Parasitism – Brood Parasites

Lesson Summary:

The lesson is designed to follow on a lesson on mutually beneficial symbiosis.  The reading may be used as a resource for the teacher but needs to be available to the children, if necessary, to assist them in completing the activities.  Activity A gives the children the opportunity to test their understanding of the reading and Activity B requires them to compare two types of brood parasites found in North America.

Objectives:

  • The children will understand the concept of parasitical symbiosis.
  • The children will be able to describe the characteristics of brood parasites.

Subject Area:

Science

Lesson Excerpt:

Can you remember an example of a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship?  That’s right – the clownfish and the sea anemone.  Today we are going to look at another form of symbiosis:  Parasitism.

A parasitic relationship is one in which only one member of the relationship benefits while the other is harmed in some way.  There are many types of parasites, although some can be fatal to their hosts, like tapeworms (if untreated), many are biotrophic which means that they need their hosts to survive so that they can carry on living a normal life.

Leave a Comment


*