Symbiosis Stories

Symbiosis Stories

~ Tales of Intimacy ~

GK12 Fellow Greg Gavelis

Trish

This is an interactive talk made for 4th graders, but also good for 5th or 6th grade level. The idea is that you tell several stories about interesting symbiotic relationships, and not unlike marriage counselors (don't use that metaphor), the kids have to find out who is giving/taking in the relationship and whether it is a mutualist, commensal or parasitic relationship.(It helps if they have the +/-/0 cost-benefit chart to look at.)

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Greg Gavelis

Every year, in the mountains of China, the populations of whole villages will be out on their hands and knees, searching for an item more precious than gold...

Spring Grass, Winter Worm

http://www.jadeinstitute.com/herbal-detail-page.php?show=120&order=common_name

Greg Gavelis

You wouldn't know of it's immense value by looking it, but this strange little stub fetches immense value as an herbal remedy in the asian markets. It is even thought to be able to convey super-powers. (So claimed by the chinese athletes that took home three olympic metals in one year [sometime in the late nineties, I can't remember])Taoist philosophy says that it draws its powers from an extraordinary balance of Yin and Yang, because it is both plant AND animal. That is why the Chinese call it, Spring Grass Winter Worm.

The Characters

The Ghost Moth CaterpillarFungus

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Greg Gavelis

But what is it really?The story begins with the Ghost Moth and the Caterpillar Fungus (Cordyceps sinensis)

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http://calderdalemoths.blogspot.com/2010_10_01_archive.html

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Greg Gavelis

The Ghost Moth lays its egg, which, as with all moths and butterflies, becomes a caterpillar

Greg Gavelis

If any of you have ever popped a puffball mushroom in your fingers, and seen all the little specks of "smoke fly out," then you already know what a spore is. When a mushroom (fungus) needs to spread, it produces spores instead of seeds.If a Ghost Moth caterpillar is having an unlucky day, it might inhale one of these seeds...

Greg Gavelis

And then, instead of emerging as a moth from it's coccoon, a twisted tower of fungus will burst forth. It will rise up out of the ground, and disperse it's spores, infecting further innocent caterpillars.Unless of course it is collected by a Chinese farmer and sold to Olympians.

KIRA TREIBERGS

As the cold of winter sets in, the caterpillar crawls underground, where it builds a cocoon. What will this coccoon become? (ghost moth!) No, something is about to go horribly wrong....(suspense)

What kind of relationship is this?

Greg Gavelis

Remember the two characters in our story. Who was giving and who was taking. Were the characters teammates (mutualists) neighbors (commensalists) or was one of them robbing (parasite) from the other? Look at your charts and put + and -s where they belongTake show of hands for type of relationship

Greg Gavelis

ParasitismGhost Moth (host)-Caterpillar Fungus (parasite)+

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Elysia and Vaucheria

Elysia chlorotica Vaucheria littoria

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Greg Gavelis

Would you like to hear another story? Now we fly back from China to the coast of the U.S. Here there lives a beautiful slug "Elysia chlorotica" (sounds like a princess' name) alongside an alga, Vaucheria littoria. Do you notice anything in common between these two?(Both Green!)That's right, and it's not just a coincidence...

Slug steals chloroplasts from the algae

Slug can now get its own energy from the sun!

Greg Gavelis

The Slug gets it's green color by sucking out the chloroplasts from the algae. What is a chloroplast? It's what makes your spinach green at dinner--it makes all plants green. Plants need chloroplasts ot get their energy from the sun. And when the slug steals the chloroplasts from the algae, it can get it's energy from the sun too. That makes it the world's first solar-powered animal. So after feasting on Vaucheria once, it can get all its energy from the sun, and doens't have to eat for nine more months!


Greg Gavelis

ParasitismElysia sea slug (parasite)+Vaucheria algae (host)-

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Greg Gavelis

If you've ever walked across a squishy mudflat, you've probably noticed a bunch of tiny holes sticking out of the ground. Most of the holes are tiny and are made by clams and worms. If you see bigger holes they might be the work of ghost shrimp. And the biggest holes of all, those are made by the Innkeeper worm...

The Innkeeper and his Guests

Inkeeper Worm&

The Snapping Shrimp

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Greg Gavelis

The innkeeper builds the hole as a place to live, but also uses it like a straw to suck in food from above. He is called the innkeeper worm, because his hole is like an inn, or hotel, for a bunch of other organisms. One of these is the snapping shrimp, which lives in hole the innkeeper builds, but tries not to bother it, as it catches the crumbs of food that the inkeeper drops from its meal


Greg Gavelis

CommensalismSnapping Shrimp+Innkeeper Worm0

The Jellyfish & The Snail

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Greg Gavelis

If we fly over to Italy, by the sea of Naples, we might notice a small Jellyfish in great numbers during one season of the year. But a few months later, they are all gone. What happens to them? It's a long story, but it starts with our two characters, the Medusa and the Snail (anecdote taken form a Lewis Thomas book of the same name)When the snail (seems like more a slug) is young, it spends its time on the sea floor looking for food. But then one day, when it gets too brave, it might start to swim and float right up into the ocean. This seems to be a bad move, because suddenly, it is surrounded by stinging jellyfish. Soon enough, a jellyish devours it. Is this the end of our story? That would be a pretty bad story.But the snail is not digested, rather, it is the one who begins to feast. The snail crawls all through the jellyfish, devouring first it's stomach, then it's umbrella, and even the tips of its tentacles. Before long, there is nothing left, except for a little morsel of jellyfish stuck to the snails upper lip, the last remnant of its feast.Snails are poorly mannered, so it never cleans of the bit. Then one day, that last little piece of jellyfish lays eggs, spawning a whole new generation of jellyfish. So the jellyfish was not slain by the snail--it had been waiting for this all along. In fact, this particular species of jellyfish cannot lay eggs until it has been all but devoured by a snail, and their is nothing the snail would rather eat than this jellyfish. What kind of relationship is this?

Greg Gavelis

Believe it or not--MutualismJellyfish+Snail+

Symbiosis Stories

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