1. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems The following is a set up “Flip Card” to help learn the definitions of the ecosystem unit

2. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Ecology

3. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems The science of the relationships between organisms and their environments.

4. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Ecosystem

5. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems All living organisms that share a region and interact with each other AND non-living components of their environment…that is, their physical and chemical environment

6. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Biotic Factor

7. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Living things, their remains and features such as nest that are associated with the living thing’s activities. It includes insects, mammals, micro-organisms, plants, plant and animal remains, etc.

8. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Abiotic Factor

9. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems The non-living physical and chemical components of an ecosystem. Examples include temperature, wind, rainfall, air, water and minerals

10. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Autotroph

11. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems An organism capable of synthesizing its own food from inorganic substances using light or chemical energy. Green plants, algae and some bacteria are autotrophs.

12. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Heterotroph

13. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems An organism that cannot synthesize its own food and is dependent on complex organic substances for nutrition. Consumers are heterotrophs

14. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Sustainability

15. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Ability to maintain a natural ecological balance without weakening, interruption or loss of value

16. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Symbiotic

17. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems The living together (…or living relationship…) of two dissimilar organisms. It includes relationships such as mutualism, commensalism, predation and parasitism.

18. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Mutualism

19. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems A symbiotic relationship between individuals of different species in which both individuals benefit from the association. An example is the oxpecker (a bird) and the rhinoceros. An oxpecker eats ticks and other parasites that live on the rhino’s skin. The oxpecker gets food and the rhino gets pest control.

20. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Commensalism

21. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems A symbiotic relationship between two different kinds of organisms when one receives benefits from the other organism while the second organism in unaffected. An example a flatworm and a horsecrab. The flatworm attaches to the horsecrab and eats the scraps from the crab’s food; yet, the crab is unaffected.

22. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Parasitism

23. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems A symbiotic relationship where one organism (parasite) lives off of another organism (host) harming it and possibly causing death. The parasite lives on or in the body of the host. An example is Lyme disease. It is a bacteria that transmitted by black- legged ticks. Once in the host, the bacteria thrives while the host suffers

24. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Competition

25. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems A symbiotic relationship wherein two organisms occupying the same area try to utilize the same resource (e.g., eat the same food) that is limited in supply

26. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Photosynthesis

27. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Process in which the Sun’s energy is converted to chemical energy (i.e., sugar) 6CO 2 + 6H 2 O + Sun energy = 6O 2 + C 6 H 12 O 6

28. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Cellular Respiration

29. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Process by which sugar is converted to carbon dioxide, water and energy 6O 2 + C 6 H 12 O 6 = 6CO 2 + 6H 2 O + energy

30. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Producer

31. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Organism that makes its own energy-rich food compounds using the Sun’s energy (i.e., light) On land, most producers are green plants, and their colour comes from chlorophyll which captures light energy

32. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Consumer

33. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Organism that obtains its energy from consuming other organisms. Consumers CANNOT photosynthsize

34. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Food Chain

35. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Sequence of organisms, each feeding on the next, shown how energy is transferred from one organism to the next. NOTE: Food Chains do NOT exist in nature. Rather, they are part of a complex set of relationships

36. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Food Web

37. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems A representation or illustration of the feeding relationships within a community. A Food Web is a group of interwoven Food Chains

38. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Trophic Level

39. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems The level of an organism in an ecosystem depending on its feeding position along a food chain

40. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Ecological Niche

41. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems The relational position of a species or population in an ecosystem The ecological role and space that an organism fills in an ecosystem The function a species serves in its ecosystem (e.g., consumption patterns, behaviour, habitat preferences

42. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Carrying Capacity

43. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems The maximum population size of a particular species (i.e., number of individual organisms) that a given ecosystem can sustain indefinitely NOTE: Carrying Capacity is not fixed. It can be altered by human intervention (e.g., draining part of a swamp) or by naturally by “species invasions”

44. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Biodiversity

45. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Variety of life in a particular area. It is measured by counting the number of species in a specific habitat or ecosystem

46. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Biome

47. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems A large geographical region defined by climate (e.g., temperature and precipitation) with a specific set of biotic and abiotic features For example, a tundra biome is characterized by very low temperatures, little precipitation, poor soil quality, low biodiversity, small plants

48. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Tolerance Range

49. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Abiotic conditions within which a species can survive

50. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Species Richness

51. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Number of species in an area A diverse and healthy ecosystem has high species richness

52. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Limiting Factor

53. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Any factor that restricts the size of a population Limiting factors can be biotic (e.g., number of prey) or abiotic (e.g., hours of sunlight)

54. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Succession

55. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems The gradual and usually predictable changes in the composition of a community and the abiotic conditions following a disturbance

56. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Primary Succession

57. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Succession on a newly exposed ground where “no life” previously existed. Usually follows a catastrophic event such as a volcanic eruption

58. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Secondary Succession

59. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Succession in a partially disturbed ecosystem. Follows a minor disturbance such as a forest fire

60. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Equilibrium

61. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Describes the state of an ecosystem with relatively constant conditions over a period of time

62. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Pollution

63. Grade 9 Academic Science – Unit Ecosystems Harmful contaminants released into the environment