Partners in Decay: teacher key

Bugs That Clean Up, grade 8 edition, written for 8th grade. No bug on the clean-up crew works alone. Termites, ants, dung beetles, flies and worms lean on fungi, microbes and each other, and scientists have measured it.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. What do decay fungi do for termites?
   • They guard the nest
   • They carry eggs
   • They break cellulose into smaller pieces before the termites bite (answer)
2. How do young termites get the microbes they need to digest wood?
   • From nest mates, by trophallaxis (answer)
   • From the soil outside
   • From the queen's eggs
3. Why do leafcutter gardens host bacteria?
   • To make the leaves greener
   • To pull nitrogen out of the air for the fungus (answer)
   • To protect the ants from rain
4. What happened to dung pats that the whole community of insects could use in South Dakota?
   • They broke down about 30 percent less
   • They did not change
   • They broke down about 30 percent more (answer)
5. Why do year-round black soldier fly farms use enclosed, netted buildings?
   • To keep out birds
   • To stop the larvae eating meat
   • Because the flies cannot survive cold well outdoors (answer)
6. Why were worm casts used to check soil health?
   • Casts are made of sand
   • Worms avoid healthy soil
   • Earthworms ate crop leftovers and mixed them with soil (answer)

Words

• cellulose: tough plant fiber
• trophallaxis: sharing gut food
• eusocial: tightly social
• antibiotics: germ-killing chemicals
• nightcrawlers: deep-tunnelling worms