11 Ecology
Ecology Big Ideas and Big Questions
Big Ideas
- Living organisms in ecosystems are dependent upon each other.
- Changes in the population of one type of living organism in an ecosystem will have an impact on the population of other living organisms in the ecosystem.
- There are patterns to the interactions between different organisms.
Big Questions
- What are the patterns within relationships and ecosystems?
- How do organism populations affect to each other?
- How are living things interrelated?
- How does energy flow through a food chains and webs?
Ecology Overview
Ecology is an overarching idea of Biology. As we explore the biological concepts we will explore ecology all throughout. Ecology demonstrates the science phenomena of relationships in environments. Relationships can tell us about a specific environment and the interactions between the abiotic (non-living) and biotic (living) factors. In this section we are going to break ecology down by looking at biomes and ecosystems through food chains, food webs, and ecological pyramids. We will also discover population growth patterns.
Teacher Time Out: Ecosystem and Biomes
How does this connect to the NGSS Progression
DCI: LS2.A Interdependent relationships in ecosystems: Students in the K-2 grade band focus on animal characteristics. As students progress there is a science conceptual shift towards animal consumption. This idea begins to introduce basic interactions in an ecosystem where grade band 6-8 advances to cause and effect relationships.The learning of biomes allows us as future teachers to understand specific relationships between animals.
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K-2 |
3-5 |
6-8 |
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| LS2.A Interdependent relationships in ecosystems | [Content found in LS1.A]LS1.A All organisms have external parts that they use to perform daily functions. | The food of almost any animal can be traced back to plants. Organisms are related in food webs in which some animals eat plants for food and other animals eat the animals that eat plants, while decomposers restore some materials back to the soil. | Organisms and populations are dependent on their environmental interactions both with other living things and with nonliving factors, any of which can limit their growth. Competitive, predatory, and mutually beneficial interactions vary across ecosystems but the patterns are shared. |
DCI: LS2.C Ecosystem dynamics, functioning, and resilience: Students are first introduced to this DCI in grade band 3-5 where they focus on singular environmental factors of one population at a time. This concept is expanded upon in grades 6-8 as they aim to look at environmental factors as a blended relationship. Currently learning about Ecosystems will allow us to have a deepened comprehension of relations.
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K-2 |
3-5 |
6-8 |
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| LS2.C Ecosystem dynamics, functioning, and resilience. | N/A | When the environment changes some organisms survive and reproduce, some move to new locations, some move into the transformed environment, and