Environmental Science Objectives

ABACUS 01-SCES-25

Links:

Objectives:

5. Students will examine biotic and abiotic factors within an ecosystem, producers and consumers and local flora and fauna to identify food chains, webs, and pyramids as well as energy flow and relationships.

Time Range:
2nd Quarter

Suggested Teaching Strategies:
Define and use energy terms including first and second laws of thermodynamics. Discuss relationships such as predator/prey, symbiosis, parasite/host. Differentiate between autotroph and heterotroph. Differentiate between abiotic and biotic factors the effect ecosystems. Use scientific and common terms used to describe relationships within food chains: producers, consumers, decomposers, tertiary consumers etc. Discuss placement of organisms into food chains and food webs. Discuss the different types of pyramids: biomass, energy and numbers and their relationship to each other.

Aligned Resources:

• Core Lab 3: Study of a Pond Community / Biological Communities
• Core Lab 4: What is a Food Pyramid?
• Core Lab 5: Owl Pellet Analysis
• Core Lab 7: How Competition Establishes A Niche! / Finding A Niche In a New Environment
• "How Energy Moves Through a Food Chain" activity

Revision Date:
June 2005