Slide 1 / 115 Slide 2 / 115 6th Grade Ecosystem Dynamics 2015-08-27 www.njctl.org Slide 3 / 115 Slide 4 / 115 Breaking It Down Lab Table of Contents: Ecosystem Dynamics What environmental factors affect the rate of decomposition? Make careful observations for the next 10 days. Click on the topic to go to that section · Intro to Ecology · Ecological Interactions · Population Dynamics · Energy in Food Webs Slide 5 / 115 Slide 6 / 115 Ecology Ecology is the study of the interactions between organisms and their environment. Introduction to Ecology This picture includes one squirrelfish (red), two cleaner wrasse (little blue-striped fish) and some coral. What interactions can you observe in this picture? Return to Table of Contents
Slide 7 / 115 Slide 8 / 115 Levels of Organization Ecology Species (smallest) Scientists often classify living things into different kinds of Population The squirrelfish is being cleaned groups. by the cleaner wrasse. Community The cleaner wrasse are being In an ecosystem, classifications protected by the squirrelfish. are known as levels of Ecosystem All of the fish are being protected organization. by the coral. Biome Organisms are able to interact with living and nonliving Biosphere (largest) aspects of their environment. Slide 9 / 115 Slide 10 / 115 Species Population Species is a group of organisms that share common characteristics. Individuals within a species are only able to breed with others from the A population is a group of the same species living in the same same species. place, at the same time. Blue and gold snappers are Examples of different species include the following: found in the Pacific, from Mexico down to Ecuador. Although they are all the same species, a group of snappers that live off the coast of Ecuador is a different Panda Bald Eagle Blue Spruce population than a group that live off the coast of Mexico. Pandas cannot breed with eagles because they are different species. Slide 11 / 115 Slide 12 / 115 Community Ecosystem A community is composed of all the different populations of An ecosystem includes all of the living and nonliving factors that exist in a community. species that live together in a given area. This deciduous forest community is composed of What living factors lots of different populations: do you see in this ecosystem? trees · deer · fungus · What nonliving insects · factors do you see birds · in this ecosystem? bears · What are some ways that the organisms in this community interact with each other?
Slide 13 / 115 Slide 14 / 115 Factors Factors Abiotic factors are physical, nonliving factors that shape an ecosystem. · Plants Biotic factors are the living things that · Sunlight · Animals make up an ecosystem. · Precipitation · Fungi · Temperature · Bacteria · Wind Temperature Wind · Soil type · Nutrient availability Nutrients Soil Slide 15 / 115 Slide 16 / 115 Biome Biome A biome is a set of ecosystems that share similar characteristics. Biomes are often defined by abiotic factors such as climate, geology, moisture, and soil type. This is the tundra, the world's coldest and driest biome. The average annual temperature is -28 C. It is very windy and receives about the same amount of precipitation as the desert. Look at the map. How is a biome related to the climate of its area? Slide 17 / 115 Slide 18 / 115 Biome Biosphere There are also marine biomes. What type of marine biomes are located near you? All of the terrestrial and marine biomes blend into each other on Earth. Source: US Dept. of Agriculture The biosphere is the sum of all the ecosystems established on Earth. Click here to watch a video of beautiful imagery of different biomes.
