17 Module 2: All Forms of Life are Important Module written and developed for use in GEE (Environmental Science) by Mr. Franklin E. Cortez, Asst. Prof. 1, Environmental Science Department, College of Science, University of Eastern Philippines. Updated, Midyear Term 2022. 18 Module 2: All Forms of Life are Important Each organism plays a fundamental role in nature. Since such occupational or functional position, otherwise known as niche cannot be simultaneously occupied by more than one species, it is apparent that all living things must be considered as invaluable in the maintenance of homeostasis in the ecosystem. Before we go further, please honestly write on the space below your reactions or what you actually do or what you want to happen on the following situations or scenarios. When you see snake inside your house, classroom or workplace. When you see spiders building their webs inside your home. When you see earthworm crawling in your bathroom floor. Module written and developed for use in GEE (Environmental Science) by Mr. Franklin E. Cortez, Asst. Prof. 1, Environmental Science Department, College of Science, University of Eastern Philippines. Updated, Midyear Term 2022. 19 Module 2: All Forms of Life are Important I don’t know what you wrote of course, but perhaps you thought what people usually think and do on those situations. When people see snakes, they won’t stop until it’s killed or ask other people to kill it. When we see spiders and their webs inside our houses, we usually remove them with our broom and even squeeze to kill the spider. Funny but other people would recommend and actually use table salt or hot water just to kill an earthworm crawling on their floors or just simply step on them. As I have mentioned earlier, each organism plays a fundamental role in nature. Snakes are predators which control population of other organisms like rodents that mostly are pests in our agricultural areas. That is its ecological niche (the role of the organism in nature). So why kill a snake every time you see them especially inside our house? In the first place, why are snakes found inside our house? Because of food. They are going after preys, most of the time rats that live inside our cabinets and under our beds. Why are there rats inside our houses? Most likely because they can also find free meal inside. We store food where they can reach them or simply because they can find food leftovers on the floor, under our beds, and anywhere. In other words, we are sometimes, if not most of the time, not working so hard in cleaning our houses. So, whose fault is it when you see snakes inside the house? Inside our homes or buildings, they are just in the wrong place. So, if you can or you can ask other people to just drive them away into the grasslands or the woodlands where they can perform their functions, it would definitely be better. You’re not only doing a Module written and developed for use in GEE (Environmental Science) by Mr. Franklin E. Cortez, Asst. Prof. 1, Environmental Science Department, College of Science, University of Eastern Philippines. Updated, Midyear Term 2022. 20 Module 2: All Forms of Life are Important favor for the snake but for the entire environment, and yourself of course. You will see more why on our succeeding discussions. In the same manner, why kill spiders and earthworms that are inside our house when you know they have functions in nature. Just put them outside where they belong and let them do their functions. Spiders control population of insects. Put them in your gardens and there they will build their webs that can be like a natural net to protect you plants from insects that feed on them. Earthworms have functions in the soil. They eat detritus (partly decomposing plant and animal matter) so they help decompose materials. Earthworm laterally eats its way. They digest everything on its way and comes out on its other end and converts organic materials into useful form for plant use. In this way also they build small tunnels in the soil making it possible for water and even nutrients in the topsoil to go with water to the deeper parts of the soil for deep rooted plants to use. These Earthworm Tunnel are just some of the functions of earthworms in soil. So you know where to put them if they mistakenly found its way inside your house. Sometimes these functions cannot be occupied by more than one species. In other words, when one species is gone chances Module written and developed for use in GEE (Environmental Science) by Mr. Franklin E. Cortez, Asst. Prof. 1, Environmental Science Department, College of Science, University of Eastern Philippines. Updated, Midyear Term 2022. 21 Module 2: All Forms of Life are Important are there could be no other organisms that can possibly do their function. In a food chain (one path as animals find food or a linear network of links in a food web starting from producers and ending at apex predators, detritivores, or decomposers) for example, the removal of one component or organism will affect other organisms. When you remove snake, in the illustration on your right, population of frogs will increase decreasing the population of insects. On the other hand, organism that depend on them as source of food, will eventually decrease its population and even be gone on the picture too. It is therefore important that we consider each organism as important in the maintenance of homeostasis or stable balance of nature. Student Assessment Question/Activity 2-1 We have been trying to emphasize that all organisms are important. You may wonder and ask how about organisms like cockroaches, flies and mosquitoes? What are their functions? How are they important like other organisms? Why don’t you try to do some research or even do a firsthand observation to really define their importance/functions. Write what you have discovered on the space below or on a separate sheet of paper. Module written and developed for use in GEE (Environmental Science) by Mr. Franklin E. Cortez, Asst. Prof. 1, Environmental Science Department, College of Science, University of Eastern Philippines. Updated, Midyear Term 2022. 