What is it called in a relationship when one organism is helped and another organism is neither helped nor hurt?

1 Answer
Oct 24, 2017

Commensalism is a relationship in which one organism benefits while the other is neither helped nor harmed.

Explanation:

The commensals may obtain nutrients, shelter, support or locomotion from the host species, which is substantially unaffected.

Various biting lice, fleas and louse flies are commensals in that they feed harmlessly on the feathers and sloughed off skin from mammals.

Commensalism may vary in strength and duration from intimate, long-lived symbioses to brief, weak interactions through intermediates.