Facultative parasite

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A facultative parasite is an organism that may resort to parasitic activity, but does not absolutely rely on any host for completion of its life cycle.

Examples occur among many species of fungi, such as members of the genus Armillaria, They do parasitise living trees, but if the tree dies, whether as a consequence of the fungal infection or not, the fungus continues to digest the wood without further need for parasitic activity, and some species even can infest dead wood without any parasitic activity at all. As such they become pests in the role of destructive agents of wood rot.[1]

Similarly, green plants in the genus Rhinanthus can grow independently of any host, but they also act as root parasites of neighbouring green plants.

Among animals, kleptoparasitic species generally can survive by hunting for themselves, but it often is more profitable for them to rob food from other animals, whether of the same species or not.

More intimately, normally free-living microbes may opportunistically live parasitically in other organisms.[2]

An example of this in humans is Naegleria Fowleri. The amoeba typically eats microbes but in rare instances has infected humans.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Agrios, George N. Plant Pathology. Publisher: Academic Press 2005. ISBN 978-0120445653
  2. ↑ Reynolds Bruce D. "Colpoda steini, a Facultative Parasite of the Land Slug, Agriolimax agrestis" The Journal of Parasitology Vol. 22, No. 1 (Feb., 1936), pp. 48-53. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3271896
  3. ↑ http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/naegleria/general.html


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