The Crystal Singer , or Crystal Singer in the U.S., is a young adult , science fiction novel by American writer Anne McCaffrey , first published by Severn House in 1982. It features the transition by Killashandra Ree, a young woman who has failed as an operatic soloist , to the occupation of "crystal singer" on the fictional planet Ballybran. The novel is based on short stories written in 1974 and is the first book McCaffrey set in her "Crystal universe".
79-536: Alternatively, Crystal Singer is a trilogy completed in 1992 and named for its first book. Doubleday and Del Rey published U.S. book club and paperback editions within a few months of the first edition in 1982. WorldCat participating libraries report holding editions in French, Polish, and Hebrew languages, published in the 1990s. While a schoolgirl, Anne McCaffrey enjoyed one year of piano lessons purchased by her aunt. Later she studied voice for nine years, performed in
158-471: A celebrity event. Killashandra must not only complete the technical installation but also represent the Guild in a public performance not unlike her one-time aspiration. She succeeds on both counts. McCaffrey continued the biography of Killashandra Ree in two sequels, Killashandra (1986) and Crystal Line (1992). The original Continuum stories ended with Killashandra's death, while the trilogy follows her over
237-402: A few shark species when exposed to cleaner fish. In this experiment, cleaner wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus) and various shark species were placed in a tank together and observed. The different shark species exhibited different responses and behaviors around the wrasse. For example, Atlantic and Pacific lemon sharks consistently react to the wrasse fish in a fascinating way. During the interaction,
316-571: A larger work also exist, such as the triptych or the three-movement sonata , but they are not commonly referred to with the term "trilogy". Most trilogies are works of fiction involving the same characters or setting, such as The Deptford Trilogy of novels by Robertson Davies , The Apu Trilogy of films by Satyajit Ray , The Kingdom Trilogy of television miniseries from 1994 to 2022 by Lars von Trier . Other fiction trilogies are connected only by theme: for example, each film of Krzysztof Kieślowski 's Three Colours trilogy explores one of
395-507: A medieval Latin word meaning sharing food, formed from com- (with) and mensa (table). Commensal relationships may involve one organism using another for transportation ( phoresy ) or for housing ( inquilinism ), or it may also involve one organism using something another created, after its death ( metabiosis ). Examples of metabiosis are hermit crabs using gastropod shells to protect their bodies, and spiders building their webs on plants . Mutualism or interspecies reciprocal altruism
474-560: A method of hypnotizing mindless Singers to recover coordinates where Crystal can be found. Killashandra finds this new method unethical, but it proves highly profitable, though there are still too few active Singers to fully take advantage of it. A delegation from the Federation makes a rare, dangerous journey to Ballybran's surface to inform the Guild that the Jewel Junk has grown larger and more active since Killshandra's interference, creating
553-462: A new trial, is cleared, and secretly applies to the Guild as a Singer. His transition succeeds, and the lovers reunite. In the centuries after the events of the previous book, Killashandra and Lars have worked the Crystal Ranges together. Killashandra begins to succumb to the memory loss associated with singing Crystal, leaving her dangerously paranoid and careless. Lars tries to tempt her away from
632-694: A political crisis: if the Junk proves sentient, it must be declared a citizen and given rights and protection; if not, it will be exploited as a natural resource. Killashandra is assigned an experiment to feed the Junk Crystal of all colors, including the powerful Black. As Killashandra lays the Black Crystal into the Jewel Junk, the Junk draws her arm into its mass and extracts centuries of accumulated sonic residue from her body, restoring her full memory. Her old personality returns as she remembers her love for Lars. The Junk
711-474: A set of Crystals on their damaged Crystal-powered organ in time for their upcoming Festival, an easy task that will allow Killashandra to clear her debt and escape the storms. Optheria is a pacifist planet alleged to be so perfect that none of its citizens ever desire to travel elsewhere. Upon arrival, Killashandra discovers the organ was deliberately sabotaged. She suspects that the Optherian officials are concealing
