Category: Ecosystems

Lesson 4 - Plants as Producers

4/12/2016

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Plants need energy and matter to grow. Where do plants get their ENERGY?
Where do plants get their MATTER?
Where do plants get their FOOD (be careful - this is a trick question)?
Why are plants called Producers?
What would happen if plants didn't have a way to get energy?
What would happen to animals if there were no plants to eat?
What are some of the LIVING components of a plant "system"? (A plant "system" is everything that a plant needs to survive and everything it produces.)
What are some of the NON-LIVING components of a plant "system"?
In what ways do the components of the system interact?
What matter is transported in and out of the plant system?

Plants get their energy from the sun, because chlorophyll absorbs it and turns it into energy. They get it from the soil because the soil has nutrients inside of it, especially when it is watered.
Plants get their matter from the carbon dioxide that we breathe out. Without it, the plants cannot grow.
Plants get their food from the sun, but there is also nutrients in the soil to. The roots will suck it up and make it grow. But the sun is also their food.
Plants are called producers because they are at the very beginning of the food chain, so they produce it! Without producers, there would be no life on Earth!
If plants did not get energy, than it would shrivel up and die! No energy means that there is no way plants can produce food or oxygen, so most lifeforms would die out.
If there where no plants to eat, than every single food chain would be messed up! Some animals absolutely need plants to eat, so if they can't eat them, all the herbivores would die out. And then most of the carnivores would also die out because of the lack of food!
Some of the living components of a plant are leaves. The leaves help soak up the sun, so it is very important.
Some of the non living components are the dirt, and the water. The dirt makes sure that the roots of a plant can expand so it can grow. And the water gives the plant the power to make it's own nutrients.
All the components of a plant interact with each other. For example, the roots of a plant expand in the soil. And the carbon dioxide helps the plants grow! All these interactions are needed, and a plant would die without them.
The matter transported out of the plant is oxygen. We grow plants so that the entire world can survive and not suffocate!

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Lesson 3: Players in an Ecosystem

4/6/2016

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Notes:
A producer is the beginning of the food chain because they consume energy from the sun. All animals are consumers because they eat the plants and each other. A food web includes producers and consumers. Plants are mostly producers, and animals are consumers. Herbivores only eat plants, carnivores eat animals, and omnivores eat both animals and plants. Or primary consumers eat producers, and secondary consumers eat the primary consumers.

Herbivores:
Cow
Sheep
Deer
Rabbit
Grasshopper

Omnivore/Carnivore:
Lion - Carnivore
Wolf - Carnivore
Snake - Carnivores
Hawk - Carnivore
Preying Mantis - Carnivores
Spider - Omnivore
Pig - Omnivores
Bear - Omnivore
Raccoon - Omnivores
Chipmunk - Omnivores
Human - Omnivores

Evey thing in each list is a consumer!

This Is a food chain

Reflection Questions:

Choose one of your Food Chains that you created and explain how it works.
Can a Food Web be considered a "system"? Why or why not?
What happens if a plant or animal all of a sudden disappears from the food web?
Using this food chain, "sunlight to apple to worm to bird to cat," How do organisms in this food chain get the matter they need for body repair and growth?
Using the same food chain in #4, How do organisms in that food chain get the energy they need for body warmth and motion?
What do you think happens to the matter that is NOT used by the organisms in a food chain or food web? Is it wasted or does something else happen?

Answers:

The food chain I created starts with the sun, which helps the grass grow. The deer eat the grass, and then the lion comes and eats the deer.
Yes, a food web can be a system because there are lots of steps of how primary and secondary consumers eat. For example, a mouse will eat the grass, then a snake will come eat the mouse!
If an animal disappears from the food web, it would totally mess up the whole food web! This is because if one animal is gone, it's predictor will go hungry and die out, and it repeats! All of the food web will eventually die out.
When one organism eats something, they gain nutrients from it and store some away. And when a animal comes and eats that animal, they get the nutrients that it had stored away.
The animals get the energy by one eating grass, then storing some calories away. Then when it's predator eats it, he or she will receive the calories it stored away, and it will be digesting, therefore keeping it warm.
I think that the matter is stored away for later, so maybe when they are desperately in need for energy, they can use it. Or when they eat a small meal that matter will come in handy giving it the energy it needs.

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Lesson 2: Food - Matter & Energy

4/4/2016

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Organisms We Saw:

Plants:

Trees
Grass
Flowers
Bushes

Plants Need:

Carbon Dioxide
Water
Sunlight
Soil - Nutrients
Nitrogen
Phosphorus
Potassium - These Minerals Are Needed For The Plant To Grow
Carbon

Where do they get the things they need?:

Plants get water from their roots and soil
Oxygen comes from the air
Light comes from lights from inside or the sunlight

Animals:

Pill Bugs
Birds
People
Squirrel - Food, Water
Worms
Centipede

Animals need:

Oxygen
Water
Shelter - Warmth
Food - Carbon
Sleep

Where do they get the things they need?:

Oxygen from the air
They get water from lakes, ponds, fountains, and puddles
Carnivores get food from other animals, herbivores eat plants, and omnivores eat both.

