Students will begin by brainstorming a list of ways that organisms may interact within an ecosystem. Then students will have an opportunity to share their list with a peer and with the class. Next, students will create a jot chart that will detail the five relationships that may exist between organisms in an ecosystem: competition, predation, mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism. At the conclusion of the lesson, students will examine food webs and predict the patterns of interactions that may exist between and among organisms in an ecosystem.
This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.
Symbiosis describes a relationship between two organisms in an environment. There are three main types of relationships: mutualism, parasitism, and commensalism.
The classroom resource provides a video that will describe the different ways organisms can interact within an ecosystem. There is also a short test that can be used to assess students' understanding.
Students engage with a variety of resources to learn about ecosystems and the interactions among organisms in ecosystems, with a focus on elk migration in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Groups create a second map layer for their unit project that shows how their focal animal’s migration impacts its ecosystem. This lesson is part of the Detours and Distractions: How Humans Impact Migration Patterns unit.
