1. Ecosystems

2. What is an Ecosystem?
An ecosystem is interactions between living and non-living things within a given area.

3. Components
Living things within an ecosystem are also known as biotic factors.
Examples include animals, bacteria, fungi, etc
Non-living things within an ecosystem are also known as abiotic factors.
Examples include sand, water, rocks, etc

4. An area is an ecosystem as long as you have living components interacting with non-living things.
Ecosystems can be very small such as a rotting log or a pond.
Ecosystems can also be very large such as the forests in Northern Saskatchewan or the prairies of Canada.

5. The planet has thousands of ecosystems!
Each ecosystem is very different, however, they have one thing in common:
They all need a way to bring energy and matter into the system and make them constantly available to living things.

6. Importance of Ecosystems
All things in an ecosystem are important.
For example you may want to remove mosquitoes from your life. However insects are a great source of food for birds and fish. If we removed mosquitoes, what would happen to the birds and fish?

7. Components of Ecosystems
Consumers
A consumer is any organism that has to seek out and eat other living things for food.
Examples include: humans, cats, raccoons, bears, seals, etc

8. Consumers are classified into three different categories based on the types of food they eat.
1) Carnivores
Carnivores eat mostly other animals
Examples include hyenas, seals, and cats

9. 2) Herbivores Herbivores are animals that mostly eat plants
Examples include moose, elephants, and grasshoppers

10. 3) Omnivores
Omnivores are animals who consume other animals as well as plants
Examples include bears, raccoons and most humans

11. Producers Producers are living things who can produce their own food
Producers are organisms who provide other energy and matter for other organisms
Examples are plants and algae

12. Consumers depend on producers to provide energy (food)
Producers are the beginning of food chains or food webs
Food chains are flowcharts which show how living things are connected to each other

13. Food chains always begin with a producer.
Next an arrow points to a secondary consumer.
Then an arrow will point to another consumer.
Food chains can be very short or quite long.

14. An Example

16. Scavengers
Scavengers are consumers that don’t usually kill for their own food, instead they feed off of remains of other living things that are killed
Examples include crows, ravens, and maggots

17. Decomposers
Decomposers are consumers who break down dead plants and animals
Examples include fungi and bacteria

18. Decomposers are essential to all ecosystems.
Decomposers are like nature’s “clean-up crew”. Not only do they break down all living organisms they also provide producers with a continuous supply of nutrients.