LEARNING TARGET: TO DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN LEVELS OF ORGANIZATION IN AN ECOSYSTEM, AND TO IDENTIFY NICHES OF ORGANISMS. Come in quietly Take out a notebook and vocabulary HW As I am checking HW,write tonight’s HW into agenda: Staple triangle notes in notebook, this will help you for tomorrow quiz! Study tonight! Complete the Do-Now DO-NOW What is the difference between population and community?

DO-NOW R- Populations and communities make up an ecosystem A- Populations are one species in an ecosystem. Communities are all the species or many species in an ecosystem. C- For instance lets take the ocean ecosystem. A group of lobsters is a population. A group of eels, fish, and sea anemones living in a coral reef is a community. For the record populations and communities are similar because they both group species but are different.

ECOLOGICAL LEVELS OF ORGANIZATION MISS SCILLIERI 6 TH GRADE SCIENCE

LEVELS OF ORGANIZATION FROM SMALLEST UNIT TO LARGEST Organism Population Community Ecosystem Most organisms live together in their ecosystems interacting with other populations, communities, and abiotic factors

B. Biosphere - part of the earth that supports life.

C. ECOSYSTEMS – SPECIFIC AREAS OF THE EARTH MADE OF BIOTIC AND ABIOTIC FACTORS. C. ECOSYSTEMS – SPECIFIC AREAS OF THE EARTH MADE OF BIOTIC AND ABIOTIC FACTORS. 1.1.

3. AN ECOSYSTEM IS MADE OF THE INTERDEPENDENCE AMONG THE COMMUNITY’S POPULATIONS AND LIVING AND NON LIVING FACTORS OF THAT COMMUNITY.

4. Habitat Habitat – the place where an organism lives in an ecosystem.

In all populations members compete with other members for food, water, mates, and other resources.

D. Community - a collection of interacting populations. Example: Trout population influences the eagle population because they use them for food. Less trout means less eagles and vice versa.

Niche - a particular function of a species in its community. It is the job of an animal unique to them for example the rainforests have hundreds of birds that share a habitat but not a niche Examples: Bees making honey Lions control the population by being predators Bacteria breaking down waste to return nutrient to soil

III. Adaptation – a change over time to fit a new or special use or situation. EACH ORGANISM IS ADAPTED FOR A CERTAIN ENVIRONMENT

CRITICAL THINKING If we are traveling to a grassland and have grass, grasshoppers, mice, and red tailed hawks what level do a group of red tail hawks fall into? The same grassland has grass, bugs, mice, and prairie dogs what is this level of organization? If the park has birch trees, maple trees, and oak trees do these trees all make up the same population? If we add the abiotic factors to the grassland we have created a?