1. Ecosystems

2. Setting Up Your Journal
Title page
‘Ecosystems’ should be written on the page and you should include illustrations.

3. Table of Contents Essential Questions Page 4 – Essential Questions
Pages Vocabulary
Essential Questions
In what ways are environmental systems connected?
How do changing environmental systems affect organisms, including people?
How does the location on Earth impact the characteristics of an ecosystem?

4. Vocabulary You need to have 4 pages for this section.
Write the word ‘vocabulary’ on the top of each page.
Your first 2 vocabulary words will be:
1. Ecosystem
2. Biome

5. Biome: a large scale ecosystem Biomes Worksheet
Ecosystem: all the populations of living and non living things in an environment and the interaction among them
Biome: a large scale ecosystem
Biomes Worksheet
Read and highlight information
Glue into journal on page 10
Add to Table of Contents

6. Brain Pop video Rainforest video Land Biomes videos
All about the rainforest
Jot down notes while watching the video

7. Deciduous (Temperate) Forest
Average temperatures and average amount of rainfall
Exists on every continent, except Antarctica and Africa
Trees shed their leaves each year
Multiple seasons occur due to the amount of sunlight
Several layers of plants can be found here
Tall trees (which create a canopy) let light reach the bottom where bushes and smaller trees grow (unlike in the rainforest)
These plants provide a variety of habitats for animal life

8. Taiga Biome Tundra Biome Watch the video and listen for key elements
Jot down notes
Tundra Biome

9. Grasslands/Savanna Biome video Grasslands, Savanna, Prairie
also known as Savanna(Africa) or Prairies(North America)
mainly have grasses growing and few trees
little rain
long slender leaves allow little water loss in plants
Write down other info you found important from the video

10. Desert Biome video Deserts soil and air are dry little rain
sun shines most of the time
temperature hot in day (summer) and can be 
freezing at night (winter)
few plants: cactus and bushes
snakes, lizards, few mammals like rabbits
Write down other info you found important from the video

11. Mr. Parr's Biome song Terrestrial = land Aquatic = water
Aquatic Ecosystems
Learn about the difference between a freshwater ecosystem and a saltwater ecosystem

12. Water Biomes
Water-based regions home to a unique group of living things.

13. Vocabulary
Organism: an individual plant, animal, or single-celled life form
Individual: a single organism in an environment
Population: individuals of the same kind living in the same environment
Community: all the populations of organisms living together

14. Wetland Also known as swamp, marsh, or bog
Land covered with shallow water for all or part of the year
Water comes from rain, melted snow, underground spring
Marsh-grassy with reeds and cattails near river or lake
Bog- found in cool climate, spongy peat moss
Swamp- forested wetland full of trees and shrubs
Everglades Brainpop video
Bill Nye the Science Guy – Wetlands

15. River A ribbon of water that weaves over land
Constantly moving and changing
Can carve canyons and form waterfalls
Water comes from melted snow, springs, rainwater, underground
Water flows downhill
Underwater plants anchor in the river bottom
Water level drops and rises depending on rain fall.
Rivers Brainpop video

16. Vocabulary Habitat: a place in an ecosystem where a population lives
Niche: the role each population has in a habitat

17. Lake A pool of freshwater that fills low spots in land
Form from mountain snow, natural springs, along rivers, or behind dams
Trees line the sides of the lake
Water lilies grow on top of the water
Tall grasses are on the water edge

18. Estuary Where a river meets the ocean Part wet part dry
Forms brackish water (fresh water and salty water mixed)
Found on edges of continents and islands
Experience high and low tides
Mud is full of nutrients

19. Ocean Covers 75% of earths surface Very salty Largest water biome
Waves move water and has high and low tide
Sea weed and algae grow
Deep water gets no light so few producers and cold temperatures

20. Vocabulary
Producers: organisms that use sunlight to make the food they need from carbon dioxide and water
Consumers: all organisms in an ecosystem that eat to get the energy they need
Decomposers: consumers that break down the tissues of dead organisms

21. Biotic and Abiotic Factors
Abiotic: a non-living organism
Biotic: a living organism
‘A’ = not
‘Bio’ = living

22. Venn Diagram Abiotic Biotic -Water -Glass -Sand -Plastic -Dirt -Gold
-Oxygen -Rocks
-Temperature
-Clouds
-Whale -Coral
-Mushroom
-Snail -Paper
-Trees -Steak
-Mold -Hair
-Grapes
-Athlete’s Foot
-Salad -Grass
Desert
Tundra
Ocean

23. Comprehending
1. If all of the rocks ( A ) are removed from a desert ecosystem, what would happen to the population of rock dwelling lizards ( B ) and in turn the animals which eat them?
2. A ten mile area of trees ( B ) is removed from the tropical rainforest. How will this affect the amount of water ( A ) and the amount of oxygen ( A ) in the area?

