Yr+7+Ecosystems

Subject: Science: Ecosystems
 * 2016 Year 7 //__Ecosystems__// ****//__–__//****//__ Chapter 4 __//**
 * Year Level: 7 Victorian Curriculum Level:7 (VCSSU093)

Key Inquiry Questions: How can interactions between organisms be described in terms of food chains and food webs? How can interactions be affected by human activity? ||
 * Goals(include knowledge and skills goals):
 * constructing and interpreting food chains and food webs to show relationships between organisms in an environment
 * recognising the role of microorganisms within food chains and food webs
 * researching examples of human impacts on specific ecosystems, for example, the use of fire by traditional Aboriginal people, the effects of palm oil harvesting, deforestation, agricultural practices or the introduction of new species

Victorian Curriculum Achievement Standards: Statement from the end of the level descriptor :They use and develop models including food chains, food webs and the water cycle to represent and analyse the flow of energy and matter through ecosystems and explore the impact of changing components within these systems || (Include eLearning, differentiation strategies, resources) || Achievement Standards and Assessment Tasks (Include Formative and Summative Assessment strategies). || Inv 4.2 mini ecosystem Inv 4.3 measuring abiotic factors Education Perfect Yr 7->Ecosystems->1. ecosystems-> 1.1 Ecosystems vs Environment https://www.educationperfect.com/login/#Subject=32;List=1383162;page=SelectList;Module=457420;BaseLang=6 || CAT 2 & Rubric ‘Ecosystem in a Bottle’
 * Unit Title || Duration || Strands: Biological Sciences || Key Activities and Resources
 * ||  || 4.1Ecosystems - involve both living and non-living factors and how they interact with each other. || Suggestions:

EP ->1.2 biotic and abiotic factors [|__https://www.educationperfect.com/login/#Subject=32;List=1383164;page=SelectList;Module=457420;BaseLang=6__] || Specimen case could be used here INv 4.5 Ext [|__going extinct - off track a podcast__]
 * ||  || 4.2 Ecosystems need relationships || INV 4.4 Do all leaves contain the same pigments? ||   ||   Online task ‘ Analysing an Ecosystem’ [] (see handout on drive)   ||   ||
 * ||  || 4.3 Food chains & Food webs - feeding relationships between organisms can be shown in a food chain; food webs are many food chains. || make a food web

[|__how to trap a platypus - off track podcast__]

[|__journey to macquarie marshland - off track podcast - a unique ecosystem__] ||  || Extension Flower dissection Plant model ||  || • the carboncycle, the water cycle and the nitrogen cycle explain how living organisms recycle atoms. || INV 4.7 looking at decomposers INV 4.8 Investigating decomposition
 * ||  || 4.4 Angiosperms interactions – Insects and animals have a role in pollination and dispersal of seeds. || INV 4.6 practising botanist- observation skills and flowers
 * ||  || 4.5 Another bean stalk story – designing experiments and collecting and analysing data || Designing an expt to investigate what affects the growth of seeds ||   ||
 * ||  || 4.7 Recycle Me –Review of producers, 1 st, 2 nd and 3 rd order consumers and their different names

Extra: Worm activity Extension INV 4.9 Preserving apples

Videos ||  || Ecosystem, biotic, abiotic, organism, species, population, community, habitat, distribution, density, tolerance range, cellular respiration, photosynthesis, Food chain, food web, producer, consumer, decomposer, photosynthesis, autotroph, heterotroph, herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, competitors, prey, predator, trophic level, energy, pyramids, Pollen, ovule, embryo, dispersal, seed, germination, pollination, stigma, anther, Dependent and independent variable, fair test, control, hypothesis, procedure, method, aim, conclusion, Wastes, matter, carbon, nitrogen, cycle, Scavengers, protozoa, bacteria, Global warming, greenhouse effect ||
 * ||  ||   || Only if time – as this is covered in other subjects and at other year levels ||   ||
 * Words to Learn



1. The initial links for some of the education Perfect modules have been provided for students to attempt on their own. If teachers require feedback they should assign them as a task for your class 2. The remaining EP modules have been given by name only – again teachers can assign thee to a student or the student can attempt these on their own as extension/ extra work. They do this by 1. Logging on to Education Perfect (login name is MGSCFirstnameLastname and password is their Firstname) 2. Navigating to the science subject -> Year 07 Science Understanding -> Ecosystems
 * Education Perfect note**

=Class Notes= What all the terms mean (from the specfic to the most general

an ORGANISM of a species will live with others of its species and when we count them up we call them a POPULATION And along with the other populations in this place they make up a COMMUNITY which is within an ECOSYSTEM that is part of a BIOME and all the biomes make up the BIOSPHERE a

Bird Count
Magpie 1 + 2 + 4 + 3 +3 Peewee 2 + dove 1 rainbow lorikeet 5 +6 + 18 +4 +2 noisy miner 6+ +3+ sparrow swallow galah sulphur crested cockatoo masked plover (spurred lapwing) 5 Australian Raven 1

Mini environments in our school
Table of results for abiotic factors,; Soil temp, air temp, soil type, light intensity, other useful observations Locations, Tech alley way Gravel car park Cricket pitch JLC corner garden 2 others of your choice

Project
Groups of six; one person from each group responsible for 1 of the six locations in the table above.

