S3U4L2 - What is in an ecosystem? Part 2

What is in an ecosystem? Part 2

S3U4L2

Open Ended

Summarize what you have learned from the last lesson about what is in an ecosystem?

How would you go about making a plan to test whether both ecosystems have producers, consumers, and decomposers?

• First, you'd choose an ecosystem.

• Second, you'd choose living things that make up that ecosystem.

• Third, you'd try to identify these living things as producers, consumers, and decomposers.

• You'd repeat these steps with the other ecosystem. Then you'd check your results to see if each ecosystem has these types of living things.

In this screen, why does the background of the forest ecosystem look like a desert?

• The background on this screen doesn't have any living things in it.

• Once you add living things, you'll see the forest background.

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When you sort the consumers in each data table, how will you identify them?

• You will identify two types of consumers: herbivores and carnivores.

• Herbivores are consumers that eat only plants.

• Carnivores are consumers that eat only animals.

• (Omnivores eat both plants and animals, but they do not appear in this lesson.)

What are soil bacteria?

• Bacteria are very small living things that can't be seen without a microscope.

• Soil bacteria live in the soil and act as decomposers.

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Open Ended

What are corals and what are coral reefs?

Answer:

• Corals are animals that live in the ocean and eat tiny fish and algae.

• Their bodies secrete a substance that turns into a hard skeleton.

• Coral reefs are large structures made up of these hard skeletons.

Open Ended

What is a clownfish?

What is a clownfish?

• A clownfish is a fish that lives in the ocean.

• Its home is usually among the tentacles of the sea anemone.

• These tentacles sting other fish, but the clownfish is immune to this sting.

• After the sea anemone eats the fish it captures, the clownfish will eat the pieces that are leftover.

How did the clownfish get its name?

• A clownfish has bright colors that attract other fish to the sea anemone.

• Also, a clownfish swims around quickly among the tentacles of the sea anemone to protect its territory.

• These colors and this behavior remind people of a clown. 

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How can you draw conclusions about which ecosystem includes producers, consumers, and decomposers?

• Each data table show the living things you sorted as the ecosystem's producers, consumers, and decomposers.

• Check to see if only one ecosystem has these three types of living things or whether both ecosystems do.

This screen says that every ecosystem has producers, consumers, and decomposers. Does a vegetable garden have all three types of living things?

• Yes, it does.

• You might think that a vegetable garden has only producers: the vegetable plants.

• But the insects that eat these vegetables are consumers and the soil bacteria are decomposers. 

How can producers live where there is no light, such as in deep-sea ecosystems?

• These producers receive their energy from hot gases that are released on the ocean floor.

• With this energy—and other materials—they can make food, just as other producers can make food with sunlight.