Download Ecosystem - mssarnelli

Warm-Up
• Update your Table of Contents for
today…write your homework
• Get your Ecology Vocabulary out to be
checked!
• Get something to correct your Evolution
test with!
Date Session
#
4/30
9
Activity
Page
#
Ecosystem Basics
12
Limiting Factors
13
Essential Question
for this Unit
What are the components that
make-up an ecosystem & how
do their relationships maintain
balance and stability within
that ecosystem?
What is an
Ecosystem?
• Ecosystem: A system formed by the interaction
of both the living and non-living components
that make up an environment…
• What are those living and non-living factors
called again?
• Biotic - living
• Abiotic – non-living
Levels of the
Environment
Where does ecosystem fall within the levels of the
environment?
Draw the diagram and place each of the words in
correct level of the environment:
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 a community of organisms with their
environment…this includes both biotic and
abiotic factors in the environment!
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. They can be
described based on their size, distribution or density
• Species: organisms of the same species 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 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 every
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, describe the habitat and niche of each
organism
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
habitat and niche
TIPS: 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?
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
Practice with
Limiting Factors
• Complete the reading and
questions…start in class, finish
for homework!
Warm-Up
• Update your Table of Contents for today…
• Get Limiting Factors homework out to be
checked!
• Answer on page 14: What qualifies as a
relationship within an ecosystem? Can
you give examples?
Date Session
#
5/1
10
Activity
Relationships in an Ecosystem Part 1
Page
#
14
Do You
Remember?
• How organisms interact with and respond
to the biotic and abiotic components of their
environment?
• How factors such as food, water, shelter,
and space affect populations in an
ecosystem?
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
–Commensalism: One species benefits,
the other does not benefit or get
harmed
–Parasitism: One species benefits, the
other is harmed
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 of 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 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 relationship help maintain
balance & stability in an ecosystem?
Let’s investigate the answer to this
through the “Oh Deer!” game
Relationships:
Predation
How does this 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 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…