790-491: A specific pollinator that is correspondingly adapted. The first flowering plants in the fossil record had relatively simple flowers. Adaptive speciation quickly gave rise to many diverse groups of plants, and, at the same time, corresponding speciation occurred in certain insect groups . Some groups of plants developed nectar and large sticky pollen, while insects evolved more specialized morphologies to access and collect these rich food sources. In some taxa of plants and insects,
869-407: A supreme situation, the host species (fish or marine life) will display itself at a designated station deemed the "cleaning station". Cleaner fish play an essential role in the reduction of parasitism on marine animals. Some shark species participate in cleaning symbiosis, where cleaner fish remove ectoparasites from the body of the shark. A study by Raymond Keyes addresses the atypical behavior of
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#1732851230417948-459: A vocal soloist, anticipating interstellar celebrity. After a final exam she learns that a flaw in her voice will prevent her from singing lead. She dreads a life limited to choral work and supporting operatic roles so she plans to exit both school and home planet discreetly. At the spaceport she meets a vital, older man who uses perfect pitch , and his occupational experience as a "crystal singer" on Ballybran, to identify an incoming space shuttle on
1027-429: Is a remastered and remixed collection of his 2011 mixtapes House of Balloons , Thursday , and Echoes of Silence . Creators of trilogies may later add more works. In such a case, the original three works may or may not keep the title "trilogy". Symbiotic Symbiosis ( Ancient Greek συμβίωσις symbíōsis : living with, companionship < σύν sýn : together; and βίωσις bíōsis : living)
1106-459: Is a long-term relationship between individuals of different species where both individuals benefit. Mutualistic relationships may be either obligate for both species, obligate for one but facultative for the other, or facultative for both. Many herbivores have mutualistic gut flora to help them digest plant matter, which is more difficult to digest than animal prey. This gut flora comprises cellulose-digesting protozoans or bacteria living in
1185-416: Is an exploitative three-party interaction where one species, the mimic, has evolved to mimic another, the model, to deceive a third, the dupe. In terms of signalling theory , the mimic and model have evolved to send a signal; the dupe has evolved to receive it from the model. This is to the advantage of the mimic but to the detriment of both the model, whose protective signals are effectively weakened, and of
1264-527: Is any symbiotic relationship in which one symbiont lives within the tissues of the other, either within the cells or extracellularly. Examples include diverse microbiomes : rhizobia , nitrogen-fixing bacteria that live in root nodules on legume roots; actinomycetes , nitrogen-fixing bacteria such as Frankia , which live in alder root nodules; single-celled algae inside reef-building corals ; and bacterial endosymbionts that provide essential nutrients to about 10%–15% of insects. In endosymbiosis,
1343-429: Is any symbiotic relationship in which the symbiont lives on the body surface of the host , including the inner surface of the digestive tract or the ducts of exocrine glands . Examples of this include ectoparasites such as lice ; commensal ectosymbionts such as the barnacles , which attach themselves to the jaw of baleen whales ; and mutualist ectosymbionts such as cleaner fish . Contrastingly, endosymbiosis
1422-544: Is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction , between two organisms of different species . The two organisms, termed symbionts , can be either in a mutualistic , a commensalistic , or a parasitic relationship. In 1879, Heinrich Anton de Bary defined symbiosis as "the living together of unlike organisms". The term is sometimes more exclusively used in a restricted, mutualistic sense, where both symbionts contribute to each other's subsistence. Symbiosis can be obligatory , which means that one, or both of
1501-431: Is damaged or killed by another through a chemical secretion. An example of competition is a sapling growing under the shadow of a mature tree. The mature tree can rob the sapling of necessary sunlight and, if the mature tree is very large, it can take up rainwater and deplete soil nutrients. Throughout the process, the mature tree is unaffected by the sapling. Indeed, if the sapling dies, the mature tree gains nutrients from
