This lesson will increase your knowledge of concepts covered in the following TEKS for biology:

1. This lesson will increase your knowledge of concepts covered in the following TEKS for biology: 3.a – Analyze, review, and critique scientific explanations, including hypotheses and theories, as to their strengths and weaknesses using scientific evidence and information 3.c – Evaluate the impact of research on scientific thought, society, and the environment 7.b – Illustrate the results of natural selection in speciation, diversity, phylogeny, adaptation, behavior, and extinction 9.d – Analyze the flow of matter and energy through different trophic levels and between organisms and the physical environment

2. This lesson will increase your knowledge of concepts covered in the following TEKS for biology: 12.b – Interpret interactions among organisms exhibiting predation, parasitism, commensalisms, and mutualism 12.c – Compare variations, tolerances, and adaptations of plants and animals in different biomes 12.d – Identify and illustrate that long-term survival of species is dependent on a resource base that may be limited 12.e – Investigate and explain the interactions in an ecosystem including food chains, food webs, and food pyramids

3. Previous LessonAcid Rain and Fishless Lakes

4. Question: What caused acid rain in N.Y.? From: Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, November 1981

5. Acid rain is caused by sulfur and nitrogen emissions from power plants in the Ohio River Valley Based on: Driscoll et al. 2001. BioScience 51. Photos courtesy of Texas Park and Wildlife Department

6. Question: How did lakes become fishless without biologists knowing?

7. Biologists monitored • adult gamefish • Adult gamefish are • not killed by low • acidity • They were present • but not reproducing, • eventually resulting • in fishless lakes

8. Question: What steps did the U.S. government take to combat the acid rain problem? From: U.S. News & World Report, November 1, 1999

9. In 1990, Congress amended the Clean Air Act to require polluters (electric companies) to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide. It has helped some but not all lakes to recover. Photos courtesy of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

10. Today’s LessonExotic Species and the Environment

11. Overview of Lesson Coevolution and exotic species Tree pests Killer bees Fire ants

12. Continental Drift Over 200 million years ago, continents were together and then they started to drift apart About 65 million years ago, continents began moving into their current positions So communities on each continent have coevolved over 65 million years

13. Coevolution Species in food webs have evolved together so that they are dependent on the presence of each other

14. Based on: Mader, S., Inquiry into Life, McGraw-Hill

15. Mimicry: An example of coevolution Blue jay Monarch Viceroy

16. Impact? Exotic Species Based on: Mader, S., Inquiry into Life, McGraw-Hill

17. Overview of Lesson Coevolution and exotic species Tree pests Killer bees Fire ants

18. Gypsy moths were brought from Asia to North America in 1860s and escaped from the house below 1869 Medford, Mass. From: Science, August 28, 1981

19. Spread of the Gypsy Moth From: Science, August 28, 1981

20. From: Smithsonian, May 1984 From: Smithsonian, May 1984 Caterpillars of gypsy moth eating oak leaves, their favorite food Fecal pellets of gypsy moth caterpillar

21. Damage to forests by gypsy moths From: Smithsonian, May 1984 Gypsy moths are causing billions of dollars of damage as they spread across the U.S. Cost includes control of moth and damage caused by the moth.

22. Recent tree pest Invaders out of 420 species From: U.S. News and World Report, September 9, 2002 Pests have no natural enemies and trees have not evolved defenses From: U.S. News and World Report, September 9, 2002

23. Overview of Lesson Coevolution and exotic species Tree pests Killer bees Fire ants

24. European honeybees • were brought to North • America by settlers for • honey production • They are also useful in • pollinating our • agricultural crops Photo courtesy of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

25. European honeybees are passive and only moderate honey producers Bee Hives Photo courtesy of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

26. Killer bees: an experiment gone bad • Bee keepers in Brazil intended to cross • European honeybees with African honeybees, • intending to produce a bee that was docile but • produced more honey • African queens escaped and hybridized in wild • to form the killer bee, a very aggressive bee

27. Killer bees are more aggressive than European bees, so their victim receives more stings per minute Photo courtesy of Texas Department of Transportation

28. Migration of killer bees from Brazil to the U.S. Based on: Scientific American, December 1993

29. Swarms of wild bees Photos courtesy of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

30. If a bee swarm arrives, call an expert to see if it is the killer bee From: American Scientist, September-October 1988 Africanized Bee (Killer Bee) European Bee

31. Overview of Lesson Coevolution and exotic species Tree pests Killer bees Fire ants

32. History of Fire Ants • Arrived in U.S. on a boat from • South America • Slowly migrated across the • southern U.S. • Federal government tried • unsuccessfully to control with • pesticides

33. Mounds containing millions of fire ants From: Science, March 18, 1994

34. Fire ants kill ground dwelling wildlife From Texas Parks and Wildlife, March 2000

35. Fire ants rafting on water From Texas Parks and Wildlife, March 2000 From: Dallas Morning News, June 7, 1998

36. From: Fort Worth Star-Telegram, April 1, 2000 Insecticides are getting in water supply systems

37. Phorid Fly From: Agricultural Research Service, USDA Photo by Sanford Porter

38. Next LessonOzone Hole and Global Warming