UNIT 3 CHANGE TO ECOSYSTEMS

Ecosystems change over time. Sometimes changes are natural, others are caused by human activity. 

Natural changes are caused by variations in environmental conditions.

Human activities can destroy habitats or entire ecosystems. This destruction can lead to the extinction of many species.

-Pollution: Human activities can release dangerous substances into the air, water or soil.

-Overfishing: Humans take a lot of marine animals from the sea. This causes changes in the food web of marine ecosystems.

-Deforestation: Many forests are being cut down what results in the destruction of the natural forest ecosystem and its habitats. 

-Forest fires can destroy large areas of forest. After a fire, rain washes away the soil destroying habitats.

 

Sustainable development doesn’t cause permanent damage to the environment, so we can continue to use natural resources in the future. One way to promote sustainable development is biosphere reserves which are natural ecosystems that have not been affected very much by human activity.

We can protect the natural habitats by saving water or energy, reusing, recycling, reducing, respecting nature…

UNIT 3 HABITAT AND BIOMES

The biosphere is all of the ecosystems of the Earth. It includes the oceans, the land, the atmosphere and all the living things on the planet.

Habitat

The place where a population lives is called its habitat. There can be many habitats in a single ecosystem. Sometimes living things can share a habitat. Habitats can be aquatic or terrestrial, or a combination of both. A habitat of a living organism includes the places where it eats, sleeps and hunts.

 

A biome is a group of ecosystems that share similar geographic and climatic conditions. The biomes occupy large areas of the planet.

Games
https://switchzoo.com/games/habitatgame.htm
(create the habitat for each animal)

UNIT 3 THE CLASSIFICATION OF ECOSYSTEMS

THE CLASSIFICATION OF ECOSYSTEMS

We can classify ecosystems into small and extensive ecosystems. Extensive ecosystems can be:

-Natural ecosystems: Ecosystems where no human activity has altered the biotope. They can be terrestrial or aquatic.

-Artificial ecosystems: Ecosystems where human activity has altered the biotope.

We can classify Terrestrial ecosystems into:

•Prairie or savannah ecosystems that include non-living things, such as soil, rivers or lakes. Grasses and shrubs grow there. Zebras, rabbits, owls and insects are found there.

 •Forest and woodland ecosystems include non-living things, such as soil or rivers. Among the living things, there are trees and shrubs. Many animals live here: snakes, squirrels, birds and insects.

•Tropical rainforest ecosystems are found near to the equator. They are hot and humid. Living things include birds, monkeys, insects, frogs and snakes.

•Aquatic ecosystems include rivers, oceans, wetlands and lakes.

Artificial ecosystems They include cities, towns, villages and farms. Artificial aquatic ecosystems include reservoirs, ponds and canals.

•City ecosystems The biotope includes buildings, rivers and roads. They have parks and gardens founding grasses, trees and bushes. Cities are home of birds, such as sparrows and pigeons and other animals, such as mice, lizards, insects and sometimes foxes.

UNIT 3 TROPHIC RELATIONSHIPS

TROPHIC RELATIONSHIPS

Animals eat plants or other animals in their ecosystem. The relationships between the organisms that eat and the organisms that are eaten are called trophic relationships.

1.Producers: they make their own food. (PLANTS)

2.Herbivores. They are primary consumers. (GRASSHOPER)

3.Carnivores. They are secondary consumers: they feed on primary consumers (FROGS)

4.Carnivores. They are tertiary consumers: they feed on secondary consumers. (SNAKES)

5. Decomposers: they break down the remains of dead organisms. (FUNGI)

Ecosystems include more than one food chain. A food chain shows the trophic relationships between organisms that belong to different trophic groups

GAMES 

https://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/games/foodchaingame.htm

https://toybox.tools.bbc.co.uk/activities/id/gm2zlfh9hq/exitGameUrl/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fbitesize%2Ftopics%2Fzbnnb9q%2Farticles%2Fz93vdxs/palette/colour-palette-7/language/en-GB/project/blocks-bitesize

http://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/jams/science/ecosystems/food-chains.htm 

http://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/jams/science/ecosystems/food-webs.htm