Populations and Ecosystems
This packet belongs to:
Unit Big Idea:
Organisms live in different
ecosystems, get energy in
different ways, and interact
with both other organisms of
the same kind, and with other
organisms. Groups of
organisms interact with one
another.
Welcome new park
ranger! As we begin our
training together,
remember that this is the
ONLY copy of the packet
that you will receive –
don’t lose it – you won’t
get another. Put your
name on it in pen.
Populations and Ecosystems Unit Learning Goals:
By the end of the unit, you will be able to:
 Explain energy movement in systems
 Predict future events by using ideas like evolution, equilibrium, and energy
 Explain how organisms interact with ecosystems to create balance or imbalance and how they effect other living
things,
 Describe how changes on Earth affect living things.
 Explain how cycles on Earth continually move energy and matter.
 Compare and contrast between producers, and consumers.
 Explain how sunlight is the source of energy for organisms.
 Describe how changes to environmental conditions can affect the survival of organisms and species.
• Before we really begin this unit, take a minute and read through both lists of vocabulary words.
• As you come across words you have already heard of highlight or underline the words.
• Put an asterisk (*) by them if you think you can already define them.
Vocabulary Words Group 1:
Words You Should Understand & Be Able to Use
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
Ecology
14.
Biotic
15.
Abiotic
16.
Population
Community
Ecosystem
Biosphere
Prey
Predator
Biomes
Carrying Capacity
Limiting Factor
Competition
Producer
Consumer
Decomposer
Vocabulary Words Group 2:
New Words You Will Hear
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
Deciduous
Coniferous
Tropical
Temperate
Savanna
Desert
Tundra
Food chain
Food web
Hare
Lynx
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Habitats/ Ecosystems
Step 1: Look back at the sheets you filled out during
Outdoor Ed (both the abiotic and biotic factors at camp, and
the notes you took on the videos while at school).
Step 2: List some of the ecosystems you looked at:
Step 3: What did all of these ecosystems have in common?
(Hint: what biotic or abiotic factors did all of them have?)
Step 4: What made each ecosystem different? (Hint: what
biotic or abiotic factors made them unique?
Step 5: Based on this, how do you think we
classify/organize or group ecosystems?
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Ecosystems of My Adopt a Country
Ecosystem
What it looks like/ What it is
Temperate Deciduous Forest
Coniferous Forest
Tropical Rain Forest
Temperate Grassland
Savanna
Desert
Polar Tundra
Alpine Tundra
Stream
River
Pond
Lake
Marsh
Swamp
Ocean
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1. What was your adopt-a-country?
2. Which of these ecosystems does your country have? (List as many as possible).
Living Things Get Energy
1) What do all living things need to survive?
1) Why do we need to eat?
1) Why don’t plants need to eat? Where do they get energy?
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Living things can be organized into three groups by how they get energy.
Examples of producers:
A producer is-
Producers get their energy from:
Examples of consumers:
A consumer is-
Consumers get their energy from:
A Decomposer is-
Examples of decomposers:
Decomposers get their energy from:
Consumers
We can sort consumers into different groups based on what they eat.
If they eat only plants we call them ____________________________. Give some examples:
If they eat only animals we call them __________________________. Give some examples:
If they eat both plants and animals we call them ________________________. Give some
examples:
If they eat dead plants and animals we call them ________________________. Give some
examples:
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Food Chains and Food Webs
This type of diagram is called a food chain.
1) What do the arrows show? Why do they
only go one way?
1) What is helpful about a food chain?
2) What isn’t quite right about a food chain?
This type of diagram is called a food web.
1) What do the arrows show? Why do they only go one
way?
Food Web
1) How is it better than a food chain?
2) How is it not as good as the food chain?
3) List one simple food chain found in this web.
Both of these diagrams contain plants. Neither one shows where the plants get their
energy. What could you add to both to show where plants get their energy?
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Food Webs on Earth
1) For the food web to the left, list one
food chain that includes producers and
consumers.
2) What type of ecosystem might this
food web happen in?