1580-455: Is declared sentient, and its power insures no future Singers will risk losing their memory and offers hope that former Singers may be restored, promising a new era of prosperity for the Guild. The trilogy was published in omnibus editions The Crystal Singer Trilogy (US: Del Rey Books , 1996) and The Crystal Singer Omnibus (UK: Corgi Books , 1999). Beside the Crystal Singer trilogy,
1659-410: Is known as co-development. In cases of co-development the symbionts send signals to their host which determine developmental processes. Co-development is commonly seen in both arthropods and vertebrates. One hypothesis for the origin of the nucleus in eukaryotes (plants, animals, fungi, and protists ) is that it developed from a symbiogenesis between bacteria and archaea. It is hypothesized that
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#17328512304171738-558: Is less often applied to music. One example is the Berlin Trilogy of David Bowie , which is linked together by musical sound and lyrical themes, all having been recorded at least partly in Berlin, Germany. Another example can be found in the Guns N' Roses songs " November Rain ", " Don't Cry " and " Estranged ", whose videos are considered a trilogy. The Weeknd 's 2012 compilation album Trilogy
1817-638: Is partly autobiographical. McCaffrey divorced her husband in August 1970 and emigrated to the vicinity of Dublin, Ireland , in September with her second Dragonriders of Pern book nearly finished and a contract for the third. The White Dragon would complete her "original trilogy" with Ballantine Books in 1978 but for several years that work stalled. The markets for children and young adults provided crucial opportunities, as when editor Roger Elwood solicited contributions of short genre fiction to anthologies . She
1896-590: Is the movement, spread or transport of seeds away from the parent plant. Plants have limited mobility and rely upon a variety of dispersal vectors to transport their propagules, including both abiotic vectors such as the wind and living ( biotic ) vectors like birds. In order to attract animals, these plants evolved a set of morphological characters such as fruit colour, mass, and persistence correlated to particular seed dispersal agents. For example, plants may evolve conspicuous fruit colours to attract avian frugivores, and birds may learn to associate such colours with
1975-564: Is the relationship between the siboglinid tube worms and symbiotic bacteria that live at hydrothermal vents and cold seeps . The worm has no digestive tract and is wholly reliant on its internal symbionts for nutrition. The bacteria oxidize either hydrogen sulfide or methane, which the host supplies to them. These worms were discovered in the late 1980s at the hydrothermal vents near the Galapagos Islands and have since been found at deep-sea hydrothermal vents and cold seeps in all of
2054-632: The Dragonriders of Pern series among others. The Crystal Singer placed seventh for the 1983 annual Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel , voted by Locus readers. It was one of six finalists for the Balrog Award in the novel class. Trilogy A trilogy is a set of three distinct works that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature , film , and video games . Three-part works that are considered components of
2133-559: The Wayfarers trilogy by Knut Hamsun , the Cairo Trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz , The Border Trilogy by Cormac McCarthy , and His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman . A pivotal example is J. R. R. Tolkien 's The Lord of the Rings (1954–1955), which was written as a three-volume novel but published (for economic reasons) as a trilogy, thus helping to popularize the trilogy format. The term
2212-422: The globe by combat , but by networking ." About 80% of vascular plants worldwide form symbiotic relationships with fungi, in particular in arbuscular mycorrhizas . Flowering plants and the animals that pollinate them have co-evolved. Many plants that are pollinated by insects (in entomophily ), bats , or birds (in ornithophily ) have highly specialized flowers modified to promote pollination by
2291-407: The tentacles of Ritteri sea anemones . The territorial fish protects the anemone from anemone-eating fish, and in turn, the anemone stinging tentacles protect the clownfish from its predators . A special mucus on the clownfish protects it from the stinging tentacles. A further example is the goby , a fish which sometimes lives together with a shrimp . The shrimp digs and cleans up a burrow in
2370-440: The 21st century, the latter has become the definition widely accepted by biologists. In 1949, Edward Haskell proposed an integrative approach with a classification of "co-actions", later adopted by biologists as "interactions". Relationships can be obligate, meaning that one or both of the symbionts entirely depend on each other for survival. For example, in lichens , which consist of fungal and photosynthetic symbionts,
