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Dolamore Park Ecosystems Introduction

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Dolamore Park Ecosystems Introduction

Explore how living things and non-living parts of an ecosystem interact. Read the field notes, then complete the investigation tasks. Use arrows to show energy moving from food to eater.

Field notes: a patch of forest

A small forest patch in the hills of the Southland region gets sunlight and rain. Its plants include ferns, grasses and trees. A kererū eats fruit and spreads seeds. Wētā feed on plant material and decaying leaves; a morepork may prey on wētā. Fungi and tiny soil organisms break down dead leaves and other remains. The soil holds water and nutrients, while the stream provides a habitat for organisms. These living and non-living parts affect one another.

1.Choose the best description of the forest patch in the field notes.

Only the plants and animals living there
Living things interacting with one another and with non-living surroundings
All the different types of animals, but not plants
A place where every organism eats the same food

2.Write L for a living (biotic) factor or N for a non-living (abiotic) factor beside each item: fern, sunlight, soil, kererū.

3.Match each ecosystem role to its description.

Producer
Consumer
Decomposer

Gets energy by eating other organisms
Breaks down dead material and returns nutrients to the environment
Makes food using energy from sunlight

4.Which organism in the field notes is a producer?

Morepork
Wētā
Fern
Kererū

5.Use organisms from the field notes to draw a food chain with at least three links. Add arrows to show the direction energy moves.

Draw your food chain here. Label each organism and include arrows.

6.Which statement best describes energy moving through this forest ecosystem?

Energy flows from the Sun to producers and then to consumers.
Energy begins with decomposers and moves into the Sun.
Energy travels in a complete circle and is never lost.
Consumers make all the energy they need from soil.

7.Fungi and tiny soil organisms break down dead leaves. Explain one way this helps the forest ecosystem.

8.Imagine tall cloud cover reduced the sunlight reaching the forest for a long time. Predict one possible effect on the plants and one possible effect on animals. Explain the links.

9.The soil and stream are abiotic factors, even though they can affect the organisms living in the forest.

TrueFalse

10.The kererū eats fruit and spreads seeds. Describe how this interaction could affect the plants in the forest.