3) When the animal eats another animal, the food is either used or stored in its tissues. Each
animal only gets energy from the energy stored in the tissues of their food. Which animal
would have more energy stored in its tissues: an owl or a mushroom?
4) Why?
5) For the food web to the left, list one
food chain that includes producers and
consumers.
6) What type of ecosystem might this
food web happen in?
7) When the animal eats another animal, the food is either used or stored in its tissues. Each
animal only gets energy from the energy stored in the tissues of their food. Which animal
would have more energy stored in its tissues: a trout or a crayfish?
8) Why?
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Predator Prey Relationships
All of the interactions we have looked at so far involve one organism eating another. When we
talk about this type of interaction we use special terms to denote either the eater or the organism
that gets eaten.
A _______________________________ eats all or part of another organism.
A _______________________________ gets killed and eaten by another organism.
A predator needs to be able to catch their prey to
survive.
Give some examples of advantages or strategies that
predators use to catch their prey:
Prey have to avoid being eaten in order to survive.
Some methods that prey use to avoid being eaten include:
___________________________ blending into the background such
as:
___________________________ spraying defensive chemicals or
being poisonous when eaten such as:
___________________________ having colors or patters that predators associate with pain,
illness, or unpleasant experiences; most commonly bright shades of red, yellow, orange, black and
white such as:
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Name__________________________ Date________ Hr__
Organisms and Their Environment
We have talked about how organisms interact with each other and the types of environments that
living things can live in. Now lets look at how organisms interact with their environment.
A Population is:
How Many Bears Can Survive In This Forest?
In this activity, you will be a Black Bear who is scavenging for food. You will have a den (envelope)
with your seat number on it. There will be lots of colored cards that represent different kinds of
food. Your mission is to collect a variety of food and take it back to your den.
Rules:
1) Bears don’t run to their food, they scavenge and look around by walking. If you run or otherwise
move in an unsafe way you’ll be confined to your den for a 2 minute penalty.
2) Bears don’t touch other bears while looking for food. If you touch another bear you will get a 2
minute penalty at your den.
3) Bears will only gather one food item at a time. You will return the food card to your den and put
it in the envelope. The envelope must be touching a wall at all times. Really, bears just eat food
where they find it, but you don’t eat paper cards and we want to know later how much food you
gathered.
4) You may not touch any one else’s envelope- you will instantly catch a disease and be considered
a dead bear.
5) There are 3 bears with special circumstances. One is a young male who has not yet found his
own territory. Last week he met with a larger male bear in the big bear’s territory and before he
could get away, he was hurt. He has a broken leg. This bear can only move around by hoping.
This bear will be played by _______________________________________.
6) Another bear is a young bear who investigated a porcupine too closely and was blinded by the
quills. This bear will hunt blindfolded.
This bear will be played by _______________________________________.
7) A third bear is a mother who has two fairly small cubs. She must collect twice as much food to
survive and feed the cubs. She still follows all gathering rules.
This bear will be played by _______________________________________.
My Data
Pounds
N
B
I
M
P
Total
W
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Bear Food Data
Special Case
Seat Number
Food Gathered (in pounds)
Survived? Y/N
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
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Bears and Limiting Factors
What happened to the one legged bear?
What happened to the blind bear?
What happened to the mama bear?
Would she have survived if she was only feeding herself?
If she only had enough food to survive or feed the babies which is she more likely to choose? Why?
Let’s calculate the food you got.
Type of Food
Pounds of this type
Total Pounds of
Food
Percentage of this type
Nuts
20 pounds
25%
Berries and Fruit
20 pounds
25%
Insects
12 pounds
15%
Meat
8 pounds
10%
Plants
20 pounds
25%
Nuts
Berries
Insects
Meat
Plants
How does that compare to real black bears and
what they need in a 10 day period?
How healthy do you think you would be if you were a bear? Why?
How do you think a bear’s needs a different from a human’s? The same?
How many bears survived from this class?
What percentage of the bears is this?
Why can’t all of the bears survive?
Which of your vocabulary words does this explain?
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What other types of factors might limit a bear’s population? How will each limit the population?
“Oh Deer” Activity
Brainstorm things that Deer need to survive:
We’ll need to pick 3 to focus on through our discussion.
