1. Four
Systems
of
Our
Earth

2. Composition of Earth
 Earth Has 4 main systems that interact:
Earth’s
systems
Atmosphere Hydrosphere Biosphere Geosphere
Air/gases water life land/rock

3. Composition of Earth
 Earth Has 4 main systems that interact:
 The Atmosphere
 The Hydrosphere
 The Biosphere
 Life on Earth
 Sea life, plants, flying creatures, humans
 Encompasses hydrosphere, upper geosphere, and
lower atmosphere.
 The Geosphere

4. BIOSPHERE

5.  The relationship between an organism and its
environment is the study of ecology.

6. Living things interact with Non
living things in the Biosphere
 Biotic Factors—
living components
in the biosphere
 Biotic, meaning of
or related to life, are
living factors.
Plants, animals,
fungi, protist and
bacteria are all
biotic or living
factors.

7. Living things interact with Non
living things in the Biosphere
 Abiotic Factors—
nonliving
components in the
biosphere
 Environmental
factors such habitat
(pond, lake, ocean,
desert, mountain) or
weather such as
temperature, cloud
cover, rain, snow,
hurricanes, etc. are
abiotic factors.

8. Role of Water in the Biosphere
 Water is the
universal solvent
and the basis of
all life on our
Planet.
 The hydrosphere
is important to the
Biosphere!

9. Role of the Sun for the biosphere
 The Sun
provides the
light and heat
necessary to
maintain life
on Earth and
is the ultimate
source of
energy.

10.  Bioticand abiotic factors combine to create a
system or more precisely, an ecosystem.
 An ecosystem is a community of living and
nonliving things.

11. Examples of ecosystems
A pond.
 Abiotic factors?
 Biotic Factors?

12. Ocean Ecosystem
 Abiotic?
 Biotic?

13. Grassland ecosystem

14. The Impact of Changing Factors
 Ifa single factor is changed, perhaps by
pollution or natural phenomenon, the whole
system could be altered.
 For example, humans can alter environments
through farming or irrigating. While we
usually cannot see what we are doing to
various ecosystems, the impact is being felt
all over.
 For example, acid rain in certain regions has
resulted in the decline of fish population.

15. A food chain
 Shows how each living thing gets its food.
 Some animals eat plants and some animals eat other
animals.
 For example, a simple food chain links the trees, the
giraffes and the lions. Each link in this chain is food for
the next link. A food chain always starts with plant life
and ends with an animal.

16. A food chain
 An  is added and means “is eaten by”; also shows
the flow of energy (the giraffe gets his energy from the
leaves)
 Now we have made a simple food chain.

17. Biosphere
 Here is an
example of
another food
chain.

19.  Plants are
called
producers or
autotrophs
because they
are able to use
light energy to
make their own
food.

21.  Animals cannot make their own food so they
must eat plants and/or other animals. They
are called consumers or heterotrophs.
There are three groups of consumers.

22.  Herbivores are animals that only eat plants
or plant products (seeds). They are also
called primary consumers

23.  Carnivores are
animals that eat other
animals.
 There are 2 kinds of
carnivores

24.  Secondary Consumers
are carnivores that eat
herbivores
Herbivores are primary
consumers
Something that makes its
own food is called a
producer

25. Tertiary consumers are
carnivores that eat
other carnivores
 killer whales (tertiary
consumer—they eat
another carnivore)
 Dolphin (secondary
consumer—they eat a
herbivore)
 Herring (primary
consumer—they only eat
plants)
 Photoplankton (this
plant produces its own
food)

26. Make your own food chain
 Find in your notes where it says to make your
own food chain.
 Start with a plant on the very left side.
 The arrow means “is eaten by” so think of the
next thing that might eat your plant…and so
on.

27.  Animalsand people who eat BOTH animals
and plants are called omnivores
WE EAT PLANTS WE EAT MEAT

28. To sum up:
Animals that eat
only plants.
Animals that eat
only animals.
Animals that eat
both animals AND plants
. Humans are also
omnivores!

29.  Then there are decomposers (bacteria, worms,
and fungi) which feed on decaying matter.
 These decomposers speed up the decaying
process that releases mineral salts back into the
food chain for absorption by plants as nutrients.

32. Games
 http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidsco
producer consumer game (pic of cow)
 http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidsco
 Omnivore, carnivore, herbivore game (pic of
person,frog, lion and bear)
 http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidsco
 Matching game (herbivore, carnivore, omnivore)

33. Do you know why there
are more herbivores
than carnivores?

34. In a food chain, energy is
passed from one link to another
 Lets say a plant has the # 100 to represent the
energy it has made.
 When a herbivore eats, it does not get all the
plant’s energy. It uses up some of the energy in
everyday activities. The herbivore may only get
10% of that energy.
 A carnivore then eats this herbivore. The
carnivore only gets 1% of that plants original
energy. This is why the carnivore has to eat many
herbivores to get enough energy to grow.

35.  Energy and mass is transferred from
one level of the food chain to the next
with an efficiency of about 10%.

36. ENERGY’S MOVEMENT IN THE FOOD CHAIN
 Because of the
large amount of
energy that is lost at
each link, the
amount of energy
that is transferred
gets lesser and
lesser
 The further along
the food chain you
go, the less food
(and energy)
remains available.

38.  This energy pyramid shows many
trees & shrubs providing food and
energy to giraffes.
 Note that as we go up, there are
fewer giraffes than trees & shrubs
and even fewer lions than giraffes
 ... as we go further along a food
chain, there are fewer and fewer
consumers.
 In other words, a large mass of
living things at the base is required
to support a few at the top ... many
herbivores are needed to support a
few carnivores

41.  Most food chains have no more than four or
five links
 There cannot be too many links in a single
food chain because the animals at the end of
the chain would not get enough food (and
hence energy) to stay alive.

42.  Most animals are part of more than one food
chain and eat more than one kind of food in
order to meet their food and energy
requirements. These interconnected food
chains form a food web.

43. FOOD CHAIN vs FOOD WEB
FOOD CHAIN
FOOD WEB

44.  Note that the arrows are drawn from food
source to food consumers ...
 substitute the arrows with the words "eaten
by"
 The arrows also show the way energy is
moving.

45. Recap
 The sun is the source of energy
 Water is the source of life on earth
 Water is in the hydrosphere, geosphere and
atmosphere, and biosphere.
 The living things in the biosphere are dependent on
many nonliving things. (abiotic and biotic)
 There are food chains and webs that show what
animals eat. The higher up on the food chain, the
less predators they have.
 Be able to describe who receives the most of the
sun’s energy and how energy moves and is
converted through the food chain.
 Be able to describe how the systems are connected
(atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere)

46. 
http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/eco_info/topics/frogs/chain_reaction/index.cfm make a foodchain

resource
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/games/foodchaingame.htm

game food chain
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/games/foodchaingame.htm
 Fun with foodwebs http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/food/food_menu.html
 Fill in foodwebs http://www.gould.edu.au/foodwebs/kids_web.htm