Science+and+the+Environment+Part+2

Science and The Environment Part 2 Lesson Power Point: **[]

Study Guide:

Lesson Plans

Notes:**  1. What is a habitat? An environment that meets the needs of an organism is called its habitat.  2. What is a niche? What would be an example of a birds niche? A niche is a living things role in their environment. A niche includes all the ways an organism meets its needs: how it gets shelter, how it produces its young, and how it gets food and water. (Example: Part of a bird’s niche, or role, in their habitat is to eat insects. WHY?)  3. What is a food chain? The way energy moves through an ecosystem is through the food chain. There are three parts: producers, consumers, and decomposers  4. What is a producer? A producer is a living thing such as a plant, which makes its own food.  5. A food chain always begins with a producer. (Hint: The word produce means to make something.)  6. What is a consumer? A consumer is a living thing that eats other living things for energy. The first consumer in a food chain is an herbivore (an animal that eats only plants) The next consumer is a carnivore (an animal that eats only other animals). A carnivore may be eaten by a larger carnivore. (Hint: Consumers are like grocery shoppers. They have to get their energy from another source.)  7. What is a decomposer? A decomposer is a living thing that feeds on the wastes of plants and animals or on their remains after they die. Decomposers are consumers that break down dead plants and animals. They return materials stored in dead plants and animals to the soil, water, and air. Then green plants use the materials to make food. (Hint: Decomposers are considered the “clean up” group.)  8. What would be an example of the food chain? Example of a the food chain: plant, rabbit, fox  9. What is a food web? A diagram that shows how these food chains connect and overlap is called a food web.  10. What is an example of a Food Web? Sometimes a consumer is an “omnivore” (an animal that eats both plants and animals).Examples: Black bears are consumers that eat meat and plants. Review Food Web example on B23  11. Why is the food chain and food web important? The food chain/food web is very important in keeping the stability, or balance in an ecosystem.  12. What might happen if there are too many insect eating birds in a habitat? Birds keep the insect population from becoming too large. If there are too many insect eating birds living in a habitat, the birds will eat the insects until there is not enough to eat. If there is a “balance” the birds will eat what they need and the insects will have a chance to reproduce so that they food chain can run smoothly.  13. What could happen to an ecosystem that had mice if cats were added to it? The mice population would decrease.