2449-485: The Heptite Guild of crystal singers for herself. The crystalline rock of Ballybran, when skilfully cut, is essential to advanced power and communications systems at the heart of interstellar civilization. Only the Guild "singers" can mine crystal: locate it, and cut it with voice-controlled machinery. Killashandra's ability to sing perfect pitch meets one qualification, she knows, and she passes other qualifying exams in
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2528-611: The Internet Speculative Fiction Database places in the "Crystal universe" (series) both The Coelura , a 1983 novella, and Nimisha's Ship , a 1998 novel. In turn, the Crystal universe is only one of several series that share the " Federated Sentient Planets " background; they are set in a universe governed by the FSP. Federation regulations and officials appear substantially in the Crystal Singer trilogy, in sharp contrast to
2607-621: The Junk a few shards of Crystal, which causes it to respond. Killashandra concludes the Junk is sentient and trying to communicate. Returning to Ballybran early, Killashandra finds Lanzecki, her former lover, has gone into the Ranges during a fierce sonic storm that kills him, leaving Lars the new Guildmaster. Killashandra suspects Lanzecki had grown tired of his long life and, sensing his memory fading, chose to commit suicide. His death leaves Killashandra bitter, alienating her from Lars, which in turn accelerates her memory loss as she loses her connection to
2686-445: The Ranges in hopes that time away from Ballybran will forestall the inevitable, but Killashandra holds out for one good cutting to pay off their considerable debts, risking their lives in the process. Finally Guildmaster Lanzecki gives Lars and Killashandra an off-planet assignment to investigate a recently discovered entity: a giant liquid crystalline mass termed "Jewel Junk". Since Crystal facilitates communication, Killashandra feeds
2765-432: The average mammal species is host to 4 nematodes, 2 cestodes, and 2 trematodes. Mimicry is a form of symbiosis in which a species adopts distinct characteristics of another species to alter its relationship dynamic with the species being mimicked, to its own advantage. Among the many types of mimicry are Batesian and Müllerian, the first involving one-sided exploitation, the second providing mutual benefit. Batesian mimicry
2844-411: The competition can also be for other resources. Amensalism is a non-symbiotic, asymmetric interaction where one species is harmed or killed by the other, and one is unaffected by the other. There are two types of amensalism, competition and antagonism (or antibiosis). Competition is where a larger or stronger organism deprives a smaller or weaker one of a resource. Antagonism occurs when one organism
2923-414: The course of many centuries and ends on a more hopeful note as new technology and discoveries conquer many of the difficulties that made her career perilous. The story opens with Killashandra in debt to the Heptite Guild and desperate to make enough money to escape Ballybran before the seasonal sonic storms. The Guildmaster offers her an opportunity to travel to the music-loving planet of Optheria to install
3002-462: The decaying sapling. An example of antagonism is Juglans nigra (black walnut), secreting juglone , a substance which destroys many herbaceous plants within its root zone. The term amensalism is often used to describe strongly asymmetrical competitive interactions, such as between the Spanish ibex and weevils of the genus Timarcha which feed upon the same type of shrub. Whilst the presence of
3081-621: The dupe, which is deprived of an edible prey. For example, a wasp is a strongly-defended model, which signals with its conspicuous black and yellow coloration that it is an unprofitable prey to predators such as birds which hunt by sight; many hoverflies are Batesian mimics of wasps, and any bird that avoids these hoverflies is a dupe. In contrast, Müllerian mimicry is mutually beneficial as all participants are both models and mimics. For example, different species of bumblebee mimic each other, with similar warning coloration in combinations of black, white, red, and yellow, and all of them benefit from
