Ecosystem

Learner Expectations

• Content Standard: Interactions Between Living Things and Their Environment.

• The student will investigate how living things interact with one another and with non-living elements of their environment.

• Learning Expectations:• 2.1 Investigate the relationships among

organisms in a specific ecosystem.

In this activity you will:

• Learn how living things interact with one another and with non-living elements of their environment.

• Write a paragraph using three facts you learned from this presentation.

What is a Population?• A population is one species living in

a specific area.

• For example, all foxes living in an area form a population.

• Another example, all dandelions growing in an area form another population.

What is a Community?• A community is formed from all living

populations found in an area.

• All the foxes, dandelions, grasshoppers, snakes, hawks, deer, and skunks living in one area each form their individual populations, but together make up a community.

What is a Ecosystem?

• An ecosystem is formed by the interactions between all living and non-living things

• How do living and non-living things interact in an environment?

What is Ecology?

• Ecology is how living and non-living things affect each other in their environment.

• We have already named several living things found in a community. Can you name non-living things in your community?

Non-living parts of your community

• Buildings

• Roads

• Bodies of water

• Automobiles

• Traffic lights

How non-living and living things affect each other

• Building more homes drives many animals out of their natural habitats or communities.

• Littering can destroy an animals habitat.

• Air pollution from automobiles and factories will affect the quality of life for all living things in a community, including people.

Writing Activity

• Write a paragraph about the effects that living and non-living things have on each other. Include three facts from this presentation and one fact that you discovered on your own.