Slide 19 / 115 Slide 20 / 115 1 Which is not a level of organization in an ecosystem? 2 A chipmunk and a ground squirrel are two different species. This means that they cannot A Population A live in the same area. B Neighborhood B interact in any way. C Community C breed. D All are levels of organization in an ecosystem D eat the same food. Slide 21 / 115 Slide 22 / 115 3 There are many types of populations within a given 4 Which is not true of ecosystems? community. A Ecosystems only contain living things. True B Ecosystems contain both living and non-living things. False C Ecosystems are found on both land and in water. D Ecosystems only contain several communities. Slide 23 / 115 Slide 24 / 115 5 Which of the following is not an abiotic factor? 6 Which is not a biotic factor? A rocks A people B water B plants C soil C sunlight D All are abiotic factors D All are biotic factors
Slide 25 / 115 Slide 26 / 115 Stranded! Activity 7 All biomes have similar climates. You are stranded in your biome! Conduct research and think carefully True in order to determine what items you need in order to survive? False Slide 27 / 115 Slide 28 / 115 Ecological Interactions Organisms in an ecosystem interact with their surroundings in numerous ways. They can interact with both biotic and abiotic components. Remember this squirrelfish? Ecological Interactions List a biotic and abiotic interaction of the squirrelfish with its environment. Return to Table of Contents Slide 29 / 115 Slide 30 / 115 Habitat Habitat The term habitat describes the specific area where an organism lives within an ecosystem. This penguin's habitat is the ice shelves of Antarctica. A habitat is like an organism's home within an ecosystem. The saguaro cactus's habitat An organism's habitat is the desert of the answers the question "Where do you live?". southwestern US.
Slide 31 / 115 Slide 32 / 115 Niche Niche An organism's niche is a description of the role it plays in its habitat. A niche includes all aspects of where and how an organism lives including: An organism's niche * the type of food it eats answers the question * how it obtains food "How do you make a * where it lives in its environment (tree, nest, hive, etc.) living?". * when and how it reproduces Komodo Dragon Niche Komodo dragons live in the Indonesian Islands. They hunt and ambush invertebrates, birds and mammals. They lay up to 20 eggs at a time in self-dug holes. The eggs incubate for eight months. Komodo dragons take nine years to mature and can live up to 30 years. Slide 33 / 115 Slide 34 / 115 8 The Venus flytrap lives in subtropical wetlands where 9 The Venus flytrap is a carnivorous plant that catures the soil is low in nitrogen and phosphorus. This is a insects and arachnids that crawl on its leaves. description of the Venus flytrap's Although they produce food via photosynthesis, their prey gives them nutrients that are lacking in their environment. They are perennial plants, meaning that A habitat. they flower every year. This is a description of the Venus flytrap's B niche. A habitat. B niche. Slide 35 / 115 Slide 36 / 115 Organisms need... Needs of Organisms All organisms need certain things to survive. How many can you think of? Write your ideas below. Food Water Shelter Air
Slide 37 / 115 Slide 38 / 115 Importance of the Environment Ecological Interactions Organisms are constantly interacting with biotic and abiotic factors Every organism in an ecosystem survives by obtaining their needs in their ecosystems in order to obtain food, water, shelter and air. from the environment. The act of obtaining these needs leads to different types of This beaver gets food by eating plant interactions within an ecosystem. life. He gets water from the local river or stream by which he lives. He gets air Competition · from the surrounding atmosphere. He Predator/prey · makes their own shelter by building a Mutually beneficial · den out of wood. Clownfish receive shelter from the anemone and the anemone receives In what ways does this beaver interact with biotic factors in the nutrition from the presence of the environment? How about abiotic factors? clownfish. This is a mutually beneficial interaction. Slide 39 / 115 Slide 40 / 115 Competition Obtaining Needs Organisms in ecosystems often have needs that overlap with one another. Perhaps they eat the same food or they use the same type of As organisms try to survive in an ecosystem, their needs shelter. sometimes overlap with other organisms. When there are more organisms than there are resources, this leads Consider the beaver again. The beaver eats plant life. Many other to competition. Organisms must compete, or fight, for resources in rodents, however, also eat plant life. If there are more beavers and order to survive. rodents than there are available plant life, what will happen? Write your thoughts below: In this picture, three different types of animals are competing to eat the dead zebra. Can you find all three? Slide 41 / 115 Slide 42 / 115 Interspecific Competition Competition in Plants Competition can occur between different species or between Although we often think of animals when we talk about competition, members of the same species. plants also compete for resources Interspecific competition occurs between members of different Plants compete for water, access to light, the minerals in the soil species. (Hint: "inter" means between) and attention of certain animals for pollination and seed dispersion. Different plants on the forest floor must compete for sunlight in order to survive.
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