This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Microbiota that live as symbionts within and on other organisms are a huge focus area for research. With over 90,000 studies in the past decade alone, the findings have implications stretching beyond individual species, and influencing biological and philosophical concepts with consequences for biological and medical issues. At this intersection of biology, biomedical sciences and philosophy, an interdisciplinary summer school was held in July 2019. The “Microbiota, Symbiosis and Individuality” meeting focused on four facets of microbiological research: Holobionts, Individuality, Causation, and human health. The meeting examined the construction of biological identity as a dynamic dialogue with the organism’s microbiota. Because life relies on symbiosis, a holobiont – the host plus its microbiota – might be considered a biological individual. Focusing on the causal relationships between a host and its microbes will help to inform human health and medicine..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Of all the animals in the oceans, the hammerhead shark may be one of the strangest looking. The exact purpose of the wide, flat head is a mystery, but several theories abound. In this video, we travel to the shark-infested waters of the Galapagos in Ecuador and to a research station in Hawaii to learn about the unusual habits of these sinister-looking sharks. Jonathan swims in schools of hundreds of hammerheads, and yet the sharks ignore him. What are the sharks up to? Please see the accompanying study guide for educational objectives and discussion points.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Octocorals are found worldwide and are a significant part of the biodiversity in temperate marine biomes. Like most animals, corals have complex interactions with microbes, which likely have critical impacts on their health. However, very little is known about the structure and function of the octocoral microbiome or the interactions with their host. A new study examined the microbiome diversity and secondary metabolism of different octocoral species and healthy versus unhealthy tissue. Healthy octocorals have a microbiome that is distinct from the surrounding environment, host genus-specific, and defined by so-far uncultured groups of bacteria. In contrast, the microbiome of necrotic coral tissue shows large shifts in its community structure compared to healthy tissue and is colonized by seawater bacteria. Functional analysis showed that healthy corals were enriched in microbial genes associated with antiviral defense, host-symbiont recognition, micronutrient acquisition and heat-stress response..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Thanks to the Disney/Pixar movie "Finding Nemo", virtually everyone has heard of the clownfish. In this video, Jonathan travels the Pacific to investigate the behavior of real clownfish. Even though they don't actually talk in real life, they are beautiful and fascinating fish to observe. Please see the accompanying lesson plan for educational objectives, discussion points and classroom activities.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Microbes are widely known to spread disease, but could they also help prevent it? A look inside in the mosquito gut reveals a community of microbes fit for the job. Mosquitoes are well-known vectors of disease, transmitting West Nile and Zika virus and the pathogens that cause malaria and dengue fever. Unfortunately, traditional control methods have led to insecticide resistance and negative impacts on other organisms, but mosquitoes, like other animals, also host non-disease-causing microbes in their gut. These benign microorganisms can directly interact with the deadly pathogens harbored by these insects. They can also affect mosquito traits influencing pathogen transmission, such as their population density, development, biting rate, and survival. For example, certain bacterial strains can reduce female fertility and the egg-hatching rate, while others can protect mosquitoes from environmental stress..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"The clownfish–anemone relationship is a well-known and charismatic example of mutualism. Clownfish excrete nutrients that feed anemones’ symbiotic algae. While anemones’ stinging cells protect clownfish from predators. How clownfish protect themselves from getting stung is unclear, but “chemical camouflage” of the fish’s skin mucus is thought to play a role, possibly through changes in the mucus microbiome. A recent metataxonomics study investigated whether clownfish and anemones can change each other’s surface microbiomes with or without physical contact. The researchers found that the microbiomes of paired clownfish and anemones began to converge, becoming more similar with time, even when the animals were not in direct contact. The microbiome convergence persisted for two weeks after the clownfish and anemone in each pair were separated, and the changes mainly involved the increase in abundance of three Flavobacteriacea bacterial strains related to Cellulophaga tyrosinoxydans..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Bile acids play key roles in gut metabolism, cell signaling, and microbiome composition regulation in mammals. Primary bile acids are produced from cholesterol in the liver but are modified by microbes in the gut to form numerous secondary and tertiary bile acids with diverse functions. For decades, gut microbes have been known to transform bile acids through several mechanisms, including deconjugation of the amino acids glycine and taurine by bile salt hydrolases, dehydroxylation of the cholesterol core, and dehydrogenation and epimerization of the cholesterol core. Notably, alterations in the chemistry of the resulting secondary bile acids are linked to several diseases, including cirrhosis, inflammatory bowel disease, and cancer. Recently, an additional transformation mechanism was uncovered in which gut microbes conjugate amino acids to bile acids. The discovery of the resulting microbially conjugated bile acids expands the known diversity of bile acids in the mammalian gut..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Sharks and many other large ocean animals have sucker-equipped fish called remoras sticking to them. What are the remoras doing? Do they harm the sharks? In this video, Jonathan goes on a mission to investigate remoras and their role in the food web. He even sticks one on himself. Please see the accompanying study guide for educational objectives and discussion points.

In this video segment from Nature, see the value that sharks can have on the tourism industry in an area.