3160-842: The endosymbiont adapts to the host's lifestyle, the endosymbiont changes dramatically. There is a drastic reduction in its genome size, as many genes are lost during the process of metabolism , and DNA repair and recombination, while important genes participating in the DNA-to-RNA transcription , protein translation and DNA/RNA replication are retained. The decrease in genome size is due to loss of protein coding genes and not due to lessening of inter-genic regions or open reading frame (ORF) size. Species that are naturally evolving and contain reduced sizes of genes can be accounted for an increased number of noticeable differences between them, thereby leading to changes in their evolutionary rates. When endosymbiotic bacteria related with insects are passed on to
3239-557: The fact that mitochondria and chloroplasts divide independently of the cell, and that these organelles have their own genome. The biologist Lynn Margulis , famous for her work on endosymbiosis , contended that symbiosis is a major driving force behind evolution . She considered Darwin 's notion of evolution, driven by competition, to be incomplete and claimed that evolution is strongly based on co-operation , interaction , and mutual dependence among organisms. According to Margulis and her son Dorion Sagan , " Life did not take over
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3318-582: The festival in Athens in 458 BC. The three Theban plays , or Oedipus cycle, by Sophocles , originating in 5th century BC, is not a true example of a trilogy because the plays were written at separate times and with different themes/purposes. Technical changes in printing and film in the mid-to-late 20th century made the creation of trilogies more feasible, while the development of mass media and modern global distribution networks has made them more likely to be lucrative. Examples of trilogies in modern fiction include
3397-502: The field are solo adventurers who establish private claims, work them in secret, and sometimes amass great fortunes. Killashandra and thirty others accept the personal risks and make the commitment. The story follows her and her classmates in a general education program, awaiting infection. When her own adaptation is unusually rapid and easy, she advances alone to rapid acquaintance with the rules and customs, transport and cutting equipment, emergency procedures, commercial values, and some of
3476-489: The field—are moderately revised and heavily revised versions of the first and third 1974 stories, "Prelude to a Crystal Song" and "Milekey Mountain". In the second and fourth original stories she is a veteran of more than 100 years in the field. Whether and how she may be able to go on as a woman on vacation (#2) and as the miner of her claim (#4) are primary themes. Killashandra is a small town in north central Ireland, about 120 km northwest of Dublin. "Milekey Mountain"
3555-430: The first music circus in 1949, once directed a play, and worked for a record label, Liberty Music Shop . DuPont transferred her husband temporarily to Düsseldorf, Germany , in 1962/63, where Anne resumed vocal training but suffered a crisis when she was informed that a flaw in her voice would limit her in that avocation. Regarding that experience, including some emotional trauma, her fictional character Killashandra Ree
3634-565: The full truth about both the organ and the happiness of the Optherian citizens. Before she can investigate further, Killashandra is kidnapped by rebels from a local chain of islands. Marooned for weeks and left to fend for herself, Killashandra uses her symbiote-enhanced resilience to swim from island to island until she finds an inhabited one, where she comes face to face with her kidnapper, Lars Dahl. Killashandra's arduous swim has so physically altered her that Lars does not recognize her, allowing her to gain his confidence in order to learn why she
3713-415: The fungal partners cannot live on their own. The algal or cyanobacterial symbionts in lichens, such as Trentepohlia , can generally live independently, and their part of the relationship is therefore described as facultative (optional), or non-obligate. When one of the participants in a symbiotic relationship is capable of photosynthesis, as with lichens, it is called photosymbiosis. Ectosymbiosis
3792-474: The generation of phenotypic diversity and complex phenotypes able to colonise new environments. Evolution originated from changes in development where variations within species are selected for or against because of the symbionts involved. The hologenome theory relates to the holobiont and symbionts genome together as a whole. Microbes live everywhere in and on every multicellular organism. Many organisms rely on their symbionts in order to develop properly, this
3871-462: The guise of arresting him for Killashandra's kidnapping. At an automated trial, Killashandra speaks in Lars' defense, but when stress monitors misread her concern for him as fear, the computerized judge believes he has threatened her and finds him guilty. Killashandra returns to Ballybran despondent, certain she will never see Lars again, but the influential Heptite Guild appeals on Lars's behalf. He receives
