Aim # 70: How do organisms have different roles in the environment? Date: April 28th, 2017 Aim # 70: How do organisms have different roles in the environment? HW: Daily Review of class notes Castle Learning due MONDAY Do Now: What do we call factors that can limit or decrease the size of a population? What is competition? Why are predator-prey relationships cyclical? What is carrying capacity? How can we determine the carrying capacity by looking at a graph.

Aim #70: How do organisms have different roles in the environment?

1) Does everybody in a community have the same job? No, each organism has its own ROLE in a community or NICHE

2) What is the niche of a plant population in a community? To produce food using the energy from the sun Producers - organisms that can make their own food

3) What is the niche of herbivores in a community? To eat plants Primary Consumers- animals that eat producers.

4) What is the role of carnivores in a community? To eat animals Secondary Consumers- eat primary consumers.

5) What is the niche of bacteria & fungi? To return nutrients back to the soil by breaking down dead organisms Decomposers – breakdown dead organisms

6) Why are decomposers the “Recyclers” of the ecosystem? They break down dead organisms & the wastes of living organisms to sustain their life processes & at the same time return raw materials back to the ecosystem.

Nitrogen Cycle:

7) What is a scavenger’s niche? To eat animal that were killed & leftover by secondary consumers

8) What happens if two organisms occupy the same niche? Organisms would compete until the best adapted population wins. Organisms can sometimes appear to occupy the same niche, but under more careful examination, they do not.

Compare and Contrast Primary & Secondary Consumers US movie: populations, habitats & niches

Let’s Review! What do we call an organism’s role in its community? What is the role of PRODUCERS? What is the role of HERBIVORES? What is the role of CARNIVORES? What is the role of bacteria and fungi? Why are the so important? What is the role of scavengers?