An ecosystem is made up of all living and non-living things that interact in a defined area. It contains biotic factors like plants and animals as well as abiotic factors such as temperature, water, soil and rocks. Living things have different needs that determine where they can survive, such as weeping willows needing water or cacti living in dry deserts. Within an ecosystem, plants produce food through photosynthesis while animals consume other organisms as herbivores, carnivores or omnivores. Food chains display the transfer of energy as organisms eat each other, and living things may compete for resources or cooperate, such as insects pollinating flowers in exchange for nectar.

2. WHAT’S AN ECOSYSTEM?

3. An ecosystem is made up of all the living things
and all the non-living things components that
function together in one place.

4. Ecosystems can be as small as a puddle or as
big as the African savanna.

5. All ecosystems are made up of two components:
• LIVING THINGS
• NON-LIVING THINGS (THE ENVIRONMENT)

6. LIVING THINGS
(BIOTIC FACTOR)
These are the plants and animals living in the
ecosystem.

7. NON - LIVING THINGS
(ABIOTIC FACTOR)
This is everything which affects these living things.
For example:
- Temperature
- Water
- Type of soil
- Types of rock.

9. ECOSYSTEM

11. LIVING THINGS
Living things have different needs to live.
They live in places where they can satisfy their
needs.

12. LIVING THINGS
All plants need water and sunlight. However…
WEEPING WILLOWS
They need a lot of water.
They usually grow near rivers.
CACTI
They don’t need much water.
They grow in deserts.

13. LIVING THINGS
Animals need different things, too.
Fish need to live in
water to breathe.
Some birds need to live in a place with
trees so they can build their nests.

16. FORESTS
They have a lot of trees.
These provide food and shelter for animals.

17. GRASSLANDS
They have lots of grass.
Large hervibores eat the grass.

18. DESERT
There aren’t many plants and animals because
it doesn’t rain very much.

20. FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEM
These are found in rivers, streams and lakes.

21. SALTWATER ECOSYSTEM
These are in the sea. They are found on the
coasts, in coralreefs and in the open sea.

26. • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKJoXdrO
T70
• SONG

29. FEEDING RELATIONSHIPS
In an ecosystem, each type of living thing
needs different food.

30. FEEDING RELATIONSHIPS
PRODUCERS
Plants produce their own food. They are called
producers.
(autotrophs)
Plants are essential to ecosystems because they
produce the food which all other living things
need.

31. FEEDING RELATIONSHIPS
CONSUMERS
Animals are called consumers because they eat,
or consume, other living things. (heterotrophs)

32. FEEDING RELATIONSHIPS
CONSUMERS
Herbivores eat plants.
Carnivores eat other animals.
Omnivores eat either plants o other animals.

33. FEEDING RELATIONSHIPS
PREDATORS
SCAVENGERS
PARASITES

34. FEEDING RELATIONSHIPS
PREDATION
Predators, such as lions, are carnivorous
animals that hunt other animals for food.
PREDATOR
PREY

35. FEEDING RELATIONSHIPS
SCAVENGERS
Scavengers. Such as vultures, beetles and
worms, eat the dead bodies of other animals.

36. FEEDING RELATIONSHIPS
PARASITES
Parasites feed off of other living things
without killing them.

37. FEEDING RELATIONSHIPS

38. FOOD CHAIN

39. FOOD CHAIN
To show how living things feed off other living
things in an ecosystem, we can draw them in a
row and link them with arrows.
This is called
a food chain.

40. ARROWS
ROW

43. FOOD CHAIN
In a food chain, the animal that eats the
producer is called a primary consumer.
The other consumers are called secondary
consumers, tertiary consumers, final
consumers, etc.

45. FOOD CHAIN
Different rows.

49. • VIDEO1
• VIDEO2
• THE LION KING1
• THE LI0N KING2
• SONG "WRECK-IT RALPH“ / SONG2
• THE FOOD CHAIN GAME

50. COMPETITION

51. COMPETITION
Sometimes living things compete with each
other. They fight to get what they need
because they need the same thing.
We call this competition.

52. COMPETITION
• Plants compete for sunlight.
Some plants grow
very tall quickly.
They block the sunlight
from other plants.

53. COMPETITION
• Some birds compete for places to build their
nests.

54. COMPETITION
• Males sometimes compete for access to
females.

55. COOPERATION

56. COOPERATION
Living things also help each other.
We call this cooperation.

57. COOPERATION
Some plants make nectar in
their flowers.
Insects like nectar very much.
As Insects move from flower
to flower to obtain nectar,
they pollinate plants.

58. COOPERATION
The shrimp helps the moray by eating its parasites.
The moray helps the shrimp by providing food: The
parasites.

59. • Video Predation
• Video Competition Goats