Examples of Mutualism, Parasitism, and Commensalism

Which of the following symbiotic relationships is considered parasitic?

• Ticks feeding on a dog
• Bees transporting pollen from flowers
• Pilotfish swimming under sharks
• Birds eating the insects from the back of a hippo

Which of these describes a mutually beneficial relationship between two organisms?

• A dog with worms in its intestine
• A turtle and a snail that both eat grass live in a river
• A honeybee pollinating a plant and receiving nectar for food
• A small fish attached to a shark, eating tiny pieces of the shark's food as it floats

Which of the examples below can BEST be described as mutualism between animals?

• A tapeworm lives in the intestine of a bird and consumes the food that the bird has eaten
• Mountain lions and wolves fight each other for the same deer
• A bird eats parasites off a rhinoceros while the rhinoceros provides protection to the bird
• Rats live in the garbage dump of a town and rarely interact with people

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-2

A close long term relationship between 2 or more species

• Mutualism
• Commensalism
• Symbiosis
• Parasitism

Relationship where one organism benefits and the other is neither harmed nor helped

• Commensalism
• Parasitism
• Mutualism
• Competition

An organism where one organism benefits and another is harmed

• Commensalism
• Parasitism
• Mutualism
• Competition

Cattle egrets forage (feed) in fields among cattle. The egret gets easy access to flying insects stirred up by the cattle, and the cattle don't care if they are there or not.

• mutualism
• commensalism
• competition
• parasitism

A tapeworm and a cat have this type of relationship.

• mutualism
• parasitism
• commensalism
• competition

A relationship between two organisms in which one organism benefits and the other is unharmed...

• Mutualism 
• Competition
• Parasitsm 
• Commensalism 

What type of symbiosis?  Skunks often live in burrows that have been dug and abandoned by woodchucks.  

• commensalism
• mutualism
• parasitism
• predation