Grade 7 Life Science students explore the various ways organisms interact within ecosystems in this Chapter 15 lesson, covering key relationships such as predator and prey, competition, and cooperation. Students learn specific vocabulary including symbiosis, mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism to describe how species can benefit from or be harmed by their interactions with others. Real-world examples like strangler figs, cicadas, and wolf territory behaviors illustrate how these ecological interactions shape population distribution and survival.
Section 1
Organisms Interact Through Competition and Cooperation
Organisms compete for limited resources like food, water, and territory, while others cooperate to hunt prey, protect their young, or build shelters, allowing species to survive together in ecosystems.
Section 2
Predators and Prey Shape Population Dynamics
Predators hunt and consume prey, affecting how prey species distribute themselves and evolve protective adaptations. Prey populations, in turn, influence predator numbers and movement patterns across habitats.
Section 3
Symbiotic Species Form Three Relationship Types
Symbiosis occurs when different species live closely together in mutualism (both benefit), commensalism (one benefits, other unaffected), or parasitism (one benefits, other harmed), creating complex ecological connections.
Section 4
Plants and Animals Exchange Benefits Through Mutualism
In mutualistic relationships, species help each other survive—flowers provide nectar to bees who transfer pollen, termites house microorganisms that digest wood, and plants exchange nutrients with bacteria in their roots.
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Section 1
Organisms Interact Through Competition and Cooperation
Organisms compete for limited resources like food, water, and territory, while others cooperate to hunt prey, protect their young, or build shelters, allowing species to survive together in ecosystems.
Section 2
Predators and Prey Shape Population Dynamics
Predators hunt and consume prey, affecting how prey species distribute themselves and evolve protective adaptations. Prey populations, in turn, influence predator numbers and movement patterns across habitats.
Section 3
Symbiotic Species Form Three Relationship Types
Symbiosis occurs when different species live closely together in mutualism (both benefit), commensalism (one benefits, other unaffected), or parasitism (one benefits, other harmed), creating complex ecological connections.
Section 4
Plants and Animals Exchange Benefits Through Mutualism
In mutualistic relationships, species help each other survive—flowers provide nectar to bees who transfer pollen, termites house microorganisms that digest wood, and plants exchange nutrients with bacteria in their roots.
Book overview
Jump across lessons in the current chapter without opening the full course modal.
Continue this chapter