Download 1 I am a barnacle. Barnacles are crustaceans, as an adult I am

Symbiosis Notes Review
 There
are 3 major types of symbiotic
relationships.
 Mutualism: Both organisms benefit
 Commensalism: one organism
benefits and the other is unharmed.
– Ex: Human eyelash and the demodicids,
which are tiny mites that feast on oils
and dead skin. Humans provide them
with a place to live.
 Parasitism:
One organism benefits
and the other is harmed.
– Ex: The hornworm caterpillar and the
Braconid wasp. The caterpillar is the
host, and as the wasp larva consume
the larva are the parasite.
– Ex: The leech obtaining its nutrients
from a human (host).
– Ex: The hookworm obtaining its
nutrients from a human intestine (host).
Station #1 – What is our ism?
1a
I am a Dodder and I am found twined round the stems of clover plants or grasses. I
consist of a long slender yellow or pinkish stem, with the leaves reduced to tiny scales,
and roots being absent except for a short time after germination. I penetrate vascular
bundles of the plant I live on and I obtain organic nutrients, water, and mineral salts
directly from them. I can cause a great deal of damage to wheat or lucerne fields.
What is our ism?
1b
I am clown fish and I live among the tentacles of sea anemones. The sea anemones can
exist without me, but the larger fishes avoid the poisonous tentacles of the sea anemones
so I am protected. I cannot exist as successfully without this protective cover. The good is
that the anemone wants to keep me around because I attract other fishes on which it can
feed. The sea anemone's tentacles quickly paralyze and seize other fishes as prey
What is our ism?
1c
I am a barnacle. Barnacles are crustaceans, as an adult I am sedentary, that means that I
just sit around. The babies start as larvae and they find a good surface and then undergo
a metamorphosis to the sedentary form. One good place they find is the skin of a whale.
All barnacles benefit by finding a habitat where nutrients are available. When we attach
ourselves to a living organism, that organism takes us to new sources of food. Just
because we sit around doesn’t mean that we hamper or enhance the survival of any of the
organisms that carry us. What is our ism?
Station #2 – What is our ism?
2a
I am an insect and I go to flowers to get sweet nectar, while I’m there I take with me the
necessary material to pollinate another flower so that they can reproduce.
What is our ism?
2b
I am a Remora shark and I have an adhesive disk on the dorsal surface of my heads.
With this adhesive disk I hook on to “hitch a ride” on larger animals, usually whales,
which tend to be sloppy eaters. When food floats away from the whale’s mouth, I can
unhitch myself and collect the scraps of food floating by. The whales don’t care when I
hook on because it doesn’t hurt them at all, they never even know I’m there.
What is our ism?
2c
I am a flatworm, I posses suckers with which I attach myself to the walls of blood vessels.
I am covered with thick cuticles. When I mature, I meet up with another adult male.
Since I am a female I move into small blood vessels in the wall of the bladder and lay my
eggs there. When the egg comes into contact with the water, its shell breaks and my
larva, is released. My babies make their way into the water and make contact with a
human. There it comes into the blood stream and move in. Within six to twelve weeks the
larvae develop into adults and the cycle is reported once more.
What is our ism?
Station #3 – What is our ism?
3a
I am a louse and I deposit my eggs in the heads of humans where they grow and take the
nutrients they need. I do nothing for the human other than make their head itch.
What is our ism?
3b
I am an orchid; I have a long stem with a beautiful flower at the tip. You can find me in
tropical areas, with plenty of water attached to a tree. I benefit from the environment
provided by these trees, while the trees do not appear to be helped or harmed.
What is our ism?
3c
I am a coral and I live in a reef along with the dinoflagellates that live within my polyps.
I sweep organic material from the water and I metabolize this material forming carbon
dioxide and nitrogenous wastes. The dinoflagellates that live in my polyps use the carbon
dioxide and nitrogenous wastes in photosynthesis to form oxygen and sugars that are in
turn used by the by both of us. Together we cycle and exchange nutrients, oxygen, and
carbon dioxide.
What is our ism?
Station #4 – What is our ism?
4a
I live in a deciduous forest and I eat the bark of trees, I am a termite. I have a great
source of food in the trees and I do nothing good for them. I only make them week and as
a result they fall
What is our ism?
4b
I am an egret, a bird that lives near grazing cattle. I benefit from living with the cattle,
because the cattle disrupt insects in the grasses, and provide me with a readily available
food source. There seems to be no cost or benefit to the cattle from our relationship
What is our ism?
4c
I am Lichen and I look like a plant, but I am essentially a sandwich with a layer of fungi
on the outside with a filling of an algal species on the inside. The fungus part of me
attaches me to the log, rock, or brick wall that I live on and it absorbs nutrients from the
environment. The algae part of me uses the nutrients absorbed by the fungus part and
the carbon dioxide produced to photosynthesize.
What is our ism?
Station #5 – What is our ism?
5a
I am a flea and I feed on the blood of a cat, because of the loss of this blood the cat is
harmed but, I really don’t care
What is our ism?
5b
I am a fungus and I help the tree that I live on to absorb water from the soil, I also
increase the stability of the root system, and protect the roots from drying. In return the
tree provides sugars and starches that I use in my metabolism.
What is our ism?
5c
I am a marine species called a pilot fish; I usually swim just in front of sharks. When the
shark feeds, I just pick up the scraps. So far scientists say that there does not appear to
be any effect, either positive or negative, to the shark.
What is our ism?
Station #6 – What is our ism?
6a
I am a species of ant that uses the excess plant sap that an aphid makes for my nutrition.
I go around and find a colony of aphids and milk the waste plant sap from their
cornicles. In return I protect the aphids from predators and parasites. In some cases I
tend the aphid colony almost like a rancher with their cattle, not only by protecting
them, but moving them around from plant to plant
What is our ism?
6b
I am mistletoe and I work my way into trees and I like to spread out over an area pretty
soon I take over the tree.
What is our ism?
6c
I am a bacterium within your digestive system and I benefit from the food that you eat. I
am obedient and stay where I am supposed to stay in your body; I never go to an area
where I can cause you to have a problem.
What is our ism?
Station #7 – What is our ism?
7a
I am a bacterium within your digestive system and I benefit from the food that you eat. I
don’t like to follow the rules, so I don’t stay where I’m supposed to and I go into the
wrong parts of your body
What is our ism?
7b
I am an artic fox and I follow caribou around all day long. The caribou is bigger than I
am and he removes the snow covering to get at lichens under the soil. When he does that
he makes it easy for me to hunt the subnivean mammals that have been unearthed by
him.
What is our ism?
7c
I am a very brave bird that is well known for preying on parasites that feed on
crocodiles. Because this feels good, the crocodile openly invites me to hunt on its body,
even going so far as to open its jaws to allow me to enter the mouth safely to hunt the
leeches from its gums. This relationship gives me a source of food, and keeps me safe
considering that only a few predator species would dare strike at the bird at such close
proximity to a croc.
What is our ism?
For each cartoon, explain in your own
words how you think this relates to the
topic of Ecology we are studying.