Questions tagged [symbiosis]
For questions about the biological relationships between two organisms living in close proximity. Symbiosis colloquially describes a relationship that is mutually beneficial (mutualism) but scientifically, it also includes relationships in which only one organism benefits (commensalism) or where one organism benefits and the other is harmed (parasitism). Most questions with this tag pertain to the first definition.
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How can we cool a computer connected on top of or within a human brain?
Assume the ability to cybernetically implant a powerful enough computer to operate an AI inside the human skull, on top of or within the brain. Thin wires connect the computer to the various parts of ...
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How can my alien symbiotes identify each other?
My aliens are little symbiotes (think Venom from Spider-Man) who appear to be like crown-of-thorns starfish when not attached to a host. They have general mimicry and camouflage similar to an octopus ...
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How to stop Jimmy’s (self-conscious) limbs from rebelling?
So Jimmy (the collective name for his brains) has this one-in-a-handwavium-amount blessing/curse. Instead of one central brain, his head, each arm, each leg, and his torso have independently ...
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Could a photosynthetic plant form a symbosis with fish in an oceanic environement to get nutriets from the sea bed?
On Earth their are thousands of animals with symbiosis with plants such as honey bees and flowers. However for this question I'm focusing on a very specific kind the one that leaf-cutter ants have ...
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Psychological Consequences of a Symbiotic Relationship with a Sentient Symbiont that was supposed to be Consensual, but was not?
PREMISE:
A sentient race of neural parasites is in a civil war between the Symbiotes, who've used their extensive knowledge of genetic engineering to alter themselves into symbiotes, and the Parasites ...
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Igniting a biological H$_2$ fueled pulse jet engine?
A squid-like organism uses gravity powered flight but relies on jet propulsion for launch, pouncing, and evasive tactics.
It’s aerodynamically based on the way a true squid flies however it has ...
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How long would a species have to have this brain symbiote to prevent early puberty?
So, a race of sapient aliens I designed for a series of short stories owes its sapience in part to a symbiote which lives in their brains and produces hormones that induce the brain to grow faster and ...
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What type of organism should these brain symbiotes be? [closed]
So, I'm designing A species of sapient extraterrestrials for a series of short stories, and I've decided it would add flavour if they relied on a species of symbiotic organism to enhance their ...
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Could alien microorganisms "infect" our own microbiome clouds and then "pollinate" us?
I'm trying to make my idea make sense. I wanted to create an parasitic/symbiotic alien species which reproduces/breeds by air or touch, which they are unaware of. They do not understand why their ...
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Can a symbiotic alien species reproduce like a virus through pollinated microscopic microbiomes clouds?
Working on a story of an alien body-snatcher invasion type of story. Basically this is a parasitic symbiotic species that evolved to reproduce through their own microbiome cloud by air and touch. ...
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What Benefits Could Tongue-eating Lice Have For Mermaids
Well, after asking Would mermaids be affected by tongue-eating lice evolving alongside them?, I realized they would be a worthy addition to a more monstrous subspecies of mermaid. There's only one ...
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In which kind of enviroment the frogs' "multiple legs parasite" could turn symbiotic?
There is a parasite which make different amphibians specially frogs and toads to get multiple extra limbs during the transition from tadpole to adult. The objetive of the parasite is to harm the host'...
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How a living prosthetic would work?
This is a little bit hard to explain concept, practically some like a kind of symbiosis in which two organisms evolve together one get transport, almost free nutrients and relative security and the ...
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Could these species create complex technology together? [closed]
On an alien world there are 4 species:
The networkers are slow-moving herbivores capable of speech. They have very loud, deep voices, allowing them to speak over long distances
The sparklers are ...
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What sort of Life Form could my Creature Excrete to Make Its own Habitat?
Concept: An organism that through its natural biological processes excretes some form of microscopic life that spreads through an environment by breaking down organic (and maybe inorganic) matter and ...
