Environment vs. Ecosystem

MS-LS2-4. Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations. [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on recognizing patterns in data and making warranted inferences about changes in populations, and on evaluating empirical evidence supporting arguments about changes to ecosystems.]

Learning Target

Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.

Success Criteria

I know the definition of Environment and Ecosystem.
I can tell the explain the relationship between producers and consumers.

Questions to Ponder

What is the difference between the words Environment and Ecosystem?

Forest Ecosystem - Gizmo

Observe and manipulate the populations of four creatures (trees, deer, bears, and mushrooms) in a forest. Investigate the feeding relationships (food web) in the forest. Determine which creatures are producers, consumers, and decomposers. Pictographs and line graphs show changes in populations over time.

Student Exploration: Forest Ecosystem

Vocabulary: consumer, decomposer, inorganic, organic, organism, population, producer

Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)

When a rancher puts cattle in a pasture, what happens to the amount of grass in it?
If someone adds thousands of small fish to a lake, how would the number of big fish change?

Gizmo Warm-up

The Forest Ecosystem Gizmo shows you the effects of adding organisms to, or taking them from, a forest. An organism is any living thing.

To start, do the following:

Click Advance year a couple times to see two years of growth.
Remove all Deer from the forest by clicking the minus (-) button until none remain.
Click Advance year a couple more times.
Select the DATA tab. Select Pictograph and click the Tree to show the size of the tree population for the past several years.
- How did removing deer affect the tree population?
- Why do you think this happened?
Under Choose organism, select the Mushroom.
- How did losing deer affect the mushrooms?
- Explain why this may have happened.

Activity A: Trees

Get the Gizmo ready:

Click Reset.
Select the FOREST tab.

Question: What role do trees play in the forest?

Form hypothesis: Where do you think trees get the nutrients they need to grow?
Predict: Based on your hypothesis, how will the tree population change if ALL other organisms (deer, bears, and mushrooms) are removed from the forest?
Analyze: Remove ALL organisms except trees. Click Advance year a few times and select the DATA tab. Was your prediction correct? Explain what you found.
Draw conclusions: Substances that contain carbon and are produced by living things are called organic. Examples of organic materials are sugar, blood, protein, and fat. Other materials, like water, carbon dioxide, oxygen, and ammonia, are called inorganic. Some living things, called producers, can produce the organic materials they need (like food) from inorganic matter. All other organisms are consumers; they consume organic matter since they cannot make it themselves.
- Do your results show you that trees are producers or consumers? Explain.
Analyze: Click the FOREST tab. Click the plus (+) button for mushrooms several times. Click Advance year a few times. Select the DATA tab. How did adding mushrooms affect trees?
Extend: The mushrooms thrived without hurting trees. How could this happen? Try for two possible explanations. Write your ideas in your notebook.

Activity B: Bears

Get the Gizmo ready:

Click Reset.
Select the FOREST tab.

Question: How do bears get the nutrients they need to live?

Explore: Using the Gizmo, try to figure out what bears depend on for nutrition.
Form hypothesis: How do bears get the energy and nutrients they need?
Predict: Based on your hypothesis, which population(s) would be hurt if bears were added?
Test: Click Reset. Click Advance year a couple times. Add as many bears to the forest as possible. Then go forward a couple more years. Select the DATA tab. Which populations were hurt by adding bears?
Classify: Are bears producers or consumers? Explain your reasoning.
Draw conclusions: An organism that breaks down organic matter into simpler materials (like carbon dioxide) is called a decomposer. Decomposers absorb nutrients from living things or the organic matter they leave behind. They do not need to kill to get their food.
- Do your results suggest bears are decomposers? Explain your reasoning.
Challenge: Using the Gizmo, figure out what bears prefer to eat most. Write your results and reasoning in your notebook.

Activity C: Mushrooms

Get the Gizmo ready:

Click Reset.
Select the FOREST tab (if necessary).

Question: How do mushrooms get the nutrients they need to grow?

Explore: Use the Gizmo to test if mushrooms feed on living things. Describe your trials and results in your notebook. What did you find?
Form hypothesis: How do mushrooms get their food?
Predict: Based on your hypothesis, how will the mushroom population change when other organisms are added to the forest? Fill in the middle column below with your predictions.
Test: Test your predictions with three separate trials. Open a Google Doc and title it: p1-Mushrooms-Last names. Duplicate the data table below and fill with your predictions and the results of your experiment. Paste snapshots of the three line graphs into your document. Finish by writing a brief conclusion to explain your findings.
Classify: Do your experiments suggest that mushrooms are decomposers (organisms that break organic matter down to simpler, inorganic matter)? Explain.
Extend: If mushrooms were producers, how would your results in question 3 have been different?

Back to Teams...

What are some other examples of producers?
Is it possible for an ecosystem to survive without producers? Explain why or why not.
What would happen eventually if there were no decomposers in a forest?

Ecology