This video features the Thresher shark, which may very well be the strangest looking shark in the world, with a tail almost as long as its body. This shark is very rare, almost never seen by divers...until now. Using advanced diving technology, Jonathan visits a remote reef in the Philippines where Thresher sharks show up every morning to be cleaned by small fish. Please see the accompanying study guide for educational objectives and discussion points.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Sponges are key ecosystem engineers in many aquatic habitats. Their unrivalled ability as filter feeders allows them to capture and transform organic and inorganic nutrients, and their rich microbial communities have a metabolic repertoire that helps them transform habitats. To better understand how sponge hosts and their microbial symbionts work together to eat and drink particulate and dissolved food, researchers used specialized imaging techniques to visualize the uptake and translocation of isotope-labeled dissolved and particulate organic matter. Using two different sponge species with high vs. low microbial abundance, they found that both sponges showed enrichment of the labeled food over time. Sponge-associated microbes were actively involved in processing dissolved organic matter, but host filtering cells were the primary site of nutrient uptake – dissolved matter via pinocytosis and particulate matter via phagocytosis..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Through the burgeoning fields of Posthumanities and Environmental Humanities, this edition examines the changing conception of human subjectivity, agency, and citizenship as shaped by the dynamic interplays between nature, technology, science, and culture. The proposed ‘symbiotic turn’, (the awareness of the multitude of interactions and mutual interdependencies among humans, non-humans and their environment) aspires to explore the complex recompositions of the “human” in the 21st century. By organizing and promoting interdisciplinary dialogue at multiple levels, both in theory and practice, Symbiotic Posthumanist Ecologies is suggested as a new narrative about the biosphere and technosphere, which is embodied literarily, philosophically, and artistically.

Hello and welcome to our lesson on symbiotic relationships! This lesson is directed towards students in grades 9-12 and will cover the different types of symbiotic relationships, how symbiotic relationships work, and why symbiotic relationships are important. This lesson includes a slide deck and two activities, one at the beginning and one at the end. A potential script with talking points for each topic and instructions for the activities can be found in the speaker notes on each slide. For even more information on the subject, our sources are provided in the speaker notes and at the end of the slide show presentation. This lesson is free to use for all! The lesson is licensed under CC-BY-SA but, no need to fear. This simply means that we ask you to give credit to the creators (Greta Achenbach, Matt Cochran, Madelaine Freitas, and Kaleigh Walsh). Feel free to share and adapt this presentation to suit your needs. Just make sure that any derivative works are shared under the same license. Enjoy! 

LA ASOCIACIÓN ENTRE DOS ORGANISMOS DE DIFERENTE ESPECIE RECIBE EL NOMBRE DE SIMBIOSIS Y LAS DISTINTAS SIMBIOSIS TOMAN DENOMINACIONES DIFERENTES DE ACUERDO CON LOS RESULTADOS DE LA ASOCIACIÓN. LA SIMBIOSIS PUEDE SER DE CUATRO TIPOS: MUTUALISMO, COMENSALISMO, FORESIS Y PARASITISMO. ESTA INFOGRAFÍA FORMA PARTE DE LOS RECURSOS EDUCATIVOS DEL CURSO DE PARASITOLOGÍA PARA LOS ALUMNOS DEL PROGRAMA EDUCATIVO DE QUÍMICO FARMACÉUTICO BIÓLOGO.

A variety of symbiotic relationships exist between sharks and other marine species in this segment from Nature.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Gut microbiome establishment during development is important for healthy host–microbiome symbiosis. Honeybees and bumblebees both have simple and host-specific gut microbiomes, but their colony cycles are very different. Honeybees and bumblebees both have simple and host-specific gut microbiomes, but their colony cycles are very different. While honeybee colonies persist for years, bumblebee colonies are newly established each year by solitary queens and unlike those in honeybee colonies, the mechanisms of microbiome development in bumblebee colonies remain unclear. To learn more, researchers recently used metagenomics to track microbiome changes in laboratory-raised bumblebees and their colonies over time. Some core microbes persisted throughout development and the gut microbiomes of newly emerged worker bees always resembled that of the queen, indicating vertical transmission from mother to offspring..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Travel underground for an up-close look at the ants, amoebas, and bacteria that maintain healthy soil.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Contamination of soil with heavy metals poses a serious health threat to people and the environment. One way researchers are exploring the effects of this contamination is through the interactions between soil bacteria and the viruses that infect them. A new study reports on these interactions in soils contaminated with high levels of chromium. Overall, the results indicate that as chromium pollution increases, the bacteria–virus relationship changes from one of antagonistic parasitism to one of beneficial mutualism. For example, viruses associated with bacteria tolerant to heavy metals increased in abundance as did viruses with the ability to infect a broad range of bacterial hosts. These correlated increases in abundance could facilitate the sharing of heavy metal resistance genes among members of bacterial communities..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"The bacterial symbionts of insects play a critical role in their hosts' nutrition and development. But what happens when your host shuts down? To find out, researchers examined larvae of Nasonia vitripennis, a wasp that undergoes a hibernation-like state called diapause. They compared wasp larvae raised to be bacteria-free, or axenic, with conventionally raised larvae. During diapause, the axenic larvae accumulated less weight and had consistently lower glucose and glycerol than the conventionally raised larvae, suggesting the microbiome played an important role in nutrient allocation and mobilization. Undergoing diapause during larval stages also altered microbial composition in both larvae and adult wasps. Taken together, these results underscore the importance of considering microbiome effects when studying diapause..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.