Lesson 3: Players in an Ecosystem

Whole-Class Discussion:

1. Let's review! What do organisms get from food?
2. What is the measure of food energy?
3. What is in food that helps humans and other animals to move and stay warm?
4. What is in food that helps humans and other animals repair their bodies and grow?
   

---

Start today's lesson by watching a video & completing the following Science Mystery:

Today, we're going to learn how matter CYCLES and energy TRANSFERS in an ecosystem.  Let's draw a food chain diagram together to help us see this:

Where do these animals fit into the Food Chain Diagram above?

• Cow
• Sheep
• Deer
• Rabbit
• Grasshopper

Where do these animals fit into the Food Chain Diagram above?

• Lion
• Wolf
• Snake
• Hawk
• Praying Mantis
• Spider

Where do these animals fit into the Food Chain Diagram above?

• Pig
• Bear
• Raccoon
• Chipmunk
• Human

Everything we just discussed represents a basic food chain. Watch a short video from BrainPop on the subject!

BIG IDEA 3:
An ecosystem is a system of organisms that interact with each other and with the non-living parts of their environment. Energy flows through food webs & Matter cycles within food webs.

Vocabulary:

• Food Chain
  
• Food Web
  
• Producers
• Consumers
• Primary Producers
• Primary Consumers
• Secondary Consumers
• Top Predators

---

Answer these questions aloud as a class:

1. What does the sun do in this ecosystem?
   
2. How do we classify the big bluestem grass?
   
3. What does the bison eat?
   
4. What does the bison get from eating the grass?
   
5. What category is the bison if it eats grass?
   
6. What does the wolf eat?
   
7. What does the wolf get from eating the bison?
   
8. What category is the wolf if it eats bison?
   
9. What are both the bison and the wolf (as opposed to the bluestem grass)?
   

Here is a visual of the Tall Grass Prairie Food Chain:

---

Choose three sample food chains from the list at the right. Try not to choose the exact same ones as those around you.

Use a mind-mapping website to create three mind maps that show how energy and matter transfer through the ecosystem. I recommend MindMup.com (connects to Google Drive) or Bubbl.us (requires that you make a free account).

Post your images on your blog when you're finished.

---

A Food Web is slightly more complex than a Food Chain as it shows multiple animals at each stage of the process.

1. The grass is known as a Primary Producer.
2. Three Primary Consumers eat the grass (the grasshopper, bison, and the mouse).
3. Five Secondary Consumers eat the Primary Consumers (the chicken, badger, snake, hawk, and wolf. 
4. And three of the Secondary Consumers are Top Predators (badger, hawk, and wolf). 
5. Watch this BrainPop video on Food Pyramids.

---

Reflect & Synthesize:
Answer the following questions in your blog post. Remember to have at least one follow-up sentence for each question, when possible.

1. Choose one of your Food Chains that you created and explain how it works.
2. Can a Food Web be considered a "system"? Why or why not?
3. What happens if a plant or animal all of a sudden disappears from the food web?
4. 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?
5. Using the same food chain in #4, How do organisms in that food chain get the energy they need for body warmth and motion?
   
6. 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:

1. .
2. .
3. .
4. .
5. .
   
6. .
   

---

Time to take a quick Check-In Quiz! Let's see what you've learned so far! Click here. Type in our Room Number:

When you finish the quiz, check this page out OR check this one out (you need to sign in to BrainPop).