'Amensalism' is a
biological interaction between two
species in which one impedes or restricts the success of the other without being affected positively or negatively by the presence of the other. It is a type of
symbiosis. Usually this occurs when one
organism exudes a
chemical compound as part of its normal
metabolism that is detrimental to another organism.
The bread mold
Penicillium is a common example of this; penicillium secrete
penicillin, a chemical that kills bacteria. A second example is the
black walnut tree (''Juglans nigra''), which secrete
juglone, a chemical that harms or kills some species of neighboring plants, from its roots. This interaction may still increase the
fitness of the non-harmed organism though, by removing
competition and allowing it access to greater scarce resources. In this sense the impeding organism can be said to be negatively affected by the other's very existence, making it a +/- interaction.
Antibiosis or
allelopathy also explain similar interactions.