Welcome back to another TOEFL, everyone! In today’s segment, we’re going to learn how to take notes throughout the audio. Now, some are very long and some are short, but when it comes to the Part IV question, it’s much easier than Part III. So, I’m going to show you how to take notes (watch my video and listen to the podcast) and what you see down below are the notes I took on the video. So make sure you listen to the audio so you can piece them together.
two species affect each other
extreme example of mutualism
flowers/humming birds have evolved
nectar
color suited to vision
shape perfect size
high volume of nectar
meets energy requirements
blooming time – breeding season coincides
ants and trees
trees have something that ants live in / substance in food
ants attack plant-eating insects
two species rely on one another for survival
Mybesttest
Listening Transcript
Okay! so we said that coevolution happens when two species reciprocally affect each other’s evolution. In fact, coevolution is an extreme example of mutualism. For example, honey birds and bird pollinating flowers have evolved a mutualistic relationship. The flower has nectar suited to the bird’s diet, the color suited to the bird’s vision and the shape is a perfect size for the bird’s beak. Bird pollinating flowers usually have a higher volume of nectar pollinated by insects. This meets the birds’ high energy requirements. Therefore, the blooming time of bird pollinating flowers usually coincides with honey bird’s breeding season.
Another example of coevolution can be found in Acacia ants and Acacia trees. The Acacia trees have large hulking trunks that Acacia ants live in. The tree makes a substance that can be used by the ants as food, while the ants defend trees from herbivores by attacking plant-eating insects and other plants competing for sunlight. So…ultimately, in this relationship of co-evolution, two species rely on one other for survival, while reciprocally affecting each other’s evolution.
