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Activity Worksheet - Don’t Eat Me
Instructions: No organism exists alone. Organisms depend on each other in many different types of ways. This activity is designed to help you decide
which type of symbiotic relationship exists between any two organisms.
It doesn’t matter which organism if listed as first or second as long as they are listed correctly.
Situation
The first organism is:
The second organism is:
Type of relationship:
Helped
Harmed
Neither
Helped
Harmed
Neither
(how?)
(how?)
helped nor
(how?)
(how?)
helped nor
harmed
harmed
In Central America there is a tree Acacia –
Ant – given
Mutualistic – both
called bullhorn acacia that
protection
food and
benefit
provides both food and shelter to
from
shelter
a certain species of ant. The ants
predators
live within the tree and protect it
by vigorously attacking and
stinging other animals that try to
eat it.
An oak worm caterpillar feeds on
the leaves of an oak tree.
A hummingbird feeds on the
nectar of a flowering plant. In
this process the bird gains
nutrition while spreading the
plant’s pollen to other flowers.
Oakworm –
gets food
Hummingbird – gets
food
Oak tree –
eaten
Flowering
plant – pollen
gets spread to
fertilize other
plant
Predation – one eats the
other
Mutualistic
Situation
The first organism is:
Helped
(how?)
A woman adopts a dog to live in
her house with her.
Dog – given
home and
food
A man goes to a restaurant and
has a big juicy steak.
Man – food
A remora fish attaches to a shark
with a sucker. It gets a free
dinner by picking up scraps that
the shark misses.
Remora –
gets free food
A cowbird lays eggs in another
bird’s nest. The surrogate mother
hatches and raises the baby
cowbird.
Cowbird –
another bird
raises young
A man eats a rare steak that has
not been checked for tapeworms.
He eats one and the worm
attaches to his intestinal wall.
Harmed
(how?)
The second organism is:
Neither
helped nor
harmed
Helped
(how?)
Harmed
(how?)
Type of relationship:
Neither
helped nor
harmed
Woman –
given
protection
and love
Mutualistic
Cow – eaten
Predation
Shark
Commensalistic
Accept either
competition or
parasitism.
Tapeworm –
gets food
from man
Other babies cowbirds
grow faster –
compete for
food from
mom
Man is
robbed of
nutrients
A woman has a salad for lunch.
Woman gets
food
Vegetables
die
Predation
E. coli bacteria lives in the
intestines of mammals where it
aids in the digestive process.
E. coli gets
food and
shelter
Man gets
nutrients
(vitamins)
Parasitism
Mutualistic