ECOSYSTEMS INTRO

Unit 1 Lesson 1August 24th 2010

Grade 10’s Please take a text book from the side

and start reading page 170 – 174.

Ecosystems

After returning from the space, Canadian Astronaut Dave Williams summed up his experience in two sentences. “I am truly in awe of the beauty of the planet, and it’s something I’ve been able to experience in so many different environments, whether in space, underwater, camping, biking, climbing mountains, or whatever. For me, it generates a sense of “planetary stewardship.”

Stewardship – Taking personal responsibility for the

management and care of something.   Planetary/Environmental

stewardship – Taking care of the whole world.

Environment – all of the living and non-living things that

exit on Earth as well as their interactions with each other.

  In order for future generations to enjoy

the Earth as we do today we must use the natural environment in a sustainable way.

Sustainability- populations of plants, animals, and other living

organisms can continue to interact, and to reproduce indefinitely. Biodiversity is preserved.

  Biodiversity-

The number of different types of organisms in an area.

Healthy, sustainable environments have high levels biodiversity.

Representing Canadian Biodiversity There are many different types of

organisms in Canada. To study Canada’s biodiversity, similar species are placed into categories. For example, foxes, bears and mice can be grouped under “mammals”. In this activity you will make visual representation of the 11 categories of organisms shown in the table below. Use the back blank page to answer the questions and draw the graphs.

Purpose To visually represent the numbers of each group of plant or animal living

in Canada.   Procedure Work with a partner to brainstorm a method or representing the

numbers of each type of organism in visual way. It may be a two-dimensional representation such as a graph or even a 3-D graph.

Create the your representation.   Questions Look for and try to explain any relationships you can find between the

numbers of species in a group and the type of organisms that are in that group.

Compare your representation with that of other students in your class. Which features of each model did you like best, and which could be improved?

  How could you improve your relationship?