Student Page Name____________________________________________ Title: Best Buddies Introduction: In nature, plants and animals develop complex relationships. Some are relationships you may know of are producer/consumer/decomposer or predator/ prey. You may be less familiar with mutualism, commensalisms or parasitism. These relationships are sometimes amazing to see because they remind us of human types of behavior. In this activity you will investigate the plant and animal world as well as the human side of interactive relationships. Procedures:

1. Describe what you think it means to be a “buddy” to someone else.

2. Define the following terms that are used to define “buddies” in an ecosystem: Producer- Consumer- Decomposer- Predator- Prey- Mutualism- Parasitism- Commensalism- 3. Look at the following pictures of pairs of organisms. Write down in the data table what role each organism plays and what kind of relationship they have. Choose from producer/consumer, producer/consumer/decomposer, predator/prey, mutualism, commensalisms or parasitism. 4. Use any resources provided for you (books, Internet, etc…) to find out about pairs you are unfamiliar with.

Data:

Picture number Organism and Role Organism and Role Type of relationship

1

Forest – Producer. The plants in the forest produce their own food using the sun’s energy. When they die, the mushrooms help to decompose the material and return the nutrients back to the soil.

Mushroom – Decomposer. The mushrooms can be found on logs that have fallen and work in breaking down (decomposing) the log to return the nutrients back to the soil for the other plants in the forest to benefit.

mutualism

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

Forest Mushroom

Grassland

Elephant

Leaves

Grasshopper

Lion

Human

Ant

Aphid

Buffalo

Cowbird

Badger

Honey Guide

Hermit Crab

Snail

Deer

Tick

Cuckoo

Warbler

Ostrich

Gazelle

Remora

Shark