Introduction
One may think that an ecosystem refers only to the land, sea, river or lake, but an ecosystem can also include any habitat where there is interaction between biotic and abiotic components. For example, a tree or a rock with mosses can be an ecosystem. Would you like to explore the different ecosystems in your community?Do this activity and search for the various interactions occurring in these ecosystems
Task
At the end of this webquest, you should be able to identify ecosystem diversity in your community or in your environment:
Process
1. Go around your community and search for different ecosystems.
Note: An ecosystem includes all of the living things in a given area, interacting with each other, and also with their non-living environments.
2. Take a photo of each ecosystem.
3. Observe and record the specific biotic components and abiotic components present in each ecosystem.
Note: Abiotic factors are all nonliving components of an ecosystem while biotic factors are the living components of an ecosystem.
4. Look for possible interactions among the biotic factors of the ecosystem. (Animals, plants or both animals and plants). Observe and describe these interactions.
5. Make two data tables that will look like these:
Data Table A
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ECOSYSTEM OBSERVED |
ABIOTIC COMPONENTS | BIOTIC COMPONENTS |
|---|---|---|
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Data Table B
| TYPE OF INTERACTIONS | ORGANISMS INVOLVED |
DESCRIPTION OF INTERACTION |
|---|---|---|
Evaluation
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Beginning 1 |
Developing 2 |
Accomplished 3 |
Exemplary 4 |
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PARTICIPATION
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The student did not participate in the activity. No data is recorded, and no worksheet is completed |
The student participates in the activity but does not record their results and does not complete the worksheet. |
The student participates in the activity and records the results but does not complete the worksheet. |
The student was able to meet all that was required of them (participation in the activity, recorded the results found, and completed the worksheet. |
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KNOWLEDGE
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The student was not able to identify the components of the environment and was not able to identify the types of interactions present. | The student was able to identify the components of the environment but didn't identify the types of interactions present. | The student was able to identify some of the components of the environment and identify some of the types of interactions present. | The student was able to identify the components of the environment and was able to identify the types of interactions present clearly. | |
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PROCESSING |
The student was not able to describe and explain the interactions present in the given ecosystems. | The student was able to describe and explain the interactions present in the given ecosystems incompletely and some data are unclear. | The student was able to describe and explain the interactions present in the given ecosystems completely but some data are unclear. | The student was able to describe and explain the interactions present in the given ecosystems completely and clearly. |
Conclusion
Through this webquest we were able to learn that:
An ecosystem includes all of the living things (plants, animals and organisms) in a given area, interacting with each other, and also with their non-living environments (weather, earth, sun, soil, climate, atmosphere).
It has two main components and these are Abiotic which are the nonliving components of an ecosystem. These factors include chemical and geological features such as water or lack of water, soil, rocks and minerals. Other abiotic factors include physical components such as the temperature and weather affecting the ecosystem. On the other hand, biotic factors in an ecosystem include all living things. All plants, animals, fungi, protists and bacteria within an ecosystem make up that system's biotic factors. The biotic factors can be broken down further into producers, consumers and decomposers.
Interactions are present in every ecosystem, biotic components are most likely involved in these interactions. The different interactions include the following:
Predation includes any interaction between two species in which one species benefits by obtaining resources from and to the detriment of the other.
Competition exists when multiple organisms vie for the same, limiting resource. Because the use of a limited resource by one species decreases availability to the other, competition lowers the fitness of both. Competition can be interspecific, between different species, or intraspecific, between individuals of the same species.
Mutualism describes an interaction that benefits both species.
Commensalism an interaction where one species benefits and the other remains unaffected.
Amensalism describes an interaction in which the presence of one species has a negative effect on another, but the first species is unaffected.
These only proves that "No man is an island.” and No organism exists in isolation. Individual organisms live together in an ecosystem and depend on one another.