Humans and Mutualism
Humans also engage in mutualisms with other species, including their gut flora (without which they would not be able to digest food efficiently). Some mutualistic relationships between humans and animals have been the result of domestication.
In behavioural science, social structures produce mutual relationships. It is experienced between individuals and groups for a shared benefit, by physical exchange or communication and is generally considered an act of good faith on equal terms. A mutual relationship is commonly found to be a result of a intrinsic or extrinsic motivation, a reasoned and rational choice or stemming from a common empathy and emotion. Human mutualism however is also thought to be or originate from an evolutionary survival instinct, to work in groups safely and achieve multiple tasks efficiently as a community.
In traditional agriculture, many plants will function mutualistically as companion plants, providing each other with shelter, soil fertility and/or natural pest control. For example, beans may grow up cornstalks as a trellis, while fixing nitrogen in the soil for the corn, a phenomenon that is used in Three Sisters farming.
Read more about this topic: Mutualism (biology)
Famous quotes containing the words humans and and/or humans:
“So they took soot from the kiln, and stood before Pharaoh, and Moses threw it in the air, and it caused festering boils on humans and animals.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Exodus 9:10.
“Because humans are not alone in exhibiting such behavior—bees stockpile royal jelly, birds feather their nests, mice shred paper—it’s possible that a pregnant woman who scrubs her house from floor to ceiling [just before her baby is born] is responding to a biological imperative . . . . Of course there are those who believe that . . . the burst of energy that propels a pregnant woman to clean her house is a perfectly natural response to their mother’s impending visit.”
—Mary Arrigo (20th century)