1. Daily Oral Science
A person is infected with tapeworm from eating raw pork. The tapeworm absorbs nutrients from the small intestine and the person becomes sick.
What type of symbiotic relationship is taking place?

2. It’s a paradox!
When helping hurts…..

3. Instructions
Students apply their knowledge of symbiosis to a situation in which humans altered the balance in the ecosystem by completing the activity “It’s a Paradox- When Helping Hurts”
Students analyze a population graph and make hypotheses, using their newly acquired knowledge of symbiotic relationships, to explain what happened.
Students support their claim with clues (evidence) provided by the teacher.

4. Analyze the Graph!
What happened to the population of deer after point C when the wolves were removed? 
What happened to the population of the deer after point D?
Make a hypothesis below explaining why you think the deer population changed so much after point D.

5. Students write an explanation for the following prompt:
“How do all populations living together within a community interact with one another and with their environment in order to survive and maintain a balanced ecosystem?”

9. Clue 1:
Deer are herbivores

10. Clue 2:
The deer relies on its well-developed senses of hearing, smell, and sight to detect danger from predators.

11. Clue 3:
The white-tailed deer and meadow lark are certainly very fast, and therefore difficult to catch.

12. Clue 4:
Many herbivores have protective coloration. They blend in so well with their environment that they can be nearly invisible.

13. Clue 5:
Wolves usually select the easiest targets including the young, old, diseased, or debilitated members of a herd.

14. Clue 6:
Deer can smell a predator from a great distance if the wind is blowing in their direction.

15. Clue 7:
Wolves are pack hunters and are able to kill animals that weigh several times more than their own weight.

16. Clue 8:
The deer’s defenses are so effective that usually only the very young, very old, diseased, or injured deer fall victim to predators.

17. Clue 9:
When the maximum size of a population is reached, the population of a species drops quickly.

18. Clue 10:
Since most healthy adult prey can usually outrun predators, successfully hide from them, or use their antlers, horns, hooves, or other weapons to escape unharmed, predators usually catch the young, old, injured, or sick animals.

19. Clue 11:
Any large change in any one biotic or abiotic factor will have a large effect on any organism population.

20. Clue 12:
In nature, more animals die from diseases when a lack of food weakens the animal’s resistance to infection.

21. Clue 13:
The spread of infectious diseases increases when a species overpopulates.

22. Clue 14:
A population that is not controlled by hunting or predation will reach its maximum size (carrying capacity).

23. Clue 15:
The size of a population is affected by several biotic and abiotic factors including nutrients, space, weather, and predation.

24. Clue 16:
The death rate is determined by the amount of food available, the life span of a species, the amount of diseases, and the degree of predation.

25. Students write an explanation for the following prompt:
“How do all populations living together within a community interact with one another and with their environment in order to survive and maintain a balanced ecosystem?”