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Kaitiakitanga and Ecosystems

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Kaitiakitanga and Ecosystems

A streamside habitat is showing signs of stress. Use the evidence below to investigate how living and non-living parts connect, then recommend a kaitiakitanga action. Kaitiakitanga is the responsibility of caring for and protecting the environment. In the food-web relationships below, arrows show energy moving from food to eater.

Habitat evidence

Read the field notes, including the food-web relationships. These are observations from one small New Zealand stream edge.

Living things (biotic): harakeke, grasses, pūriri tree, tūī, kererū, caterpillars, wētā, fungi

Non-living conditions (abiotic): sunlight, water, air, soil, temperature

After heavy rain, muddy water flows from a bare track into the stream.

The pūriri tree provides flowers, fruit and shelter. Tūī visit its flowers; kererū eat its fruit.

Food-web relationships: harakeke and grasses provide food for caterpillars; tūī eat caterpillars. Fungi break down dead plant and animal matter, returning nutrients to the soil.

Connections in the ecosystem

Use the food-web relationships in the field notes to answer Questions 1–4. Arrows in a food web show energy moving from food to eater.

1.Which field-note item is abiotic: fungi, soil, or tūī?
  • Fungi
  • Soil
  • Tūī
2.From the food-web relationships in the field notes, what eats caterpillars, and what provides the caterpillars with food?
3.The field notes say fungi break down dead matter. Explain how this helps plants grow.
4.A keystone species has an especially strong effect on its ecosystem. Why might losing the pūriri tree affect more than one other species in this ecosystem?

Investigate and care

Use the evidence in the field notes. Kaitiakitanga includes noticing changes, acting carefully and considering how choices affect the whole ecosystem.

5.Classify these four observations as biotic or abiotic: sunlight, wētā, water, harakeke.
  • Sunlight
  • Wētā
  • Water
  • Harakeke
  • Living (biotic)
  • Living (biotic)
  • Non-living (abiotic)
  • Non-living (abiotic)
6.Heavy rain washes soil from the bare track into the stream. Give one possible effect on the stream habitat and explain why it could matter to living things.
7.Which action would best help reduce muddy runoff from the track into the stream?
  • Remove all plants beside the stream
  • Plant suitable native vegetation along the bare edge
  • Pour more soil onto the track before rain
8.Suggest one observation you could record during a careful habitat survey to check whether the stream edge is healthy. Say what you would look for.
9.Write a two-sentence kaitiakitanga recommendation for the stream edge. Include one practical action and how it may help living things.

3 printable pages

  • Kaitiakitanga and Ecosystems, page 1 of 3: Habitat evidence, Connections in the ecosystem

    Page 1

  • Kaitiakitanga and Ecosystems, page 2 of 3: Investigate and care

    Page 2

  • Kaitiakitanga and Ecosystems, page 3 of 3: 8. Suggest one observation you could record during a careful habitat survey to check…

    Page 3

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