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Copyright © July 2015 by Anh-Thi Tang All rights are reserved by the author.

NOTE: I have provided the article with and without questions. Included is also options for optimized single-sided or double-sided printing. Choose which one you prefer.

• For Single-Sided Article Printing with Questions Print pages #4 & 5 • For Single-Sided Article Printing without Questions Print pages #4 & 6 • For Double-Sided Article Printing with Questions Print pages #4 & 7 • For Double-Sided Article Printing without Questions Print pages #4 & 8 • Suggestions for Implementation are on Page # 3

• Answer Key is on Page # 9

The Articles: I love using articles to help support classroom resources, however, it is often a challenge to find good articles that engage students as well as ones written in a language that they can understand. Online sources are sometimes risky because the links to them may fail in the future. Formatting online articles to print is also sometimes a challenge and can waste a lot of paper. Text books usually have case studies that are too short to be useful. Due to these types of frustrations, I have written a collection of engaging science reading articles to help make no-prep articles ready at your disposal. They are also great for sub plans. Please enjoy!

SCIENCE READING ARTICLES

© Tangstar Science

SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPLEMENTATION

Science Classroom Uses All Grades:

1) Sub plan – no prep printable; easy to assign and collect. 2) In school suspension plan – have something ready for these difficult

days 3) Independent work for early finishers – always have a set of printable

articles with questions handy. 4) No prep extra credit assignment – easy to assign and mark. 5) Warm up at the beginning of class – start your day with science

literacy 6) Assign at the beginning of the week and take up at the end of the

week – get a reading routine going. 7) Assign as homework and take up next day.

Younger Grades: (Gr. 7-10)

1) Read along with the class or with student volunteer readers. Give time for students to work on answers individually or in small groups. Take up answers after. (30-45 minutes)

Older Grades: (Gr. 11 & 12)

1) Individual warmup work at the beginning of the class. Take up answers at the end of the warm up period or at the end of class. (15-25 minutes in class)

2) Individual warmup work at the beginning of the class. Assign questions for homework and take up the next morning. (10-15 minutes in class)

ELA Classroom Uses

Use the article as a non-fiction informational text for close reading. Questions have been provided but you can choose to include your own reflection questions for more in-depth analysis.

© Tangstar Science

(6) Meet the yellow spotted salamander, scientifically known as Ambystoma maculatum. They live in the eastern parts of Canada and the United States and can grow 15 – 25 cm in length. Like the sea slug, this salamander also photosynthesizes but unlike the sea slug

feeding themselves by stealing chloroplasts? Kleptoplasty is actually a really useful strategy for survival. When sea slugs no longer need to feed, this frees up precious energy for mating and avoiding predation. slug, the salamander does not use this ability to generate food. (7) Within yellow spotted salamander eggs and embryos are living algal cells from a type of algae called Oophilia amblystomatis. Not surprisingly, Oophilia means egg-loving. Why is the algae there? Salamander eggs are covered in a jelly that prevents them from drying out, but this protective coating also prevents oxygen from diffusing from the air into the eggs. Without oxygen, the mitochondria within the eggs cannot produce the energy needed to keep the salamander eggs alive. This is where the algae do their part. They are located close to the mitochondria in the eggs and during the process of photosynthesis, algal chloroplasts produce oxygen as one of their products. Observe the equation for the reaction of photosynthesis:

photosynthesis taxonomy

PHOTOSYNTHETIC ANIMALS 8

(1) By now you know that plants can create their own food using a process called photosynthesis. You also know that animals, like us, cannot photosynthesize. However, recent research has discovered that there are a few animals that can photosynthesize, and there might be more yet to be discovered. Let’s examine two photosynthetic animals in closer detail. (2) Meet Elysia chlorotica, otherwise known as the green marine sea slug. This 3 centimeter sea slug looks a lot like the animal version of a leaf. It acquires its characteristic green coloring through consuming a type of green algae called Vaucheria litorea. V. litorea is a photosynthetic organism because of the chloroplasts in its cells. Chloroplasts are the organelles that help plants, algae, kelp and certain protists photosynthesize. (3) Juvenile sea slugs are brown with reddish spots because they have yet to begin feeding on the algae. When they do, they will ingest the algal cells but their digestive tracts will not entirely break down the cells. Instead, the slug’s digestive tract cells will engulf intact chloroplasts from the algae. These chloroplasts function within the sea slug the way they would within the algae, by photosynthesizing and producing food for the sea slug. Over time, enough chloroplasts will be consumed that the sea slug can live for nine months without eating. It can sustaining itself solely on the food made by the chloroplasts. The term for the addition of chloroplasts into the cells of a different host species is called kleptoplasty. (4) If stealing chloroplasts isn’t amazing enough, the sea slug is also suspected of being able to perform horizontal gene transfer (HGT) which is something previously only observed in bacteria. During HGT, a host organism steals genes from another organism and adds the genes to their own collection of DNA. The sea slug has used HGT to steal algal genes. These genes function to help support the healthy maintenance and function of the chloroplasts. Without these genes, the chloroplasts would require frequent replacement. (5) Are sea slugs so lazy that they would avoid feeding themselves by stealing chloroplasts? Klep

