Temperate+Deciduous+Forest+Interactions


 * Fictional Story**

A few years ago, in a forest where humans had not yet ventured through, there lived many organisms. These organisms thrived in this lush deciduous forest. There were also many interactions between them. Some of the organisms that lived in this beautiful forest were a Bald Eagle, a family of Fall Webworms, a Duckbill Platypus, a Ginkgo tree, and a notorious bacterium, E. Coli.

The Bald Eagle found this forest at a very young age. The bird knew that it would need to make a nest. It called out, "Is there a tree that would be willing to let me live on you?" for several days in a row. One day, finally, it heard a response. "Over here! You can live on me!" The tree responding was a Ginkgo tree. The Ginkgo tree said, "As long as you don't do me any harm, I really don't care if you live on me or not." The Bald Eagle responded, "Thank you very much!" And so these organisms lived in peace with one benefitting and the other indifferent.

Many months later, this bird was on a hunt one morning, and it sighted its prey. "Ah ha! I got you, Mr. Webworm!" "Oh no! Not me, please!" said the webworm in a shy voice, scared of its predator. "Oh yes! You please!" responded the Eagle.The Eagle soared down to the worm and ate it in one swallow."Mmm, I always love the taste of a nice webworm!" This predator-prey relationship between the Eagle and a family of webworms had been going on for around 3 months. The webworms went into hiding 2 days after Mr. Webworm got eaten. "I'm scared," One young webworm said. "Don't worry. The Eagle can't find us here," said its mother. "Thats what you think!" the Bald Eagle said in an echoing voice.

A month later, the Eagle left the forest and left the webworms safe to get near the Ginkgo Tree. The Webworms went and asked the tree, "Is there any way that you can provide us food and we can help you in return?" The Tree replied, "Yes there is actually. Can you please spread the seeds I have on my leaves? In return you can eat some of my bark and leaves." "OK," the webworms replied. So from that day forward, the webworms spread the seeds of the Ginkgo Tree to other places, and in return got to eat some bark and leaves off the tree. Both of them benefitted and had a mutual friendship,

In this forest there also lived a Duckbill Platypus. This platypus was very friendly and always trotted around the forest saying, "Hi everyone!" However, one day, it heard a voice from deep inside its intestines. "Hahahaha, I have you now! I, E. Coli, a deadly parasite, has infected you!" "Oh, no!" exclaimed the platypus, who was afraid of the parasite. "Oh, yes!" replied the E. Coli in a terrible way. "How can I get rid of you?" asked the platypus. "You don't! Hahaha!" "I don't believe you!" "You should." After this conversation, the platypus was seen no more. It was assumed that the deadly parasite E. Coli killed the poor Duckbill Platypus.

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