We pick ___________________________ ,__________________________ and
_________________
We will represent these with the following colors:
In this activity, you will be either a deer who is looking for resources, or a resource. You will get to
pick which thing you are (resource) or which you are looking for (deer) each round. There will be
one line of deer and another of resources. You’ll turn your backs on each other, pick up a sign of
what you are representing/ looking for, then when the teacher says “go”, the deer will WALK over to
the resource side to try to tag someone that matches them. If a deer gets what they are looking for,
they survive as deer and reproduce (bring the resource they tagged with them to be a deer). If deer
don’t get what they are looking for, they die and become a resource.
Predators eat deer. They stay hidden in their den until the teacher says go. Then, they may tag one
deer per round ONLY while the deer is on its way to a resource. Once a deer has a resource, it is
safe. If a predator successfully tags a deer, it survives and reproduces (the deer becomes a
predator). If the predator does not tag a deer, it dies and becomes a resource.
Rules:
1) There will be no running. If lightning (a teacher) decides that you were running, she will strike
you and you’ll be dead, becoming a resource.
2) Deer may TAG a resource that matches them. Tagging is a gentle touch on the shoulder or arm.
Lightning will strike deer who hit or tag inappropriately.
3) If you choose not to play, you may be a data collector or another teacher-assigned job.
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1. After you play, record your data below.
2. Then, graph the data on the next page.
3. Why does the number of deer suddenly go down?
1. When the number of deer is low, what happens to the number of predators?
6. If the predators catch a disease what might happen to the number of deer?
6. A few years after the predators got sick, what will happen to the amount of food?
8. What might happen if a lot of humans moved into the area?
Year
# of Deer
# of
Predators
Year
# of Deer
# of
Predators
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
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The Population of Deer Over Time
Time (Years)
After an event like a forest fire:
9. What happens to the resources (food, water, shelter)? Why?
Deer
Key
Predators
10. What happens to the number of deer? Why?
11. What happens to the predators? Why?
11. Is it normal for the number of deer to go up and down? Why/ Why not?
12. How would you know if the population was out of balance?
11. So long as there were enough resources would we ever run out of deer or predators? Why or
why not?
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Hare and Lynx Population Data
Some very famous data that allowed scientists to discover the pattern that you have noticed. Fur
traders reported how many Canadian Lynx and how many Snowshoe Hares they captured over lots
of years. It allowed them to see the following data:
1. What type of ecosystem do you think the hare and lynx live in?
1. What types of limiting factors do you think there may be in this ecosystem?
1. Once the population of hare goes up, what happens to the population of lynx?
1. Once the population of lynx goes up, what happens to the population of hare?
2. Is there a constant amount of either hare or lynx? Why?
3. Most living things produce more offspring than will survive. For example, a female frog might lay
hundreds of eggs in a small pond. In a few months, the population of frogs in the pond will be
about the same as it was the year before. Why won’t the pond be overrun with frogs?
4. Why does the mother frog lay so many eggs?
5. What types of resources can be a liming factor to the frog population?
6. What is the carrying capacity of the frog population?
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1. Competition is when more than one organism tries to get the same resources. What organisms
does a frog egg compete with?
2. What is the frog competing for?
3. Why isn’t there enough for all the organisms?
4. Humans have put salmon into Lake Michigan for fisherman to catch. They are a large predator
that eats lots of little bait fish. What might this do to the ecosystem?
Organization and the Environment
The environment can be arranged into different levels that make sense in what looks like a crazy
mess.
1. The first level is the individual organism such as _____________________________________
2. The second level is the population such as:
Individuals in a population compete with each other for:
3. The third level is a community such as:
Populations in a community depend on each other for:
4. The fourth level is an ecosystem such as:
This includes the __________________________ and the abiotic factors of a region.
5. The fifth level is the biosphere. This includes all of the _________________________ on Earth.
The extends from the bottom of the ocean, to high in the air where plant spores drift. We study
the biosphere to learn about how organisms interact with the abiotic environment including16
the atmosphere, water, soil, and rocks.