Questions to answer for your area 1. Collect abiotic data over three days 2. List the plants and animals - Photos 3.identify the producers, herbivores, carnivores 1, 2, 3 order consumers 4. make a food chain 5. describe what would happen to your food chain if alll the herbivores were wiped out 6. describe the distribution of one of the populations for your area 7. describe the habitat of the herbivore in your area 8. describe one organism only found in your area and explain why it is not found in the other areas your group studied (distribution and tolerance).

When complete stick each of the A4 pages together to make a giant poster for your group that shows all the areas studied by your group.

___ Class notes continued Habitats This is the place where an organism lives ( like your address). Different animals prefer different habitats and each of these habitats will have different abiotic and biotic factors. Throughout a habitat the individuals of a species make up the population.

How far a population spreads is called its distribution. The distribution is controlled by biotic and abiotic factors. Example The eastern Grey kangaroo in Melbourne is limited by the abiotic factors of water availabiity and shelter (and the biotic factors of of food and prey . this is why they are limited to grassy plains on the outskirts of our city.

Some species are moire tolerant to a wider range of abiotic factors eg drought tolerant plants that can also put up with a Ecosystem is the interaction between the abiotic and biotic fact factors forming a biological community Comparing abiotic and biotic factors for an alligators environment

This is an example of a food web

Can you draw the food chains that make up the food web?

=Food chains and food webs and their labels=

All the plants in the world are called producers. We call them this because they make their own food by the process photosynthesis.

Carbon dioxide gas +water ---> glucose + oxygen + water (this happens in green plants when there is light and chlorophyl present.) Another name for producer is an autotroph.

Consumers can be grouped as first order consumers (herbivores), second order consumers ( carnivore or omnivore or insectivore), third order, consumers, fourth order consumers. Some times we name the consumers based on their role in an ecosystem. Example predator (carnivore ) will eat its prey (herbivore) and when it dies it will be eaten by a decomposer.

Heterotroph is the general term for any animal or organism that eats something else.

=Looking at decomposers Prac=

Diagrams of the steps 1. Green grass in a dish

2. Dead grass in a dish

3. Decomposing grass in a dish

4. Agar plate and green grass

5. Agar plate and dead

6. Agar plate and grass

6. agar plate and decomposing grass

=Questions from foodchains= 126 Q’s 4,7,8,14

q 4 Which organism traps sun energy? = PLANTS

q7. Sunlight

q8. Chlorophyll is the green pigment that captures light energy.

q14 - eating lettuce I am a first order consumer - when I am eating rabbit I am a second order consumer when I am eating shark I am a 3rd order consumer.

=**Observing my Terrarium**=

**Initial observations:** **Observations after about 1 week**
 * 1) Draw your terrarium (in pencil - take about 10 lines or more)
 * height of plant
 * number of leaves
 * height of soil
 * mass of the terrarium and plant and soil and water
 * colour of the soil
 * other observations eg is it bushy, are the stalks thin or thick,
 * height of plant
 * number of leaves
 * height of soil
 * mass of the terrarium and plant and soil and water
 * colour of the soil
 * other observations eg is it bushy, are the stalks thin or thick,

Questions

 * 1) List the things that grew well and the things that did not grow well
 * 2) Make an hypothesis as to why they grew well.
 * 3) Make an Hypothesis as to why they did not grow well.
 * 4) did the soil dry out?
 * 5) was it a good idea to seal the terrarium?

Conclusion
The plant grew in the closed terrarium and got all its requirments for photosynthesis from the air in the bottle

=The process that allows plants to make their own food is called photosynthesis.= This is where Carbon dioxide from the air and water from the soil combine to form glucose (food) and oxygen.

