Hello everyone, and welcome to yet another edition of Pokémon Biology! I'm lyd, a dedicated Pokémon biologist, and I wanna discuss the topic of symbiosis in this article. Broadly speaking, symbiosis is an ecological relationship between two Pokémon, be it beneficial or not. I'll only cover interspecific (between different species) symbiosis for this article, as I have dedicated a lot more of my time studying this topic within symbiosis. So, let's jump right into it and analyze the beautiful world of Pokémon Biology:
Cooperation
Mutualism
"Mutualism is a symbiotic relationship in which both Pokémon get benefited and both species need such benefit to thrive."
Foongus and Lurantis are possibly the best example in the entire Pokémon world of mutualistic symbiosis. This type of relationship, between plants and fungi, is called mycorrhiza, in which the plant has its glucose stolen by the fungi, which, in return, give the plant water and mineral nutrients. Some plants benefited by this mutualism cannot thrive without the fungi's support, which is the case for Lurantis, as it fails to breed and produce seeds without Foongus's aid. Similarly, most fungi seen in this type of relationship also depend on it to survive, Foongus also fits that role, as it can't obtain enough glucose by itself.
There are two main types of mycorrhiza: ectomycorrhiza and endomycorrhiza. In the former, the fungi do not penetrate the plant's root's cells, whereas in the latter, the fungi's hyphae (the several branching filaments of a fungus) do penetrate the plants' cell membranes. Lurantis and Foongus's case is, in fact, endomycorrhiza, but you might be wondering how their roots connect if they're constantly moving. Well, Pokémon are always surprising our intuition, and while we still don't have a definite answer for this question, our team believes that every opportunity these Pokémon have, whenever they're not walking or skipping around (for Lurantis and Foongus, respectively) they quickly grow roots and hyphae and connect to one another. That's why you'll never find a Lurantis far away from fungi and why you'll never find Foongus far away from a plant.
A fun fact about this case of symbiosis is that, oddly enough, Fomantis actually parasitizes Foongus, as it is too underdeveloped to produce its own glucose and steals from the little food that Foongus has. After evolving into Lurantis, though, the relationship becomes mutualistic, as Lurantis can finally produce its own glucose from sunlight and Foongus can take a step back on being parasitized to only feed Fomantis. Well, not so fun of a fact, actually, is that this symbiosis has recently been noted to be a tad bit darker than what was first conceived: the same way younger Formantis actually steal from Foongus, older Lurantis inhibit Foongus's growth to avoid it becoming too strong and ridding itself from the relationship. This is why the likes of Amoonguss and Shiinotic are very rarely seen in any form of mycorrhizal association. This might be caused mostly due to insecurity on Lurantis's end, as Foongus usuallycan't survive without its aides. Despite this darker aspect, the relationship is still mutualistic, as both benefit heavily from it, but this just goes to show that sometimes the Pokémon world is a bit more enigmatic than what you may think.
Obligate-Facultative Cooperation
"Obligate-Facultative Cooperation is a symbiotic relationship in which both Pokémon get benefited and one species needs such benefit to thrive."
Pokémon breeding is a very delicate topic, but have you ever noticed the likes of Combee, Beautifly, and Noibat are often seen as partners for daycare workers (these Pokémon aren't really used in battles though, as they are by no means the best fighters out there)? Well, there's a reason for that. You see, for female Roselia, and similar Pokémon taxonomically, to be able to lay an Egg, they must have a male's pollen carried to their stigmas. And while approximately one out of five angiosperms (a famous taxonomic group of the Pokémon world) opt to use the likes of wind and water to carry their pollen, the majority of species prefers to have their pollen carried by another Pokémon.
