1. Plants and Animals are Interdependent

2. Living Things and the Environment
Organism – a living thing
Habitat: The environment that provides these things. A PLACE in which an organism lives.
Niche - The ROLE of an organism in its community or environment.
The niche includes the type of food the organism eats, how it obtains food, and
which other organisms use
the organism as food.

3. Biotic vs Abiotic Factors
Bio = LIFE
Biotic factors - the living things in an ecosystem
Abiotic factors – the non-living things in an ecosystem

4. Levels of Organization Review
Cells - The smallest living parts of an organism.
Tissues - large groups of cells all doing the same job.
Organs - groups of tissues that work together to do a job.
Organ system - A group of organs that work together to perform a major function in a plant or animal.
Organism - an individual animal, plant, or single- celled life form.
And the levels continue!

5. Levels of Organization Cont’d
Population – a group of organisms of the same species living in an ecosystem
Community – the living part of an ecosystem; all the populations that live together in the same area
Ecosystem – all the interactions and relationships of living organisms with one another and with their physical environment within a certain area.
An ecosystem can be as small as a drop of rain water or as large as the ocean.
It is several small communities interacting with each other.
Biome – a group of land ecosystems with similar climates and organisms
Biosphere - the sphere or area around the planet Earth where life exists

6. Levels of Organization

7. Carrying Capacity and Limiting Factors
Carrying Capacity - the largest population (amount) of an organism that can live in one area.

8. Competition
The struggle between organisms to survive as they attempt to use the same resources.
Example: An area can only
provide enough food, water and
shelter for so many organisms.

9. Limiting Factors - An environmental factor that limits the growth of a population
ABIOTIC FACTORS - abiotic factors can act as LIMITING FACTORS that keep a population at a certain level
desert environment -- hot temperature and little water are examples of limiting factors
different species living in the desert are LIMITED mainly to those types of plants and animals that need very little water and can survive extreme temperatures
BIOTIC FACTORS - biotic factors interact with other living organisms and the physical environment and can also be LIMITING FACTORS
disease (bacteria), predators, food resources

10. CC and LF Video Clip

11. Energy Roles in Ecosystems
Each of the organisms in an ecosystem fills the energy role of a:
Producer
Consumer
Decomposer

12. Producer/Autotroph (PLANTS)
Energy enters most ecosystems as sunlight. Sunlight is captured by the leaves of plants and is stored as sugar for energy.
A producer is an organism that captures energy from light and makes food with that energy.
Examples: plants, trees, flowers

13. Consumer/Heterotroph
Consumers - an organism that consumes or eats other living things to get energy.
Herbivores – eat plants only
Omnivores – eat plants and animals
Carnivores – eat animals only
Scavenger - carnivore that eats dead organisms

14. Decomposer
Decomposers - break down waste and dead organisms into more basic parts and returns the raw materials to the ecosystem.

15. Food Chains and Webs Video Clip
Food chains and food webs show the flow of energy through an ecosystem.

16. Food Chain
Food Chain - is a series of events in which one organism/species eats another and obtains energy.

17. Food Web
Food web - consists of many overlapping food chains in an ecosystem.
The arrows follow the flow of energy and do NOT show what eats what.

18. Energy Pyramid
amount of energy moving from one feeding level to another
Energy and matter
are constantly being
cycled.
most energy is
available at bottom
producer level
less energy as you move up pyramid
less animals are able to survive.

19. The Circle of Life
Water is essential for life. It makes up about 70% of our universe and our bodies.
2 substances that are necessary for survival are:
Carbon
Oxygen
They continue in a cycle.
Remember the photosynthesis
and respiration cycle?

20. Mufasa Explains The Carbon Cycle
carbon atoms are cycled through plants, animals, the earth’s soil, water, and atmosphere
Example:
plants take CO2 from the atmosphere and use it for photosynthesis.
animals eat the plants and use the carbon to build their own tissues.
these animals return CO2 into the air when they exhale AND carbon returns to the soil during their decomposition after they die
new plants or small microorganisms then use the carbon atoms, starting the cycle all over again. 
Carbon Cycle

21. You are what you eat!

22. What is Biomass?
The total mass (the amount of MATTER) of all organisms (plants, animals and bacteria) in each trophic level.
We can view biomass in a pyramid showing
that biomass decreases as you go up the
pyramid.
In most ecosystems, the
biomass of the producers
is greater than that of the
consumers.
Decomposers recycle the
nutrients in the waste
materials of dead organisms.
Why would there be more
biomass in some parts of Idaho
or the US than others?

24. Brain Break
Thumb War
Thumb War is easy:  Simply lock fingers together and then tap alternately with your thumbs to the chant:  "One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war".  
Then you can get started with the war.  
The first person to pin the others thumb down for three seconds so they can't move it is declared the winner.