Energy Flow Through Ecosystems

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Energy Flow Through Ecosystems

• 6th grade science
• Adapted from Holt Environmental Sciene

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Energy Flow Through Ecosystems

• Objective Describe how energy is transferred
  from the sun to producers and then to consumers
• Early Bird List three plants or animals and the
  animals that eat them.
• Motivate Discuss the Early Bird
• Focus Remind students about the Missing
  Ingredient Recipe
• Activity Powerpoint and guided note taking.
• Practice Students draw a sketch of how energy
  enters an ecosystem.

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Energy flow through ecosystems guided note
taking practice

• Objectives
• Describe how energy is transferred from the sun
  to producers and then to consumers.

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Life Depends on the Sun

• Energy from the sun enters an ecosystem when
  plants use sunlight to make sugar molecules.
• This happens through a process called
  photosynthesis.

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Life Depends on the Sun

• Photosynthesis is the process by which plants,
  algae, and some bacteria use sunlight, carbon
  dioxide, and water to produce carbohydrates and
  oxygen.

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Producers

• Because plants make their own food, they are
  called producers.
• Producers are also called autotrophs, or
  self-feeders.

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From Producers to Consumers

• Objective Describe one way in which consumers
  depend on producers.
• Early Bird What are the reactants (inputs) for
  photosynthesis?  What are the products (output)
  of photosynthesis? Hint Use your notes from
  yesterday.
• Focus Ask students to define the word consumer
  in their own words and discuss as a class.
• Motivate Video on energy in ecosystems
• Activity Powerpoint and guided note taking.
• Practice Students record examples of consumers
  and how they depend on producers.

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From Producers to Consumers Video and guided
note taking

• Objectives
• Describe one way in which consumers depend on
  producers.

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From Producers to Consumers

• Organisms that get their energy by eating other
  organisms are called consumers.
• Consumers are also called heterotrophs, or
  other-feeders.

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From Producers to Consumers

• Some producers get their energy directly from the
  sun by absorbing it through their leaves.
• Consumers get their energy indirectly by eating
  producers or other consumers.

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An Exception to the Rule

• Deep-ocean communities of worms, clams, crabs,
  mussels, and barnacles, exist in total darkness
  on the ocean floor, where photosynthesis cannot
  occur.
• The producers in this environment are bacteria
  that use hydrogen sulfide present in the water.
• Other underwater organisms eat the bacteria or
  the organisms that eat the bacteria.

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Who Eats Who?

• Objectives List two types of consumers.
  Identify whether an organism is a producer or
  consumer and differentiate between different
  types of consumers.
• Early Bird Define the following words and give
  an example of each autotroph and heterotroph.
  (Hint use your notes)
• Motivate Students share their answers to the
  Early Bird.
• Focus Review the different types of consumers.
• Activity Who Eats Who? Notes
• Practice Powerpoint fun quiz

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Who Eats Who?Notes and Quiz

• Objectives
• List two types of consumers. Identify whether
  an organism is a producer or consumer and
  differentiate between different types of
  consumers.

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What Eats What?

• Organisms can be classified by what they eat.
• Types of Consumers
• Herbivores
• Carnivores
• Omnivores
• Decomposers

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Herbivore

• any animal that feeds chiefly on grass and other
  plants

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Carnivore

• a terrestrial or aquatic animal that eats other
  animals

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Omnivore

• an animal that eats both plants and other animals

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Decomposers

• An organism which eats dead organisms or animal
  droppings and breaks them down into simple
  materials.

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Who Eats Who?

• Tear out a sheet of paper from the back of your
  notebook.
• Be sure to put your name and hour at the top.
• Number from 1-10, skipping a line in-between each
  number.
• Smile because this will be fun!!

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Producer or Consumer?
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Producer or Consumer?
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What type of consumer am I?
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What type of consumer am I?
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Producer or Consumer?
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What type of consumer am I?
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What type of consumer am I?
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What type of consumer am I?
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What type of consumer am I?
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Producer or Consumer?
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In this picture, how does the coyote depend on
the sun?
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Energy Transfer

• Objectives Describe what a food chain and give
  an example. Explain how energy transfer in a
  food web is more complex than energy transfer in
  a food chain.
• Early Bird Answer the question on the screen in
  complete sentences.
• Focus Discuss the Early Bird.
• Motivate Discuss that we are all a part of a
  food chain and food web.
• Activity Powerpoint and guided note taking.
• Practice Group Activity Creating Food Chains
  and Food Webs. Students write organisms on index
  cards and categorize them by taping the cards to
  the board next to the correct description. Then
  students   rearrange cards in food chains and
  food webs.

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Energy TransferFood Chains/Food Webs Notes and
Group Activity

• Objectives
• Describe what a food chain and give an example.
  Explain how energy transfer in a food web is more
  complex than energy transfer in a food chain.
• .

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Energy Transfer

• Each time an organism eats another organism, an
  energy transfer occurs.
• This transfer of energy can be traced by studying
  food chains, food webs, and trophic levels.

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Food Chains

• A food chain is a sequence in which energy is
  transferred from one organism to the next as each
  organism eats another organism.

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Food Chains
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Food Webs

• Ecosystems, however, almost always contain more
  than one food chain.
• A food web shows many feeding relationships that
  are possible in an ecosystem.

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Food Webs
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Trophic Levels

• Objective Explain why an energy pyramid is a
  representation of trophic levels.
• Early Bird List three plants or animals and the
  animals that eat them.
• Focus Discuss the Early Bird.
• Motivate Discuss the idea that insects
  outnumber all other animals 41.
• Activity Powerpoint and guided note taking.
• Practice Energy Flow active reading handout.

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Trophic LevelsNotes and Active Reading Handout

• Objective Explain why an energy pyramid is a
  representation of trophic levels.

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Trophic Levels

• Each step in the transfer of energy through a
  food chain or food web is known as a trophic
  level.
• A trophic level is one of the steps in a food
  chain or food pyramid examples include producers
  and primary, secondary, and tertiary consumers.

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Trophic Levels
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Trophic Levels

• Each layer of the pyramid represents one trophic
  level.
• Producers form the base of the energy pyramid,
  and therefore contain the most energy.
• The pyramid becomes smaller toward the top, where
  less energy is available.

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Energy Loss Affects Ecosystems

• Decreasing amounts of energy at each trophic
  level affects the organization of an ecosystem.
• Energy loss affects the number of organisms at
  each level.
• Energy loss limits the number of trophic levels
  in an ecosystem.