With its vivid and sweet-smelling petals, Roselia is capable of luring the likes of Combee to take its pollen and nectar, the former of which sticks to Combee until it lands on a female Roselia, and the latter of which is used as food for Combee and is produced by Roselia to bait Combee into helping its breeding. Now, there are indeed several methods of pollination, all divided into those not requiring another Pokémon and those that do require another Pokémon. Abiotic methods include the aforementioned wind and water, but easily the most interesting cases are biotic. Entomophily, which is Combee and Roselia's case, occurs when pollination happens via a Bug-type Pokémon. This situation is notable because Bug-type Pokémon have been observed to engage in flower constancy, which means they are more likely to transfer pollen to other Pokémon of the same species. Other cases exist though, mainly ornithophily, with bird Pokémon, such as Trumbeak, and chiropterophily, with Pokémon from the bat order (an order is yet another taxonomic group; orders are classified below clades), such as Noibat.
Now, you might be wondering why this isn't a case of mutualism but rather an obligate-facultative cooperation. Well, the thing is, Roselia can indeed breed without help from Combee and other Bug-type pollinators (Roselia's flower pattern and scent give a clear indication it is geared towards luring Bug-types for pollination) thanks to its capability to move and burst pollen onto female Roselia, but with Combee's aid, the Budew population can become a lot more widespread, allowing Roselia far apart from each other to breed; also, the efficiency seems to increase considerably, as resorting to other methods means the chance of correct pollination is a lot less likely.
Protocooperation
"Protocooperation is a symbiotic relationship in which both Pokémon get benefited but neither species need such benefit to thrive."
Dwebble and Mareanie have a very interesting and unique association; they are truly a duo you wouldn't expect to be so. But, before we talk about that, there's a thing you need to know about Dwebble. Despite being commonly seen in deserts, all Dwebble have gills and use them for breathing. They have to return to shores yearly to breed and to store water; their exoskeleton is what enables such storage, but their carapace is also adapted to retain oxygen from the air and allow it to be breathed via its gills. Still, some Dwebble are even found on shallow sea floors around sea reefs or common structures; they just aren't found when surfing by the water because they don't know how to swim and are thus stuck to the ground. You also don't see them when diving in Hoenn and Unova because they prefer to stay by shallower places, but several Dwebble are found on Alolan reefs, where they meet with Mareanie.
Now, back to their symbiosis, Dwebble gives Mareanie a ride on its back, giving it the ability to travel much faster than it would otherwise, whereas Dwebble gets protected from the likes of Basculin, Bruxish, and Seaking, as they can't stand Mareanie's poison but would prey on Dwebble living in the sea otherwise. Mareanie also eats a leftover or two from Dwebble's meals, but it is very much capable of hunting a bit on its own and coming back to Dwebble. Another interesting aspect of this cooperation is that, whenever Dwebble grows and needs a bigger shell, Mareanie accompanies it, hoping onto Dwebble's brand new shell. Their bond is so close, in fact, that they seem to send each other stimuli not to evolve, as Crustle tends to leave the water to live in deserts and on beaches whereas Toxapex refuses to partner with other Pokémon and prefers to thrive all alone, which it can very well do; thus, evolving means breaking this bond, which is something neither of them wants, in all honesty.
This symbiosis is called protocooperation, though, because it isn't necessary at all; Mareanie survives very well without the extra mobility, and Dwebble can usually escape and hide from predators on its own. However, whenever lonely Dwebble and Mareanie meet, you can bet they'll associate with each other.
Commensalism
Obligate Commensalism
"Obligate Commensalism is a symbiotic relationship in which one Pokémon gets benefited and the other Pokémon is neutral; furthermore, the benefited species needs such benefit to thrive."
Mantyke's evolution process is probably one of the most unique out there, requiring a nearby Remoraid for it to be successfully triggered, and this happens because of Mantine's relationship with Remoraid. To put it simply, Remoraid has adapted to feed off of Mantine's leftovers, and thus it can barely feed itself without Mantine's aid. As for Mantyke's evolution, it is still a highly unknown topic, but, as mentioned in a previous edition of Pokémon Biology, Mantyke are very altruistic Pokémon, and helping Remoraid out makes it feel happy and helpful, thus releasing such a high amount of endorphin and energy that its evolution is provoked.
