Ecosystems Lesson

Ecosystems- are areas made up of living and non living organisms and how they interact.​

What makes up an Ecosystem:

Living Things- people, plants, and animals​

Non-Living Things- ​water, air, soil, and weather

Ecosystem

Aquatic

Coral Reefs

Savanna

Swamps

Deserts

Rain Forrests

Polar Prarie​

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​Some text here about the topic of discussion.

Types of Ecosystems

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Biotic vs. Abiotic

• Biotic- Bio(living) living things (plants/animals)

• Abiotic- A(no/not) Bio(living) NONLiving (soil, rocks, water)

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• 
  

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Multiple Choice

A deer dies in the wild is is considered biotic or abiotic?

• biotic

• abiotic

Multiple Choice

A plants leaves die and fall to the ground each winter, are the leaves biotic or abiotic?

• biotic

• abiotic

Multiple Choice

Is the Sun biotic or abiotic

• biotic

• abiotic

Producers (Make their own food/plants) are at the bottom of the food chain

• CONSUMERS (have to eat their food) depend on PRODUCERS (plants) for energy

• Heterotroph (eat different things)

PRIMARY CONSUMERS (HERBIVORES/ eat plants) (rabbit, giraffe, cow, cricket)

• SECONDARY CONSUMERS (Eat Primary consumers). (birds, hyena, snake)

• TERTIARY CONSUMERS (eat secondary consumers). (lions, Cheetahs, owls)

OMNIVORES- eat plants and animals

• CARNIVORES- Eat only meat

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Multiple Choice

If mice eat plants and insects what would they be considered?

• ominvore

• carnivore

• herbivore

Multiple Choice

If a Hawk eats a mouse, that eats the cricket, who feeds on the grass, what would the owl be considered?

• omnivore

• carnivore

• herbivore

In food chain the energy flow is the way in which the arrow points. An organism has to EAT food in order to get energy

• 10% of the energy is transferred from one level to the next.

• The organisms at the TOP of the food chain receive the LEAST amount of energy

• Ex. Lions sleep most of the day

the grasshopper has to eat the grass to get energy so the arrow is points to where the energy is going

If one portion of the food chain is disrupted the whole food chain suffers.

• ex. If a wildfire destroys all the grass on the prairies in Africa the Lions will be affected as well as all organisms in that food chain.

• No grass, no food for gazelle , no food for lions

Multiple Choice

Which organism is considered a secondary consumer?

• snake

• frog

• cricket

• grass

Multiple Choice

an organism that performs photosynthesis is called a

• consumer

• producer

• decomposer

• heterotroph

Multiple Choice

How much energy is transferred from one level on the food chain to the next?

• none of it

• all of it

• about 1%

• about 10%

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• ​Limiting Factors are conditions of the environment that limit the growth of a species.

• Because of these limiting factors, each ecosystem has a finite capacity for growth connected to its carrying capacity.

Limiting Factors

Multiple Choice

What is an example of a biotic limiting factor of an ecosystem?

• Disease spreading across an ecosystem.

• A hurricane destroying an ecosystem.

• Global warming affecting a polar ecosystem.

• First-order consumers feed directly on producers

• Second-order consumer feed on first-order consumers

• Third-order consumer feeds on second-order consumers

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Food Chains and Food Webs

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• Decomposers are organisms that gets energy by breaking down the remains of dead organisms and the wastes of living things.

• ​Producers make their own food through photosynthesis.

• Ecosystems get all energy from the sun! ​

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Food Chains and Food Webs

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• Animals coexist when they live in the same habitat but rely on different resources

  Mutualism is a relationship in which both species benefit

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Animal Relationships​

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• Commensalism is a relationship where one species benefits without benefiting or harming the other species

• Parasitism is a relationship between a parasite and its host where one species benefits and the other is harmed.

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​Animal Relationships

Multiple Choice

A small fish cleans the bacteria off of a shark. Both animals benefit from the interaction. What is this called?

• Mutualism

• Commensalism

• Parasitism

Multiple Choice

An example when one animal benefits and the other is neither harmed nor benefited.

• Mutualism

• Commensalism

• Parasitism

Predator vs Prey

• Predator- Eats other animals

• Prey- Gets eaten

• Predator and prey populations are linked, and changes in one creates change in the other

Predator-Prey Relationship

• A predator is an organism that eats another organism.

• The prey is the organism which the predator eats.

• Predator and prey often coevolve together.

Multiple Choice

The bear is the ________________ the fish is the ___________________.

• Autotroph, Heterotroph

• Prey, Predator

• Predator, Predator

• Predator, Prey

Multiple Choice

Grass, trees, flowers and bushes are all ______________.

• Consumers

• Predators

• Producers

• Animalia

Multiple Choice

The shark is the _______.

• Predator

• Prey

Multiple Choice

The rabbit is the _______.

• Predator

• Prey

Multiple Choice

The bird is the _______.

• Predator

• Prey

Review of Biotic vs. Abiotic

Multiple Select

Below is a list of factors in an ecosystem. Select all the abiotic factors.

• Shelter

• Water

• Protists

• Sunlight

• Prokaryotes

Competition

• Interspecies Competition - members of the same species in an ecosystem compete for limited resources such as water, food, shelter, & mates

• Intraspecies Competition- members of different species in an ecosystem compete for limited shared resources such as food, shelter, water

Symbiotic Relationship

• Symbiosis- close and long term relationship/interaction between two different biological organisms

• Mutualism- relationship between two organisms of a different species in which both benefit

• Commensalism - relationship between two organisms of a different species; only one organism benefits and the other is unaffected

• Parasitism- relationship between two organisms of a different species; one organism benefits and the host organism is harmed

Multiple Choice

The study of the interactions between organisms and their environment is:

• Ecology

• Microbiology

• Biology

• Evolution

​The Niche

​Every species has its own tolerance, or a range of conditions under which it can grow and reproduce. A species’ tolerance determines its habitat, the place where it lives.

​A niche consists of all the physical and biological conditions in which a species lives and the way the species obtains what it needs to survive and reproduce.

An organism’s niche must contain all of the resources an organism needs to survive. A resource is any necessity of life, such as water, nutrients, light, food, or space.

​Predation, Herbivory, & Keystone Species

​Predator-prey and herbivore-plant interactions help shape communities.

Predation occurs when one organism (the predator) captures and eats another (the prey).

Herbivory is an interaction that occurs when an animal (the herbivore) feeds on producers (such as plants).

Sometimes changes in the population of a single species, often called a keystone species, can cause dramatic changes in the structure of a community.

Multiple Choice

competition

• all of the conditions surrounding an organism

• the struggle of organisms for the same limited resources

• available supplies of food, water, sunlight, and space in an environment

Multiple Choice

Available supplies of food, water, sunlight, and space in an environment

• environment

• resources

• competition

Multiple Choice

Which are some slow changes to an environment?

• climate change

• seasons

• continent shifts

• all of the above

Multiple Choice

What happens when an organism cannot compete successfully?

• nothing, they will be fine

• it will die

• it will either have to adapt, move or it will die

Multiple Choice

The parts of Earth in which organisms are able to live

• Biosphere

• Hydrosphere

• Pedosphere

• Atmosphere

Multiple Choice

On a small island in Lake Erie there is a squirrel population. The squirrels eat berries. How might a large population of berry bushes affect the squirrel population?

• The squirrels will stop eating berries because there are too many.

• The larger populations of berries will have no effect on the squirrel population.

• The larger population of berries will cause an increase in the squirrel population on the island.

• The larger population of berries will cause a decrease in the squirrel population on the island.