Ecosystem: food web

1. Ecosystem: food web Standard 4 key idea 1 performance indicator major understandings 1.1 a-b

2. Ecosystem the basic unit of study in ecology, including the plant and animal community in interaction with the nonliving environment. Ecosystem=+ Living Organisms (biotic) Nonliving environment where the organisms live (abiotic)

3. Examples of ecosystems • Tropical rain forest ecosystem

4. Examples of ecosystems Savanna ecosystem http://morriscourse.com/elements_of_ecology/chapter_23.htm

5. Examples of ecosystems Deciduous forest ecosystem http://www.123rf.com/photo_11151531_colorful-autumnal-landscape-with-deciduous-forest-and-many-fallen-leaves.html

6. Population All the members of a particular species in a given geographical location at a given time. Example: Bird population around Onondaga lake http://letsgowalking.ca/?tag=water-birds

7. Populations can be categorized by the function they serve. (i.e. producers, consumers, and decomposers) http://churchillscience.edublogs.org/tag/decomposers/

8. Food web a complex interconnection of all the food chains in an ecosystem. http://deeptech.org/broadband-ecosystems/

9. Food webs identify the relationships among producers, consumers, and decomposers carrying out either autotrophic or heterotrophic nutrition.

10. Autotrophic nutrition: A type of nutrition in which organisms manufacture their own organic foods from inorganic raw materials. Heterotrophic nutrition: A type of nutrition in which organisms must obtain their foods from outside sources of organic nutrients.

11. Producer An autotrophic organism capable of trapping light energy and converting it to the chemical bond energy of food (for example, green plants; the organisms forming the basis of the food chain. http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks3/science/organisms_behaviour_health/food_chains/revision/6/

12. Consumer Any heterotrophic animal organism (for example, human being).

13. Decomposer Any saprophytic organism that derives its energy from the decay of plant and animal tissues (for example, bacteria of decay, fungus); the final stage of a food chain. http://ww2.valdosta.edu/~rkbryant/ebook4.html http://ecology5thperiod.wikispaces.com/Decomposers http://www.vetcheryl.com/2012/11/decomposer-close-up/

14. Group activity Let’s go outside and observe an ecosystem. 1) Take pictures of what you see. Take pictures of at least three different producers, three different consumers, and three different decomposers. Later, you will create a food web using the pictures. 2) Find five biotic factors and five abiotic factors and write them down.