Activity 10 - Animal/Plant Relationships

Focus
These are the oldest surviving tropical rainforests on earth. Over millions of years, animals and plants have adapted to each other very closely and depend on each other to survive.

Background
Rainforest plants depend on animals to pollinate flowers and disperse fruits. Birds like the cassowary, pigeons, metallic starlings and fig birds specialise in long distance dispersal of many tree species. Many animals have specific relationships with plants, which provide them with homes and food. If an animal or plant disappears the impacts flow through the rest of the food web. For instance, the loss of a top predator removes population control on lower predators. Their numbers increase, which impacts in turn on prey populations.

Additional useful resources are:

Cassowary Education Kit
• Cassowary Education Kit Booklet
• Cassowary Education Kit Activity Sheets

Webs of Life 1 Tropical Topics
Webs of Life 2 Tropical Topics

Pedagogy/teaching strategies
• Use drama to illustrate that each animal in a food web is essential to sustain a healthy ecosystem.

Activity sequence
1. Assign each student a particular role in the food web. Use sticky labels to indicate what role (animal/plant) each student has. Draw a large Blank Food Web Diagram in chalk on concrete. Each student stands in position according to their role. Each producer (plant) has a coloured ball of string. The string is trailed between food web elements until all animals are part of the food web. Cut the string link and observe the flow-on effect if one element of the food web is eliminated.

2. Look at the Seed Dispersal Fact Sheet and record information using a
Seed Dispersal Diagram.

3. The teacher becomes a large “old growth” tree in the rainforest. Students wear labels of animals which depend on the tree for survival (eg. possum, tree kangaroo, scrub python, fig parrot, honey-eater, pigeon). Students are also given labels of plants which depend on the tree for survival (eg. vines, wait-a-while, birdsnest ferns, orchids) and decomposers (eg. fungi, bacteria and insect larvae). As each animal, plant and decomposer is introduced, descriptions of why the tree is essential for the survival of each life form are presented. Create the scenario of the tree being marked for logging. Each life form responds to what they will miss when the old tree dies or is logged. Revise the concept of food chains, food webs, and cycles. Ask the students to identify which role their life form plays in a food web based around the ecosystem of the old tree.

4. Create a class mural based on a large diagram of a rainforest tree such as a fig. Each child illustrates and writes a brief description of why the tree is important.