Interacting+Ecosystems

=**Lesson Three - Interacting Ecosystems**=

__Essential Question__: How do ecosystems interact?

__Objective__: SWBAT provide two to three examples of how ecosystems interact.

__Materials__: Class Poster (KWL) Sticky Notes Science Journals [|Ecosystems - Natureworks]

__Do Now__: Quick write- Name the different ecosystems you came in contact with on your way to school today

__Mini Lesson__: For a quick review, project the PPT on Ecosystems that covers the previous topics and introduces “interaction”. Students can take notes in their science journals. After the review, project the website “Ecosystems – Natureworks” and have students read and discuss what systems are at play in an ecosystem.

__Activity__: Students will work in small groups to read “Interactions within an Ecosystem” chapter (Pages 10-16). Students will practice taking notes from non-fiction text on the topic of how do ecosystems interact.

__Project__: Groups will be assigned questions after the reading and note-taking session is complete. They will have to answer the question from the Topic Review (one of the five questions) and report out. Students will have to complete an exit slip discussing a minimum of two ways that ecosystems interact as mentioned in class discussion and the reading.

__Assessment__:
 * 1) Classwork - Check Science Journals for Notes using the strategy discussed in previous lesson
 * 2) Concept - Exit Slip - How Ecosystems Interact

__Standards__:

3. Individual organisms and species change over time. 4. The continuity of life is sustained through reproduction and development. 5. Organisms maintain a dynamic equilibrium that sustains life. 7. Human decisions and activities have had a profound impact on the physical and living environment.
 * MST Learning Standards **
 * Standard 4—Science - Intermediate **

2. Technological tools, materials, and other resources should be selected on the basis of safety, cost, availability, appropriateness, and environmental impact; technological processes change energy, information, and material resources into more useful forms. 3. Computers, as tools for design, modeling, information processing, communication, and system control, have greatly increased human productivity and 5. Technology has been the driving force in the evolution of society from an agricultural to an industrial to an information base. 6. Technology can have positive and negative impacts on individuals, society, and the environment and humans have the capability and responsibility to constrain or promote technological development.
 * Standard 5 – Technology - Intermediate **


 * NYS Core The Living Environment**
 * Grades 5-8**


 * General Skills **

4. recognize and analyze patterns and trends 5. classify objects according to an established scheme and a student-generated scheme 6. develop and use a dichotomous key 7. sequence events 8. identify cause-and-effect relationships 9. use indicators and interpret results

6. classify living things according to a student-generated scheme and an established scheme 9. identify structure and function relationships in organisms
 * Living Environment Skills **

Individual organisms and species change over time. 3.1b Changes in environmental conditions can affect the survival of individual organisms with a particular trait. Small differences between parents and offspring can accumulate in successive generations so that descendants are very different from their ancestors. Individual organisms with certain traits are more likely to survive and have offspring than individuals without those traits. 3.1c Human activities such as selective breeding and advances in genetic engineering may affect the variations of species.
 * Key Idea 3: **

Describe factors responsible for competition within species and the significance of that competition. 3.2a In all environments, organisms with similar needs may compete with one another for resources. 3.2b Extinction of a species occurs when the environment changes and the adaptive characteristics of a species are insufficient to permit its survival. Extinction of species is common. Fossils are evidence that a great variety of species existed in the past.

Human decisions and activities have had a profound impact on the physical and living environment. 7.1a A population consists of all individuals of a species that are found together at a given place and time. Populations living in one place form a community. The community and the physical factors with which it interacts compose an ecosystem. 7.1b Given adequate resources and no disease or predators, populations (including humans) increase. Lack of resources, habitat destruction, and other factors such as predation and climate limit the growth of certain populations in the ecosystem. 7.1c In all environments, organisms interact with one another in many ways. Relationships among organisms may be competitive, harmful, or beneficial. Some species have adapted to be dependent upon each other with the result that neither could survive without the other. 7.1d Some microorganisms are essential to the survival of other living things. 7.1e The environment may contain dangerous levels of substances (pollutants) that are harmful to organisms. Therefore, the good health of environments and individuals requires the monitoring of soil, air, and water, and taking steps to keep them safe.
 * Key Idea 7: **

Describe the effects of environmental changes on humans and other populations. 7.2a In ecosystems, balance is the result of interactions between community members and their environment. 7.2b The environment may be altered through the activities of organisms. Alterations are sometimes abrupt. Some species may replace others over time, resulting in longterm gradual changes (ecological succession). 7.2c Overpopulation by any species impacts the environment due to the increased use of resources. Human activities can bring about environmental degradation through resource acquisition, urban growth, land-use decisions, waste disposal, etc. 7.2d Since the Industrial Revolution, human activities have resulted in major pollution of air, water, and soil. Pollution has cumulative ecological effects such as acid rain, global warming, or ozone depletion. The survival of living things on our planet depends on the conservation and protection of Earth’s resources.

__Blooms__:

Knowledge:
 * Selecting important information from nonfiction text to include in science journal.
 * Recalling facts and using them in group discussions and writing
 * Define what Interacting means in terms of ecosystems.

Comprehension:
 * Explains what an interacting between ecosystem variables are.
 * Rewrites what is learned from texts and lessons in class to support his or her learning
 * Summarizes their finding about various subjects covered in unit

Analysis
 * Compare and Contrast different Ecosystems