Now, some of you could be wondering why this isn't classified as a case of cooperation. It is considered as such by a decent number of biology researchers, but the consensus is that Remoraid benefits so much more from this relationship than Mantine. Firstly, the benefit Mantine gets is somewhat minor, as Remoraid only removes ectoparasites from Mantine's body and thus reduces chances of an infection. Meanwhile, Remoraid not only receives a supermajority of its food supply from Mantine's leftovers, but the constant water flow through its gills amplifies the amount of oxygen caught, improving breathing, as, otherwise, Remoraid would have to actively create its own form of ventilation for enough oxygen to pass through its gills, which takes up a lot of energy. In fact, Remoraid are prone to dying or being forced to evolve into Octillery if left too long in the sea without following a Mantine.
While there's still plenty of mystery surrounding this case of commensalism, Remoraid and Mantine prove themselves to be one of the most iconic and researched duos throughout the seas, all thanks to Remoraid's adapted body with dorsal fins specialized in suction, and its smart strategy of latching onto Mantyke, thus enabling the rays to evolve into the glorious Mantine!
Facultative Commensalism
"Facultative Commensalism is a symbiotic relationship in which one Pokémon gets benefited and the other Pokémon is neutral; however, the benefited species doesn't need such benefit to thrive."
As a larva, Beautifly's pre-evolution, Wurmple, has a diet based on leaves dropped by Grass-types, often scattered on the ground due to moves such as Razor Leaf and Leaf Storm. By feeding on Ivysaur's leaves, Wurmple also ingests a toxic substance called ivenolide, which has a formula of C23H34O2, present on Ivysaur's leaves; this substance, however, is not poisonous for Wurmple and its subsequent evolutions because they are immune to this specific type of substance's poison. Growing with this substance allows common predators to avoid preying on Beautifly, as the toxin does take effect on these and leaves them with an extremely sour taste in their mouths, making it so nearly every predator of butterfly and moth Pokémon avoids targeting Beautifly and its evolutionary family. If you're curious about Dustox, it doesn't really engage in this commensalism, because it can produce its own poison to scare away predators, unlike Beautifly, which depends on Ivysaur's leaves as larva.
Extensive research has also recently concluded that different Ivysaur can produce different substances, all of which help out Beautifly but still cause different effects on it. For instance, on Ivysaur native to Kalos, it seems that Beautifly grows a stronger immune system and has much lower odds of being afflicted with Pokérus. Beautifly also seems to be able to control where on its body the ivenolide is concentrated the most. It prefers to lead the substance to its wings, as it is the place predators will most commonly try to prey on it; studies have shown the wings have about three times more ivenolide than the rest of its body.
After reading a lot about pollination here, you're probably assuming Beautifly also pollinate Ivysaur, right? As they have such a beautiful relationship. Well, that's actually not the case. Ivysaur, unlike most Grass-types, structures its pollen in quite an unusual manner: it groups it into sacs called pollinia, which stick on pollinators' feet and are carried with it for extra efficiency. However, such sacs are very heavy for light pollinators such as Beautifly, meaning they, unfortunately, get stuck with the weight and get trapped on the ground, unable to fly. The job of pollinating Ivysaur is left to larger-sized Bug-types such as Vikavolt and Volcarona.
Parasitism
Obligate Parasitism
"Obligate Parasitism is a symbiotic relationship in which one Pokémon gets benefited and the other Pokémon is hindered; furthermore, the parasite species needs such benefit to thrive."
