Ecosystems

What is an ecosystem?

An ecosystem is a place and the living things that live there.

An ecosystem is made up by:

• Living things: They born, grow, eat, breathe and reproduce.  We have two big groups: Plants and Animals.
• Non-living things: do not eat or grow. They are for example: air, water, soil, minerals...

 Audio
 (If you cannot open the sound file, download the VLC program here: download VLC )

There are big ecosystems like the savannah, the desert or the oceans. Even the Earth (our planet) can be considered the biggest ecosystem.






Other ecosystems are small like a pond or a river.




An ecosystem that we can find near of us is the Forest ecosystem: In a forest, there are plants like trees, bushes and grasses. There are insects and other kind of invertebrates animals such as beetles, ladybirds, butterflies, worms or spiders. There are vertebrates animals like squirrels, birds, mice, deers, owls or wolves.

 Other very common Ecosystem is the Sea: It is the biggest ecosystem of the Earth. In the sea, there are plants like seaweeds, invertebrates animals such as jelly fishes, crubs, mussels and octopuses; even vertebrates animals like fishes, dolphins and whales. Almost all of them live in the high sea. In the deep sea there are very little food, so very few animals can live there.





            In an ecosystem is very important the FOOD CHAIN or FOOD WEB: It is when an animal eat other animals or plants and it is eaten by other animals bigger. For example: herbivores animals (like rabbits) eat plants, carnivores animals (like eagles or hawks) eat this herbivores animals (rabbits) and some of these carnivores animals are eaten by other carnivores bigger.






The best video filmed by a tourist:

The same video translated to spanish

Activity to use in class with the Interactive Digital Board (IWB)

Here there is an activity for teachers to use in Science class with the Interactive WhiteBoard, as well known as Interactive Digital Board. This activity is created by two teachers at CRP Sant Martí, Barcelona during year 2012-13. To download the file, click the picture or the link below.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8gthhw8nhhplclu/Ecosystems_science_project.notebook

Videos to watch and learn.

Now, you can watch some videos about it to obtain more information.

Video about ecosystems and food chains.

Video about components of the ECOSYSTEMS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWPj2IkeklI

Here you are a video in Spanish.

in Spanish: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPFGdTE_nas

Vertebrates vs Invertebrates

Vertebrates

Vertebrates are animals with a skeleton. The skeleton is made up of bones. The bones are joined together to hold the body up. They protect some parts of the body.
Vertebrate bodies have several parts:

• The head: Vertebrates have a skull to protect their brain.
• The trunk: They have a spinal column, ribs, shoulders and hips in the trunk.
• The limbs: Some vertebrates have legs. Others have wings or fins. Some vertebrates like snakes, have no limbs. Limbs' bones should be long. 
• The tail: This is an extension of the spinal column. Very small vertebrae make up the tail.

Have a look to the following videos:

Invertebrates
Invertebrates animals have no bones (no skeleton).

Some invertebrates have a protective covering:

• Shells are hard and strongs. For instance: a mussel
  
  
   
• Exoskeleton can be thick or thin: For instace: 

• Crabs have thick exoskeletons

• Beetles have thin exoskeletons

Other invertebrates, like jellyfish and worms have no protective covering.

Watch the video:

Insects

Insects are a kind of invertebrates.

All of them have:

• A head : with two eyes, a mouth and two antennae.
• A thorax : In the thorax we can find almost always two or more wings (there are some insects without wings). However all insects will have six legs. If they do not have six legs, they are not insects.
• An abdomen : It is always joined to the thorax. 

Insects are born from eggs. 

Young insects are called larvae. Some larvae are caterpillars. They have no wings or antennae.

All insects breathe air.

Some insects like butterflies are herbivores.

Other insects like dragonflies are carnivores.

Others, like flies are omnivores.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=EoLFR3owpfY

Most part of information and images are taken from the book: Essential Science 4. Science, Geography and History (2006). Santillana Education, S.L / Richmond Publishing