1. Bellringer “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.” –John Muir (naturalist, writer, and founder of the Sierra Club) What do you think John Muir meant? How are humans “hitched to everything else”?

2. Ecosystems: Everything is Connected Section 4.1 Objectives: 1.Define the components of an ecosystem. 2.Describe the interaction of matter and energy among food chains and food webs.

3. Components of an Ecosystem Connections Web Ecosystem: all of the organisms living in an area + their physical environment. Biotic vs. abiotic (language skills) All the living and once-living organisms are biotic factors. (Identify on our web.) Non-living parts of the ecosystem (abiotic factors) are things like air, water, temperature, light, and rocks. (Identify on our web.)

4. Ecosystem Levels Biosphere Ecosystem Community – a group of various species that live in the same place at the same time and interact with each other Population – all members of the same species that live in the same place at the same time Organism – an individual living thing

5. Levels get larger as you go “up the ladder”. Explain the connection of each level to the preceding level.

6. Species: A group of organisms that are closely related and can produce fertile offspring. Habitat: the place where an organism lives White Plains Analogy

7. #28 – Connections Web Assignment Draw a possible connections web of an ecosystem containing the following organisms. (Include biotic and abiotic factors.) Describe at least 3 interactions in detail. 1.Honeybees 2.Sunflowers 3.Earthworms 4.Red-winged blackbirds 5.Moles