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how would a "Flesh Forest" work? [closed]
I have an Idea for a strange Biome called a Flesh Forest. A Flesh Forest Is an ever expanding mat of flesh ,IT has several plant like structures growing out of it that possess Teeth .the entire mat is ...
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Are Aeroplankton a feasible food source?
On an Earth-like planet, you would assume oceanic plankton and terrestrial microorganisms would exist. But, could there be plankton in the sky? While there are certainly nutrients floating through the ...
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Can a person use plants instead of blood, and what would the consequences of this be? [duplicate]
I have been brainstorming an idea for a kind of human-plant symbiosis, in which a plant has either evolved or been modified to photosynthesize with heat instead of light. This plant may have evolved ...
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Could a fungus fuse itself to a living creature and how could the creature pass this on?
Behold, a crocodile. The only thing that they have to worry about is hunger when they cannot catch a meal, and camouflage that is better than the eyes of their prey. What if a species of mushroom ...
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Which fantasy races would work well together in a kind of symbiosis? [closed]
I've been reading through a lot of questions re various races strengths and weaknesses in battle and social organisation & it made me think that there would be quite a few areas where different ...
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What benefits would a symbiotic relationship with an algae provide to the host? [closed]
In the story I'm writing, Goblins have evolved a symbiotic relationship with a type of algae which grows in their skin. I was wondering - what kinds of biological benefits would a symbiotic ...
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Help cooling living H$_2$ fueled pulse jet engine
A squid-like organism uses gravity powered flight but relies on jet propulsion for launch, pouncing, and evasive tactics.
It’s aerodynamically based on the way a true squid flies however it has ...
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Designing a symbiotic fungus that could cause a worldwide pandemic
Just for clarification: when I say "designing", I mean just coming up with the idea of this fungus, as opposed to it being "designed" by humans.
I've been very interested in fungi ever since finding ...
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Symbiotic barnacles for underwater respiration
My world has two races of mammalian mermen, one of which are somewhat monstrous and I'll call them "Abyssals" in this thread. I really want the Abyssals to 'breathe' underwater, as well as being able ...
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Symbiotic Assassin Vines
I have an idea for an encounter in my world that goes like this...
A weary group of adventurers are trekking through a great ancient forest. This forest is avoided by most due to strange tales of ...
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What could be a physiological downside of a permanently bonded symbiotic life-form that alters the host in profound physical ways? [closed]
PREMISE:
A symbiotic lifeform permanently bonds with its host and radically transforms the host organism.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Imagine a symbiotic life form like the [Klyntar](http://marvel
....
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Human-fungus symbiotic species
Researching a lot about fantasy, I've always had interest of mushroom humanoids, but I wanted to put my own twist on them. Instead of sentient mushrooms, I wanted to have a humanoid species infected ...
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How could this flora/fauna symbiosis work?
I'm building an alien world for an artistic project. The world circles an m-dwarf star, and so the flora have evolved to photosynthesize longer wavelengths of light than on Earth, primarily in the ...
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Is it possible for two symbiotic lifeforms to be born from the same egg?
Firstly, I'm not looking for an organism that gives birth to two separate species (like a human that gave birth to a human baby and a puppy) as I'm fairly sure that is impossible (though feel free to ...
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Creating a plausible death world
Could a planet's biosphere be as insanely violent a la War Against the Chtorr or Fragment?
Pretty much every organism, even the plants, is omnivorous and voracious. The two biggest obstacles to this ...
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Is it possible for facultative symbiosis between a large non-sentient organism and a smaller sentient organism?
Specifically, I would like to know how a land or sea based large island (Isle of Wight size-ish) size non sentient organism could be home to a society of much smaller people sized sentient organisms.
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Symbiotic benefits for large sentient bio-machine
I’m working on a setting, and have a state I want to achieve but need to come up with a compelling reason for why it is the way it is (even if no one but me ever knows the ‘why’.) I’m after a reasoned,...
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