Elysia chlorotica, credit Patrick J. Krug

© Tangstar Science

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1) __________________ is the process whereby cells take in and use the chloroplasts of another type of organism. __________________ means egg-loving. A symbiotic relationship where both members in the relationship benefit is called __________________.

2) How do the chloroplasts help the sea slug?

3) What does the sea slug do with the energy that it saves by not needing to find food?

4) How does the algae help the salamander?

5) How does the salamander help the algae?

6) Record the equations for photosynthesis and cellular respiration.

Photosynthesis: _______________________________________________________________ Cellular respiration: ____________________________________________________________

What do you notice about these two equations and how is this important to the algae and the salamander?

carbon dioxide + water glucose + oxygen

Since the mitochondria are nearby, it’s very easy for them to soak up the oxygen as soon as it’s produced by the algal chloroplasts. What does the algae get from its relationship with the salamander? Look at the equation again and notice that photosynthesis requires carbon dioxide as a starting ingredient. The jelly that prevents oxygen from entering the eggs also prevents carbon dioxide from entering as well. Without the carbon dioxide, the chloroplasts can’t function to make food and the algae will begin to starve. Luckily, when the mitochondria

mitochondria produce energy, they use a process called cellular respiration which produces carbon dioxide as one of its products. Observe the equation for the reaction of cellular respiration:

glucose + oxygen carbon dioxide + water

Thus the salamander mitochondria produce the carbon dioxide that is needed by the algal chloroplasts for photosynthesis. Since the relationship between the algae and salamander is beneficial to both partners, this type of symbiotic relationship is called mutualism.

photosynthesis taxonomy

PHOTOSYNTHETIC ANIMALS

© Tangstar Science

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8

carbon dioxide + water glucose + oxygen

Since the mitochondria are nearby, it’s very easy for them to soak up the oxygen as soon as it’s produced by the algal chloroplasts. What does the algae get from its relationship with the salamander? Look at the equation again and notice that photosynthesis requires carbon dioxide as a starting ingredient. The jelly that prevents oxygen from entering the eggs also prevents carbon dioxide from entering as well. Without the carbon dioxide, the chloroplasts can’t function to make food and the algae will begin to starve. Luckily, when the mitochondria

mitochondria produce energy, they use a process called cellular respiration which produces carbon dioxide as one of its products. Observe the equation for the reaction of cellular respiration:

glucose + oxygen carbon dioxide + water

Thus the salamander mitochondria produce the carbon dioxide that is needed by the algal chloroplasts for photosynthesis. Since the relationship between the algae and salamander is beneficial to both partners, this type of symbiotic relationship is called mutualism.

photosynthesis taxonomy

PHOTOSYNTHETIC ANIMALS

© Tangstar Science

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8

1) __________________ is the process whereby cells take in and use the chloroplasts of another type of organism. __________________ means egg-loving. A symbiotic relationship where both members in the relationship benefit is called __________________.

2) How do the chloroplasts help the sea slug?

3) What does the sea slug do with the energy that it saves by not needing to find food?

4) How does the algae help the salamander?

5) How does the salamander help the algae?

6) Record the equations for photosynthesis and cellular respiration.

