Plant-Animal Interactions Student Activities [Recommended Year 9 - 12]

Plant-Animal Interactions Student Activities [Recommended year 9 - 12] Education @ Adelaide Botanic Garden Map Acknowledgments A publication by: Education @ Adelaide Botanic Garden and Flinders University. And developed by: Kieren Beaumont, Molly Whalen and Duncan Mackay. In collaboration with: Steve Meredith, Michael Yeo, Catherine Stone and Tony Kanellos. Photos: Kieren Beaumont, Duncan Mackay, Molly Whalen and Adelaide Botanic Gardens unless otherwise indicated. Student information & activities 1. Brazil nut tree (Bertholletia excelsa) Large rodents called agoutis are essential for the survival of Brazilnut Guess What trees.Even though they eat Brazil nuts, they help to grow new trees by burying Brazil nuts are the only seed crop seeds. harvested from natural forests and sold all around the world. Pollination Brazilnut trees grow in the tropical forest of South America. They can reach 50 meters tall and can live for more than 650 years. Brazilnut trees rely on large bees to pollinate their flowers. The large bees are strong enough to force their way between the Agoutis help Brazil nut trees petals of the flower into a chamber, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co where they are provided with nectar mmons/7/73/Agouti_.jpg and pollinate the flower. Once a flower has been pollinated, it grows into a large woody fruit. Lost seeds become new trees. Interactions under threat. Most Brazil nuts traded today are collected from natural forests and the multi-million dollar industry provides many locals with an income. The ongoing success of the industry depends on healthy forests that support the animals that Brazilnut trees need and on the sustainable harvesting of the nuts. There is debate as to how much harvesting can be done before populations of Brazilnut trees begin to decline. However, effective management of the Brazil nut industry may promote the conservation of forests as well as provide sustainable benefits to local communities. Find out more Can sustainable harvesting of Brazil nuts conserve tropic forests and benefit local people? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE 6XUcq4g38 http://amazonconservation.org/ourwor k/livelihoods.html Things to ponder 1. Describe the fruit of the Brazil nut tree. How has it been opened and how many nuts are inside? _____________________________________ _____________________________________ 2. Agoutis are rodents that eat Brazil nuts (seeds). How do you think agoutis break into the fruit to get the nuts contained inside? http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/com _____________________________________ mons/f/ff/Brazilnut1.jpg _____________________________________ _____________________________________ 3. Agoutis save some Brazil nuts to eat later 5. Why might Brazil nut trees only by storing them in the soil. How do you produce nuts when they are growing in think Brazil nut trees benefit from this? their natural environment? _____________________________________ ___________________________________ _____________________________________ ___________________________________ _____________________________________ ___________________________________ 4. What animals use the flowers of Brazil 6. What is the name of another plant nut trees and how do you think they benefit plants within the Brazil nut family? How these plants? do people use those plants? _____________________________________ ___________________________________ _____________________________________ ___________________________________ _____________________________________ ___________________________________ 2. Durians (Durio zibethinus) Guess what Pollination in the dark In their native range of south-east Asia, The flowers of durian trees are quite people consider durians to be the ‘king distinctive. They are a creamy-white of fruits’. At the same time, the fruits colour, produce large amounts of are banned from many hotels and nectar and smell like sour milk. Also, public places due to their strong odour. the flowers bloom in clusters on the underside of the branches and open during the evening and night time. The attraction of an unattractive smell The durian fruit is well known for its offensive smell. Its odour has been likened to rotten onions and gym socks. In 1856, a British naturalist and explorer, Alfred Russel Wallace wrote that the smell of the durian ‘is certainly at first disagreeable’ but described the flavour of the fruit as ‘a rich custard highly flavoured with almonds.’ (http://www.wku.edu/~smithch/wallac e.S027.htm) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co mmons/b/b7/Durian_flower_1%2C_Cho_Lac h%2C_Ben_Tre%2C_Viet_Nam.JPG Things to ponder 1. In the tropical forests of south-east Asia the strong odour of durians helps to attract many animals. What animals do you think could eat durians? _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ A fresh durian ready to be purchased at an Australian market. 2. How do you think animals that eat durians help the durian trees? _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ 4. What animals do you think would be attracted to flowers of the durian tree? _____________________________________ 5. What other two plants of the ‘Mallow’ family are most important to you and why? What part of the plants do you use? Plant 1_______________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ Plant 2_______________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ 3. Tomatoes (Lycopersicones culentum) Guess What Rather than introducing European bumblebees, is there an Australian Tomatoes originate from South native bee that can do the job? America. When they were brought to Researchers have found a promising Europe, people thought they were buzz pollinator, the native blue-banded poisonous because many European bee. plants related to the tomato can be toxic. Today, our appetite for To bee or not to bee. tomatoes may be due to a man called Colonel Robert Gibbon Johnson. In Honey bees pollinate about a third of 1820, he stood in front of a large crowd the crop plants that we use for food of people and ate a whole basket of and so, are very important. However, tomatoes. To the crowd’s there is concern that the introduction astonishment, Robert survived. of honey bees to new environments has impacted native plants and pollinating insects. For example, honey bees can reduce the amount of nectar available Buzz pollination to native bees and can pollinate http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErO invasive plant species. t3hbe8qw There are concerns for the environment Tomatoes are produced after the if another exotic bee were to be flowersof the plants have been ‘buzz introduced to mainland Australia. The pollinated’ by bees. However, not native blue-banded bee is considered every type of bee has the right buzz, an alternative to the European like the common honey bee. bumblebee for use in the pollination of glasshouse tomato plants. In Europe, large bumblebees are used to buzz pollinate tomato plants grown Find out more in glasshouses. These bees do not occur on the Australian mainland, so Discover how blue-banded bees can be people manually pollinate the flowers an alternative to bumblebees for by vibrating the plants with a special pollination of tomato plants. tool. This is a costly process. http://www.aussiebee.com.au/abol- 010.html http://www.aussiebee.com.au/bumble beeharm.html Things to ponder 1. How many years have tomatoes been grown by people? _____________________________________ 2. Highlight the fruit and vegetables you have eaten that are likely to have been produced with the help of pollination by bees. Many flowers of our vegetable plants Tomatoes, Apples, Cabbage, hide their pollen in structures called Cherries, Pears, Squash, Plums. anthers. Some bees can ‘buzz’ the anthers so that the pollen falls out for them to collect. 3. What do the European bumblebee and the native blue banded bee have in common? _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ 4. What problems could arise if bumblebees were brought to mainland Australia? _____________________________________ _____________________________________ _____________________________________ An Australian native, the blue-banded bee 5. How many different types of bees do you ‘buzz pollinates’ the flower of a tomato plant. (Photo: KatjaHogendoorn). think there are that are native to Australia? 15, 150, 500 or 1,500 4.Golden Wattle (Acacia pycnantha) Interactions under threat Guess What Argentine ants have been accidently introduced to many countries where Botanists estimate that 11,000 plant they have become pest species. Most species produce specialised seeds that native ants cannot live in areas invaded are spread by ants. Ant-dispersed by Argentine ants. plants are particularly common in South Africa and Australia. So what happens to plants that have their seeds dispersed by native ants? An example can be found in South Africa. Unlike native ants, Argentine Seed spreaders ants do not effectively spreadthe Golden wattlesproduce seeds with an seeds. Without native dispersers attachment of ant food. This present, seeds are left on the soil attachment is called an elaiosome and surface where they can be eaten by is very attractive to ants. Ants locate rodents or burnt during bush fires. In the seeds that drop from plants and South Africa, Argentine ant invasion

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