24. Producers A Producer is a living thing that makes its own food.
Plants, grasses, shrubs, and trees are examples of producers.
Other examples include algae and bacteria.
Plants use the energy in sunlight to make or produce their own food.

25. Consumers Animals and people can’t produce their own food.
A Consumer is a living thing that gets energy by eating other living things.
All animals are consumers.

26. Consumers Continued There are three types of consumers
Herbivores: consumers that eat only or mostly plants.
Mice, rabbits, deer, and insects.
Carnivores: consumers that eat only or mostly animals.
Sharks, walruses, cats, lions, foxes
Omnivores: consumers that eat both plants and animals.
Pigs, bears, raccoons, and humans.

27. Decomposers Living things give off waste material.
A decomposer is a living thing that gets energy by breaking down wastes and dead plants and animals.
Decomposers break the material down into simpler materials which become part of the soil that helps plants grow.
Examples: bacteria and fungi such as mushrooms.

28. The Flow of Energy in Ecosystems

29. Food Chains
A food chain is a model that shows the path of energy from one living thing to the next.
If one kind of organism is removed from this food chain, all the other organisms in the food chain will be affected.

30. Food Web
A food chain shows the flow of energy from one living thing to the next.
Several food chains connect to form a food web.
Food Chains and Webs - Brain Pop

31. Example of a Food Web

32. Energy Pyramids Energy moves through ecosystems.
It goes from small animals to big animals to the biggest animals.
As each animal eats it stores only the energy it gets from the plant or animal it eats.
The bottom level always contains producers and holds the most energy.

33. Energy Pyramids Continued
Each higher level contains less energy and fewer living things.
The carnivores are at the top of the energy pyramid and contain least amount of energy.

34. Energy Pyramids
Each level is reduced
by 10 %.

35. Competition
Competition: the contest among organisms for the limited resources of an ecosystem
Organisms compete for water, food, shelter, and sunlight
Every animal has adaptations that help it compete for resources
Camouflage (or patterns of body color) and hunting in packs are two examples of adaptations
In some communities, animals live together and share resources. These animals do not directly compete with one another.
Study Jams - Animal Adaptations

36. Symbiosis
Symbiosis: a long term relationship between different kinds of organisms
Different kinds of organisms often live closely together for most or all of their lives.
Symbiosis may benefit both organisms or it may only benefit one and not the other (commensalism)
Parasitism is when one species grows stronger by harming another species
A relationship where both organisms benefit is called mutualism.
Flowers and bees and cleaner fish and sharks are both examples of mutualism.
Symbiosis - Study Jams
Symbiosis - Brain Pop

37. Instincts and Learned Behaviors
Some animal behavior is inherited and some is learned.
Instinct: a behavior that an organism inherits
Shared by an entire population (or some only for males and some only for females)
Examples include building shelters and finding mates
Squirrels instinctively bury acorns and Canadian geese fly south for the winter

38. Learned Behaviors: behaviors animals learn from their parents, not inherit from them.
Young lions must learn hunting skills from adult lions in order to survive
Birds learn what kind of nests to build from adult birds

39. Inherited Traits
A trait is a quality or characteristics of a living thing.
A behavior is a way in which a living thing acts or responds to its surroundings.
You inherit the color of your eyes and hair and the shape of your nose.
If you can roll your tongue you were born with this trait.
These traits are passed from parents to offspring.
Plants inherit ways of responding to their surrounding such as roots grow down and toward water. Stems grow up toward the sun.

40. Acquired Traits Not all traits are inherited.
An acquired trait is a characteristic that a living thing gets during its lifetime.
Acquire=to get
A scar is a physical trait that is acquired.
Many acquired traits are learned behaviors.
Example: young chimpanzees learn to use sticks as tools to get food.
You were not born knowing how to speak or read a book.

41. Inherited Traits and Acquired Traits
A girl has brown eyes.
A girl can speak Spanish.
A boy has long fingers.
A boy knows how to play the piano.
A plant has red flowers.
A plant’s leaves have spots from a disease.
A bird knows how to build a nest.
A bird knows where to find a feeder.
A tree has large, round leaves.
A tree’s trunk is bent by the wind.
A dog has curly fur.
A dog knows how to fetch on command.