Commensalism

Real World Example

Imagine you're sitting on a park bench, enjoying a quiet afternoon, when a stranger sits next to you, chatting on their phone. This situation is similar to the concept of commensalism because the person on the phone benefits from using the bench to rest and talk, while your experience remains unchanged—you are neither helped nor harmed by their presence. In this analogy, you are like the unaffected species, providing a resource (the bench) without any impact on your own park experience, while the stranger benefits from the situation just as a commensal organism benefits without affecting its host.