ORGANISMS AND
WHERE THEY LIVE
Chapter 1
Lesson 4
OBJECTIVES
Students will:
 Explore how all the living and nonliving parts
of an environment interact.
 Describe how the living organisms interact
with each other and with non-living parts of
an environment.
DEFINITIONS

Ecology:
 The
study of how living and non-living things
interact.
DEFINITIONS

Ecosystem:
 The
living and non-living things in an environment
and all their interactions.
COMMUNITY

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Each ecosystem has its
own community.
The community is the
living parts of the
ecosystem.
A terrarium’s community
can have small plants
and animals.
A desert community
includes beautiful cacti
and deadly scorpions.
COMMUNITY
POPULATION
Communities can be divided into different
populations.
 A population is made of only one type of
organism.

HABITAT

Each organism’s home is called a habitat.
A whale’s habitat is the ocean.
 A termite’s habitat is a termite nest.

HOW ARE ECOSYSTEMS DIFFERENT?

What makes one ecosystem different from
another?
 In
many cases water is the key.
 Only a small number of species of plants and
animals can survive with little water.
HOW ARE ECOSYSTEMS DIFFERENT?
Another important resource that can affect an
ecosystem is soil.
 Areas with soil rich in nutrients can support
many plants.
 Few plants grow in areas with soil that does not
have many nutrients.

HOW ARE ECOSYSTEMS DIFFERENT?

The types of plants and animals that live in a
particular ecosystem depend on a combination of
these things.
 A woodland forest has enough rich soil and enough
water for many grasses to grow.
 However, a woodland forest does not have enough
sunshine which is needed by most types of grasses.
Why?
The sun’s light is blocked by the trees and the
forest floor is dark.
WHAT KINDS OF ECOSYSTEMS ARE THERE?
Climate differences produce a variety of
ecosystems.
 Climate is the long-term weather pattern of an
area.

TUNDRA
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Long, dark, and very cold
winters.
Few trees.
Ground is frozen for most of
the year, and trees can’t
grow.
Not easy to survive in these
very cold places.
Most tundra regions are in
the Arctic.
There is a small amount of
tundra on parts of the
Antarctic that are not covered
with ice.
Tundra is also found on
mountains at high altitudes
and it’s called alpine tundra.
TUNDRA


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In the summer, energy
from the Sun thaws the
top surface of the ground.
Plants grow, but trees
can't because the ground
is frozen a few inches
down.
Lots of animals go to the
tundra in the summer.
Some even stay through
the cold winter!
ARCTIC FOX
CARIBOU
GRIZZLY BEAR
HARLEQUIN DUCK
MUSK OX
POLAR BEAR
SNOWY OWL
MAP OF THE TUNDRA REGIONS
TAIGA

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It is located south of the
tundra region.
Very cold winters & cool
summers.
More rain or snow falls
than in the tundra.
Many fir and spruce trees
grow in this region.
Yellowstone, Sequoia, and
Yosemite are national
parks in the Taiga regions
of the United States.
GRASSLANDS
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Cold winters & hot
summers.
More rain or snow falls
than in the taiga.
Rich soil.
Grassland biomes are
large, rolling terrains of
grasses, flowers and
herbs.
We may know this areas
as the “prairie.”
GRASSLANDS MAP
DESERT

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Very hot days all year.
Very little rain.
Plants and animals
adapted to conserve
water.
There are four desert in
the western U.S.
GREAT BASIN DESERT IN NEVADA
MOJAVE DESERT IN CALIFORNIA
SONORAN DESERT IN ARIZONA
CHIHUAHUAN DESERT IN MEXICO
DESERTS OF THE WORLD
TROPICAL RAIN FOREST
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Hot and rainy all year.
8 to 14 feet of rain per
year.
Poor soil.
Variety of plants and
animals.
Most tropical rain
forests are located near
the equator.
MAP OF THE TROPICAL RAIN FOREST REGIONS
MILD FOREST LANDS

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Mild winters and
summers.
Plenty of rain or snow.
Tree lose their leaves in
winter.
Located in the eastern
United States, Canada,
Europe, parts of Russia,
China, and Japan.
MILD FOREST LANDS

The word "deciduous"
means exactly what the
leaves on these trees
do: change color in
autumn, fall off in the
winter, and grow back
again in the spring.
OCEAN BIOME
The ocean biome is the largest of all the
biomes.
 Approximately 70% of the earth is covered in
water and most of that is saltwater.
 Scientists divide the ocean into different
biomes depending on the temperature and
amount of light.
 The ocean is the only biome where insect do
not live.

