Download Ecosystems and Adaptations

ECOSYSTEMS: ADAPTATIONS
WHAT IS AN ECOSYSTEM?
All living and non-living organisms live
in an environment. The physical
environment includes all non-living
things, such as soil, weather,
landforms, air, and water
! A single organism in an environment is
called an individual. !
One grasshopper in
a field is an individual.
!
WHAT IS AN ECOSYSTEM?
!
CONT.
Individuals of the same kind living in
the same environment make up a
population.
!
!
!
!
!
!
All the grasshoppers in a field are the
grasshopper population.
WHAT IS AN ECOSYSTEM?
CONT
All the populations of organisms living
together in an environment make up a
community. ! A community may include many different
populations like grasshoppers and ants.
!
WHAT IS AN ECOSYSTEM?
!
CONT.
An ecosystem is a community and its
physical environment together.
WHAT ARE HABITATS AND NICHES?
WHAT ARE HABITATS AND NICHES?
A habitat is a place in an ecosystem
where a population lives.
! Everything that an organism needs to live
can be found in its habitat.
!
HABITATS AND NICHES
CONT.
Many different populations can share a
habitat, but each population has a
certain role or niche.
! A niche is what an organism does in its
habitat.
! A niche includes where an organism
lives, how it has babies, and how it
stays safe.
!
HABITATS AND NICHES
CONT.
An adaptation is a trait or
characteristic that helps an organism
survive in its environment. ! Some adaptations are physical, while
others are just something the organism
does.
!
HABITATS AND NICHES
!
The flippers of a sea
turtle are adapted for
swimming.
!
CONT.
The feet of a desert
tortoise are adapted
for walking in sand.
HABITATS AND NICHES
CONT.
Another type of adaptation is
hibernation. Hibernation allows
animals to sleep and live during cold
winters.
! What animals do you know that
hibernate?
!
HABITATS AND NICHES
CONT.
HABITATS AND NICHES
!
CONT.
Some members of a species have
features that help them live in their
environment. The members with
special features are more likely to
survive. This feature can be passed on
through the organism’s baby.
Striped fur in the grass.
Green Frog on leaf
WHAT FACTORS AFFECT ECOSYSTEMS?
A balanced ecosystem has enough
resources for all of its living things. ! Changes in climate and resources can
effect populations in ecosystems. ! For example, rabbits eat plants.
Suppose a disease comes and kills the
plants. This would lower the rabbit
population because they would have no
food to eat. The animals that eat
rabbits would have to find new food
also.
!
WHAT FACTORS AFFECT ECOSYSTEMS?
Because most ecosystems have limited
supplies of food and other resources,
organisms may compete for resources. ! Predators are animals that hunt and
eat other animals.
! Prey are animals that are hunted and
eaten by predators.
!
WHAT FACTORS AFFECT ECOSYSTEMS?
!
Some prey change
body color to make
themselves invisible
to predators.
!
Other animals use
patterns of body
color, or camouflage
to sneak up on prey
WHAT FACTORS AFFECT ECOSYSTEMS?
Living and non-living things can
change the balance of an ecosystem. ! Once an ecosystem had changed, it
may take hundreds of years to recover.
In some cases, it is changed forever.
!
WHAT FACTORS AFFECT ECOSYSTEMS?
All living things respond to changes in
their environment. ! For example, plants shed their leaves to
prevent water loss in the winter. Some
animals move to warmer regions or
grow thicker coats of fur.
!
WHAT FACTORS AFFECT
Changes in an ecosystem can occur
very quickly. ! Sometimes living things die because of
these changes and they become
extinct.
! Extinction is the dying out of all the
members of a species. ! Scientist can learn about extinct
species by studying fossils, and the
rocks in which fossils are found.
!
WHAT FACTORS AFFECT ECOSYSTEMS?
Fossils give clues to how long living
things have moved, adapted, and died.
Fossils are the remains or traces of things
that once lived. ! Fossils and rocks show that species and
ecosystems have changed through out
Earth’s history.
!
WHAT FACTORS AFFECT ECOSYSTEMS?
!
Fossils in rock layers formed at the same
time as the rocks. The oldest fossils are
found it the bottom layer of rocks. !
!
!
!
Oldest Fossil
If there are not any dinosaur fossils in
rocks younger than 65 million years,
when do you think dinosaurs became
extent?
WHAT FACTORS AFFECT ECOSYSTEMS?
Scientist think that all dinosaurs died
about 65 million years ago. ! When many species die out about the
same time, it is called mass extinction. ! Climate change can also cause extinction.
Over the last two million years, large
parts of North America and Europe have
been covered many times by large sheets
of ice, or glaciers.
!
WHAT FACTORS AFFECT ECOSYSTEMS?
!
These periods are know as Ice Ages.
WHAT FACTORS AFFECT ECOSYSTEMS?
!
!
!
!
!
The Saber-tooth Cat survived the ice
aged because of its thick fur. However, it
died later due to warmer weather and
humans killing them.