14.1 Living Things and the Environment

Essential Question:

How Do Living Things Affect One Another?

What Does an Organism get From Its Environment?

What are the Two Main Parts of an Organism’s Habitat?

How is an Ecosystem Organized?

Living Things and the Environment

Pgs. 476-481

7th Grade Ms. De Los RiosPopulations and Communities

Vocabulary 14.11. Organism- one type of living thing

2. Habitat- an environment that provides the things a specific organism needs to live, grow, and reproduce.

3. Biotic factor- a living or once living part of an organism’s habitat

4. Abiotic factor- a nonliving part of an organism’s habitat

5. Species- a group of similar organisms that can mate with each other and produce offspring that can also mate and reproduce

6. Population- all of the members of one species living in the same area

7. Community- all the different populations that live together in a particular area

8. Ecosystem- The community of organisms that live in a particular area, along with their nonliving environment

9. Ecology- The study of how organisms interact with each other and their environment.

Love SongThe gray, golden brown, and Goodman’s mouse lemurs are some of the world’s smallest primates. These three lemurs look so similar they cannot be told apart. Looking so similar makes it difficult for the lemurs to find members of their own kind or species during mating season. However, it seems that the lemurs can identify their own species by song. Scientists recorded the mating calls of the three species of lemurs and discovered that the lemurs reacted more to the calls from their own species. This allows the lemurs to pick the right mate, even at night.1.If you were looking for your sneakers among several pairs that looked just like yours, what characteristics would make it easier for you to find them?

2. What do you think would happen if a lemur mated with a different kind of lemur?

My Planet Diary pg. 476

What Does an Organism Get From Its Environment? Pg. 477

In a forest, you might see ferns growing in the damp soil and woodpeckers building nests in tree trunks. It might even feel cool and shady, as if there isn’t much sun breaking through the treetops.

What is the main energy source of this living system?

The sun is the main energy source in this living system. The sun’s energy is transferred between organisms, such as when an

animal eats a plant. This is one of the many ways in which living things interact with their environment and depend on it for survival.

A woodpecker is one type of organism, or living thing

An organism gets food, water, shelter and other things it needs in order to

live, grow, and reproduce

from its environment/

Habitat

Habitat- The environment that provides the things a specific organism needs to live, grow, and reproduce.

What Does an Organism Get From Its Environment? Pg. 477

An organism gets food, water, shelter, and other things that it needs from its environment or habitat.

Figure 1 What’s Wrong With This Picture? List Give three reasons why this prairie dog would not survive in this habitat.

A prairie dog gets food, shelter, and other things from a prairie habitat that has flat land, tall grasses, and little rainfall.

A rocky ocean shore habitat would not provide what a prairie dog needs to survive.

Assess Your Understanding pg. 477

I get it! Now I know that an organism’s environment provides__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What are the two parts of an Organisms Habitat? Pg. 478

An organism interacts with both the living and nonliving parts of its habitat.

Biotic FactorsBiotic factors are the living, or once living, parts of a habitat. In the prairie dog’s habitat, plants that provide food and decomposing plants are biotic factors.

Ferrets and eagles that hunt the prairie dog are also biotic factors.

Worms and bacteria that live in the soil are biotic factors too.

Abiotic Factors Pg. 478

Abiotic factors = The nonliving parts of a habitat.

Water, sunlight, oxygen, temperature, and soil are all abiotic factors in a prairie dog’s habitat.

figure 2 Factors in a Prairie Habitat pg. 478

Factors in a Prairie Habitat

A prairie dog interacts with many biotic and abiotic factors in the prairie habitat.

Add another biotic factor to the picture. For each abiotic factor, draw a line from the text box to an example in the picture.

Biotic and Abiotic FactorsBrine shrimp eggs are used in Florida, and across the world to feed fish hatcheries.Salt is an abiotic factor found in some environments. To see how the amount of salt affects the hatching of brine shrimp eggs, varying amounts of salt were added to four different 500-mL beakers.

1.Observe: In which beaker(s) did the eggs hatch? _____________

2.Infer: The manipulated Variable was _______________________

3.Challenge: Beaker ______was the control.

4.Draw Conclusions: What can you conclude about the amount of salt in the shrimps’ natural habitat? ___________________

Apply it! Pg. 479

Assess Your Understanding pg. 479

1a. Interpret Diagrams: List two biotic and two abiotic factors in figure 2.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Explain: Name two abiotic factors in your habitat and explain how your life would be different without them.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I get it! Now I know that the two parts of an organism’s habitat are

_____________________________________________________

How is an Ecosystem Organized? Pg. 480

1. OrganismsA species is a group of organisms that can mate with each other and produce offspring that can also mate and reproduce. The black-tailed prairie dogs of the Nebraska plains are all members of one species.

2. PopulationsA population refers to all the members of one species living in a particular area. All of the prairie dogs in a prairie dog town are a population.

An ecosystem is organized into 4 levels.

How is an Ecosystem Organized? Pg. 480

3. CommunitiesAll of the different populations that live together in an environment are a community. For example, a prairie includes prairie dogs, hawks, grasses, snakes, and many other organisms.

4. Ecosystems

All the living and nonliving things in an area. An ecosystem is made up of the community of organisms that live in a particular area, as well the nonliving surroundings.

How is an Ecosystem Organized? Pg. 480

The study of how living things interact with each other and with their

environment is called ecology.

The smallest level of organization is a single organism, which belongs to a population that includes other members of its species. The population belongs to a community of different species. The community and abiotic factors

together form an ecosystem.

Ecological OrganizationThe smallest level of organization is the organism. The largest is the entire ecosystem. Describe: Draw or write how an ecosystem of your choice is organized. Identify each level. Include biotic and abiotic

examples.

Fig. 3 Levels of an Ecosystem pg. 480

Assess Your Understanding pg. 481

2a. Define: How would you define a species? __________________

_______________________________________________________

b.Classsify: All of the different kinds of organisms in a forest are a (community / population)

I get it! Now

I know that ecosystems are organized into ____________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________