LESSON 1:

Living Things and the

Environment

Lesson Objectives
Identify

the needs that must be met by

an organisms surroundings.

Identify

biotic and abiotic parts of a

habitat.
Describe

the levels of organization

within an ecosystem.

DO-NOW QUIETLY
READ & Answer These Questions:

If you were looking for

your sneakers among
several pairs that
looked just like yours,
what characteristics
would make it easier
for you to find them?

What do you think

would happen if a
lemur mated with a
different kind of lemur?

Information about lemurs

They

only live on the island of

Madagascar!

Thats an island off the coast of Africa

Questions.
Why

do you think mouse lemurs live

only on this island?

Different

organisms live in different

places, or habitats. What is your
habitat?

What

about that place makes it uniquely

yours?

INQUIRY WARM-UP
Whats in the Scene?!?
Pass

out photos
Identify living versus non-living

DO- NOW: TITLE = 9/3

Remember

the lines we
drew yesterday between
the living and non-living
things.
What did we INFER about
this relationship?
Give an example:

Homework Review & Turn

In
#3

Given an example of a living thing in

the picture that needed another living
thing.

#4

How might it look different in

another season? How might it affect the
living things in the environment??

NOTES: What Does an Organism Get From its Environment???

If

you were to visit Alaska, you might see a

bald eagle fly by.

bald eagle is one type of organism, or living

thing.

Different

types of organisms live in different

types of surroundings, or environments.

Like we said yesterday (we have our own

surroundings)

What does an Organism Get

From its Environment???
KEY
An

IDEA!!!! WRITE DOWN

organism gets food, water,

shelter and other things it needs to
live, grow, and reproduce from its
environment.

What does an Organism Get

From its Environment???
An

environment that provides

the things a specific organism
needs to live, grow, and
reproduce is called its
habitat.

What does an Organism Get

From its Environment???

In a forest habit

mushrooms grow in damp soil and

woodpeckers build nests in tree trunks.

Organisms live in different habitats

because they have different requirements
for survival and reproduction.

(I wouldnt live in YOUR home nor you in

MINE)

What does an Organism Get

From its Environment???

Some organisms live on a prairie, with its flat

terrain, tall grasses and low rainfall amounts.

A prairie dog, like the one shown on the next

slide, obtains the food and shelter it needs
from a prairie habitat.

It could not survive on this rocky ocean

shore..

WHATS WRONG HERE?!

Most people
would never
expect to see a
prairie dog at
the beach.
Give reasons why
this prairie dog
would not survive
in this habitat?
- example is
that there is no
grass to eat!!!
- others!??!

QUESTIONS:
Are

all parts of the forest where

organisms live the same?

How
Why

do they differ?

do you find different kinds of

organisms in different habitats?

QUICK LAB:
Organisms and Their Habitats
An

animals habitat provides

everything it needs to survive.

Food, shelter, water etc

Before

zoo workers create habitats for

animals in zoos, they must first know a
great deal about the animals natural
habitat.

QUICK
LAB:
Organisms
and
Their
Habitats

ASSESS UNDERSTANDING

What Are The Two Parts of an

Organisms Habitat?
There

are living and nonliving parts to

our surroundings.

Anyone remember all 5?

What

are some living things near your

home?
What are some non-living things in or
near your home?

What Are The Two Parts of an

Organisms Habitat?
Back

to the prairie dog example.

To meet its needs, a prairie dog must
interact with more than just other prairie
dogs around it. (more than just other living
things)
KEY

IDEA!!! WRITE DOWN

An organism interacts with both the
living and nonliving parts of its habitat.

What Are The Two Parts of an

Organisms Habitat?

BIOTIC FACTORS

The parts of a habitat that are living, or once living,

and interact with an organism are called biotic
factors.

Plants
Ferrets and eagles that hunt the prairie dog are also
biotic factors
Worms and bacteria are biotic factors that live in
the soil underneath the prairie grass.
Prairie dog scat, owl pellets and decomposing plant
matter are also biotic factors.

ABIOTIC FACTORS
Not

all of the factors that organisms interact with

are living.
Abiotic factors are the nonliving parts of an
organisms habitat.
Sunlight

soil
temperature
oxygen, and
water

What Are The Two Parts of an

Organisms Habitat?

Ecological Organization
Most

organisms do not live all alone in

their habitat

Instead

they live together in

populations and communities that
interact with abiotic factors in their
ecosystems.

Ecological Organization
Organisms

A species is a group of organisms that can

mate with each other and produce
offspring that can also mate and
reproduce.

Ecological Organization
Populations

All members of one species living in a

particular area are referred to as a
population.

Ecological Organization
Communities

A particular area contains more than one

species of organism.
All different populations that live together
in an area make up a community.
The prairie includes prairie dogs, hawks,
snakes and grasses.

Ecological Organization
Ecosystems

The community of organisms that live

together in a particular area, along with their
non-living environment, make up an
ecosystem.

A prairie is just one of the many different

ecosystems found on Earth.
Others are deserts, oceans, ponds, forests.

Ecological Organization
The smallest level of organization is the organism. The largest is the entire ecosystem.

Ecological Organization
KEY
The

IDEA!!!!! WRITE DOWN

smallest level of organization is a

single organism, which belongs to a
population that includes other members
of its species. The population belongs to
a community of different species. The
community and abiotic factors together
form an ecosystem.

Ecological Organization
Because

the population in an ecosystem

interact with one another, any change
affects all the different populations that
live there. The study of how organisms
interact with each other and with their
environment is called ecology.

DO-NOW 9/8

What is the smallest level of organization in

an ecosystem?

What is an ecosystem?

Take out homework (world in a bottle)

Question 1 and 2

Review
What

is in the Scene?

Organisms

and Their Habitats

QUIZ
Please

take everything off of your desk.

NO

talking (minus 1 point if I hear you

talking)

This

is YOUR own work