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 – page 3
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
Ecosystem: all the populations of living and nonliving things in an environment and the interaction among them
Biome: a large scale ecosystem
Biomes Worksheet
Read and highlight information
Glue into journal
Add to Table of Contents
Land Biomes Brain Pop

5. Rainforest Biome Rainforest video
Make up about 7% of Earth’s surface, yet contain more than 50% of all plant and animal species on the planet
Warm and wet year-round, never below about 75 degrees fahrenheit
78 inches to 354 inches of rain annually
Three major layers:
Canopy: Top layer, where the thick leaves and tall trees form an “umbrella” over the forest
Understory: Shorter trees, bushes, and ferns, and the animals that live there.
Forest floor: Very little sunlight reaches the forest floor. Bugs, insects, and snakes make this place their home.
Rainforest video

6. Rainforest Biome examples
Canopy Layer
Understory Layer
Forest Floor Layer

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 (boreal forest)
- One of the 3 forest biomes, and has the largest total land area.
- Coniferous, evergreen trees have thin needles that have adapted to collect rain
- Total rain is only between 12 to 30 inches a year
- 6 month winters that can average -60 degrees fahrenheit
-Short, hot summers; because it’s so far north, the sun hits it directly
- Animals have adapted with thick fur to survive the winters. - Other animals will hibernate or migrate to stay safe.
- Has many bogs- swampy pools of water and dead plants that have collected over time.
Taiga Biome

9. Taiga Biome examples Summertime in the Taiga Top-down view of bogs
Taiga biome in winter

10. Tundra Biome Tundra Biome
Three types of Tundra: Arctic tundra, Antarctic tundra, and Alpine tundra.
Arctic tundra has many flat plains with no trees
Formed from retreating glaciers
Covered in ice and snow for seven to eight months of the year
Winters can reach -90 degrees, Summer temperatures rarely hit 50 degrees
Permafrost layer beneath the surface layer always remains frozen
In summer, the surface layer can melt, creating ponds and wet ground that will allow certain plants to grow.
Arctic and Antarctic tundras are cold deserts with less than 10 inches of rain annually.
Alpine tundras exist on mountaintops all over the world.
High winds and heavy snowfall
Tundra Biome

11. Tundra Biome examples
Arctic fox - coat turns white in the winters for camouflage
Antarctic tundra with moss growing (Summer)
Alpine biome

12. 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

13. 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

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

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

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

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

23. 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

24. Biotic and Abiotic Factors
Abiotic: a non-living organism
Biotic: a living organism
‘A’ = not
‘Bio’ = living
sps07_int_ecosystem/

25. 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

26. 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?

27. 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.

28. 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.

29. 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.

30. 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.

31. The Flow of Energy in Ecosystems

32. 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.

33. 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.
s/jams/science/ecosystems/food- webs.htm
Food Chains and Webs - Brain Pop

34. Example of a Food Web

35. 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.

36. 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.
gy/energypyramid/preview.weml

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

38. 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

39. 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

40. 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

41. 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
Brain Pop – Behavior

42. 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.

43. 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.
Brain Pop – Heredity
Study Jams - Heredity

44. 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.