Transcript Your “Environmental Stuff” www.wordle.net Ecology

Ecosystems & Energy Flow
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cADgZqts9mM
 The Big Ideas:
 Everything is Interconnected
 INTERDEPENDENCE
 “Circle of Life”
 Stuff Doesn’t Disappear (or appear)
 Again: NOTHING can come from nothing or
become nothing
 No Magic here, folks
Your “Environmental Stuff”
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www.wordle.net
Ecology
 The study of the interactions of living
organisms with one another and with
their physical environment
Ecosystem
• Group of _____________ interacting with
each other and their ______________.
• Organisms: Living Things!
• Like Plants, Animals, Microbes, etc.
• Physical Environment: Non-Living Things!
• Like Soil, Water, Sunlight, etc.
Parts of an Ecosystem
 Population: a group of individuals of the same
species in an area
 Habitat: the place where a particular
___________ of a species lives
 ___________ :all of the species that live
together in a habitat
 Abiotic Factors: the physical aspects of a
habitat
 Biotic Factors: the living _________ in a
habitat
Think about the Lion King
 Ecosystem: The African Savannah
 Includes all of the biotic factors: species’
populations (like the lions, giraffes, antelope,
trees, etc.)
 And all of the abiotic factors: pride rock, the
water hole, the land, etc.
 Species/Population: The Lions/ The Pride
 Habitat: The Pridelands
 This little part of the whole Savannah
 Community: all of the species together
Roles within an Ecosystem
 Producer: an organism that produces its
own food using energy from light or other
chemical reactions
 PLANTS, some bacteria, algae
 PHOTOSYNTHESIS
Roles within an Ecosystem
 Consumer: an organism that gets its energy
from eating other organisms
 Two Types of Consumers:
 Primary Consumers: eat producers
 AKA: Herbivores!
 Secondary Consumers: eat other consumers
 AKA: Omnivores and Carnivores
 Decomposer: an organism that get energy from
breaking down dead organisms
Ahem, an Extra Credit
Opportunity is calling you!
 Pick an extinct or endangered organism
 Tell its story- Picture, Paragraph or Two of
Information
 Basic Facts
 Habitat
 Interactions with other species (including humans)
 Why it’s endangered/extinct
 Other interesting information
 This website might be a good place to start:
 http://www.iucnredlist.org/