Ecosystems A. ECOSYSTEMS AND HABITATS Ecosystem: Interacting organisms and their environment. Example: Rainforest ecosystem- Humid, hot environment. sloth, monkeys, snakes, trees, mushrooms, frogs, insects, plants, worms, birds, vines, ferns. Example: Rappahanock river ecosystem-aquatic environment, moderate temperature, bacteria, crabs, grass, clams, fish, barnacles, oysters, eels, algae Example: Arctic ecosystem-cold, freezing, dry environment, penguins, polar bears, fox * no vegetation, *there are bacteria found here.

Ecosystems Habitat: The surroundings, or home, of the organism Niche: The organisms' way of life in its habitat *how it gets its food, it’s location, how/when it reproduces.

Habitat Niche Monkey rainforest, Jungle *Trees Elephant Africa Asia - plains *on ground *terrestrial Rats not H2O not cold *ground dwellers Frog Pond or lake *aquatic *in pond *near pond Fowl Forest *trees *controls rodent population Beaver *near water *dam the stream or lake

Ecosystems B. Abiotic Factor: Any nonliving component of an ecosystem. C. Biotic Factor: Living components of an ecosystem. D. There are 3 ways to show how organisms interact in an ecosystem. Food Chain: The specific sequence of who eats who in an ecosystem; shows the flow of energy. Uses Arrows that show the direction the energy flows. Food Web: The interrelated food chains in an ecosystem. Food Pyramid: Shows the sequence of who eats who in an ecosystem; shows the flow of energy.

Food Pyramid Example: *as you move down the food chain/pyrimid/web, the amount of energy increases. *as you move up the food chain/pyrimid/web, the amount of energy decreases. Hawk Snake Mice Grasses

Parts of the Food Chain PARTS: Producers: plants consumers: scavengers and decomposer The levels of a food chain/web/pyramid are called Trophic levels. These levels show how much energy is transferred form one organism to another.

Parts of the Food Chain 1. Producers: *an autotroph *always at the lowest level EX: algea Ocean : phytoplankton plants grass flowers leaves 2. Primary consumer: *eats the producer EX: Ocean: Zooplankton rabbit; frogs; cows; horses; giraffe; mouse; catapillar;

Parts of the Food Chain 3. 2 (secondary) consumers: * eats the 1 (primary) consumers EX: snake; fox; hawk; owl; fish; whale; killer whale 4. 3 (tertiary) consumers: *eats the 2 secondary consumers EX: hawk, humans, giant squid 5. Scavenger: consumer that feeds on the dead and decaying organisms EX: Opposum; crows; vultures; raccoon Ocean: lobsters; crabs; creyfish

THE LEVEL THAT HAS THE MOST ENERGY IS THE PRODUCER LEVEL Parts of the Food Chain 6. Decomposer: breaks down decaying material into nitrogen, carbon. etc. and recycles the nutrients back into the soil + help producers. EX: ants, worms, mushrooms, roach THE LEVEL THAT HAS THE MOST ENERGY IS THE PRODUCER LEVEL *Their energy to grow comes from the sun!!!!

Which level has the highest population of organisms? Producer As you move up the chain/web/pyramid, what changes? The Energy gets lower. The number of organisms gets lower. The Biomass(total dry weight) usually gets smaller.

Types of “vores”…what they eat. Carnivore: Eats meat. Herbivore: Eats plants Omnivore: Eats both meat and plants.