4.1 What is Parasitism?

Some of you may be slightly disgusted by this topic, but my reasoning is that if your love for the biosciences has brought you this far into the course, then you will thoroughly enjoy this topic; Parasitology.

The world of parasitology is fascinating, with the continuous back and forth attacks and counter attacks hosts and parasites have presented over the aeons of evolution.

Parasitism is defined as a relationship between two organisms in which one organism (the parasite) benefits at the expense of the other (the host). The parasite derives its nutrients or resourcesThe inputs used to produce goods and services, including the factors of production. from the host, often causing harm, though typically not killing the host outright. 

Parasites take on many forms; viruses such as Ebola who have human hosts, bacteriaA single-celled prokaryotic microorganism. such as Bacillus anthracis which is the causative agent of the zoonotic disease anthrax, to the more grotesque parasites such as helminths; cestodes such as tapeworms and nematodes such as roundworms.

The type of parasitism which we will be delving into today is more closely associated with entomology (the study of insects). Behold, the Jewelled Wasp, also known as Ampulex compressa. Just over an inch in length, these wasps initially intrigued researchers due to their natural beauty. Their iridescent turquoise exoskeleton is a topic to admire in its own right. These species of wasps belong to a specific and unique set of parasites known as parasitoids. A parasitoid is an organism that lives on or inside a host or requires a host as a mandatory aspect of its lifecycle (i.e. reproduction), eventually killing it as part of its development.