Download help maintain balance & stability in an ecosystem?

Warm-Up
• Create a NEW Table of Contents for this section,
call it “Ecology”
• Write your homework – leave it to be stamped!
• Get your folder off the counter so we can file all
of the quizzes & tests from 3rd quarter!
Date
Session
#
3/27 &
3/28
1
Activity
Page
#
Vocab Preview for Ecology & Essential Question
1
Ecosystem Basics
2
Limiting Factors
3
What is Ecology?
Ecology – the scientific
study of interactions
among organisms in their
environment
Vocab Preview List
Essential Question
for this Unit:
What are the factors that
make-up an ecosystem & how
do their relationships maintain
balance and stability within
that ecosystem?
Head’s Up…
• The Essential Question will be a
short answer on your test for this unit!
• Your test for this unit will be a video
test in which you will need to be able
to identify examples of the vocabulary
from this unit!
Levels of the
Environment
Where does ecosystem fall within the levels of the
environment?
In the diagram place each of the words in the correct
level of environment from largest to smallest:
Species
Biosphere
Individual Organisms
Ecosystem
Population
Community
Levels of the Environment:
From Largest to Smallest
• Biosphere: all the ecosystems on earth
• Ecosystem: A system formed by the interaction
of both the living and non-living factors that
make up an environment
• What are those living and non-living factors
called again?
• Biotic – living factors
• Abiotic – non-living factors
Levels of the Environment:
From Largest to Smallest
• Community: all the populations of all of the
species that live in an area at the same time
• Population: all the organisms of a single species
that live in the same place at the same time.
• Species: organisms of the same species that
share characteristics and can breed with each
other
• Individual Organism: one single animal of a
given species
A Different Way to
Look at it…
Ecosystem
Community
Population
Population
Species
Individuals
Population
What About Habitat & Niche?
Within an ecosystem, each species
(or population of species) has a…
• Habitat: The place an organism lives
– The habitat supplies all the biotic and abiotic factors
the organism needs to survive
• Niche: an organism’s “role/job” in the ecosystem
– What it eats/how it eats, individual response to
resource changes, what it does to keep the ecosystem
functioning…etc.
If the niche of one organism overlaps the niche
of another organism, it will lead to competition!
An Example…
• Reginald the Red Wolf
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2L6N2di
E8jc
• What is Reginald’s habitat?
• What is Reginald’s niche?
5 Minute Field Trip
• You will be going outside IN AN ORDERLY
AND QUIET MANNER.
• Describe the school ecosystem:
– What type of ecosystem would it be if nothing had ever been
built?
– What types of communities do you see (or not see, but know
are there)?
– What populations of organisms do you see (or not see, but
know are there)?
– For three organisms identify their niche
If it’s Rainy…
Using your groups picture…
• Describe the ecosystem
• List biotic and abiotic factors
• List some of the various communities
and populations
• Select three organisms: identify their
niche
Think-Ink
Pair-Share
• What do all living organisms need?
• How might organisms in an ecosystem
interact in order to get the things they
need?
• What does this mean in terms of these
factors affecting the size of a population of
organisms?
Factors Affecting
Populations
• Carrying Capacity: the maximum number of
individuals a given area can support – there is a
limit!
• Limiting Factors:
– Density Dependent Limiting Factors – determined by
organism interactions - competition for food, territory,
mates, shelter; also disease & parasites from living
close together
– Density Independent Limiting Factors – usually abiotic
factors that can’t be controlled – weather,
temperature, fire, drought, flood, human activities
Vocab Preview List…
• Let’s revisit your vocab
preview list…how many words
can we check off already?
Practice with
Limiting Factors
• Complete the reading and questions…start
in class, finish for homework!
• Go through the vocab list – highlight the
words you think you need to focus on the
most
• Complete any make up work/extra credit!
Warm-Up
• Update your Table of Contents for today
• Write your homework – have it stamped!
• Get Limiting Factors homework out to be
checked!
• Answer on page 4: What qualifies as a
relationship within an ecosystem…list some
examples.
Date
Session
#
3/31 &
4/1
2
Activity
Page
#
Relationships in an Ecosystem Part 1
4
Predator-Prey Relationships Packet
5
Relationships
• Relationships between organisms fall into
3 main categories:
– Competition/Cooperation – competition
between organisms for limited resources OR
cooperation to gather those needed resources
– Symbiosis – any close relationship between
two different species that does not involve
predator-prey interaction
– Predation – organisms of one species killing
and eating those of another species
Relationships:
Competition
How does this relationship help maintain balance
& stability in an ecosystem?
Let’s Find Out…
Animal Fight Club – What are they fighting for?
http://www.animalfightclub.com/
Relationships:
Cooperation
How does this relationship help maintain balance
& stability in an ecosystem?
Let’s Find Out…
Elephants Show Cooperation on Test
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXcRw6Piaj8
Relationships:
Symbiosis
• There are 3 types of symbiosis:
– Mutualism: Both species benefit from the
relationship – 2 thumbs up
– Commensalism: One species benefits, the
other does not benefit or get harmed – 1
thumb up; one thumb sideways
– Parasitism: One species benefits, the other
is harmed – 1 thumb up; 1 thumb down
Example of…
• The most common
example is the
clownfish and the
sea anemone. The
clownfish takes
shelter among the
tentacles of the sea
anemone, and the
sea anemone is not
affected.
Example of…
• Sea Lampreys
attaching to native
fish species in the
Great Lakes and
living off the fish’s
body fluids
Example of…
Remora sharks have an
adhesive disk on their
dorsal surface, which
they use to attach
themselves to whales.
They clean the whale’s
skin and then get to
feed on the remains
from the whale's food.
Heads Down
Thumbs Up
• Put your head down, and as I read
each scenario use the thumb signals
I taught you to show me whether
the scenario is Parasitism,
Commensalism or Mutualism
Relationships:
Predation
Predator: Those that are doing the eating
Prey: Those that are being eaten
Relationships:
Predation
How does this predator-prey relationship
help maintain balance & stability in an
ecosystem?
Let’s investigate the answer to this
through the “Oh Deer!” game
Predation
Quick Write
1. What happened to the deer population
and the amount of resources after the
first round? What is this an example of?
2. How does the addition of a predator (or
multiple predators) help maintain
balance & stability in an ecosystem?
Predation
Quick Write
How does this predator-prey relationship help
maintain balance & stability in an ecosystem?
• Predators eat prey and maintain health of the prey
populations
• Predators eat the old, sick, weak – those “less fit” to
survive the help the evolution of the species
• Works like a cycle: As the population of prey
increases, then the predator population will increase
as their food source increases – they are able to eat
more prey, and in turn decrease the prey population
once again
Relationships:
Predation
More Practice!
Start now, finish for
homework…