1. Organism Relationships

2. Have you ever been to Arizona and stood next to a giant saguaro cacti?
How could that pokie thing ever help other organisms out?

3. Sit and observe during the day…
Red tailed hawks have a nest in one of the saguaro’s arms

4. Sit and observe during the day…
A tiny elf owl, no bigger than your palm, has made a hole in the trunk for a home.

5. Sit and observe during the day…
A rattlesnake slithers around the base, looking for lunch in the shade. It finds a shrew and strikes – fast food!

6. Then pull up a bedroll at night…
Long nosed bats come out to feed on the nectar of the saguaro’s blossoms.

7. Then pull up a bedroll at night…
As the bats move from plant to plant they pollinate other saguaros and help them reproduce.

8. Each organism in the saguaro community has unique characteristics that help it survive. (Write this down)
A community is several species that live in the same place.

9. Each organism in the saguaro community has unique characteristics that help it survive. (Write this down)
Remember 7th Grade when we talked about adaptation – that’s what we’re talkin’ about now.

10. The role of an organism in its habitat, or how it makes its living, is called its niche. (Write this down)
How it gets food
Which other organisms it uses as food
When and how it reproduces
The things it needs to survive

11. There are 3 major types of interactions among organisms: (Write this down)
Competition
Predation
Symbiosis

12. Competition
Organisms occupy the same niche – they eat the same things and live in the same places.
They have to compete for the same resources.
One wins and survives – the other loses and dies or leaves
Pheasant and magpie story

13. Predation One organism kills another organism for food.
Predator = hunter Prey = dead
Seagulls and worms story

14. There are three types of symbiosis:
Two organisms live closely together and at least one species benefits.
There are three types of symbiosis:
Mutualism Commensalism Parasitism

15. Mutualism Both species benefit – like the saguaro and the bats
In some cases, the two species have evolved together and have become so dependent on each other that neither can live without the other.
Story of acacia trees and stinging ants

16. Commensalism
One species benefits and the other is neither helped nor hurt
Red tailed hawk and saguaro

17. Parasitism One organism live on or inside of another, and harms it.
organism that benefits = parasite
organism that is harmed = host
Ear mites in moths – only inhabit one ear, otherwise moth can’t hear and is eaten.