7th Grade Ms. De Los Rios
Populations and Communities
14.1 Living Things and the Environment
Essential Question:
How Do Living Things Affect One Another?
What Does an Organism get From Its Environment?
What are the Two Main Parts of an Organism’s Habitat?
How is an Ecosystem Organized?
Living Things and the Environment
Pgs. 476-481
Vocabulary 14.1
1.
2.
3.
Organism- one type of living thing
Habitat- an environment that provides the things a specific organism needs to
live, grow, and reproduce.
Biotic factor- a living or once living part of an organism’s habitat
4.
Abiotic factor- a nonliving part of an organism’s habitat
5.
Species- a group of similar organisms that can mate with each other and
produce offspring that can also mate and reproduce
6.
Population- all of the members of one species living in the same area
7.
8.
Community- all the different populations that live together in a particular area
Ecosystem- The community of organisms that live in a particular area, along
with their nonliving environment
9.
Ecology- The study of how organisms interact with each other and their
environment.
My Planet Diary pg. 476
Love Song
The gray, golden brown, and Goodman’s mouse lemurs are some of the world’s
smallest primates. These three lemurs look so similar they cannot be told apart.
Looking so similar makes it difficult for the lemurs to find members of their own
kind or species during mating season. However, it seems that the lemurs can
dentify their own species by song. Scientists recorded the mating calls of the
hree species of lemurs and discovered that the lemurs reacted more to the calls
rom their own species. This allows the lemurs to pick the right mate, even at
night.
1. If you were looking for your sneakers among several pairs that looked just like
yours, what characteristics would make it easier for you to find them?
2. What do you think would happen if a lemur mated with a different kind of lemur?
What Does an Organism Get From Its Environment?
Pg. 477
In a forest, you might see ferns growing in the damp soil and
woodpeckers building nests in tree trunks. It might even feel cool and
shady, as if there isn’t much sun breaking through the treetops.
What is the main energy source of this living system?
The sun is the main energy source in this living system.
The sun’s energy is transferred between organisms, such as when an
animal eats a plant. This is one of the many ways in which living things
interact with their environment and depend on it for survival.
A woodpecker is one type of organism, or living thing
An organism gets food, water, shelter and other things it
needs in order to
live, grow, and reproduce
from its environment/
Habitat
Habitat- The environment that provides the things a specific
organism needs to live, grow, and reproduce.
What Does an Organism Get From Its Environment?
Pg. 477
An organism gets food, water, shelter, and other
things that it needs from its environment or habitat.
Figure 1 What’s Wrong With This Picture? List Give three
reasons why this prairie dog would not survive in this habitat.
A prairie dog gets food, shelter, and other things from a prairie
habitat that has flat land, tall grasses, and little rainfall.
A rocky ocean shore habitat would not provide what a prairie
dog needs to survive.
Assess Your Understanding pg. 477
I get it! Now I know that an organism’s environment provides
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What are the two parts of an Organisms Habitat? Pg. 478
An organism interacts with both the living and nonliving parts of its habitat.
Biotic Factors
Biotic factors are the living, or once living, parts of a habitat.
In the prairie dog’s habitat, plants that provide food and
decomposing plants are biotic factors.
Ferrets and eagles that hunt the prairie dog are also biotic
factors.
Worms and bacteria that live in the soil are biotic factors too.
Abiotic Factors Pg. 478
Abiotic factors = The nonliving parts of a habitat.
Water, sunlight, oxygen, temperature, and soil are all
abiotic factors in a prairie dog’s habitat.
figure 2 Factors in a Prairie Habitat pg. 478
Factors in
a Prairie Habitat
A prairie dog
interacts with many
biotic and abiotic
factors in the prairie
habitat.
Add another biotic
factor to the picture.
For each abiotic
factor, draw a line
from the text box to
an example in the
picture.
Biotic and Abiotic Factors
Brine shrimp eggs are used in
Florida, and across the world to feed
fish hatcheries.
Salt is an abiotic factor found in
some environments. To see how the
amount of salt affects the hatching of
brine shrimp eggs, varying amounts
of salt were added to four different
500-mL beakers.
1. Observe: In which beaker(s) did
the eggs hatch? _____________
2. Infer: The manipulated Variable
was _______________________
3. Challenge: Beaker ______was
the control.
4. Draw Conclusions: What can
you conclude about the amount
of salt in the shrimps’ natural
habitat? ___________________
Apply it! Pg. 479
Assess Your Understanding pg. 479
1a. Interpret Diagrams: List two biotic and two abiotic factors in
figure 2.
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______________________________________________________
2. Explain: Name two abiotic factors in your habitat and explain
how your life would be different without them.
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
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I get it! Now I know that the two parts of an organism’s habitat
are
_____________________________________________________
How is an Ecosystem Organized? Pg. 480
An
ecosystem is organized into 4 levels.
1. Organisms
A species is a group of organisms that
can mate with each other and produce
offspring that can also mate and
reproduce. The black-tailed prairie dogs
of the Nebraska plains are all members
of one species.
2. Populations
A population refers to all the members of
one species living in a particular area.
All of the prairie dogs in a prairie dog
town are a population.
How is an Ecosystem Organized? Pg. 480
3. Communities
All of the different populations
that live together in an
environment are a community.
For example, a prairie includes
prairie dogs, hawks, grasses,
snakes, and many other
organisms.
4. Ecosystems
All the living and nonliving things in
an area. An ecosystem is made up
of the community of organisms that
live in a particular area, as well the
nonliving surroundings.
How is an Ecosystem
Organized? Pg. 480
The study of how living things interact
with each other and with their
environment is called
ecology.
The smallest level of
organization is a single organism,
which belongs to a population that
includes other members of its
species. The population belongs to a
community of different species. The
community and abiotic factors
together form an ecosystem.
Fig. 3 Levels of an Ecosystem pg. 480
Ecological Organization
The smallest level of organization is the organism. The largest is the entire ecosystem.
Describe: Draw or write how an ecosystem of your choice is organized. Identify each
level. Include biotic and abiotic examples.
Assess Your Understanding
pg. 481
2a. Define: How would you define a species? __________________
_______________________________________________________
b.Classsify: All of the different kinds of organisms in a forest are a
(community / population)
I get it! Now
I know that ecosystems are organized into ____________________
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