Animal Interactions pg 125

Competition

Competition - the type of interaction in which organisms struggle with one another to obtain resources

What Resources are most common? Food Water Habitat Females

Niche

Niche - The role an organism plays in a community, or how it makes its living

Two or more species cannot share the same niche

Video to introduce symbiosis

Symbiosis - a close relationship between two organisms in which at least one organism benefits

Commensalism

one organism benefits and the other is not harmed

Mutualism

Mutualism - both organisms benefit

Parasitism

Parasitism - One organism benefits and the other is harmed

Parasite

Parasite - lives on or in a larger organism and feeds on it while it is still alive

Host

Host - an organism that is harmed by the parasite

BPOP

The end

Symbiosis Game!!!

Rules: You will be given an interaction between two living organisms. With your team quietly discuss what type of symbiosis you think it is: commensalism, parasitism, or mutualism. When time is up you will be ask to hold up your card to show what type you think it is. Each correct answer gets your team one point.

The gall insect lays eggs in an oak tree, causing a lump that isn’t harmful to the tree. It also gets shelter and food from the tree

Commensalism

The bison stirs up insects in the grass, which the cowbird eats

Commensalism

The cowbird lays eggs in other birds’ nests and the cowbird chicks push out the host eggs and eat the parents’ food

Parasitism

Morel mushrooms help the tree roots absorb water and minerals, and sugar and starches are absorbed by the mushroom. When the tree dies the mushroom produces spores to reproduce.

Mutualism

The monarch butterfly drinks nectar and lays eggs on milkweed. The monarch larvae eat the milkweed leaves and obtain the leaves’ poisonous chemical which prevents predators from eating them, the monarch also pollinates the milkweed.

Mutualism

Grape vines grow up the trunk of the ash tree to get more light and space

Commensalism, but some other vines kill the tree which is parasitism

Freshwater mussels lay larvae on fish which irritate the fish’s scales

Parasitism

The human digestive system contains bacteria which aide digestion and vitamin production

Mutualism

Let’s Tally up the scores!