Where do we get energy from:

Food - Gives us fat and nutrients - Also gives us matter - Protein is the best possible food you can eat to not get fats.
Sleep - Helps us transfer energy

On the human food label:

How do we find the energy (calories) per serving?
How do we find the matter (carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals)?
Where can we locate the list of ingredients?

1. You look at the label and where it says calories, you will find out how many there are per serving.
2. You look at under daily value, and where it says carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals it will tell you how many of each there are.
3. You can locate the ingredients at the bottom of the label.

On the pet food label:

Where can we locate the list of ingredients?
How do we find the percentage of different types of matter in the food?

You can see the list of ingredients at the very top of the label.
You can find the percentages under guaranteed analysis. Every single percentage is listed under it.

Answer the following questions while analyzing the Nutrition Labels:

As a result of looking at food labels, what did you learn about food?
Look at the ingredients of one human food label. Write down the food name. What ingredients came from animals?
What ingredients in the above food label came from plants?
What similarities and differences did you notice between the human food and pet food labels you looked at?
Choose an animal/insect from the ecosystem walk. What do you think it eats? Explain what you think it gets from its food.

Reflection Questions:

What does food provide to animals, including humans?
Do the pet food and human food have the same nutrients? In what ways are they different?
Does a higher calorie count mean a food is better for pets to eat? What makes pet owners think that?
What is it in food that helps us repair our bodies and grow?
What in food helps us move and stay warm?
In what way does energy transfer when animals eat food?
Look at the nutrition label below for milk. How much energy is in the food?
What matter is in the food?

Answers:

I learned that some types of food can have so many ingredients! It so insane that a piece of food needs so many other ingredients. I also learned that carrots had so much salt in them!
The food on the human food label is tomato soup, and there are no ingredients that come from animals.
The soybean oil, carrot fiber, and tomato puree came from plants. Even though they are not all natural, parts of them came from a plant.
I noticed that the pet food label had a lot more ingredients than the human food. I also noticed that the pet food label had different categories of nutrients than the human food labe did.
My animal is a bird. I believe that a bird eats insects and worms. And since some bugs eat plants, I think that the bird gets lots of calories because plants are very nutritious.

Food provides energy, growth, and even warmth! The way food does all these insane things depends on which part of the piece of food you are talking about. Calories are the things that allow you to grow, the nutrients gives you energy, and when you digest, it keeps you warm.
No, the pet and human food do not have the same nutrients. The pet food has different categories than the human food. For example, human food has calories, pet food doesn't.
Pets usually burn lots of calories, so they will need to consume many. Like when a dog runs around in the yard, they burn energy, so they need to refill. Like a car to gas. Pet owners want their pets to be in the best condition possible so they feed their pets lots of calories.
The thing in food that helps us with these things is matter. Matter helps us grow and heal things like cuts.
The thing in food that keeps us warm is energy. Energy keeps us warm and gives us the power to do work as simple as eating a strawberry.
When a animal eat something, it stores away about a tenth of the calories they gain. Then when a predator eats them, they get the calories. Top predators will need to eat lots of prey because they won't get that much energy from one animal.
There are 160 calories in the milk. But that is only one serving. One serving is a cup, so if you have 10 cups of milk, you will gain more energy.
The matter is the calcium. And because the milk is 30% calcium, you will grow a little bit.

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Lesson 1: What is an Ecosystem?

3/30/2016

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My Ecosystem:

Vocabulary For This Lesson:

Questions

What do living things get from their ecosystems?
What evidence do you have to support your answer to Question 1?
What does the term ecosystem mean, based on your experience in this lesson? (Don't use the definition from the BIG IDEA here. Put it into your own words.)
Brainstorm at least one question you have about Ecosystems that you hope you learn from this unit.
Look at the image below that shows a portion of a forest ecosystem. Name at least five components (living or non-living things) of the ecosystem that you can either observe directly or infer.
What are three (or more) interactions that might occur in this portion of the forest ecosystem?

Answers

Living things get food, water, and a home in their ecosystems.
If a squirrel lives in a tree in a certain ecosystem, that tree will provide acorns (which is food to them), and a home. And water will be provided from rain.
Ecosystem means that living things and nonliving things live in harmony in an small or bigger area. This term also means that living things use non living things to thrive.
My question is what is the maximum for how big an ecosystem can be?
Some of the components are the trees, the deer, the water, the grass, and the rocks.
Some of the interactions might be that the deer will drink the water, squirrels might pick acorns in the trees, and fish in the pond might get eaten by other fish

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Lesson 4 - Plants as Producers

Lesson 3: Players in an Ecosystem

Reflection Questions:

Lesson 2: Food - Matter & Energy

Lesson 1: What is an Ecosystem?

My Ecosystem:

Vocabulary For This Lesson:

Questions

Answers

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