Symbiosis

Barnacles create home sites by attaching themselves to whales. This relationship neither harms nor benefits the whales. 

• parasitism
• commensalism
• mutualism

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-2

Yucca flowers are pollinated by yucca moths. The moths lay their eggs in the flowers where the larvae hatch and eat some of the developing seeds. Both species benefit. 

• parasitism
• commensalism
• mutualism

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-2

Remoras attach themselves to a shark’s body. They then travel with the shark and feed on the leftover food scraps from the shark’s meals. The relationship neither harms nor benefits the shark. 

• parasitism
• commensalism
• mutualism

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-2

Oxpeckers feed on the ticks found on a rhinoceros. The oxpeckers get a meal and the rhinoceros is helped by the removal of the ticks.

• parasitism
• commensalism
• mutualism

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-2

Mistletoe extracts water and nutrients from a spruce tree. The spruce tree is harmed. 

• parasitism
• commensalism
• mutualism

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-4

 A flea feeds on a mouse’s blood and harms the mouse.

• parasitism
• commensalism
• mutualism

 Hermit crabs live in shells made and then abandoned by snails. This relationship neither helps nor harms the snails.

• parasitism
• commensalism
• mutualism

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-2

Ostriches and gazelles feed next to each other. They both watch for predators and alert each other to danger. Because their visual abilities are different, they can identify threats that the other animal would not see as readily. 

• parasitism
• commensalism
• mutualism

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-2

A cuckoo may lay its eggs in a warbler’s nest. The cuckoo’s young will knock the warbler’s eggs out of a nest and the warbler will raise the cuckoo’s young.

• parasitism
• commensalism
• mutualism

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-2

NGSS.MS-LS1-4

As bison walk through grass, insects become active and are seen and eaten by cowbirds. The relationship neither harms nor benefits the bison.

• parasitism
• commensalism
• mutualism