Ecosystems
5.L.2.1 Compare the characteristics of several common ecosystems, including estuaries and salt marshes, oceans, lakes and ponds, forests, and grasslands.
5.L.2.2 Classify the organisms within an ecosystem according to the function they serve: producers, consumers, or decomposers (biotic factors).
5.L.2.3 Infer the effects that may result from the interconnected relationship of plants and animals to their ecosystem.
Vocabulary Words:
Ecosystem: an interconnected community that includes all living and non-living things
Biotic Factor: the living or once-living things in an ecosystem
Abiotic Factor: the non-living things in an ecosystem
Terrestrial Ecosystem: land based ecosystem
Aquatic Ecosystem: water based ecosystem
Biotic & abiotic factors
What biotic factors and abiotic factors do you see in this ecosystem?
Terrestrial & Aquatic Ecosystems
Examples: deciduous forest, rainforest, grassland
Examples: saltwater, freshwater, estuary
producers, consumers, & decomposers
Producers: Use energy from the sun to make their own food (through photosynthesis)
Consumers: Get energy by eating other plants/animals
Decomposers: Get energy by breaking down dead plants/animals and waste, help return nutrients to the soil
Food chains & food webs
Food Chain: a model that shows how energy flows through an ecosystem
Food Web: a model that shows the complex feeding relationships between organisms in an ecosystem; consists of many different interlocking food chains.
What happens when there is a change in a food web?
Find out what happened to the food web in Yellowstone National Park!