By: Sarah, Alyce, and Isaiah

Symbiosis is a close, long- term association between two to or more species. The thousands of symbiotic relationships that occur in nature are often classified into three groups : mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism.

Some goby fish species live in symbiosis with a shrimp. The shrimp digs and cleans a burrow, which it shares with the fish, whose movements alert it to predators.

3 Types of Symbiotic Associations

Mutualism Commensalism Parasitism A symbiotic

relationship in which both organisms benefit.

An association where one organism benefits and the other is unaffected.

A symbiotic association in which one organism benefits while the other is harmed

Mutualism An example of mutualism is yourself and a species of bacteria that lives in your intestines benefit each other! The bacteria gets a plentiful food supply from you, and in return you get vitamins that the bacteria produce.

CommensalismOne example of commensalism is the relationship between sharks and remoras. The remoras “ hitch a ride” on the sharks and feed on scraps of food left by sharks. The remoras benefit from this relationship while the sharks are unaffected.

Parasitism

The organism that benefits is called the parasite. The organism that is harmed is called the host. A bright green caterpillar called a tomato hornworm. A female wasp laid tiny eggs on the caterpillar. When the eggs hatch, each young wasp will burrow into the caterpillar’s body. The young wasp will actually eat the caterpillar alive! In the short time, the caterpillar will be almost consumed and will die. When that occurs, the mature wasp will fly away.

Work Cited

• Picture of fish, slide 1- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbiosis Oct, 8

• Picture of bee getting pollen from the flower, slide 2- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communism Oct, 9

• Picture of bacteria, slide 3- Microsoft Clip Art Oct, 4 • Picture of whale shark and the remoras, slide

4-http://www.oceanlight.com/spotlight.php?img=1504 Oct, 8

• Picture of tomato hornworm, slide 5- http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/dp_hfrr/extensn/problems/hornworm.htm Oct, 8