Living things need a place to live and grow.

Living things need

a place to live
and grow.

Fish live in water.

Birds live in trees

and fly in the air.

Plants grow where

there is soil, water
and sun.

The living and

nonliving things that
surround a living thing
make up its
environment.

1.
2.
3.
4.

Many living things share their environments

and its resources.
Food
Water
Oxygen
Space

An ecosystem is made up of all the living and

nonliving things in an environment.

Abiotic components:

ABIOTIC components:
Solar energy provides practically all the energy for
ecosystems.
Inorganic substances, e.g., sulfur, boron, tend to
cycle through ecosystems.
Organic compounds, such as proteins,
carbohydrates, lipids, and other complex molecules,
form a link between biotic and abiotic components
of the system.

BIOTIC components

The biotic components of an ecosystem can be

classified according to their mode of energy
acquisition.
In this type of classification, there are:
Autotrophs and Heterotrophs
Organisms that produce their own food from an
energy source, such as the sun, and inorganic
compounds.
Organisms that consume other organisms as a food
source.

Producers are also called autotrophs

because they make their own food
(auto means self).
Primary consumers are herbivores
that eat producers.
Secondary consumers are carnivores
that eat herbivores.
Tertiary consumers are carnivores that
eat secondary consumers.
Omnivores, such as humans that eat
both plants and animals, may be
listed at different trophic levels in
different food chains

A group of organisms
of the same kind
living in the same
place is a
population.

Habitat is a place where plants

and animals lives.

Some organisms can survive only in certain

habitats.
For example, a polar could not find the
water it needs in a desert.

Living Things

Non Living Things

Fish

Air

Water lily

Rocks

Plants

Cave

Animals

Soil

People

water

Parts
of an
Ecosystem

Populations

Communities

Habitats

Deserts are very dry

ecosystems.

Desert plants and

animals can survive
with very little water.

Desert plants, such as

cactus, have thick
stems that store
water.
The roots of a cactus
lie just below the soil
and spread far from
the plant.

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25

Grasslands are dry,

often flat areas of
land that are hot in
the summer and cold
in the winter.
They get more rain
and snow than deserts
but less that most
other ecosystems.

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27

The main plant in a

grassland ecosystem is
grass.
There are not many
bushes in the
grassland.
Trees are found only
by rivers and streams.

Saltwater ecosystems are oceans.

Oceans cover about three fourths of Earths
surface, so there are more saltwater ecosystems
than any other.

1st order
Consumer

2nd Order
Consume
r

3rd Order
consume
r

Producer (trapped

sunlight & stored food)

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30

4th Order
Consum
er

Sharks, sea turtles, corals and octopus

are all ocean animals.
So are whales and seals.

Rivers, ponds, lakes and

streams have fresh water.
Lakes and rivers are closely
tied. Some lakes are the
source for some rivers.
Important rivers, most often,
originate from lakes. Some
rivers end in lakes.
Since both rivers and lakes are
freshwater and flow in and out
of each other, they share
similar characteristics and
many species reside in both
habitats.

Forest are ecosystems

in which many trees
grow.

copyright cmassengale

36

1.
2.
3.

Choose an ecosystem.
Make a drawing of it.
Write a descriptive paragraph about it.

Include the following details:

Name of the ecosystem
Type of ecosystem: Characteristics
Animals and plants found their.