This document outlines the key objectives and terms for a lesson on aquatic ecosystems. The objectives include investigating the water, carbon, and nitrogen cycles; differentiating processes within these cycles; recognizing that photosynthesis is part of the carbon dioxide-oxygen cycle; defining biotic and abiotic factors; observing and classifying these factors; defining and describing food chains; comparing terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems; using food webs and energy pyramids; and relating the role of humans. Key terms defined include ecosystem, biotic factor, abiotic factor, and others related to habitats, populations, and energy transfer such as food chains, webs, and predator-prey relationships.

1. Beneath the Surface
Observing an Aquatic Ecosystem

2. Key Objectives:
 The student will:
– Investigate and understand
the carbon, nitrogen and
water cycles

3. Key Objectives:
 The student will:
– Differentiate among key
processes in the water,
carbon and nitrogen cycles
and analyze how organisms
function to recycle matter into
the ecosystem

4. Key Objectives:
 The student will:
– Recognize that the carbon
dioxide oxygen cycle is part
of photosynthesis

5. Key Objectives:
 The student will:
– Define and/or identify the
living (biotic) and nonliving
(abiotic) components /factors
of an ecosystem

6. Key Objectives:
 The student will:
– Observe local ecosystems
and measure and classify the
biotic and abiotic factors

7. Key Objectives:
 The student will:
– Define and describe a simple
food chain

8. Key Objectives:
 The student will:
– Compare and contrast
complex relationships
between terrestrial,
freshwater and marine
ecosystems

9. Key Objectives:
 The student will:
– Use a food web and energy
pyramids to analyze the flow
of energy in ecosystems

10. Key Objectives:
 The student will:
– Relate the role of humans in the
ecosystem

11. Key Terms
 Ecosystem
 Biotic factor
 Abiotic Factor
 Water Quality
 Limiting Factors
 Habitat
 Community
 Population
 Food Chain
 Food Web
 Predator – prey

12. Ecosystem
 An ecosystem is made up of living
organisms which interact with
others in their own population, the
community and the non-living
parts of the community
 Can be large or small

13. Ecosystem

14. Biotic Factor
 All living things in an environment

15. Abiotic Factor
 All non-living and never lived
things in an environment
 They determine which organisms
are able to live in the environment

16. Abiotic and Biotic Factors

17. Limiting Factors
 Factors that prevent the
continuing growth and survival of
an organism

18. Limiting Factors

19. Water Quality
 How healthy or how good the
water is to support a
community

20. Water Quality

21. Habitat
 The environment where a species
exists

22. Habitat

23. Community
 All the living parts of an
ecosystem that live in the same
place at the same time

24. Community

25. Population
 All individuals of one species
living together in a given area

26. Population

27. Food Chain
 The order in which energy travels
– Producers
Plants
– Consumers
Herbivores, Carnivore, Omnivores
– Decomposers

28. Food Chain
 or… More simply put:
– Algae makes food (glucose)
– Tiny fish eats algae
– Bigger fish eats tiny fish,
– Bear eats fish

29. Food Chain

30. Food Web
 The intricate food web of food
chains that shows interactions
between many sources of food
from producer to the consumer

31. Food Web

32. Predator - Prey
 The relationship between what
animals (the predator) do the
eating and what animals are
eaten (Prey)

33. Predator – Prey

34. Lab Time
Now it is time to introduce
the new lab.
Pease open your Green lab
guides
Read the introduction
silently as I read it aloud

35. Essential Learnings
 There are four levels of
organization within a Biome
– An Ecosystem
– A Community
– A Population
– An Organism

36. Essential Learnings
 Living things in the environment
are called Biotic Factors

37. Essential Learnings
 Nonliving features of the
environment, such as water
quality/quantity, sunlight, range
of temperature, soil composition,
air quality, and water chemistry
are called Abiotic Factors

38. Essential Learnings
 The number of different types of
organisms an ecosystem can
support depends on biotic and
abiotic factors

39. Essential Learnings
 Factors that prevent survival of
an organism are called Limiting
Factors

40. Essential Learnings
 Limiting factors could include:
– Lack of resources
– Predation
– Unsuitable climate
– Disease

41. Essential Learnings
 Ecosystems are dynamic and
change over time

42. Essential Learnings
 Changes that effect organisms
can be :
– Daily
– Seasonal
– Long-term

43. Essential Learnings
 Large Scale events such as
Eutrophication (the addition of
excess nutrients) or catastrophic
events like drought, flood or fire
also change ecosystems

44. Essential Learnings
 Organisms have specific
structure, functions and
behaviors that enable them to
survive in their ecosystem

45. Essential Learnings
 Populations of organisms are
categorized by the way they
obtain food in an ecosystem
 Plants and many
microrganisms make their own
food

46. Essential Learnings
 Anything that makes its own
food is called a Producer

47. Essential Learnings
 Most everything else must
obtain food from another
source.
 Consumers consume food
made by producers

48. Essential Learnings
 There are three types of
consumers
– Herbivores – Plant eaters
– Carnivores – Meat eaters
– Omnivores – Meat and Plant
eaters

49. Essential Learnings
 There is a third member of the
food cycle that starts at the end
of life
 These break down dead plants
and animals
 They are called decomposers