A symbiotic relationship benefits both parties.
The two of you have a symbiotic relationship:
she fixes your car and you style her hair.
In biology, symbiotic refers to any diverse organisms that live
together, but in this case, the relationship is not necessarily beneficial to both. Parasites, for
example, have a symbiotic relationship with their hosts, but only the parasite benefits.
DEFINITIONS AND USAGE EXAMPLES

Pronunciation: \sim-bee-ot-ik\
used of organisms (especially of different species) living together but not necessarily in a relation
beneficial to each
Usage:
 Indeed, there was a symbiotic relationship between the advent of the transistor radio and the rise of rock and

roll. Time Sep 9, 2014
"There has been a long symbiotic relationship between video games and recorded music." The Verge Aug 12, 2014
Directions: Discuss the meaning of the word with your students, with special emphasis on any
variations or nuances of the word specific to your discipline. Consider taking it a step further by
using one or all of the following ideas as you involve students with the new vocabulary. Remember to
preview all content you intend to share with students. Not all items on the lists provided below are
appropriate for all classes or age levels.

Science/Music)
“Listening to the Sounds of the Woods”
“I have a new respect for fungus and I owe it to music. The Living Symphonies is a
project that has this summer been touring some of Britain's woodlands.
Sound artists Daniel Jones and James Bulley have been creating bespoke pieces of music to reflect the ecology of
various forest glades around the country. Speakers are hidden in the undergrowth and are linked to computers that
perform a symphony composed of sounds linked to the plants and wildlife and changes according to the weather and time
of day. They create musical motifs for specific trees, animals and plants. We may not spot the moss and fungus under our
feet but in the symphony there are notes and phrases reminding us of these vital bits of the forest ecology.”
“Returning to the symphonic walk in the woodlands, I began to grasp that this was more than just a piece of music in a
beautiful place. It was presenting a vision. One repeated note in the symphony was reminding us of the fungus that lay
beneath us. Deep underground was a symbiotic relationship between the roots of trees and fungi. Each provides the
other with vital nutrients.
BBC News, 22 August 2014—Click on the picture to link to the article.
Click here to hear a sample: http://www.livingsymphonies.com/

(Science/Nature)
Look at these pictures depicting symbiotic relationships and discuss what each
participant “gets” that is beneficial. Consider having students complete a Quad Writing
to Learn activity with these pictures, or complete an analogy WTL activity.
Watch this video on Symbiotic relationships.
Symbiotic Relationships 10 min.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcQ5_zaJob0

(English/Seminar/General Interest)
“Steven Church Talks Essays, and His New
Book Ultrasonic”

The essay “It Begins with a Knock at the Door” addresses
the notion of writer as parasite:
Ultimately, I end up believing (at least in this performance of
the I) that our role as essayists, or writers, is that of the
ethical and efficient parasite… A true parasite does not bleed
its host dry. It does not kill the subject but keeps it alive, feeding off it, taking just enough to survive...
It is a symbiotic relationship, one that can at times even benefit the host.

Los Angeles Times Nov 18, 2014
http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-steven-church-talks-essays-and-his-new-book-ultrasonic-20141118-story.html#page=1

(Business/Technology)
“Beware All Retailers: Today's Youthful Customers Are Cybrids”
From: Forbes, 8 Dec. 2014
The current youth [is described] as cyber hybrids, or Cybrids for short. These young
consumers have a fully symbiotic relationship with the digital world around them.
Unlike Cyborgs, the science fiction characters who were part human and part
machine – Cybrids are able to fully interact, express feelings, and build strong
relationships that shape their shopping patterns.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/walterloeb/2014/12/08/beware-all-retailers-todays-youthful-customer-are-cybrids/

(Science)
“Microbiology: Here's Looking at You, Squid”
“Margaret McFall-Ngai has dissected the relationship between a
beautiful squid and its live-in bacteria — and found lessons for
microbiome research on the way.”
“Over that time, she has shown that this symbiotic relationship is
more intimate than anyone had imagined.”
From Nature,
14 January 2015

(The Arts/Music)
“Theory of Everything star Felicity Jones: 'Awards Are a Bonus'”
“As the stars of The Theory of Everything are keen to point out, the film is not a
straight biopic of the author of A Brief History of Time. It's more the story of how his
marriage was shaped and tested by the extremes of illness and academic success.
Opposite Redmayne's extraordinary portrayal of Professor [Steven] Hawking is Jones
as Jane Wilde, the fellow student he fell in love with at Cambridge in the 1960s.
. . . The
actress says she was struck by the "symbiotic relationship" between the couple.”
From: BBC Dec 31, 2014
To see the trailer, click on the picture to the right.
To read the article, click here: http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-30399134

(Science)
“Looming Coral Reef Disaster?
Scientists Divided”
The latest prediction for the risk of coral reef bleaching.

Corals harbor colorful symbiotic algae called
zooxanthellae, which use photosynthesis to produce
nutrients for themselves and their hosts.
From: Science Magazine Jan 8, 2015

(Seminar/General Interest)
Here is a quick, cute animation explaining the
concept of a symbiotic relationship.

(Astronomy)
“A Castaway from Ancient Mars”
Jay Piatek, a doctor and meteorite collector from
Indianapolis, controls two-thirds of the 2 kilograms of Black
Beauty [a shiny, scaly-skinned, 4.4-billion-year-old rock from
Mars] known to exist.
Meteorite collectors, dealers, and scientists are intertwined
in wary but symbiotic relationships.
Science Magazine, 24 Nov. 2014
http://news.sciencemag.org/people-events/2014/11/feature-castaway-ancient-mars
Click on these links
to learn more
about Black
Beauty.