What Is a "Cheater" in a Mutualistic Relationship? Give an Example

question 64

Essay

What is a "cheater" in a mutualistic relationship? Give an example. Under what circumstances would cheating be a benefit to the cheating party? How might the exploited partner respond?

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Definitions:

Optical Activity

The property of chiral molecules to rotate plane-polarized light, a phenomenon measured using polarimetry.

Enantiomer

Molecules that are mirror images of each other but cannot be overlaid onto each other, much like left and right hands.

Meso Compound

A type of stereochemical isomer with multiple stereocenters that is superimposable on its mirror image, making it achiral despite containing chiral centers.

Diastereomers

Isomers that have a different spatial orientation of atoms but are not mirror reflections of each other.