Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Let's begin with a symbiotic relationship *we*- humans- have with other creatures, inside our bodies. Human beings depend on bacteria to produce a certain vitamin. Which vitamin is this?
(Hint: This vitamin can also be obtained from green, leafy vegetables like lettuce and spinach. It is required for the proper clotting of blood.)
2. Ever wondered why it's always those pesky termites who're always at your books? Why it's always *them* who can be seen eating into tree branches? Well, it's because of a symbiotic relationship which they have with a particular kind of bacteria living in their intestines, which helps them digest a material. What is the chief substance that constitutes this 'material', which is indigestible to most other insects?
3. Most flowering plants depend on insects like honeybees, butterflies, etc., to transport certain 'grains' from one part of a flower to another. What are these 'grains' better known as?
4. The consumption of fruits by animals an example of mutualism between the plant of which the fruit was eaten by the animals, and the animals themselves. It's obvious that the animals gain from the eating of the fruit, but in what major way are the *plants* benefited?
5. A certain species of this type of crab is sometimes involved in a symbiotic relationship with a sea anemone, where the sea anemone is attached to the crab's shell. Which type of crab is involved here?
6. Ants are sometimes involved in a symbiotic relationship with other insects. These insects are considered to be major crop pests, sucking the fluid content from the plant's phloem tissues. The ants provide these insects with protection from other insects, and the insects give the ants a source of food. Which are the insects involved?
7. A certain variety of fish enter the mouths of larger fish like sharks, and several others, and 'clean' the insides of their mouths. Yes, they *clean* their mouths. (Humans aren't the only animals for whom oral hygiene matters.) They clean the larger fish's mouth by removing old, rotten food particles (kind of like a tooth-pick), which *they* eat. In this way, they get their food, and the larger fish get a complete oral cavity clean-up. What are these fishes called?
(Some biologists contest the theory that this is a mutual symbiotic relationship, and that the larger fish aren't really benefited in any way.)
8. Algae and fungi often come together in a symbiotic relationship that benefits them both. In this relationship, fungi, which are incapable of making their own food (they are heterotrophic) get their nutrition from the algae, which are capable of photosynthesis. On the other hand, the fungi are beneficial for the algae; they provide the usually-defenceless organisms with protection with their property of repelling herbivorous predators, killing micro-organisms, etc. In what organism are these relationships seen?
9. Leguminous plants (which includes beans, lentils, peas, etc.) contain certain kinds of bacteria living in the nodules of their roots. These bacteria "fix" a certain gas from the atmosphere into the soil, in the form of its compounds, so that it can be taken in by the plant. Which is the gas involved?
(Hint: It forms 78% of Earth's atmosphere.)
10. A certain small African bird called the honeyguide and the honey-badger are involved in a unique type of symbiotic relationship. The honeyguide fans its tail and makes a special call to lead the honey-badger to the bees-nest. After it has led it to the nest, the honey-badger rips the nest apart, and eats the honey and bee-larvae present inside. It is protected from the stings of the bees by its thick skin. Once it has eaten its fill, the honeyguide comes for its share of the treat. What does the honeyguide eat?
Source: Author
achernar
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor
crisw before going online.
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