Ticks feed on deer blood to the deer’s detriment.

Question

Who benefits?
Who is harmed?
Who is neutral?
What relationship is this?

Answer 1

In this scenario, the relationships can be understood as follows:

1. Who benefits?
   The ticks benefit from feeding on the deer’s blood, as it provides them with nourishment necessary for their survival and reproduction.

2. Who is harmed?
   The deer are harmed by the ticks. Blood feeding can lead to various health issues for the deer, such as blood loss, increased vulnerability to disease, and sometimes even death, especially if infestations are severe.

3. Who is neutral?
   In this specific interaction, there are no other direct participants that are neutral. However, one could consider the environment or other species that are not affected by this specific tick-deer interaction as neutral, but they are not central to this relationship.

4. What relationship is this?
   This relationship is classified as parasitism. In parasitism, one organism (the parasite, in this case, the ticks) benefits at the expense of another organism (the host, the deer), which is harmed in the process.