Transcript Ecosystems- Goal 1 - ditoddfifthgrade / FrontPage

Ecosystems
Science
Goal One
White Oak Elementary
Fifth Grade
2010-2011
Objectives:
1.01
Describe and compare several common ecosystems (communities of organisms and their
interaction with the environment).
1.02
Identify and analyze the functions of organisms within the population of the ecosystem:

Producers.

Consumers.

Decomposers.
1.03
Explain why an ecosystem can support a variety of organisms.
1.04
Discuss and determine the role of light, temperature, and soil composition in an ecosystem’s
capacity to support life.
1.05
Determine the interaction of organisms within an ecosystem.
1.06
Explain and evaluate some ways that humans affect ecosystems.

Habitat reduction due to development.

Pollutants.

Increased nutrients.
1.07
Determine how materials are recycled in nature.
Learning Outcomes:
The learner will be able to:
•list common ecosystems
•compare and contrast several ecosystems
•examine how organism function as producers,
consumers, and decomposers within a ecosystem
•consider how environmental factors affect an
ecosystem’s ability to support life
•evaluate how organisms interact within an
ecosystem
•explain and debate how humans affect
ecosystems
•establish how items are recycled in nature
Vocabulary and Definitions
 Abiotic: Non-living – examples of abiotic factors include soil,







water, temperature, bedrock, etc.
Adaptations: Characteristics that help an organism survive in a
particular ecosystem – ex. thorns, camouflage
Animal: consumer, must eat other organisms to survive
Bacteria: simplest one of the five kingdoms of life, single celled
organisms, decomposers, do not have membrane-bound nuclei,
ex: streptococcus, E. coli
Biome: where several habitats intersect
Biotic: living – ex. producers, consumers, decomposers
Carbon Dioxide: CO2, a basic nutrient, required by plants for
photosynthesis, also a product of decomposition
Carnivores: animals that eat only other animals
 Community: where several populations interact
 Competition: the struggle among organisms, both of




the same and of different species, for food, space, and
other vital requirements
Conifers: one of the five major plant groups, male
cones produce pollen that is spread by air, female
cones produce seeds (plant embryo, food supply,
protective covering) – ex. firs, pines, sequoia
Conservation: the careful utilization of a natural
resource in order to prevent depletion
Consumers: animals, must eat other organisms to
survive
Cooperation: mutually beneficial interaction among
organisms living in a limited area
Ecosystems
 Ecosystems come in a variety of sizes.
 They can be as small as a puddle of rain or as large as a
continent.
 When any group of living and nonliving things
interact, it can be considered an ecosystem.
 Any type of ecosystem is an open system in the sense
that energy and matter are transferred in and out of
the system.
 Natural ecosystems are made of both abiotic factors
(air, water, rocks, energy) and biotic factors (plants,
animals, and microorganisms).
 Within all ecosystems there are habitats that also vary
in size.
 The habitat is where the population lives.
 A population is considered any group of living
organisms of the same kind living in the same place at
the same time.
 When all of the populations interact, they form a
community.
 Non-living things interact with the community of
living things to form the ecosystem.
 Within the habitat, the needs of the organisms must
be met.
 These needs are food, water, temperature, shelter,
oxygen, and minerals.
 If the needs of the population are not met, that
population will move to an area more suited to its
needs.
 The processes of competition, predation, cooperation,
and symbiosis occur because two differing populations
cannot occupy the same niche at the same time.
 This means habitats are specific to a population.
 Each population has it own habitat though several
populations may share a habitat.
 Biomes are where several habitats intersect.
 Biomes are natural occurring environments, although
people can create controlled biomes.
 Within all biomes, habitats, and ecosystems is an
energy cycle.
 This energy cycle determines which populations
survive or die.
 Every living thing on Earth needs energy and
ultimately the sun is the source of all energy within an
ecosystem.

 A food chain is how energy is passed, in the form of food,





from one organism to another.
The organisms in the food chain are producers, consumers,
or decomposers.
Some organisms make their own food (producers), while
others need to eat other organisms for food (decomposers
and consumers).
A food chain is the path of food given from the final
consumer back to a producer.
A food chain is one single path, but in the real world there
is not a straight path, but rather a web of paths.
This is because many animals do not consume only one
type of plant or animal.
D ecomp oser
Th e
mushroo m
breaks dow n
t he haw k t o
nourish t he
p rimary
p roducer.
Primary
Producer
Th e mouse
w ill eat t he
p lant.
Primary
Co nsu mer
The mouse
w ill th en be
eat en by t he
snake.
Th ird
Consumer
Th e haw k
w ill die and
become
fert ilizer t o
t he
p roducers.
Secondary
Co nsu mer
Th e snake
w ill be
eat en by
t he haw k.
 A food web is made up of interlocking food chains.
 Water and energy are vital to the survival of an ecosystem,






conservation is needed.
Most ecosystems conserve the resources naturally. An
example would be the exchange of carbon dioxide (given
off from animals) and oxygen (given off by plants).
Another example is the waste of some species becomes the
food of another.
When there are limited resources, the conservation process
is urgent and more visible.
If the conservation efforts do not succeed, then species can
become endangered or even extinct.
Species become endangered with the available habitat can
no longer support the members of a population.
When a habitat disappears and all of the members of a
population die, the species is considered extinct.
 For a more detailed and specific explanation of food
chains, webs, and energy flow, go to:
http://www.marietta.edu/~biol/102/ecosystem.html#E
nergyflowthroughtheecosystem3.
Types of Biomes
Polar region
(Arctic and Antarctica)
Coniferous forests
Deserts
Grasslands
Everglades
Tundra
Rain forests
Mountain
Taiga
Chaparral