Name:______Mod: ______
SYMBIOSIS FACT SHEET
Define:
Symbiosis:
Types of symbiotic relationships:
a.______Define:______
b.______Define:______
c.______Define:______
Explain these symbiotic relationships:
Organisms / Relationship / How they interact / Effect on first organism / Effect on second organismClown fish and sea anemone
Cattle Egrets and Cattle
The Egyptian plover bird and crocodile
Remora fish and shark
The Yucca (plant) and Pronube moth
Tsetse Fly and the human/animal
Describe another parasitic relationship from these articles. Be sure to include the organisms involved, what is gained and how one organism is harmed.
______
remora The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information)Copyright
remora , any of the several species of warm water fishes of the family Echeneidae, characterized by an oval sucking disk on the top of the head. With this apparatus (a modification of the dorsal fin) the remora, or suckerfish, attaches itself to sharks, swordfishes, drums, marlins, and sea turtles. In this way it travels without effort, feeding on scraps from the prey of these larger creatures and in some cases on their crustacean parasites. Remoras sometimes attach themselves to small boats, but they can also swim well on their own. The adhesive power of their sucking disks is so great that the natives of some tropical regions use remoras to catch sea turtles by attaching lines to their tails. Different species prefer different hosts. The whalesucker, Remilegia australis, is usually found attached to whales. The smallest remora, the 7 in. (18 cm) Remoropsis pallidus, prefers swordfishes and tuna. Largest and most common is the shark remora, or sharksucker, which reaches 3 ft (90 cm) in length and attaches itself to sharks; it is found along the Atlantic coast N of Long Island in the summer. Remoras are classified in the phylum Chordata , subphylum Vertebrata, class Osteichthyes, order Echeniformes, family Echeneidae.
Africa - Tsetse Flies
There are 22 different species of tsetse fly, and they live only in Africa. These flies are slightly larger than a horsefly. They breed along rivers and streams. They are active during the day and feed exclusively on blood. Unlike most biting flies where only the female feeds on blood, both male and female tsetse flies are blood suckers.
Tsetse flies are an enormous health risk in parts of Africa. They can transmit a disease called trypanosomiasis, an infection of the central nervous system. There are 2 forms of trypanosomiasis: Rodesian (sometimes called East African trypanosomiasis) and Gambian (sometimes called West African trypanosomiasis). Rhodesian trypanosomiasis, also known as nagana, is transmitted from animal to animal and mostly affects cattle, horses, and wild animals like antelope--although humans can also be infected. The Gambian form is much more prevalent and only affects humans. It is commonly called sleeping sickness.
Tsetse flies transmit nagana and sleeping sickness through their saliva. They first bite an animal or person that is already infected with a tiny microorganism called a trypanosome. This parasite lives inside the tsetse fly's stomach for several days and then travels to its salivary glands. After that, anyone or anything bitten by the fly becomes infected.
Tsetse flies are hard to control, and tsetse fly infestation is becoming more and more serious in Africa. The clearing of large forest tracks sometimes causes the fly to spread to more populated areas. The political unrest in many parts of Africa hampers pesticide control of this pest, as well.
Tsetse flies produce their young in a different manner than most flies. The female lays a single egg but keeps it inside her. It hatches into a maggot inside her body. It grows larger and larger as the female feeds on the blood of mammals. When the maggot fills its mother's abdomen, she releases it into the soil. It burrows and pupates immediately.
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The yucca and the moth
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August 09, 2010 3:36 PM
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
There is a very special relationship between the yucca tree and a tiny silver and white insect called the pronuba moth, also known as the yucca moth.
Each different type or species of yucca has its own species moth that pollinates it. The pronuba moth is the only animal that pollinates the yucca and it doesn’t pollinate any other kind of plant.
The female moth crawls from flower to flower and flies from plant to plant. She stops at each flower and gathers some pollen and rolls it into a ball. The moth has special mouth parts designed just to carry the pollen ball.
After gathering some pollen she goes to another flower and gathers some more. She does this many times.
Finally, the pollen ball gets so big that if she adds any more she won’t be able to fly to the next plant. This is the flower that she will pollinate.
She places the pollen ball in the opening at the top of a fleshy tube in the center of the flower (called the style) and pushes it down in just a little bit. Then microscopic tubes grow down from the pollen grains until they reach the ovules waiting in the ovary at the bottom of the pistil. Now these pollinated ovules will become seeds.
And after all this work, what’s in it for the moth?
After she has pollinated the flower, she crawls down into the middle of the flower to the bottom of the pistil. She has an attachment at the end of her body. It is this tube that she uses to lay her eggs. It is called an ovipositor.
The end of this ovipositor is very sharp and she uses it to poke through the wall of the ovary. Then she lays her eggs inside the ovary where the pollinated ovules are.
While the pollinated ovules are becoming seeds, the moth’s eggs will hatch into larvae. The yucca makes enough seeds to make more yucca plants and to feed the hatching larvae.
The two species (yucca and moth) have developed this special relationship over time. This type of relationship is called mutualism. It is when two organisms depend on each other for survival and both benefit.
The moths are only active when the yuccas are in bloom. The rest of the time they are burrowed in the sand — waiting.
Clownfish
Why are clownfish unharmed when they swim among the stinging tentacles of sea anemones? Lawson Wood has at least part of an answer
The host anemones constitute the territory of the clownfish (sometimes known as anemone fish). And because the anemones are sedentary animals, you can - once you have discovered your anemone and your fish - be sure of finding them again on future dives. Both can be approached closely, but often the fish's fearless, aggressive nature makes it difficult to photograph.
