What Is an Ecosystem?

What Is an Ecosystem?

What are ecosystems? “Eco” comes from Latin and means “house.”“Eco” means all the parts exist together. You have probably heard the word “system.”It means “interacting parts.” So,“system” tells us that not only do the parts exist together as if they were in one house, but the parts also affect one another.

Think of the last time you were outdoors. What did you see? You may have seen living things like grass and people. You may see non-living things like concrete, soil, puddles or snowbanks. An ecosystem contains all those parts that you can see. You can see soil, water, insects, rocks, birds, trees, and people. There are also parts you cannot see. You can’t see microscopic organisms like bacteria and fungi, or molecules of food and nutrients that are in water, soil, and air.

Often, ecosystems are confused with another word – habitat. Habitat describes the conditions an organism needs to live. A whale needs salty water and fish to eat. Gophers need plants to eat and soil to burrow in. Giant sequoias (a tree) need lots of water and soil nutrients. Ecosystems includemore than the requirements needed for an organism to live. Ecosystems include interactions among many types of organisms and abiotic parts of the environment too.

Where Are Ecosystems?

Where can you find an ecosystem? You might be surprised by all the places where you can find an ecosystem. Did you know that your mouth holds an ecosystem? Your mouth has many types of microscopic organisms living in it.Bacteria, fungi, and protozoa live in your mouth. These organisms get the food and nutrients they need to live from the foods you eat.

When you go school, you find yourself in an ecosystem that may be a town or city. You are part of the ecosystem. You interact with the other parts of the ecosystem. You eat other organisms and your waste products in turn may be used by still other organisms for their growth. You also breathe air and drink water that is present in your ecosystem. By doing this, you change the makeup of the air and water. Ecosystems can be any size. If you look around you will begin to see many examples of ecosystems.

How Do Ecosystems Work and What Do They Do?

We know that ecosystems are made up of many interacting abiotic and biotic parts. Those interactions hold the key to what ecosystems can do. First, an ecosystem needs energy. An ecosystem cannot function without energy. Many ecosystems get their energy from the Sun. Plants and some bacteria can capture energy from sunlight and store it in their tissues. They use the energy to grow and reproduce.

The energy captured by plants doesn’t stay there forever. Plants are food for consumers. The energy in plant tissues is passed on to organisms that eat plants. Predators get their energy by eating consumers. Dead plants and animals are food for tiny micro-organisms like bacteria and fungi. You probably know these feeding relationships as a food web. The food web allows energy to flow through the ecosystem and power the activities of many organisms.

Ecosystems include not only living and non-living things, but also interactions among them.

In this forest ecosystem, precipitationmay be taken up by plants by roots. It may be absorbed by the soil and stored as groundwater. Sunlightprovides energy to plants. This energy may be passed on to animals that eat plants, like the deer in this forest. The energy in plants may also be passed to decomposers like earthworms and bacteria that live in dead plant material or soils. Micro-organisms that are attached to plant roots may help plants to capture some of the nutrients that are released as decomposers break down dead materials

If you have ever taken vitamins, been told to eat your vegetables, or sipped an energy drink, you know that food contains more than just energy. Nutrients cycle through the abiotic and biotic parts of ecosystems and are passed between organisms in a food web.

Ecosystems are always changing. Ecosystems rarely stay the same for long periods of time. But ecosystems are far from delicate. Sometimes changes in ecosystems are slow and gradual, like a forest growing from a group of seedlings to mature old trees. Other times changes happen suddenly. Fires, floods, or volcano eruptions can quickly remove most of the biotic parts from an ecosystem and can even change the abiotic parts.

Name ______

I Spy An Ecosystem Worksheet

Match the term with it definition

8. An ecosystem consists of only the things you can see.

a. Trueb. False

Match the term with it definition

11. Identify the way you interact in an ecosystem.

a. Breath air and drink water.

b. Eat other organisms.

c. Waste products may be used by other organisms for their growth.

d. All of the above.

12. An ecosystem is made up of abiotic and biotic parts.

a. Trueb. False

13. Which organism(s) can use the energy from the Sun to grow and reproduce? (There are two answers to this question.)

a. Animalsc. Plants

b. Bacteria

Use the diagram on pg. 2 to answer questions #14-#16.

14. Precipitation may…

a. absorbed by soil and stored as groundwater.

b. be taken up by plants and roots.

c. Both a & b

15. This provides energy to plants.

a. Sunlightb. Water

16. Nutrients cycle through the abiotic parts of ecosystems and are passed between organisms in a food web.

a. Trueb. False

17. Ecosystems are always changing.

a. Trueb. False

Match the event with the type of change.

I Spy An Ecosystem Worksheet – Key I

Match the term with it definition

G 1. Abiotic

E 2. Biotic

B 3. Consumer

F 4. Decomposers

C 5. Eco

A 6. Food Web

D 7. System

8. An ecosystem consists of only the things you can see.

a. Trueb. False

b. False

Match the term with it definition

A 9. Ecosystem

B 10. Habitat

11. Identify the way you interact in an ecosystem.

a. Breath air and drink water.

b. Eat other organisms.

c. Waste products may be used by other organisms for their growth.

d. All of the above.

d. All of the above.

12. An ecosystem is made up of abiotic and biotic parts.

a. Trueb. False

a. True

13. Which organism(s) can use the energy from the Sun to grow and reproduce? (There are two answers to this question.)

a. Animalsc. Plants

b. Bacteria

b. Bacteria; c. Plants

Use the diagram on pg. 2 to answer questions #

14. Precipitation may…

a. absorbed by soil and stored as groundwater.

b. be taken up by plants and roots.

c. Both a & b

c. Both a & b

15. This provides energy to plants.

a. Sunlightb. Water

a. Sunlight

16. Nutrients cycle through the abiotic parts of ecosystems and are passed between organisms in a food web.

a. Trueb. False

b. False

17. Ecosystems are always changing.

a. Trueb. False

a. True

Match the event with the type of change.

A 18. A forest growing from a group of seedlings to mature old trees.

B 19. Fires

B 20. Floods

B 21. Volcano eruptions

I Spy An Ecosystem Worksheet – Key II

1. G (7 choices)

2. E (7 choices)

3. B (7 choices)

4. F (7 choices)

5. C (7 choices)

6. A (7 choices)

7. D (7 choices)

8. b (2 choices)

9. A (2 choices)

10. B (2 choices)

11. d

12. a (2 choices)

13. b, c (3 choices)

14. c (3 choices)

15. a (2 choices)

16. b (2 choices)

17. a (2 choices)

18. A (2 choices)

19. B (2 choices)

20. B (2 choices)

21. B (2 choices)

I Spy An Ecosystem Worksheet

Scoring Guide

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