Carbon dioxide + water --- (light energy in the presence of chlorophyl) --> glucose + oxygen

Angiosperm examinations - Looking at flowers
Draw your flower and label all the parts HINT: use your textbook to help - you should be able to find the stamen, anther, filament, stigma, style, petal, carpel, ovary, receptacle



The role of the parts of the flowering plant The anther holds the pollen The filament supports the anther. Together the anther and the filament is called the stamen - this is the male part of the plant The female parts (stigma, style, ovule, ovary, egg) The pollen lands on the sticky stigma and grows down the style into the ovule (whichis inside the ovary). Here it fertilises an egg. This grows into a seed. If the seed germinates we get a new plant. All the rest of the plant eg the petals and sepals attract insects or birds to assist with pollination. the transfer of the pollen to the stigma.



=A quick look at the leaf= =The leaf is made of cells. Each cell has a special job.= When you use a microscope to zoom in on the green cells you can see that the only green things are the. chloroplasts. The chloroplasts are the place where photosynthesis takes place.

=Growing a seed into a plant=

Structure of a plant
While a seed is germinating it needs moisture and warmth but no light - it is under the soil. Once it has germinated 1 or 2 little "seed leaves" poke through the soil and now the plant needs light fro photosynthesis.

=Cycles in nature= a cycle in nature is when we examine the progress of one type of compound as it flows through the ecosystem.
 * the water cycle** shows the flow of water through a range of states as it moves through the environment. It shows the water condensing into clouds and then falling as rain or precipitation. When it falls on the ground it runs down hill until it reaches the sea. From here it can be evaporated as a gas into the atmosphere.


 * The carbon cycle** focuses on the movement of carbon as it combines with other elements as it moves through the ecosystem. It can be breathed out as carbon dioxide, taken into a plant and used as a reactant in photosynthesis to make glucose and then can be eaten by another animal and used as a reactant fro respiration.

photosynthesis
carbon dioxide + water > glucose + oxygen

respiration
glucose + oxygen > carbon dioxide + water

Another element cycled through the ecosystem is nitrogen. and we call this the nitrogen cycle. Find a picture and draw it.

Nitrogen is an important part of proteins, So without nitrogen we would not have muscles or nerves. Proteins are found in plants too. Nitrogen is often recycled by decomposers making the nitrogen from dead things available for living plants. Animals eat this ( or are eaten) and so the nitrogen is cycled around. Urea is a waste product that contains Nitrogen. It is collected by kidneys and added to water to make urine. When this is excreted it is broken down by bacteria to release the nitrogen.
 * The Nitrogen cycle**
 * Extension** What role does lightening have and root nodules have in the nitrogen cycle?



Observation of the ecosystem using the microscope 1. plant cells - leaf, root, stem 2. Hair slide- how to draw what you see through the microscope size magnification labels 3. what else is in the ecosystem dirt dead insects pond water 4. Design problem can you use your iPad to look through the microscope? Make an attachment for your iPad to help you take clear microscopic images

Expt 4.3 in chapter 4.1 Testing Abiotic factors A. Soil testing 1. put some soil on a watchglass and add 3 drops of universal indicator. 2. mix in some calcium carbonate (white powder) 3. record colour in table

B Testing Acidity in water 1. add 3 drops of universal indicator to water. record colour and pH number

C Testing for Salinity ( how salty) 1. add 3 drops of silver nitrate to the water. record the cour change. very white means very salty, grey means a little salty, clear means no salt

Results
 * Abiotic Factor || Ecosystem A........ || Ecosystem B....... ||
 * Water temp in Degrees C ||  ||   ||
 * Soil Temp ||  ||   ||
 * Water pH (colour and number) ||  ||   ||
 * Salinity ||  ||   ||
 * Soil pH ||  ||   ||

Ecosystems

Living magpie, Crow and bee, Flower, spider

Dead Wasp,Bird,dry leaves,possum

Nonliving Litter, rock,bin, cricket pitch, buildings, water, dirt, air,light, temperature

Habitat spider web, tree, house, garden bed,

Ecosystem The interaction between -The living and nonliving things in an area. Eg

Sally __eats food__ __Grass gets eaten by snails and humans eat snails__

Measuring abiotic factors We used the data loggers to collect the information about air temperature soil temperature light intensity and soil pH

> Provide an example of each of the following.
 * ques 1
 * 1) An abiotic factor -water temp, Soil temp,
 * 2) A biotic factor - worms, bird, snake, plant
 * 3) A species - green tree frog,
 * 4) An ecosystem - rainforest, mini ecosystem tree, Reef,

> Distinguish between:
 * ques 4
 * 1) abiotic and biotic factors - abiotic is nonliving and biotic is living
 * 2) distribution and density - distribution where its found (location), density is how many in a given area.
 * 3) cells and organisms -cells make up organisms
 * 4) population and community - How many, community - group of species and the number of each in the species - eg woodland community includes the trees and gras and wallabies and koalas and parrots, wombats, echidnas, ants, flies