While Parasect would be the obvious case of parasitism, our research team decided to study a unique case of this symbiosis. Ever since ancient history, it has been documented that Joltik attaches to larger-sized Electric-types, mostly Zebstrika, but Flaafy, Raichu, Luxio, and Manectric are also hosts to it oftentimes. However, only recently, the reasoning behind Joltik's parasitic behavior was discovered: electricity. Joltik itself is too small and weak to produce its own electricity, so it must steal electricity from other Electric-types to be able to evolve into Galvantula and finally produce its very own electricity. The sad part about this symbiosis, though, is that Joltik are what our team calls obligate electrophages, meaning they can't survive without stealing electricity.
Our recent studies also discovered Joltik are excellent at finding the ideal prey. They have a highly developed capability to detect electric signals from potential prey. Joltik also tend to have different behavior when dealing with their hosts; one of my colleagues thought about dividing them into two different subspecies of Ixojoltik and Argajoltik. The former sticks to its host very carefully, going painless and usually unnoticed, until they're ready to undergo an ecdysis (a change of their exoskeleton) and breed with other Ixojoltik, but this process usually takes quite a long time. The latter, on the other hand, prefer quick meals of electricity, changing hosts very often, and breeding with other Argajoltik outside the host. Nonetheless, I personally disagree on dividing the Joltik species for the moment, as our research on the topic isn't deep enough to jump into conclusions like that, and no signs of speciation were registered.
However, since Joltik are tiny Pokémon, Zebstrika barely notices its electricity being stolen, especially since Joltik only needs a very small amount of electricity to get satisfied. Nonetheless, prolonged electricity stealing can be very detrimental to Zebstrika. Now, you might be wondering, why doesn't Zebstrika notice Joltik stealing its electricity, especially since Joltik may take up to two hours to prepare its electricity-stealing mechanism? Our team recently found evidence that Joltik emits electromagnetic waves that interfere with Zebstrika's electricity sensors. The strategy used for Joltik to attach to its prey is also very unique; they follow potential hosts and wait in tall grass until the opportunity comes for it to grasp and climb onto pretty much any bypassing Electric-type.
Facultative Parasitism
"Facultative Parasitism is a symbiotic relationship in which one Pokémon gets benefited and the other Pokémon is hindered; however, the parasite species doesn't need such benefit to thrive."
While I did talk about mycorrhiza before, this relationship takes mycorrhizal association to a bit of a different path. You see, most mycorrhizal associations are mutualistic, but a couple are actually parasitic, as is the case with Morelull and Alolan Exeggutor's symbiosis. Morelull does provide water and mineral nutrients to Alolan Exeggutor like Foongus does to Lurantis, but Morelull is also capable of provoking several diseases to Alolan Exeggutor.
The interesting thing about Morelull, though, is that it is arguably one of the prettiest Pokémon in all of Alola. Me and pretty much all of my research team were mesmerized by the beauty of Morelull at night, as it one of the few bioluminescent fungi species, thanks to an enzyme called luciferase, which causes the light emission at night. Yet, do not be fooled, as Morelull is one of the most dangerous Pokémon for its size, causing diseases on any plant it tries to steal glucose from. Speaking of which, there's great evidence that Alolan Exeggutor used to inhabit Lush Jungle as well but were exterminated by the sheer population of Morelull in the jungle, which would constantly cause pathogenic issues to them. Thus Alolan Exeggutor was left only to be found on the remote Exeggutor Island.
Back to the mycorrhiza topic, though, this case of symbiosis is actually facultative, as Morelull can very well survive without associating its hyphae to a plant's roots, unlike its fungus cousin, Foongus. All in all, feel free to appreciate Morelull's beauty, but just make sure to keep your Grass-types away from it.
Amensalism
"Amensalism is a symbiotic relationship in which one Pokémon is neutral and the other Pokémon gets hindered."
