What Makes an Ecosystem

Lab Brief #6

🎯 Your mission

Understand the idea. Then look for it everywhere.

⚡ The twist

Every species solves the same problem differently.

What you'll learn

Ecosystems include all the living and nonliving things in an area that interact with each other. A pond ecosystem includes fish, frogs, algae, water, rocks, and sunlight.

Key words

ecosystem
All the living things and their home working together in one place.

Make a hypothesis first

Before you watch: what do you think it'll do?

Say your guess out loud — then find out if you were right.

Step 1 of 4 · Read

Look at the vocabulary words and write a definition for each in your own words.

Step 2 of 4 · Do

Create a detailed food web for a local ecosystem. Include at least 8 organisms and use arrows to show energy flow from producers to top predators.

Step 3 of 4 · Observe

Note any unexpected results and think about why they happened.

Step 4 of 4 · Record

Share your findings with the class or a partner and discuss what you learned.

Question 1 of 3

What is an ecosystem?

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Question 2 of 3

What is the role of a decomposer in an ecosystem?

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Question 3 of 3

What is the role of fungi in an ecosystem?

How sure are you?😐 maybe

Mind = blown

🐙 An octopus has 9 brains and 3 hearts.

Nice work!

You got 0 of 3 right.

Next: Producers, Consumers, and Decomposers All lessons

🎯

Next Smart Experiment

We'll pick an experiment that matches exactly how you're thinking right now.

✨ More to explore

🌍 Where you see this in real life: Your own body is doing this thousands of times every second.

🏆 Stretch challenge (try it this week): Find one thing about your body that's different from a friend's. Wonder why.

👨‍👩‍👧 For the dinner table: “Tell me something you noticed about your own body today.”

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What Makes an Ecosystem

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