3950-419: The herbivores' intestines. Coral reefs result from mutualism between coral organisms and various algae living inside them. Most land plants and land ecosystems rely on mutualism between the plants, which fix carbon from the air, and mycorrhyzal fungi, which help in extracting water and minerals from the ground. An example of mutualism is the relationship between the ocellaris clownfish that dwell among
4029-427: The host cell lacks some of the nutrients which the endosymbiont provides. As a result, the host favors endosymbiont's growth processes within itself by producing some specialized cells. These cells affect the genetic composition of the host in order to regulate the increasing population of the endosymbionts and ensure that these genetic changes are passed onto the offspring via vertical transmission ( heredity ). As
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#17328512304174108-504: The legal status of Native Americans under U.S. law. Trilogies—and series in general—are common in speculative fiction . Trilogies ( Ancient Greek : τριλογία trilogia ) date back to ancient times. In the Dionysia festivals of ancient Greece , for example, trilogies of plays were performed followed by a fourth satyr play . The Oresteia is the only surviving trilogy of these ancient Greek plays, originally performed at
4187-421: The life they shared. As the new Guildmaster, Lars discovers that the Guild's operating model has left it with a massive backlog, with much of the Guild's profits going to support the mindless husks of hundreds of former Singers. In addition there are far too few active Singers to keep the Guild viable, and the perils of Crystal Singing mean new applicants are few and far between. A new medic on Ballybran introduces
4266-415: The mainland and present himself as her rescuer. She will locate and sabotage the organ's hidden subliminal projector under the guise of repairing the organ, then report the human rights violations to the Federation. The plan succeeds and the subliminals are disabled, but Lars is now under suspicion of the government. To protect him from reprisal, Killashandra and a fellow Singer smuggle him off the planet under
4345-436: The mouth to examine the gills, specifically the buccopharyngeal area, which typically holds the most parasites. When the shark begins to close its mouth, the wrasse finishes its examination and goes elsewhere. Male bull sharks exhibit slightly different behavior at cleaning stations: as the shark swims into a colony of wrasse fish, it drastically slows its speed to allow the cleaners to do their job. After approximately one minute,
4424-463: The non-essential genes of the intracellular bacteria. This can be due to lack of selection mechanisms prevailing in the relatively "rich" host environment. Competition can be defined as an interaction between organisms or species, in which the fitness of one is lowered by the presence of another. Limited supply of at least one resource (such as food , water , and territory ) used by both usually facilitates this type of interaction, although
4503-508: The offspring strictly via vertical genetic transmission, intracellular bacteria go across many hurdles during the process, resulting in the decrease in effective population sizes, as compared to the free-living bacteria. The incapability of the endosymbiotic bacteria to reinstate their wild type phenotype via a recombination process is called Muller's ratchet phenomenon. Muller's ratchet phenomenon, together with less effective population sizes, leads to an accretion of deleterious mutations in
4582-479: The organ, then kidnap the Crystal Singer sent to repair it, creating an interplanetary incident that would demand a full investigation. By this time Killashandra and Lars have fallen in love, presenting an emotional crisis for Killashandra as she cannot survive on Optheria and Lars cannot follow her to Ballybran. Killashandra reveals herself and volunteers to further the islanders' plans by having Lars return her to
4661-402: The other newcomers and her continued success has fostered jealousy, she sees even in her closest friends among the former classmates. She accepts an assignment offered by Lanzecki, to install "her" set of crystals in a recently settled planetary system. The cost of a black crystal set is high, even on the planetary scale, which has made its acquisition politically controversial and its installation
