Ecology Unit Learning Goals

Georgia Performance Standards for this unit

SB2.Students will assess the dependence of all organisms on one another and the flow of energy and matter within their ecosystems.

  1. Investigate the relationships among organisms, populations, communities, ecosystems, and biomes.
  2. Explain the flow of matter and energy through ecosystems by
  • Arranging components of a food chain according to energy flow.
  • Comparing the quantity of energy in the steps of an energy pyramid.
  • Explaining the need for cycling of major nutrients (C, O, H, N, P).
  1. Relate environmental conditions to successional changes in ecosystems.
  2. Assess and explain human activities that influence and modify the environment such as global warming, population growth, pesticide use, and water and power consumption.
  3. Relate plant adaptations, including tropisms, to the ability to survive stressful environmental conditions.
  4. Relate animal adaptations, including behaviors, to the ability to survive stressful environmental conditions.

Use this chart to evaluate your understanding of each of the following learning goals. We will check your understanding throughout the unit.

Goal number / Goal
1 / I understand what organisms, populations, communities, ecosystems, and biomes are.
2 / I can relate the terms in #1 to each other.
3 / I can distinguish between biotic and abiotic factors.
4 / Organisms occupy a trophic level in an ecosystem. Each species has a role or niche in the ecosystem.
5 / A food chain shows one possible path of energy flow in an ecosystem.
6 / A food web shows many of the possible paths of energy flow in an ecosystem.
7 / An energy pyramid is a tool to compare the amounts of matter and energy available at each trophic level.
8 / Populations interact with each other in symbiosis and predator prey relationships.
9 / Energy is not cycled within the ecosystem. It can enter and leave the ecosystem.
10 / Nutrients are cycled within the ecosystem. They are not brought in from outside.
11 / I can explain how nutrients such as carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, hydrogen, and water move from the soil to the air to living things and back again.
12 / A community undergoes a series of changes over time.
13 / The path that this succession takes will vary with starting conditions and environmental conditions.
14 / Populations are limited by a variety of density dependent or density independent factors.
15 / Human populations are also limited.
16 / Humans have a significant impact on the environment.
17 / Global warming is a natural process that can be accelerated by increases in atmospheric CO2 and other Greenhouse gases.
18 / Increases in human population increase the impact on the environment by taxing resources and increasing pollution.
19 / Pesticide use can lead to the evolution of resistance in pests as well as other environmental impacts.
20 / Water and power consumption by humans has an impact on environmental quality.
21 / Animals have a large range of structures that act as adaptations
22 / Animal behavior is an adaptation to environmental conditions.
23 / Within the Plant kingdom, there are a variety of structures that can help plants survive.
24 / Plants respond to their environment. This includes tropisms.