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What term describes the relationships between resident (normal) microbiota and the host, including commensalism, mutualism, and parasitism?

User Juandopazo
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Final answer:

The term 'symbiosis' describes the relationships between resident microbiota and the host, which include mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism.

Step-by-step explanation:

The term that describes the relationships between resident microbiota and the host, including commensalism, mutualism, and parasitism, is symbiosis. Symbiosis is a close and often long-term interaction between two different species. In this relationship, at least one organism benefits, while the effects on the other can vary. Mutualism is a type of symbiotic relationship where both species benefit. An example of mutualism is the relationship between termites and the protists in their guts, which helps in digesting cellulose. On the other hand, commensalism involves one species benefiting while the other is neither helped nor harmed, as in the case of birds nesting in trees. Lastly, parasitism is when one species (the parasite) benefits at the expense of the other (the host), such as parasitic roundworms in humans.

User Iianfumenchu
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