4740-554: The planet-bound specialists. She is especially sensitive to "black crystal", the rarest and most valuable variety. Partly for that talent, the Guild Master Lanzecki becomes her mentor (but soon her lover as well). Before any of her classmates learns to fly or to cut, she is in the field. She is first to find the unknown claim of a black crystal miner recently destroyed in a crash, and she cuts some of it adequately. Killashandra's rapid adaptation and training have isolated her from
4819-502: The political ideals of the French Republic ( liberty, equality, fraternity ). Trilogies can also be connected in less obvious ways, such as The Nova Trilogy of novels by William S. Burroughs , each written using cut-up technique . The term is seldom applied outside media. One example is the " Marshall Trilogy ", a common term for three rulings written by U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall from 1823 to 1832 concerning
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#17328512304174898-410: The relationship has become dependent, where the plant species can only be pollinated by one species of insect. The acacia ant ( Pseudomyrmex ferruginea ) is an obligate plant ant that protects at least five species of "Acacia" ( Vachellia ) from preying insects and from other plants competing for sunlight, and the tree provides nourishment and shelter for the ant and its larvae. Seed dispersal
4977-599: The relationship. Cleaning symbiosis is an association between individuals of two species, where one (the cleaner) removes and eats parasites and other materials from the surface of the other (the client). It is putatively mutually beneficial, but biologists have long debated whether it is mutual selfishness, or simply exploitative. Cleaning symbiosis is well known among marine fish, where some small species of cleaner fish – notably wrasses , but also species in other genera – are specialized to feed almost exclusively by cleaning larger fish and other marine animals. In
5056-439: The sand in which both the shrimp and the goby fish live. The shrimp is almost blind, leaving it vulnerable to predators when outside its burrow. In case of danger, the goby touches the shrimp with its tail to warn it, and both quickly retreat into the burrow. Different species of gobies ( Elacatinus spp. ) also clean up ectoparasites in other fish, possibly another kind of mutualism. A spectacular example of obligate mutualism
5135-409: The shark remains passive and the wrasse swims to it. It begins to scan the shark's body, sometimes stopping to inspect specific areas. Commonly, the wrasse would inspect the gills, labial regions, and skin. When the wrasse makes its way to the mouth of the shark, the shark often ceases breathing for up to two and a half minutes so that the fish is able to scan the mouth. Then, the fish passes further into
5214-497: The shark returns to normal swimming speed. Symbiosis is increasingly recognized as an important selective force behind evolution; many species have a long history of interdependent co-evolution . Although symbiosis was once discounted as an anecdotal evolutionary phenomenon, evidence is now overwhelming that obligate or facultative associations among microorganisms and between microorganisms and multicellular hosts had crucial consequences in many landmark events in evolution and in
5293-452: The staff. The symbiont maintains its host, perhaps for hundreds of years, but only on Ballybran; only the fully adapted singers can safely depart, and only briefly. Full adaptation brings remarkable benefits, including increased sensory perception, rapid tissue regeneration and a vastly prolonged life expectancy, but it renders all hosts sterile, and eventually causes severe memory loss, paranoia and dementia . Even after full adaptation with
5372-571: The staging area on Ballybran's moon. Travel to Ballybran itself, however, is forbidden to all but its resident singers and supporting population, about 30,000 people. The moon-side orientation program secretly explains why: a native spore soon invades the human body and causes genetic mutations. Some newcomers will die of the initial infection and many will adapt only partly, with a mix of permanent symptoms such as vastly increased visual acuity along with complete deafness. Those who adapt fully to symbiotic life may become singers; other survivors must join
5451-461: The symbiont, mining Ballybran crystal is a dangerous occupation. Beside the risks associated with other mining operations, there are frequent storms with high winds that may cause crystal deposits to resonate: "sonic storms" that may impair the symbiont and drive the singer mad. The Guild provides life support for physically disabled or insane members, many aspects of the industry are highly centralized, and everyone begins with big debts. Yet singers in
