- blood feeding
- sap feeding
- intracellular parasitism
- tissue feeding
- intestinal parasitism
- nutrient withdrawal from host fluids
- exploitation of host metabolic products
Operational definition
Ecological acquisition strategy.
The acquisition of matter, reducing equivalents, or chemical energy directly from a living host with which the acquiring organism maintains an association.
It includes withdrawal of:
- blood;
- sap;
- tissue fluids;
- intracellular metabolites;
- digested host material;
- host-produced organic compounds.
It differs from ordinary predation because the host ordinarily remains alive for a biologically significant period while extraction occurs, although the association may ultimately cause host death.