Ques 5 List five abiotic factors that are part of the ecosystem in which you live. - water temp, soil, soil temp, materials, water, wind, light, air pressure, fire, temp,
 * 1) List five biotic factors that are a part of your ecosystem. - ants, humans, micro organism, spider, bird, dog,,
 * 2) Select one of these biotic or abiotic factors and research the possible consequences if it changed. - water- less water leads to drought
 * 3) Suggest how any negative consequences might be minimised.- conserve water
 * 1) Suggest how any negative consequences might be minimised.- conserve water

> Select an abiotic factor from the list below and find out more about how it affects the survival of a particular organism.
 * Ques 9

Old outlines Inv 4.2 mini ecosystem Inv 4.3 measuring abiotic factors Education Perfect Yr7>Ecosystems>1.ecosystems> 1.1 Ecosystems vs Environment || Understanding & Inquiring Q’s 1-11
 * ** Key Concepts ** ||  ||||   ||
 * # 1. Interactions in ecosystems
 * 1) 2. Food chains & webs and pyramids
 * 2) 3. Cycles
 * 3) 4. Pollination, fertilisation and germination
 * 4) 5. Unbalanced ecosystems |||| NAME: ||
 * || ** Science Quest 7 **
 * // TEXTBOOK //** |||| ** SCIENCE Quest 7 ****// PRACTICALS / ACTIVITIES //** || ** SCIENCE Quest 7 **
 * // HOMEWORK //** || ** OTHER ACTIVITIES/RESOURCES ** ||
 * 1 || ** 4.1 ** **Ecosystems** - involve both living and non-living factors and how they interact with each other. |||| Suggestions:

EP ->1.2 biotic and abiotic factors || ** Words to Learn ** Ecosystem, biotic, abiotic, organism, species, population, community, habitat, distribution, density, tolerance range || EP -> 1.3 Producers consumers decomposers EP 1.4 -> consumer types || EP -> cellular respiration vs photosynthesis || Specimen case could be used here INv 4.5 Ext [|going extinct - off track a podcast]
 * || 4.2 Ecosystems need relationships |||| INV 4.4 Do all leaves contain the same pigments? || Understanding & Inquiring Q’s 1-11
 * 2 || ** 4.3 Food chains & Food webs - ** feeding relationships between organisms can be shown in a food chain; food webs are many food chains. |||| make a food web

[|how to trap a platypus - off track podcast]

[|journey to macquarie marshland - off track podcast - a unique ecosystem] || Understanding & Inquiring Q’s 1-20

Research – Q 22 page 126

EP -> 1.6 Energy flow

Ext EP 2.2-> Autotrph vs Heterotroph || ** Words to Learn ** Food chain, food web, producer, consumer, decomposer, photosynthesis, autotroph, heterotroph, herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, competitors, prey, predator, trophic level, energy, pyramids || Plant model || Understanding & Inquiring Q’s 1-10 || ** Words to Learn ** Pollen, ovule, embryo, dispersal, seed, germination, pollination, stigma, anther || Dependent and independent variable, fair test, control, hypothesis, procedure, method, aim, conclusion || looking at decomposers INV 4.8 Investigating decomposition
 * 3 || ** 4.4 Angiosperms interactions – ** Insects and animals have a role in pollination and dispersal of seeds. |||| INV 4.6 practising botanist- observation skills and flowers
 * Extension ** Flower dissection
 * 4 || ** 4.5 Another bean stalk story – ** designing experiments and collecting and analysing data |||| Designing an expt to investigate what affects the growth of seeds ||   || ** Words to Learn **
 * 4 || ** 4.7 Recycle Me ** –Review of producers, 1st, 2nd and 3rd order consumers and their different names
 * • ** the carboncycle, the water cycle and the nitrogen cycle explain how living organisms recycle atoms. |||| INV 4.7

Extra: Worm activity Extension INV 4.9 Preserving apples

Videos || Understanding & Inquiring Q’s 1-10 || ** Words to Learn ** Wastes, matter, carbon, nitrogen, cycle Scavengers, protozoa, bacteria || size, how will this affect ecosystems |||| Only if time – as this is covered in other subjects and at other year levels || EP all of module 3. Human effects || ** Words to Learn ** Global warming, greenhouse effect ||
 * 5 || ** 4.7 Unbalanced ecosystems - ** Our populations have dramatically increased in
 * 5 || ** 4.7 Unbalanced ecosystems - ** Our populations have dramatically increased in
 * 6 || ** 4.6 Bush tucker - extension ** |||| Explore the types of bushtucker and make a poster to represent these || A good poster will include, pictures and names of the tucker, its use, a comparable food you may eat, the advantages of the different foods ||   ||