Interwoven Life Cycles

This interactive diagram shows the connected life cycles of the soybean looper and wasp parasitoid—and it introduces a virus, a third partner in this complex relationship. Students can explore the details about each life stage at their own pace.

Have students explore, or do a whole-class demo and focus on the important details.
Tip: Make a worksheet to help student gather and process important information.

• Within ecosystems, organisms of different species depend on one another.
• Some species are completely dependent on others for their continued survival.
• Some ecological relationships include three or more species.

40 minutes

Individual student devices

Interwoven Life Cycles (explore)

• Why do you think the parasitized caterpillars stop growing?
• Where is extra energy (the energy diverted from growth) being used in the parasitized caterpillars?
• Do you think the wasp needs the virus to be able to successfully parasitize the caterpillar?
• What do you think the role of the virus is?