In India, the chital, a small deer, has trouble finding enough grass to eat during the dry season. This deer relies on a certain type of messy-eating monkey.

Mind Stretcher – copy red

In India, the chital, a small deer, has trouble finding enough grass to eat during the dry season. This deer relies on a certain type of messy-eating monkey. The deer have good eyesight, hearing, and sense of smell.

1. How do you think the monkeys benefit the deer?

2. How do you think the deer benefit the monkeys?

3. What type of relationship is this? commensalism/mutualism/parasitism

Symbiosis Notes:Parasitism, Commensalism, and Mutualism

Symbiosis

Relationship between 2 species with a long- term close association.

One ALWAYS benefits

Mutualism

Mutually good Both organisms benefit! Everybody wins!

EXAMPLES: Bacteria in your intestines...They get

food from you so they benefit. They make Vitamin D for you so YOU benefit too!

Algae living in coral. Algae get shelter from the coral so they benefit. The coral gets extra food that the algae makes, so the coral benefits too!

Facts…

About 100 trillion bacteria exist in your bodies right now.

There are over 400 types of bacteria in your body.

It helps to break down plant starches and other foods that the human body has difficulty digesting.

The human body does not make vitamin K by itself. Bacteria create this, and other essential vitamins, as by-products of the food and other digestive materials they ingest.

Commensalism

One organism benefits, the other is not affected either way. It isn’t harmed or helped.

Examples: The small remora fish swims next to

a shark. It feeds off scraps of food left by sharks. The shark isn’t helped or harmed by this. He doesn’t care!

Parasitism One organism benefits (the parasite), but

one organism is HARMED (the host).

Examples: The dog tick feeds on the blood of a dog.

The tick benefits, but this weakens the dog. The dog is HARMED.

The tomato hornworm (a caterpillar) is Harmed when wasps lay eggs on the caterpillar. When the eggs hatch, the young wasp will eat the caterpillar. The caterpillar will die.

ParasitismThis strangler fig growing on another tree is an example of parasitism. The fig is getting support so it can grow quickly and get more sunlight.

Although the fig doesn't really strangle the tree, it does make it harder for the tree to get water and nutrients from the soil and also blocks some of the sunlight from reaching the tree's leaves.

CommensalismOrchids are epiphytes (plants that grow on other plants). They grow high in the canopy of rainforests on the branches of trees. The orchids benefit in several ways. They get more sunlight and are more easily visited by the moths which pollinate them. Also, because they are up high, the wind can more easily catch and spread their tiny seeds.

Orchids do not harm the trees they grow in. Their roots stay on the bark of the tree; they do not take water or nutrients from the tree.

MutualismThe ants have a home inside the hollow stem of the acacia. (Can you see the hole they are going in and out of?) They also get sugar from the plant. The acacia produces small spots of sugar at the base of each leaf. (The brown spot opposite the hole is a sugar gland.)

The ants attack anything foolish enough to try to damage the acacia's leaves, as I found out when I touched it!

What kind of symbiosis is taking place here???

Parasitism

Athlete’s foot is a skin disease of the feet which can spread to other parts of the body. It is caused by a fungus that commonly attacks the feet, because the wearing of shoes and hosiery fosters fungus growth. The signs of athlete’s foot are dry scaly skin, itching, inflammation, and blisters.

What kind of symbiosis is taking place here???

Mutualism

Termites are nature's recyclers, breakingdown and returning to the soil the cellulose containing materials of fallen trees and decaying wood. Termites derive nutrition from wood and other cellulose materials. They cannot digest the cellulose themselves. Instead they are dependent on one-celled protozoa in their stomachs that break down the cellulose into simpler compounds that the termites can use as food.

What kind of symbiosis is taking place here???

Parasitism

The heartworm (Dirofilaria immitis) is now recognized

as a major, global pest affecting dogs, wolves,coyotes, and foxes. A mosquito serves as theintermediate host for the larval stage of the worm.Adult heartworms can reach 12 inches in length andcan remain in the dog’s heart for several years.Female heartworms bear live young – thousands ofthem in a day. The worms grow and multiply,infesting the chambers on the right side of the heartand the arteries in the lungs. They can also lodge inthe veins of the liver and the veins entering theheart.

What kind of symbiosis is taking place here???

Mutualism

In many bee-pollinated flowers, there is aregion of low ultraviolet reflectance near thecenter of each petal. This pattern is invisibleto humans because our visual spectrum doesnot extend into the ultraviolet. Bees, however,can detect ultraviolet light. The contrastingultraviolet pattern (called a nectar guide) helpsa bee quickly locate the flower's center. Thisadaptation benefits both the flower (moreefficient pollination) and the bee (rapidcollection of nectar).

What kind of symbiosis is taking place here???

Commensalism

Epiphytes, or air plants, grow everywhere but canbe found mainly on the branches, trunks, and eventhe leaves of trees. The name 'epiphyte' comesfrom the Greek word 'epi' meaning 'upon' and'phyton' meaning 'plant'. Epiphytes grow on sidesof tall trees in an attempt to be closer to thesunlight. They have no roots, and collect waterand nutrients from the air. They begin their life inthe canopy from seeds or spores transported thereby birds or winds.

What kind of symbiosis is taking place here???

Commensalism

A few species of pseudoscorpions disperse by concealing themselves under the wing covers (elyatra) of large beetles such as the cerambycid beetle. The pseudoscorpions gain the advantage of being dispersed over wide areas while simultaneously being protected from predators. The beetle is,presumably, unaffected by the presence of the hitchhikers.

Super Sleuth: Write Mutualism, Commensalism, or

Parasitism1. Clownfish live among the venomous tentacles of a sea anemone. They are protected from predators, and they keep the anemone clean.

2. Barnacles attach themselves to the shells of crabs. The barnacles receive a home. The crab is unaffected.

3.Bees use flower nectar for food, and they carry flower pollen to other flowers, allowing the flower to reproduce.

4. Dutch elm disease is caused by a fungus that grows and feeds on elm trees. The fungus destroys the trees.

5. Orchids grow in tree branches. They receive light, and their roots get water from the air. The tree is not affected.

6. Small mites live on your skin, eating dead skin cells. You don’t even notice.

7. Tapeworms live in the intestines of cats and absorb nutrients from the food cats eat. The cats do not get enough nutrients.

8. Oxpeckers feed on ticks found on a rhinoceros. Oxpeckers get food and the rhinoceros gets cleaned.

9. A flea feeds on a mouse’s blood to the mouse’s detriment.

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Portfolio: Symbiosis• You must have 1 of each type

included:• Mutualism• Commensalism• Parasitism

• Describe how both organisms are affected

**STUDY: You will have a mini quiz over symbiosis tomorrow !

Symbiosis Assessment: Commensalism, Mutualism, and Parasitism

Please get out one sheet of paper and number it 1-10.

Write your name, date and period at the top right

Add “Symbiosis Assessment” for your title