The context in which the reporter used the term "parasitic" is not, in my mind, a contradiction, but rather an indication that she knows little, and understands poorly, of what she writes.
A parasite is a living organism that takes nutrients from another living organism and generally permits the host to survive, often through multiple generations of the parasite. The news article (which was read in its entirety) seems to refer to the orchid taking nutrients from fungal tissue killed by the host. This is not parasitism, strictly speaking. In zoology, there is a fine discrimination between so-called true parasites and parasitoids, the later killing the host as a consequence it completing its life cycle. In botany, there is even a finer line between parasites and their hosts, usually taking the form of symbioses or mutualisms; this is the relationship of some orchids with some fungi, but apparently not all nor always. To confuse matters even more, what may start, or appear to start as a parasitic relationship does not necessarily remain, but may become a symbiotic relationship, or a reversed predatory role. In recently reported research there is evidence suggesting that the question of whether a fungus or the orchid are parasites upon each other is challenged, reducing traditional thoughts to semantic arguments as the biological realities of orchids in the real world (i.e., outside of our collections!) become better known. The concept of predation of one plant upon another, or upon a fungus or another organism, is a non-traditional perspective and begets additional semantic problems. The difference between parasitism (or parasitoidism) and predation, too, is a fine distinction.
Paul
Paul J. Johnson, Ph.D. Professor of Entomology
Insect Research Collection Box 2207A, South Dakota State University Brookings, SD 57007-0001 tel: 605.688.4438; fax: 605.688.4602
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