In this interactive activity adapted from the University of Alberta, identify the living and nonliving things in an ecosystem. Then look further at the living things to identify the producers, the consumers, and examples of mimicry.

This video segment from Evolution: "Evolutionary Arms Race" tells the story of the leafcutter ant and the fungus it farms -- an example of mutually beneficial symbiosis.

In this visually dazzling talk, Jonathan Drori shows the extraordinary ways flowering plants -- over a quarter million species -- have evolved to attract insects to spread their pollen: growing 'landing-strips' to guide the insects in, shining in ultraviolet, building elaborate traps, and even mimicking other insects in heat. Jonathan Drori commissioned the BBC's very first websites, one highlight in a long career devoted to online culture and educational media -- and understanding how we learn. A quiz, thought provoking question, and links for further study are provided to create a lesson around the 14-minute video. Educators may use the platform to easily "Flip" or create their own lesson for use with their students of any age or level.

In this lesson students discover the factors that are indicative of chemotrophic nutritional strategies. This NOAA lesson plan is designed to teach students about the factors that are indicative of chemotrophic nutritional strategies. Students will be able to describe at least three chemotrophic symbioses known from deep-sea habitats. They will identify and explain three indicators of chemotropic nutrition. This hands-on activity uses online data resources and includes: focus questions, background information, evaluations and extensions, as well as resources and student handouts.

Symbiosis is defined as one organism living on, in, or with another organism. Three primary categories are mutualism (both organisms benefit), commensalism (commensal benefits and host not affected), and parasitism (parasite benefits and host harmed). Hands-on dissection of host animals provides examples of live symbiotes in all three types of symbiosis: mutualism: termite flagellates and rumen ciliates; commensalism: Leptomonas flagellates in Drosophila; parasitism: fish hosts (monogeneans on gills, larval digeneans and acanthocephalans in liver) and frogs (trematodes in lungs and bladder; ciliates, flagellates and opalinids in large intestine/cloaca). Possible changes in a relationship from commensalism to parasitism are discussed relative to a demonstration of tapeworm life cycle stages in rat and beetle hosts.

This course describes biological changes that happen on a very large scale, across entire populations of organisms and over the course of millions of years, in the form of evolution and ecology. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: Use their understanding of Mendelian genetics and patterns of inheritance to predict genotypes and phenotypes of offspring or work backwards to identify the genotypes and phenotypes of a parental generation; Distinguish between inheritance patterns that involve autosomal vs. sex-linked traits and identify the respective consequences of each type of inheritance; Identify what distinguishes DarwinŐs theory of evolution from other arguments that attempt to explain diversity across species and/or many generations; Identify which of many types of natural selection is acting on a particular population/species; Identify which of many types of sexual selection is acting on a particular population/species; Identify the factors that alter the frequencies of alleles in populations over time and describe the effects of these factors on populations; Recognize, read, and create phylogenies and cladograms, using them to explain evolutionary relationships; Determine the ecological interactions affecting a particular community and identify the effects of specific relationships (e.g. symbiosis, competition) on species within that community; Distinguish between world biomes in terms of their climate, nutrient cycles, energy flow, and inhabitants; Use their knowledge of nutrient cycles and energy flow to estimate the effect that changes in physical or biological factors would have on a particular ecosystem. (Biology 102; See also: Psychology 204)

Welcome to the Teachers' Corner of Small Things Considered. In this section, we include the posts we deem most adequate for teaching purposes. We have reorganized them into subject areas geared for a typical microbiology course. To date, this material has been used for various forms of intellectual enrichment, e.g., suggested readings, class presentations, a source of topics for term papers. You can also find here our Talmudic Questions, which we characterize as those whose answers cannot be found in Google. We are told that some of these questions have been used in exams ranging from tests for undergraduate courses to qualifying/prelims for graduate students.

Root Nodulation: A Partnership in the Web of Life: In this experiment, we will examine what it takes for root nodules to form on legume plants. We will consider the symbiotic relationship resulting from root nodules by observing the growth and appearance of the plants when exposed to Rhizobium as compared to the plants, which were not exposed to the Rhizobium bacteria.

Sharks and fishermen compete for the same catch in this video segment from Nature.

In this video segment from Nature, see the value that sharks can have on the tourism industry in an area.

Different species often depend on one another. David Gonzales describes the remarkable relationship of the Clark's nutcracker and the whitebark pine, to illustrate the interdependency known as symbiosis. A quiz, thought provoking question, and links for further study are provided to create a lesson around the 2-minute video. Educators may use the platform to easily "Flip" or create their own lesson for use with their students of any age or level.