship Between Predator And Prey

Co-evolution occurs in nature as an evolutionary arms race with an ongoing cycle of response and selection between two species. In most situations when two species co-evolve, the two species will have a predator and prey relationship. In a predator and prey relationship there is a constant struggle for the predator to catch the prey and for the prey to deter or evade the predator. As a result, either the predator or prey will eventually acquire a trait via natural selection that will give them an edge over their counterpart. The new advantage developed will elicit a response from the other species to naturally select a counter adaptation. The natural selection of advantageous traits of one over the other and the selected response of the counterpart

Cooperation between species can frequently be described as some form of symbiosis. Symbiosis is the advantage gained by one or both parties though their interactions that take place in close proximity. Almost all species participate in a symbiotic relationship unknowingly. One of the most common forms of symbiosis is ectosymbiosis where a symbiont lives in the digestive tracks or on the surface of the host. The frequency of this relationship can be attributed to countless bacteria-host interactions that take place. Helpful bacteria can always be found in the digestive tracks of animals helping digest and process food injected by organisms. In the relationship between bacteria and humans, both the bacteria and human are beneficiaries. The human benefits by being able to digest food with the bacteria’s aid and the bacteria benefits by have a stable nutrient source from the food ingested by the person. In order for this relationship to be possible, both parties must have had to adapt to accommodate the other. In the example between bacteria and humans, the bacteria must have evolved a resistance to stomach acid to avoid being killed and humans must have evolved a immune system that will not attack specific foreign organisms such as the