1. Unit 5 Ecosystems and Populations
Section 1
Access Biology

2. Essential Questions/Big Ideas for this Unit
What is a biome?
What are the 6 major biomes?
What are the characteristics, animals and plants found in each biome?
What is an ecosystem?
What impacts population growth?
What is a food web?
What are the differences between consumers/producers? Scavengers/decomposers?
What kinds of natural disasters impact our world?
What man-made disasters are influencing our world?
Essential Questions/Big Ideas for this Unit

3. SC.912.L.17.5 Analyze how population size is determined by births, deaths, immigration, emigration, and limiting factors (biotic and abiotic) that determine carrying capacity.
SC.912.L.17.In.2 Identify that living things in an ecosystem are affected by changes in the environment, such as changes to the food supply, climate change, or the introduction of predators.
SC.912.L.17.Su.2 Recognize how animals and plants in an ecosystem may be affected by changes to the food supply or climate.
SC.912.L.17.Pa.2 Recognize what happens to plants and animals when they don’t get enough food or water.
SC.912.L.17.9 Use a food web to identify and distinguish producers, consumers, and decomposers. Explain the pathway of energy transfer through trophic levels.
SC.912.L.17.In.5 Identify the components of a food web, including sunlight, producers, consumers, and decomposers, and trace the flow of energy from the Sun.
SC.912.L.17.Su.5 Identify producers, consumers, and decomposers in a simple food chain.
SC.912.L.17.Pa.5 Recognize that animals (consumers) eat animals and plants for food.
SC.912.L.17.20 Predict the impact of individuals on environmental systems and examine how human lifestyles affect sustainability.
SC.912.L.17.In.8 Describe ways the lifestyles of individuals and groups can help or hurt the environment.
SC.912.L.17.Su.8 Identify ways individuals can help the environment.
SC.912.L.17.Pa.7 Recognize a way to help the local environment.
Standards for Unit

4. Sections for the Ecosystems and Populations Units
Vocabulary Power Point
Vocabulary Video Supports Power Point
Biomes, Ecosystems and Limiting Factors Power Point
Food Web Power Point
Human Impact on the Environment Power Point
Sections for the Ecosystems and Populations Units

5. all the living things in an ecosystem
biotic
all the living things in an ecosystem

6. non-living chemical and physical parts of the environment that affect living organisms and the functioning of ecosystems
abiotic

7. community
 the interaction of all species in a given area

8. A biome is a specific environment that's home to living things suited for that place and climate

9. tundra
a vast, flat, treeless Arctic region of Europe, Asia, and North America in which the subsoil is permanently frozen

10. grasslands
an area, as a prairie, in which the natural vegetation consists largely of perennial grasses, characteristic of sub-humid and semiarid climates

11.  is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and consequently living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life
desert

12. tropical forest
 are forested landscapes in tropical regions bounded by, the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, but possibly affected by other factors such as prevailing winds

13.  is a coniferous forest of the cold, subarctic region characterized mostly of pines, spruces and larches
taiga

14. the action of clearing a wide area of trees
deforestation
the action of clearing a wide area of trees

15. global warming
a gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth's atmosphere generally attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and other pollutants

16. pollution
the action of polluting especially by environmental contamination with man-made waste

17. natural disasters
a natural event such as a flood, earthquake, or hurricane that causes great damage or loss of life

18. are organisms that are able to make their own food using abiotic elements in the environment
producers

19. are organisms that eat organisms from a different population
consumers
 are organisms that eat organisms from a different population

20.  is an organism that decomposes, or breaks down, organic material such as the remains of dead organisms
decomposers

21. scavengers
A carnivorous animal that feeds or eats dead organisms, rather than hunting live prey

22. predator
A form of symbiotic relationship between two organisms of unlike species in which one captures and feeds on the other organism that serves as the prey 

23. prey
an animal hunted or seized for food, especially by a carnivorous animal

24. food chain
describes the order in which organisms, or living things, depend on each other for food

25. food web
Is the combination of all of the food chains which exist within a community

26. the natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism
habitat

27. herbivore
 are animals whose primary food source is plant-based

28. carnivore
an animal that gets food from killing and eating other animals

29. is a kind of animal that eats either other animals or plants
omnivore
is a kind of animal that eats either other animals or plants