5530-447: The symbionts depend on each other for survival, or facultative (optional), when they can also subsist independently. Symbiosis is also classified by physical attachment. Symbionts forming a single body live in conjunctive symbiosis, while all other arrangements are called disjunctive symbiosis. When one organism lives on the surface of another, such as head lice on humans, it is called ectosymbiosis ; when one partner lives inside
5609-451: The symbiosis originated when ancient archaea, similar to modern methanogenic archaea, invaded and lived within bacteria similar to modern myxobacteria, eventually forming the early nucleus. This theory is analogous to the accepted theory for the origin of eukaryotic mitochondria and chloroplasts, which are thought to have developed from a similar endosymbiotic relationship between proto-eukaryotes and aerobic bacteria. Evidence for this includes
5688-769: The tissues of another, such as Symbiodinium within coral , it is termed endosymbiosis . The definition of symbiosis was a matter of debate for 130 years. In 1877, Albert Bernhard Frank used the term symbiosis to describe the mutualistic relationship in lichens . In 1878, the German mycologist Heinrich Anton de Bary defined it as "the living together of unlike organisms". The definition has varied among scientists, with some advocating that it should only refer to persistent mutualisms , while others thought it should apply to all persistent biological interactions (in other words, to mutualism, commensalism , and parasitism , but excluding brief interactions such as predation ). In
5767-423: The verge of explosion. He treats her to a whirlwind romance and the experience of her home planet in ways entirely unknown to her, but sincerely warns her against the high-status, high-income occupation that makes such a vacation possible for him. Further, one of its occupational hazards leaves him in a coma, but Killashandra determines to accompany his return home under life support, and to investigate membership in
5846-524: The weevil has almost no influence on food availability, the presence of ibex has an enormous detrimental effect on weevil numbers, as they consume significant quantities of plant matter and incidentally ingest the weevils upon it. Commensalism describes a relationship between two living organisms where one benefits and the other is not significantly harmed or helped. It is derived from the English word commensal , used of human social interaction . It derives from
5925-433: The world's oceans. Mutualism improves both organism's competitive ability and will outcompete organisms of the same species that lack the symbiont. A facultative symbiosis is seen in encrusting bryozoans and hermit crabs . The bryozoan colony ( Acanthodesia commensale ) develops a cirumrotatory growth and offers the crab ( Pseudopagurus granulimanus ) a helicospiral-tubular extension of its living chamber that initially
6004-406: Was able to deliver "The Smallest Dragonboy" and the four-part story of Killashandra: McCaffrey called the 1982 novel a "considerably expanded" version of the four-part work and acknowledged "the technical assistance of Ron Massey, Langshot Stables, Surrey" for its transformation. In fact the first three sections of the novel—through Killashandra's return from her first experience cutting crystal in
6083-404: Was adapted in comics form (artist uncredited) in the 1979 publication Questar: Illustrated Science Fiction Classics ( Golden Press , ISBN 0307111970). This adaptation also included material from the first two stories in order to provide an "origin story" for Killashandra. In Questar the story was retitled Crystal Singer . Killashandra Ree has spent ten years studying music and training to be
6162-408: Was kidnapped. Killashandra confirms that the Optherian leaders effectively forbid unhappy citizens from leaving the planet, in violation of Federation law, and that they use the Crystal organ to transmit highly illegal subliminal hallucinations to the population at the seasonal Festivals in order to keep them compliant. The islanders, who are less influenced by the subliminals, made a plan to destroy
6241-440: Was situated within a gastropod shell. In a parasitic relationship, the parasite benefits while the host is harmed. Parasitism takes many forms, from endoparasites that live within the host's body to ectoparasites and parasitic castrators that live on its surface and micropredators like mosquitoes that visit intermittently. Parasitism is an extremely successful mode of life; about 40% of all animal species are parasites, and
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