Have you ever noticed Bewildering Woods (commonly referred by Kalosian trainers as Route 20) has few to no Grass-types, except Foongus, Amoonguss, and Trevenant? This occurs because of Trevenant; recently, when researching the lack of Grass-types in the woods, our team came to the conclusion that Trevenant produces a toxic substance to most Grass-types, which gets released on the ground through Trevenant's roots and is part of the reason why it can control trees (yes it can do that too!). This amensalistic relationship occurs not only with Leafeon but with pretty much any Grass-type that comes near the woods, with the exception being the small minority of non-plant Grass-types, which includes the likes of Foongus, Amoongus, Morelull, and Shiinotic.
Now, where does Leafeon come in? Well, Kalos's Moss Rock is located in the heart of the woods, so it draws many trainers with Eevee to brave their way into the forest to evolve said Eevee; the problem is, once Eevee evolves into Leafeon, the substance Trevenant lays into the ground starts affecting Leafeon as it tries to collect water and mineral salt from the soil. It is very common for residents living close to the forest to see trainers asking for help for their poisoned Leafeon; some even faint in the process of escaping the woods. This effect is especially strong to Leafeon, as it is, just like all of its evolutionary relatives, very adaptable to its surroundings, and that's not always a good thing; Leafeon absorbs a lot of water and minerals from the ground, as it needs to keep up its high metabolism compared to that of other Grass-types. Another aspect of this relationship is that Eevee needs a lot of energy to evolve and grow into Leafeon, but the same substance also hinders the growth of most Grass-types, Leafeon included. This makes the evolution kind of badly formed; for instance, research on the topic allowed our research team to conclude that Eevee evolving into Leafeon in Petalburg Woods, Eterna Forest, Pinwheel Forest, and Lush Jungle are usually 15% taller and stronger than Leafeon that evolved in Bewildering Woods.
Now, about the substance produced, it is an organic compound named Trevenone with the formula C10H6O3. Thanks to its composition, this substance cannot be broken by most Pokémon, but more specifically Grass-type Pokémon; in fact, most Leafeon evolved in Kalos have a considerably high concentration of this substance in their body. However, oddly enough, this substance can be used as medicine for various skin diseases.
Competition
"Competition is a symbiotic relationship in which both Pokémon get hindered."
In the depths of Lush Jungle, a war for territory, food, and resource takes place. Ambipom and Passimian fight for the likes of Figy, Mago, Kasib, Hondew, and Grepa Berries, some of the Berries these simians use to eat; but of course, the Nanab Berry is the very favorite of both of them. This symbiotic relationship is especially interesting because both species are very taxonomically and genetically close. Thankfully, though, since both species are pretty even in their competition, neither risks to go extinct. In fact, this competition intensifies natural selection, leaving Ambipom from Alola slightly stronger than their Sinnohan counterparts!
Now, I know you're probably wondering how a Fighting-type is even with a Normal-type on competition, but to be fair, symbiotic relationships aren't always that straightforward. Ambipom are very sneaky and fast by nature, so they can easily steal food and resources and go unnoticed by Passimian. Still, in direct combat, Passimian does tend to have an edge over its order-compatriot. Speaking of their order, the Primates, it's a very crowded group and also includes the likes of Primeape, Slaking, Infernape, Simisage, Simisear, Simipour, Darmanitan, and Oranguru, as well as their pre-evolutions, and if they have one thing in common, its most likely a passion for Nanab Berries.
Still, on the topic of competition, there are several types of this relationship, and there isn't really a solid way to classify it. Nonetheless, the most accepted method of classifying competition is by mechanism; interference competition is when species directly confront each other, usually via aggression, whereas exploitative competition occurs due to the scarceness of a common resource to both species. Ambipom and Passimian's case seems to be a mix of both.
Conclusion
So, there you have it. I think we already have a consensus that the Pokémon world is truly wonderful, But when analyzing symbiosis, it's possible to dig deep into the ties of Pokémon with each other and find anything between unexpected pairs and shady relationships. I hope you enjoyed your read and could learn a thing or two from the world of biology. Stay tuned for the next edition of Pokémon Biology to learn even more about this mysterious side of the Pokémon world.
