Name
Environmental Science and the Earth
Ecosystems Part 1 Notes: Everything is Connected
Ecosystems: Everything Is Connected
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Example of the idea that “everything is connected”
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In 1995, scientists interested in controlling ________________________,
which __________________________, performed an experiment.
Everything Is Connected: Example
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The scientists ____________________________, which eat young gypsy moths, from
selected plots of oak forest.
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The number of young gypsy moth eggs and young ______________________________.
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The scientists then added acorns to the plots.
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Mice eat acorns, therefore the number of mice soon increased, and…
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The number of gypsy moths declined as the mice ate them as well.
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This result showed that large acorn crops can suppress gypsy moth outbreaks.
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Oh but there is more!!!
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Interestingly, the acorns also attracted deer, which carried ticks.
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Young ticks soon infested the mice.
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Wild mice carry the organism that causes _______________________.
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Ticks can pick up the organism when they bite mice.
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Then the ticks can bite and ________________________________.
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This example shows that in nature, things that we would never think were connected—
mice, acorns, ticks, and humans—can be linked to each other in a complex web
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Defining an Ecosystem
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The mice, deer, moths, oak trees, and ticks in the previous example are all part of the
same ___________________________.
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An ecosystem is ________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________.
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Ecosystems can be ___________ like an oak forest or coral reef, or they can be _______ like
the vacant lot next door to your home.
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Just like living things are connected, so to are ecosystems.
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Things move from one ecosystem into another.
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Soil washes from a mountain into a lake, birds migrate from Michigan to Mexico, and
pollen blows from a forest into a field.
The Components of an Ecosystem
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In order to survive, ecosystems need at least five basic components:
1. _________________________________________
2. _________________________________________
3. ________________________________________
4. _________________________________________
5. _________________________________________
Biotic and Abiotic Factors
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An ecosystem is made up of both living and nonliving things.
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_______________________ are the _________________________________ parts of an
ecosystem, including all of the plants and animals.
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The biotic parts of an ecosystem _____________________________________ other in
various ways.
Biotic and Abiotic Factors (continued)
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While living things interact with each other in an ecosystem, they also interact with the
non-living factors in an ecosystem.
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The ____________________________________________________________________.
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Identify three biotic and three abiotic factors that are in the cold northern ecosystem of
Denali National Park in Alaska (shown in photo).
Biotic Factors
1.
2.
3.
Abiotic Factors
1.
2.
3.
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1ST DAY HOMEWORK: STOP HERE
Organisms
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An __________________ is an ____________________________________.
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You are an organism, as is an ant crawling across the floor, an ivy plant on the
windowsill, and a _____________________________ in your intestines.
Species
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A _____________________ is _______________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________.
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The four criteria that two organisms must meet to be grouped in the same species are:
1)
2)
3)
4)
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All humans, for example, are members of the species group__________________________.
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The photo shows a zedonk.
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A zedonk is _________________________________________________.
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The zedonk is a _________________ animal and cannot reproduce.
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Species
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Zebras and donkeys can mate and produce offspring.
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Are zebras and donkeys therefore members of the same species? Why or why not?
_____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Populations
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A ____________________ is ____________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________.
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An important characteristic of a population is that its members usually breed with one
another rather than with members of other populations.
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The Bison will usually mate with another member of the same herd, just as the
wildflowers will usually be pollinated by other flowers in the same field.
Communities
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An organism does not live alone and neither does a population.
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A __________________________ is a ________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________.
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A pond community, for example, includes all of the populations of plants, fish, and
insects that live in and around the pond.
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All of the living things in an ecosystem are members of the same community.
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The most obvious difference between communities is the ________________________ they
have.
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Land communities are often dominated by a few species of plants. In turn, these
_______________________________________________________________________.
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This pine community will have animals, such as squirrels, that live in and feed on these
trees.
Habitat
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The squirrel discussed above lives in a pine forest. The pine forest is the squirrel’s
____________________.
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A habitat ____________________________________________.
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The habitat of the salamander in this photo is a damp forest
floor.
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Every habitat has _________________________________ that
the organisms that live there need to survive.
Habitat (cont)
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A coral reef contains seawater, coral, sunlight, and a wide variety of other organisms.
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If any of these _________________________, then the __________________________.
Niche
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An organism’s ___________________________________________________________.
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Often describes where an organism “fits” in a food chain.
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Example: A woodpecker’s niche is eating insects
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