Colorado Agriscience Curriculum
Section:
Plant & Soil Science
Unit:
Plant Science Technology
Lesson Number:
9
Lesson Title:
Understanding Environment, Ecology, Ecosystem
Colorado Agricultural Education Standards:
Standard ESC11/12.10 The student will demonstrate understanding of the principles of
natural resource management in the context of systematics.
Competency ESC11/12.10.01 Understand how systems interact and principles of
natural and artificial fluctuations in ecological systems.
Colorado Science Standards:
Standard 3.1 Students know and understand the characteristics of living things, the
diversity of life, and how living things interact with each other and with their
environment.
Benchmark 3.1.4 Explain how changes in an ecosystem affect biodiversity and
how biodiversity contributes to an ecosystem’s stability.
Benchmark 3.1.5 Analyze the dynamic equilibrium of ecosystems, including
interactions among living and non-living components.
Student Learning Objectives (Enablers)
As a result of this lesson, the student will …
Know the meaning of environment.
Explain ecology.
Define and describe an ecosystem.
Time: Instruction time for this lesson: 50 minutes.
Resources:
Environmental Protection Agency - http://www.epa.gov/
National Council for Science and the Environment - http://www.ncseonline.org
United Nations Environment Program - http://www.unep.org
Unit 1, Lesson 9: Environment, Ecology and Ecosystems
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Tools, Equipment, and Supplies
PS U5 1 Student Handout # 1 – one per student
PS U5 1 Student Handout #2 – one per student
PS U5 1 Student Assessment – one per student
Box of colored markers or crayons – enough for students in your class to share
Key Terms
Environment
Ecosystem
Ecology
Interest Approach
Begin with a Crayon Moment. Using the Student Handout 1 have the students draw in
color on a separate piece of paper the species that would be found living in the same area
or space.
The word “Environment” has been getting lots of attention lately.
In the last election did any politician use the environment as one of his or her campaign
agendas? The oil fields in Alaska as well as several others environmental issues are
usually part of election year news.
Is their an agency in the government that deals directly with environmental issues?
Answers students give are EPA and or Environmental Protection Agency.
Given the last few questions and based on your answers the environment must be VERY
important!
Is the environment that important that we spend so much time, money, and energy talking
about it?
To find out let’s look at what is meant by environment and some words used in relation to
questions about the environment
Summary of Content and Teaching Strategies
Objective 1. Know the meaning of environment
A typical dictionary definition of environment says it has to do with our surroundings,
including the material and spiritual influences that affect the growth and development of
living beings.
From that definition you can conclude that our environment includes almost everything
around us, in our homes and school rooms as well as all of the out-of-doors.
Unit 1, Lesson 9: Environment, Ecology and Ecosystems
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In recent years, however, much more attention has been focused on the “natural
environment” including the nation’s lakes, streams, groundwater, soil, forests and air.
Clear thinking about “the environment” requires us to define whose “environment” we
are talking about. An environment that’s good for one living being may not be good for
another.
The environment of fish is made up of a lake or stream and includes water, plants, and
other fish.
A change in conditions that favor one kind of fish may not favor the other. Likewise, an
environment that favors fish is not a healthy place for a rabbit.
The environment for a rabbit may be a woods or pasture. That pasture may include
domestic animals as well as predators such as hawks, fox or coyotes. Brush along the
fences that provide a place for the rabbit to hide, may let the fox or coyote go hungry.
Humans rely on their environment to sustain life, as do the fish, the rabbits and the
coyotes. Often different forms of life in nature compete with each other for resources,
including space, for and water.
Different types of plants compete for space, light, water and soil nutrients. Some types of
plants may choke out other plants.
Likewise different types of animals compete for resources that provide shelter, water and
food. In addition, some animals are predators, depending on their ability to kill other
animals for food.
Humans also compete with other forms of life in order to survive. In addition, they are
predators that depend on animal life as source of food. But humans have a major
advantage over other forms of life. They have the ability to alter and manage their
environment to their own advantage. In addition, human populations have come to
depend heavily on the “natural resources” they can find and take from their environment.
Humans harvest food from plants, fish and animals, with most food coming from planted
crops and domesticated animals. However, these crops rely on soil, water and carbon
dioxide from their natural environment. Animals also need water, plants and other
animals to survive.
Humans also get clothing from their environment. Cotton, wool and leather are examples
of material from plants and animals used for clothing. Synthetic materials are man-made,
but are manufactured from products of the environment.
Unit 1, Lesson 9: Environment, Ecology and Ecosystems
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Humans find shelter in homes built from lumber taken directly from forests. Other parts
of our houses, such as insulation, sheet rock and electric wiring, were made from products
taken from the environment.
As you can tell there is a complex and sometimes competitive relationship among living
things on earth.
Objective 2. Define ecology.
So what is a person called who studies the environment and how things interact. That
person is called an Ecologist. Ecologists study ecology.
Ecology is defined as a branch of science that deals with the complex relationship among
living things in their environment.
Objective 3. Understand ecosystems
So, if ecologists study plants and animals in their environment, or surrounds then what is
it called when an ecologist studies those plants and animals when they interact with each
other.
It is called an ecosystem.
An ecosystem can be defined as a network of living and nonliving organisms in which
each organism is affected by the other organism in a network.
Based upon that, the whole earth could be considered an ecosystem.
Much smaller parts of the earth can also be called an ecosystem.
Review/Summary.
A forest, for example, could be considered an ecosystem. It provides a habitat or
environment where plants and animals thrive together.
While the animals may depend upon the plants for food, some types of plants may depend
upon the animals for pruning and fertilization.
Unit 1, Lesson 9: Environment, Ecology and Ecosystems
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Evaluation
Student Handout # 1
Student Assessment # 1
Student Handout #2
Evaluation.
PSSPST8
Student Handout # 1
Unit 1, Lesson 9: Environment, Ecology and Ecosystems
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PSSPST Student Assessment # 1
1. Identify the habitat of each organism shown on the handout provided by your instructor.
Does the organism reside in an aquatic or terrestrial habitat?
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2. List ten more organisms that add to the diversity of these habitats.
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3. Explain why the extinction of a single species of insect in an ecosystem supporting several
hundred species of insects would probably not cause the collapse of that ecosystem.
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Unit 1, Lesson 9: Environment, Ecology and Ecosystems
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Answers to Assessment:
1. Inhabitants of the aquatic habitat:
frog, newt, turtle, shark, grass, fur seal, sea cow, sea turtle, pelican, salmon, whale,
alligator
Inhabitants of the terrestrial habitat:
woodpecker, frog, newt, earthworm, grasshopper, turtle, spider, moth, wolf, sycamore,
daisy, grass, fern, deer, opossum, bat, pelican, bear, calf, lion.
2. Answers will vary, but should contain the following main points:
Organisms that reside in an aquatic habitat spend most of their time in water. Organisms
that reside in a terrestrial habitat spend most of their time on land.
3. Answers will vary, but should contain the following main points:
Since most insects fall prey to the same predators and consume the same kinds of plants
and animal resources, the extinction of a single species of insect in an ecosystem
supporting several hundred species of insect would probably not result in the complete
collapse of that ecosystem. The surviving species of insect would remain to serve as prey
for needy predators and to stabilize the populations of existing consumables.
Unit 1, Lesson 9: Environment, Ecology and Ecosystems
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