Of the 1000 or more species of anemone found in all corners of the world, only 10 species act as hosts for clownfish. All of these anemones are found in the Indo-Pacific region, and they are host to a total of only 28 species of true clownfish. This often results in a number of different varieties being found in the same location.
The most prolific areas are around Papua New Guinea, where ten varieties of clownfish have been recorded from one location. There are six recorded from Sipadan, off the east coast of Borneo.
As you travel further from this central 'hub', the species diversity reduces and quite often results in only one type of fish being found on a number of different host anemones, such as Amphiprion bicintus in the Red Sea. There is only one species off the Comores, five off the Great Barrier Reef, and none recorded off Hawaii, although there are host anemones.
Several locations, such as the Seychelles, Maldives, Oman, Madagascar, Mauritius and Chagos, have their own indigenous species. Many, of course, overlap, and quite often different species can be observed very close to each other. All are found in shallow water (less than 50m).
How, exactly, do clownfish manage to live in such proximity to anemones without falling victim to the tentacles' stinging cells? It is, it appears, a very personal thing. For it has been discovered that it is the individual fish's relationship to its particular host which allows it to remain unharmed by the stinging cells of the anemone.
In aquariums, where a clownfish has been introduced to a new host, it has been observed that the fish exhibits behaviour consistent with being stung. However, afterwards, the fish has returned to the host time after time, swimming in an elaborate 'dance' among the tentacles. Slowly it allows the tentacles to touch its fins, then gradually the rest of its body, until it appears to be immunized against the sting.
The clownfish's immunity derives from the coating of mucus which covers its body. During its dance, it would appear not only that the clownfish's mucus is spread onto the anemone's tentacles, but also that the mucus from the tentacles is spread over the fish. The exact mechanisms involved are not understood; but the result is that the fish is afforded complete protection. And the anemone - what does it gain by having the clownfish on board?
Although anemones can exist quite happily without their clownfish, it appears that, as well as acting as cleaners, these little fish also help, through their fiercely territorial behavior, to protect their host from would-be predators.
Tapeworms
Tapeworms are long, flat parasites that live in the intestines of pigs, cows, and even humans. A tapeworm gets into its host by laying its eggs in the host’s food source. The host eats this food, and the eggs develop and grow into tapeworms, which attach themselves to the intestines of their host. Tapeworms feed off the food that the host eats, and sometimes a tapeworm has been known to live in a human for ten years without being detected! The tapeworm has a safe, warm home and a constant food source, but the host does not benefit from the relationship. In some rare cases, the tapeworm can make the host sick or even cause death.
Ticks
Ticks are pinhead-sized arachnids that form parasitic relationships with birds, reptiles, animals, and sometimes humans. Ticks attach to their host’s skin and feed off its blood. In this way it gets both food and a home. Ticks can consume enough food to grow 200 to 600 times their original body weight. In this relationship, the tick gets the benefits of a warm home and food, while the host gains nothing. The tick may even give the host a disease, which could weaken or kill it.
Mistletoe
Mistletoe is a plant that people hang above doorways at Christmas-time. Before it gets picked and hung inside it grows by living off of other plants. Mistletoe grows on woody plants, taking nutrients and moisture from them. It also “strangles” it—reducing the nutrients that the plant can take in. Mistletoe is considered a parasitic plant, because the mistletoe gets all the benefits, while the woody plant or tree has to support itself as well as the mistletoe.
Animal-animal relationships
The Egyptian Plover bird and the crocodile. You might think that if a bird landed in the mouth of a crocodile, the crocodile would eat it. Well, not the Egyptian Plover bird. Egyptian Plovers and crocodiles have a unique
symbiotic relationship. Because crocodiles can’t use dental floss, they get food stuck in their teeth. All that food rots their teeth and probably causes them some pain. When a crocodile feels the need for a good tooth cleaning it will sit with its mouth wide open. The Egyptian Plover bird recognizes this invitation, and if one is nearby it will fly into the mouth of the crocodile, eat the food stuck in its teeth, and fly away. The plover gets a meal and the crocodile gets a valuable tooth cleaning: they both benefit.
Cattle Egret - Bubulcus ibis
/ .CharacteristicsThe cattle egret is a small white heron about 19-21 inches in length with a wingspan of about three feet. It often looks like it is hunched over. It has short legs and a thick neck compared to other species of egrets. Adults have dull yellow or orange bills and dull orange legs. Immature cattle egrets have black legs and bills. During breeding season it has a brownish crown and chest and its eyes, legs and bill are red.
RangeThe cattle egret breeds from California east to the Great Lakes and Maine and south to the Gulf Coast. It is also found in the tropics, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa. The cattle egret is a non-native species in North America. It probably flew to South America from Africa and then moved up to the United States.
HabitatThe cattle egret is most often found near farmland and livestock. It also can be found in wetlands. / DietIn Africa, the cattle egret eats insects that are stirred up by wild animals. They have adapted to following animals like cows in North America and eating insects like grasshoppers, crickets, spiders, and flies that are disturbed by the livestock.
Life CycleMales claim territory before mating begins. They will go through a variety of display behaviors to attract females. Females will gather in their territory and sometimes jump on the backs of the males. Eventually, the male will evict all but one female. Both the male and the female work on building a nest. The male brings the materials, sometimes stealing sticks from the nests of other egrets. The female constructs the nest. The nest is made of sticks and is built in a bush or a tree. The female lays three to five eggs and both parents incubate the eggs. The chicks hatch in between three and four weeks and fledge when they are a month old. Both parents care for the chicks. Cattle egrets nest in colonies with other species of egrets.
BehaviorCattle egrets are very social. They gather in large colonies of cattle egrets and other bird species. In addition to following livestock, they also follow farm equipment like tractors to catch insects that are disturbed.