成人快手

Video summary

This short animated film explores how ecosystems work.

An ecosystem is a natural environment in which animals, plants and organisms work to support life.

This film explains the difference between biotic and abiotic, terrestrial, freshwater and ocean water ecosystems and the importance weather has on the conditions of many different ecosystems.

This short film is from the 成人快手 Teach series Explain, Explore, Expand.

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Teacher Notes

Explain

What is an ecosystem and how do the living and non-living things within an ecosystem interact?

Let鈥檚 explore ecosystems and discover how, all over planet Earth, biotic and abiotic things interact.

Key Facts

  • All living things need energy to feed, grow, move and reproduce.
  • An ecosystem is a diverse group of living animals and organisms that live in communities interacting with each other and a specific environment in a dynamic manner.
    • Ecosystems are complex made up of living (biotic) and non-living things (abiotic) forming delicately balanced and interdependent communities.
  • Living things consist of three main groups:
    • Producers
    • Consumers
    • Decomposers
  • Some examples of producers are plants (vegetation), lichens and algae.
    • Plants absorb light energy and carbon dioxide from the air through sunlight and through combining this with water and soil nutrients to make their own food Photosynthesis.
  • Primary consumers only eat vegetation and are called herbivores (Vegetarians).
    • Example: sheep, rabbits and cows.These herbivores are also prey(food).
  • Secondary consumers get their energy from primary producers and are either omnivores or carnivores; consuming either plants, animals or both.
    • Examples: Chickens, Robins and Hedgehogs, also prey.
  • Those that eat both are called omnivores.
    • UK examples are: Stoat, Badger and wildcat.
  • Carnivores are meat eaters.
  • Decomposers. These feed on decaying and dead plant and animal material to release nutrients into the soil and gases into the air._
    • Fungi as well as insects such as worms and beetles.
  • Abiotic Factors: Non-living elements of an ecosystem.
    • Includes the water and soil chemistry, as well as nutrient cycles, the temperature, terrain and the amount of sunlight.
  • Ecosystems are constantly changing.
    • The plants and animals as well as the environment are continually adapting to changes caused by the plants, animals, humans and nature.
  • This video references damage caused to Coral Reefs. Further information can be found here:

Explore

Where to pause?

  • 00:51 - pause the video. Ask students to identify biotic and non-biotic elements of the environment outside the classroom and have a guess at the creatures that live there.
  • 02:38 - pause the video. Ask students to discuss why picking flowers is a bad thing and what laws they would pass to help an ecosystem.

Activities / Experiments

  • Activity 1: Draw up a food web of local creatures to see how they are connected.
  • Activity 2: Making a difference Helping hedgehogs
    • You could learn more about hedgehogs, making them a home and how they live.
    • Speak to your parents and neighbours and get permission to create a Hedgehog highway between gardens.

Fun Facts

  • Rewilding: Just by adding one species we change an ecosystem, for the benefit of animals and humans. Here is a project to re-engineer the land through the introduction of Bison to the UK.

Expand

Discussion questions:

  1. Is a pond an ecosystem and why?
  2. How does the life cycle of one creature impact on its prey or one of its predators?
  3. Do ecosystems always remain the same?
  4. Does all human activity have to be destructive?
  5. Can we make changes to the environment that will improve opportunities for all animals?
  6. What changes do we see to show us that animals are adapting to urban life?

Other Videos:

Learning Objectives:

  • Explore the components that make up an ecosystem and discover how plants, animals and microorganisms are all interdependent on each other.

National Curriculum objectives:

  • England: Describe the differences in the life cycles of a mammal, an amphibian, an insect and a bird.

  • Scotland: Describes how energy flows between plants and animals in more complex food chains and webs and ecosystems, using vocabulary such as 鈥榩roducers鈥, 鈥榗onsumers鈥 and 鈥榟erbivore'.

  • Northern Ireland: Explore the interdependence of people, plants, animals and place.

  • Wales 2020: I can recognise that what I do, and the things I use, can have an impact on my environment _and on living things. I can explore relationships between living things, their habitats and their life cycles.

  • This builds on key stage 1 food chains and (Year 4, England) construct and interpret a variety of food chains, identifying producers, predators and prey.

  • Non Statutory: Pupils might work scientifically by: Observing and comparing the life cycles of plants and animals in their local environment with other plants and animals around the world (in the rainforest, in the oceans, in desert areas and in prehistoric times), asking pertinent questions and suggesting reasons for similarities and differences.

Sources:

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