TEKS Addressed: 7.1A, 7.1B, 7.2A, 7.2C, 7.2E, 7.3A, 7.3B, 7.3C, 7.4A, 7.4B, 7.10A, 7.10B, 7.10C

Introduction

This unit bundles Student Expectations that address the relationship between organisms and the environment. Different conditions of environments around the world support a different variety of organisms. An ecosystem with a greater variety of organisms is more likely to remain stable. Over time, ecosystems naturally tend to return to previous levels of biodiversity after being disrupted.

Prior to this Unit

• Grade 3

  • 3.9A – Observe and describe the physical characteristics of environments and how they support populations and communities of plants and animals within an ecosystem.

  • 3.9B – Identify and describe the flow of energy in a food chain and predict how changes in a food chain affect the ecosystem such as removal of frogs from a pond or bees from a field.

  • 3.9C – Describe environmental changes such as floods and droughts where some organisms thrive and others perish or move to new locations.

• Grade 4

  • 4.9B – Describe the flow of energy through food webs, beginning with the Sun, and predict how changes in the ecosystem affect the food web.

• Grade 5

  • 5.9A – Observe the way organisms live and survive in their ecosystem by interacting with the living and nonliving components.

• Grade 6

  • 6.12E – Describe biotic and abiotic parts of an ecosystem in which organisms interact.

  • 6.12F – Diagram the levels of organization within an ecosystem, including organism, population, community, and ecosystem.

During this Unit

Students use scientific practices and tools to investigate and describe how biodiversity contributes to the sustainability of an ecosystem, including how changes to the ecosystem can increase or decrease biodiversity. They observe and describe how different environments, including microhabitats in schoolyards and biomes, support different varieties of organisms. Students also observe, record, and describe the role of ecological succession. Additionally, students communicate and discuss their observations and record and organize data in their notebooks. Students continue to demonstrate safe practices as outlined in the Texas Education Agency-approved safety standards and consider environmentally appropriate and ethical practices with resources during investigations.

After this Unit

The relationship between organisms and the environment, biodiversity, and ecological succession will be studied in greater depth in high school Biology.