Unit 4: We preserve ecosystems
1. What is an ecosystem?
- Living things
Animals and plants are living things.All living things belong to a species.
A population is all the living things of the same species that live in an ecosystem.
A community is all the different populations of living things that live together in the same ecosystem.
The physical environment
The physical environment of an ecosystem is made up of all the non-living components, like climate, soil and water.
- terrestrial ecosystems on land
- aquatic ecosystems in water
Relationships between living things and the environment
The living things in an ecosystem have a complex relationship with the physical environment.
Activity 1
2. How do living things obtain food?
In every ecosystem, all the living things need to find food.
Producers and consumers
According to how they obtain food, living things in ecosystems are producers or consumers
Food chains
We use food chains to show how living things feed on other living things in an ecosystem.
Food chains show pictures of the living things, joined by arrows.
Food chains always start with a producer.
be careful with the direction of the arrows, remember that it means "is eaten by"!
Food webs
Food chains in an ecosystem are very complex because one living thing can be included in several food chains.
We use food webs to show more than one food chain in an ecosystem
3. What are other relationships in ecosystems?
Relationships within the same species
Relationships between different species
3. What are the main types of ecosystems?
There are many different types of ecosystems in the world.
We classify them into terrestrial ecosystems on land and aquatic ecosystems in water.
Terrestrial ecosystem