Species Relationships
Gallery Walk
Read about the following relationships and take note in the Species Relationships Table.
Students will read and draw conclusions about relationships between species while filling out an information table. They will make generalisations of these relationships to build an understanding of defined categories of ecological relationships
Teacher will provide access to these images with captions either via a printed Gallery Walk or a shared online presentation
Clownfish and Sea Anemone
The clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris) lives among the tentacles of the sea anemone and is unaffected by their stinging cells.
The clownfish benefits by obtaining shelter and food scraps left by the anemone. The anemone appears to gain no benefit from the presence of the fish.
Certain fungi and algae live together to form lichens. The fungus species of the lichen takes up nutrients made by the alga and the alga can maintain sufficient water levels to avoid drying out within the dense fungal hyphae.
LICHEN: A relationship between Fungus and Algae
Copperhead snake & Skink
The copperhead snake (Austrelaps superbus) lies in wait for its prey, such as a frog or a small mammal. When the prey comes within striking distance, the copperhead strikes, injecting its toxic venom.
Wild Boars & Soil Invertebrates
Wild pigs can aggressively forage and dig searching for food, which kills soil invertebrates or exposes them to predators. While soil invertebrates may be destroyed by the foraging of pigs, the pigs do not benefit from these deaths.
Corpse Flowers & Vines
Found in the forests of Malaysia and Indonesia, the giant red-brown blossom of the corpse flower (Rafflessia) is nearly 1 meter in diameter and weighs up to 11 kg. It smells like rotting flesh to attract carrion-feeding flies as pollinators and its sticky fruit is spread by rodents.
If you’ve ever seen a picture of this “corpse flower,” you may have noticed its lack of leaves. This delightful organism cannot photosynthesize on its own. In fact, 100% of its unpleasantness is fueled with nutrients it steals from the roots of neighboring Tetrastigma vines!
Wallaby and Ticks
In a temperate forest, a wallaby hops through the undergrowth. A close examination shows this wallaby is carrying some ‘passengers’ in the form of ticks that are attached to the animal’s face, near its eyes.
The passengers in this case are adult female paralysis ticks (Ixodes holocyclus), which are native to Australia. The female ticks are noticeable because they are fully engorged after feeding on their host’s blood
The birds depend on mistletoe fruits for food and, in turn, act as the dispersal agents for this plant. Th e birds eat the fruit, but the sticky seed is not digested. It passes out in their excreta onto tree branches where it germinates.
An interesting behaviour is that, before voiding excreta, the birds turn their bodies parallel to the branch on which they are perching so that their droppings plus seeds lodge on the branch rather than falling to the ground.
Mistletoe birds and Mistletoe plants.
Sea Anemone and another Sea Anemone species
(a) If an anemone encroaches too closely to another, (b) the original occupant will inflate its tentacles and (c) release poisoned darts from stinging cells. The intruder may retaliate and return fire. (d) Eventually one of the anemones retires from the fight.
Orchids growing on Tree Branches�
Orchids are a family of flowering plants that grow on trunks and branches of other trees. The epiphytic plants are commonly found in dense tropical forests. Orchids rely on the host plant for sunlight and nutrients that flow on branches.
They do not grow to be large plants and do not harm the host tree in any manner. Orchids have their photosynthesis process and do not extract any nutrients from the host plant apart from the water that flows on the outer bark. On the other hand, host plants gain no benefits from the orchards.
Penicillium Mould and Bacteria
The Penicillium chrysogenum mould produces an antibiotic that kills many other bacterial species. The mould gains no benefit from the bacterial deaths caused by the antibiotic released by the mould.
Feral Deer and Kangaroos
Where deer density is high, diversity and abundance of plant species is lower. Saplings are commonly destroyed by deer as they rub against them, trample or eat them. Weeds may flourish in areas where deer are not adequately controlled. Deer also assist the spread of weeds into new areas. Deer compete with kangaroos and wallabies for food and generally add to grazing pressure.
Coral Polyp & Sardine
Graphic
Organiser