22 Module 2: All Forms of Life are Important You have observed on our illustration of a food chain above and food wed below that there are apex or top consumers. They are on top of the food chain and most of the time no other organism will consume them. These are organisms like lions, tigers, sharks, and our own species, humans. Question is, if we are on top of the food chain how are our population controlled to maintain balance in nature? Maybe in your research you have discovered that these are the function of organisms like mosquitoes and parasites such as tick. Mosquitoes have long been a nightmare for us for they cause diseases like malaria, dengue among others. But in the natural environment this is normal. This is nature’s painful way of controlling population of organisms on top of the food chain. And that is also true to our species. Again each organism must be considered invaluable to maintain balance in nature. In most instances however, one function are performed by several species. There could be many species of producers (green plants) in one ecosystem which means many species of first level consumers or herbivores (plant eating animals) and several species on the next level consumers and even decomposers. In this you can draw a food web. A food web is the natural interconnection of food chains and a graphical representation of whateats-what in an ecological community (the living component of an ecosystem). Module written and developed for use in GEE (Environmental Science) by Mr. Franklin E. Cortez, Asst. Prof. 1, Environmental Science Department, College of Science, University of Eastern Philippines. Updated, Midyear Term 2022. 23 Module 2: All Forms of Life are Important Student Assessment Question/Activity 2-2 Let us see how diverse organisms are around you. In your backyard or on a nearby grassland, forest, mangrove area or any ecosystem, try to observe the organisms present and draw one simple food chain and a food web. Discuss your observations. Module written and developed for use in GEE (Environmental Science) by Mr. Franklin E. Cortez, Asst. Prof. 1, Environmental Science Department, College of Science, University of Eastern Philippines. Updated, Midyear Term 2022. 24 Module 2: All Forms of Life are Important In your drawing or illustration, especially on your food web, I hope you were able to observe several organisms in each trophic level (the position an organism occupies in the food web). You may have included in your discussion the number of species in each level like how many plant species were found. Basically the more producers there are the more primary consumers you can find, secondary consumers and so on. In such case there is biological diversity in the ecosystem you have observed. Source: teachoo.com Biological Diversity is the variety of living organisms. Why is biodiversity important? We have discussed earlier what happens in the food chain when one organism is removed. When no other species can perform the function of the snake, as in our previous example, it brings about imbalance. A snake is one of the secondary or tertiary consumers. But if there are other species in that level, other predators like hawks, kingfishers, and even just other species of snakes who feeds on primary consumers or secondary consumers, there is stability in the ecosystem. If ecosystems are diverse in organisms, even in outbreaks, change in atmospheric conditions, natural disturbances and human activities which results to extinction of one species, other species can still perform the same function. Therefore when there is biological diversity there is ecosystem or environmental stability. Module written and developed for use in GEE (Environmental Science) by Mr. Franklin E. Cortez, Asst. Prof. 1, Environmental Science Department, College of Science, University of Eastern Philippines. Updated, Midyear Term 2022. 25 Module 2: All Forms of Life are Important Summary ____________________________________________________________ Each organism plays a fundamental role or factional position in nature called ecological niches. It is important that we consider each organism as invaluable in the maintenance of homeostasis or stable balance of nature. A food chain is one path as animals find food or a linear network of links in a food web starting from producers and ending at apex predators, detritivores, or decomposers. A food web is the natural interconnection of food chains and a graphical representation of what-eats-what in an ecological community. Trophic level is the position an organism occupies in the food web. Biological Diversity is the variety of living organisms. When there is biological diversity there is ecosystem or environmental stability. Please take a short break. After your break please review what we have discussed so far and answer the learning assessment and feedback on the succeeding pages. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Module written and developed for use in GEE (Environmental Science) by Mr. Franklin E. Cortez, Asst. Prof. 1, Environmental Science Department, College of Science, University of Eastern Philippines. Updated, Midyear Term 2022. 26 Module 2: All Forms of Life are Important Learning Assessment Instructions: Please answer the following items. This will be part of your performance evaluation. Each item is 10 points. 1. Which of the following explains the importance of each organism in nature? a. Ecological Niche c. food chain b. Trophic level d. food web Justify your answer: _________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 2. Why is biological diversity important in the stability of ecosystems? a. Many species of organisms can perform one function in nature. b. There is variety of living organisms c. There is more food for many organisms d. Balance of nature is maintained. Justify your answer: _________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 3. Even mosquitoes and cockroaches are equally important as other organisms in nature. What does this statement tell us? a. They also perform an important function in the maintenance of balance in nature. b. They cause disease outbreaks c. They are part of biological diversity d. They are food to other organisms Module written and developed for use in GEE (Environmental Science) by Mr. Franklin E. Cortez, Asst. Prof. 1, Environmental Science Department, College of Science, University of Eastern Philippines. Updated, Midyear Term 2022. 27 Module 2: All Forms of Life are Important Justify your answer: _________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Feedback Please include your feedback below. Let me know how you are doing so far. Include your difficulties (if there are any) so we can address it on the succeeding modules. Module written and developed for use in GEE (Environmental Science) by Mr. Franklin E. Cortez, Asst. Prof. 1, Environmental Science Department, College of Science, University of Eastern Philippines. Updated, Midyear Term 2022.
