Sustainable Ecosystems and Human Activity. Trouble for the Cricket Frog Read “Trouble for the Cricket Frog” on page 21 –You and the person beside you.

Sustainable Ecosystems and Human Activity

Trouble for the Cricket Frog

• Read “Trouble for the Cricket Frog” on page 21– You and the person beside you will be

assigned one of the questions and you will answer it on a large piece of poster paper

Questions

• Why should humans be concerned about the decline in the number of cricket frogs?

• How might a decline in the number of frogs affect other species in an ecosystem? Use the term “food chain” in your explanation.

• What are the 3 main reasons cricket frogs are endangered.

• What are some things you could do to avoid doing that might help cricket frogs survive?

UNDERSTANDING ECOSYSTEMS

The round goby is a fish about the size of your hand that lives at the bottom of rivers. It also happens to be a big threat to other fish. These grey, brown, and black fish are moving into Great Lakes tributaries such as the Thames and Grand rivers. These waters are home to a variety of aquatic life, including several endangered species

Life on Earth

Habitats- the environment where an organism lives

Earth’s TWO Habitat Types

Terrestrial• Found on land

Marine• Found in water

Examples of Terrestrial Habitats

Examples of Marine Habitats

What does a habitat need?

• Food• Shelter• Others for Reproduction

What do they need in a habitat?

• Robin

• Perch

• Grasshopper

• Bear

• Moose

Extreme Habitats

• What organisms live in the following extreme terrestrial habitats and how are they adapted to living there?

Make your own habitat

• Your task is to create a habitat for a real or made up organism.

• Be creative in how you display your habitat– It should include:

• What your organisms eats• Where your organism live

The Spheres of the Earth

Atmosphere: the thin layer of gases that surrounds the earth

Atmosphere

• The atmosphere contains gases such as:– Water vapour– Oxygen– Carbon Dioxide

• All needed by living things• Acts like a giant blanket wrapped around

the earth that keeps it from getting too hot or too cool

• Blocks sun’s radiation

Lithosphere

• Rocky outer shell of the Earth– Mountains, ocean floors, rest of earth’s solid

landscape

Hydrosphere

• The water on, above and below the Earth’s surface– Oceans, lakes, ice, clouds, ground water

The Biosphere

• The zone in, on and around the Earth where life can exist– Atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere

Biosphere 2

• artificial biosphere created to mimic many different biospheres here on earth

• tour of biosphere 2

• http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_poynter_life_in_biosphere_2.html

Ecosystems

• All the living organisms in an area and their non-living environment– All components are integrated- change in

one component can affect other components

Living vs. Non-Living

Living- Biotic Factor• Includes organisms,

their waste, their homes and their remains– Ex. Fungi, beavers,

insects, moose droppings, shrubs

Non-Living- Abiotic Factor• Includes non-living

features– Ex. Weather, rocks, water

Biotic vs. Abiotic

• smart book quiz.notebook

Everything is related …

• Biotic and abiotic factors affect one another, so any changes in biotic or abiotic factors can change an ecosystem

– For example: a forest is cut down for houses, the trees that housed insects, birds and squirrels are no longer there- they now need to find another place to live

– cane toads

Population or Community

• Most ecosystems have many different types of species– Members of the same species living in the same

ecosystem are called a population• All snapping turtles in a pond are a population

• All populations of different organisms in an area form a community– In a pond there are turtles, frogs, fishes, mosquitoes,

aquatic plants, algae, etc., that make up a community