SALTWATER SHORES
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Many organisms live where
the water level changes
from high tide to low tide.
The plants and animals that
live in this biome have
interesting adaptations.
Some organisms make the
shallow waters of the shore
their home.
Others live on land, but have
adjusted to higher levels of
salt in their environment.
OPEN SEA: SURFACE

This area gets plenty of
light.

It is rich in nutrients and
home to many populations.

Clams, crabs, barnacles,
flounders, mussels, oysters,
sea cucumbers and sting
rays live close to shore
OPEN SEA: DEEP BOTTOM
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Ecosystems change as the
amount of light decreases with
depth.
Ninety percent of the ocean is in
the midnight zone.
It is entirely dark—there is no
light.
The water pressure is extreme.
The temperature is near freezing.
Because there is no light in this
zone, some animals don't have
eyes. There are no plants in this
zone.
FRESHWATER RIVERS

Many habitats are along the
shore and river bottom.

Although there are many
rivers and streams, these
sources of running water
account for a very small
portion of the earth's total
surface, just .3%.
FRESHWATER LAKES AND PONDS
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Many habitats are at the shore,
on the surface water, and under
the water.
Some lakes are the source for
some rivers.
Important rivers, most often,
originate from lakes.
Some rivers end in lakes.
Lakes can range in size from
small ponds to huge bodies of
water such the Great Lakes in
the U.S.
WHAT TYPES OF ROLES DO ORGANISMS
PLAY?
Within a community, each member of a team
has its own job to do.
 There are three different types of team
members:

 Producer
 Consumer
 Decomposers
PRODUCERS
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Producers are important to
many parts of the
ecosystem.
Without producers there
would be no way for other
organisms to survive.
Consumers and
decomposers would not
have a valuable source of
energy.
PRODUCERS

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You can tell most producers
by their green color
(chloroplasts).
Producers capture light
energy from the Sun and
transform it into food.
They make food by using
water, carbon dioxide in the
air, and the Sun’s energy.
Producers use only some of
the food they make and the
rest is stored.
PRODUCERS

Other members of the
community eat producers or
organisms that have eaten
producers.

Without producers there
would be no way for other
organisms to survive.

Consumers and
decomposers would not
have a source of energy.
PRODUCERS

Producers also affect
nonliving parts of the
ecosystem.

Plant roots hold the soil in
place.

Other producers provide
shelter for other consumers
and producers.

Most producers contribute
to the air that we breathe.
WHAT ARE CONSUMERS AND DECOMPOSERS?

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Producers are only the beginning of the food chain.
A food chain is the steps in which organisms get the food they
need to survive.
Producers make their own food.
Consumers and decomposers must get food from producers
or other consumers.
CONSUMERS
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Organisms that eat food are
consumers.
They use the food that
producers make, or they eat
other organisms.
Animals and some onecelled organisms are
consumer.
In order to stay alive,
consumers must get food
from other organisms.
CONSUMERS

There are three types
of consumers.


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Herbivores:
consumers that eat
only plants.
Carnivores:
consumers that eat
only meat.
Omnivores:
consumers that eat
both plants and
animals.
DECOMPOSERS

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When plants and animals
die they become food for
decomposers.
Decomposers break down
living and dead matter into
simple chemicals that they
use for food.
The chemicals left behind
by decomposers are
recycled (used over and over
again.

Sowbugs are usually the
first decomposers
under a rotting tree
stump.
DECOMPOSERS

They can include
bacteria, and some
kinds of fungi which
includes mold and
yeast.

Can also include worms
and snails.
FOOD WEB
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It shows how energy is passed from the Sun to
producers, consumers, and decomposers.
In any ecosystem many food chains overlap. Different
food chains may include some of the same organisms.
Several consumers may all eat the same kind of plant
or animals.
When this happens, the food chains form a “Food
Web.”
FOOD WEB
SHOWS HOW FOOD CHAINS ARE RELATED WITH AN ECOSYSTEM
A FOOD WEB IN ONE COMMUNITY MAY BE CONNECTED TO FOOD WEBS IN
ANOTHER COMMUNITY.
THE END
A ROOM 27 PRODUCTION