Photosynthesis: _______________________________________________________________ Cellular respiration: ____________________________________________________________

What do you notice about these two equations and how is this important to the algae and the salamander?

carbon dioxide + water glucose + oxygen

Since the mitochondria are nearby, it’s very easy for them to soak up the oxygen as soon as it’s produced by the algal chloroplasts. What does the algae get from its relationship with the salamander? Look at the equation again and notice that photosynthesis requires carbon dioxide as a starting ingredient. The jelly that prevents oxygen from entering the eggs also prevents carbon dioxide from entering as well. Without the carbon dioxide, the chloroplasts can’t function to make food and the algae will begin to starve. Luckily, when the mitochondria

mitochondria produce energy, they use a process called cellular respiration which produces carbon dioxide as one of its products. Observe the equation for the reaction of cellular respiration:

glucose + oxygen carbon dioxide + water

Thus the salamander mitochondria produce the carbon dioxide that is needed by the algal chloroplasts for photosynthesis. Since the relationship between the algae and salamander is beneficial to both partners, this type of symbiotic relationship is called mutualism.

photosynthesis taxonomy

PHOTOSYNTHETIC ANIMALS

© Tangstar Science

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8

carbon dioxide + water glucose + oxygen

Since the mitochondria are nearby, it’s very easy for them to soak up the oxygen as soon as it’s produced by the algal chloroplasts. What does the algae get from its relationship with the salamander? Look at the equation again and notice that photosynthesis requires carbon dioxide as a starting ingredient. The jelly that prevents oxygen from entering the eggs also prevents carbon dioxide from entering as well. Without the carbon dioxide, the chloroplasts can’t function to make food and the algae will begin to starve. Luckily, when the mitochondria

mitochondria produce energy, they use a process called cellular respiration which produces carbon dioxide as one of its products. Observe the equation for the reaction of cellular respiration:

glucose + oxygen carbon dioxide + water

Thus the salamander mitochondria produce the carbon dioxide that is needed by the algal chloroplasts for photosynthesis. Since the relationship between the algae and salamander is beneficial to both partners, this type of symbiotic relationship is called mutualism.

photosynthesis taxonomy

PHOTOSYNTHETIC ANIMALS

© Tangstar Science

Scien

ce Literacy

Warm

Up

8

1) __________________ is the process whereby cells take in and use the chloroplasts of another type of organism. __________________ means egg-loving. A symbiotic relationship where both members in the relationship benefit is called __________________.

2) How do the chloroplasts help the sea slug?

3) What does the sea slug do with the energy that it saves by not needing to find food?

4) How does the algae help the salamander?

5) How does the salamander help the algae?

6) Record the equations for photosynthesis and cellular respiration.

Photosynthesis: _______________________________________________________________ Cellular respiration: ____________________________________________________________

What do you notice about these two equations and how is this important to the algae and the salamander?

carbon dioxide + water glucose + oxygen

Since the mitochondria are nearby, it’s very easy for them to soak up the oxygen as soon as it’s produced by the algal chloroplasts. What does the algae get from its relationship with the salamander? Look at the equation again and notice that photosynthesis requires carbon dioxide as a starting ingredient. The jelly that prevents oxygen from entering the eggs also prevents carbon dioxide from entering as well. Without the carbon dioxide, the chloroplasts can’t function to make food and the algae will begin to starve. Luckily, when the mitochondria

mitochondria produce energy, they use a process called cellular respiration which produces carbon dioxide as one of its products. Observe the equation for the reaction of cellular respiration:

glucose + oxygen carbon dioxide + water

Thus the salamander mitochondria produce the carbon dioxide that is needed by the algal chloroplasts for photosynthesis. Since the relationship between the algae and salamander is beneficial to both partners, this type of symbiotic relationship is called mutualism.

Kleptoplasty (3) Oophilia (7) mutualism (7) The chloroplasts photosynthesize to make food for the sea slug so that it doesn’t have to search for its own food. (3) It uses this energy for mating and for evading predators. (5) When the algae undergoes photosynthesis, it produces oxygen for the salamander eggs. This is necessary because atmospheric oxygen cannot diffuse through the protective jelly that surrounds the eggs. (7) The salamander eggs produce carbon dioxide when their mitochondria undergo cellular respiration. This carbon dioxide is needed for the algae to perform photosynthesis. Without the photosynthesis to make food, the algae would starve. (7)

carbon dioxide + water glucose + oxygen (7) glucose + oxygen carbon dioxide + water (7)

They are the opposite equations of one another. The products of one reaction become the ingredients for the other reaction. This allows both organisms to benefit from each other by producing the vital ingredients needed for the survival of their partner. (7)

photosynthesis taxonomy

PHOTOSYNTHETIC ANIMALS

© Tangstar Science

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MORE ARTICLES

These and more in the bundle.

© Tangstar Science

More articles can be found in the COMPLETE BUNDLE of Articles for 35% OFF.

This bundle drops the price of each article down from $ 2.75 to $ 1.75.

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