1. F LOW OF E NERGY

2. S OURCE OF E NERGY  Raise your hand if you included this on your schoolyard diagram.  The Sun provides the light and heat energy for most forms of life on Earth. Sun = Sol

3. P RODUCERS  Producers chemically change solar (light ) energy in the chlorophyll (the green color in the plant) into their food. Plants are producers.

4. F OOD  Plants make this food for their own use. They need the energy to survive and thrive.  Plants store the food in many places: roots, stems, leaves, and fruits.  Plants make food during the process called photosynthesis.

5. P HOTOSYNTHESIS  To undergo photosynthesis, plants need:  Sunlight  Water  Carbon dioxide

6. P LANTS U SE THEIR FOOD  Plants use food to grow.  Plants use stored energy (food) when the resources they need to grow and thrive are unavailable.  Plants use food to survive harsh environmental conditions, such as drought or cold winters.

7. C ONSUMERS  Consumers are organisms that get their energy by eating either producers (plants) or other consumers (animals).  They use this energy to survive, grow, and reproduce.

8. F LOW OF ENERGY  Let’s look at some of the diagrams you completed in your science notebook on the first day of this lesson.  What do they have in common?

9. F OOD C HAINS  When energy is transferred through organisms it is called a food chain.  Arrows are used to show the direction the energy is flowing.  In the schoolyard, you might see:  Remember, nearly every food chain starts with energy from the Sun.

10. E XAMPLE  Use the strips of paper to create a food chain for organisms that live in one of the Earth’s ecosystems. It might be the Arctic or the ocean, forest or desert, grassland or jungle.  Cut six strips of paper of different sizes, as shown here.  Color the widest strip yellow. This will represent the Sun.

11. E XAMPLE  Write the name of a plant on the second widest strip of paper.  On the third widest paper, write the name of an organism that eats the plant.  On the fourth widest, write the name of an animal that eats the organism on the second strip.  On the fifth and sixth strips, continue the sequence.  If you are unable to think of any organisms, name another plant, or a second animal, that may eat one of the organisms listed. Carnivore Plant Carnivore Herbivore

12. F OOD C HAIN  Link your food chain together beginning with the Sun. Add the producer and then the consumers (herbivores and carnivores). Use tape to secure the link. Sun Producer Consumer: Herbivore Consumer: Carnivore

13. C OMPARING FOOD CHAINS  Work in groups of four to compare the food chains that were created.  What do the food chains have in common with each other?  Could any food chains overlap with each other? Flounder Porpoise Plankton Small Mullet Shrimp

14. F OOD W EBS  When food chains overlap, a food web is formed.  Use the chains in your group to form a food web.  Draw the food web in your science notebook. Flounder Porpoise Plankton Small Mullet Shrimp Trout Sea Gull Crab

15. D ECOMPOSERS  Decomposers are organisms such as fungi, bacteria, and animals that play a major role in breaking down dead matter and returning nutrients to the soil. They also play a role in the nitrogen cycle.

16. DECOMPOSERS  Add some decomposers to your food web. Flounder Porpoise Plankton Small Mullet Shrimp Trout Sea Gull Crab Bacteria Mold

17. T HE MOST IMPORTANT ROLE  The most important role an organism (producer, consumer, or decomposer) plays in the ecosystem is ______ because ______.

18. C OMPARE R OLES IN THE E COSYSTEM Producer ConsumerDecomposer

19. Nutrition Facts

20. Reading a Nutrition Label Note the serving size. Calories indicate the amount of energy. Used for delayed energy Most common energy source Protein for growth

21. C ARBON D IOXIDE - O XYGEN C YCLE

22. ∞  Plants and animals are linked for survival through the carbon dioxide- oxygen cycle.

23. P HOTOSYNTHESIS  To undergo photosynthesis, plants need:  sunlight  water  carbon dioxide

24. P HOTOSYNTHESIS  Plants make food and oxygen in the process of photosynthesis.  Plants release the oxygen into the air.

25. C ARBON DIOXIDE  Carbon dioxide is found in the air.  It gets there from:  volcanoes erupting  burning fossil fuels  animals

26. A NIMALS  Plants make food through a process called photosynthesis  When animals consume the plants, they are consuming energy from the plants.  Animals convert the plant’s energy into the energy they need to grow and thrive.

27. C ARBON DIOXIDE - OXYGEN CYCLE Oxygen released during photosynthesis Carbon dioxide released during respiration

28. D IAGRAM THE C ARBON D IOXIDE C YCLE PhotosynthesisRespiration Add the materials that cycle: food, water, oxygen, and carbon dioxide.

29. E FFECTS OF C HANGE

30.  The prairie ecosystem has many populations  Use these organisms to create a food web.  The producers are in green, plant eaters in blue, and animal eaters in orange. TallgrassShortgrass Wildflowers Big Bluestem PronghornBuffalo MicePrairie Dog Black Footed Ferret Prairie Chicken Burrowing Owl Grasshoppers BeetlesSnakes

31. A L OOK AT O VERGRAZING  The next slide will show an overhead view of a prairie.  For this slide we will only focus on the grass and buffalo.  The grass is shown as green squares and the buffalo as black ovals.

32. G RASSLAND Each column has 10 squares of grass. There are 20 columns. Calculate how many squares of grass are available.

33. G RASSLAND Each buffalo needs 25 squares of grass to survive. How many buffalo can live in this area?

34. G RAZING What will happen if we put 20 buffalo in this area?

35. E FFECTS ON OTHER P OPULATIONS What will happen to the grass? Explain your answer.

36. E FFECTS ON OTHER P OPULATIONS What will happen to the ferrets? Explain your answer.

37. H IGHWAYS What effects will building a highway have on the area?

38. L ET ’ S E AT I NSTUCTIONS  You will be given one consumer and one nutritional need:  Horned Lizard, Scorpion, Sidewinder Rattlesnake, Roadrunner  Energy to move & catch food, Growth, Energy to store for a longer time.  Study the nutritional labels for different food sources and determine which would be best for your consumer to eat!  Organisms use energy to move, breathe, eat, and carry on other routine activities. If an organism needs a lot of energy it needs to eat foods high in carbohydrates.  Help them grow – needs a diet high in protein  If they need food during a certain season – needs a diet high in fat