Brief explanation about ecosystems.

1. ECOSYSTE
MS

2. What is an ecosystem?
 Group of living and non-living things that live in
the same area. They all interact.

3. Living things in an ecosystem:
 They are organised in:
 Species: group of organisms that can
reproduce with each other and produce fertile
offspring.
 Population: all the individuals that belong to
the same species.
 Community: group of different populations that
live together.

4. How do they interact?
 Depending on how living things get their food
they can be classified in:
 Producers: they are the plants. They use soil
and energy to perform the photosynthesis and
produce food. Other living things use plants as
food.

5. How do they interact?
 Decomposers: bacteria and fungi. They feed
off the remains of dead animals and plants.
Then, they return this nutrients to the soil for
the plants.

6. How do they interact?
 Composers: animals and organisms that feed on
other living things.
 Primary consumers: they eat producers, so they
are herbivores (rabbits eat grass).
 Secondary consumers: they eat other
consumers, so they are carnivores (eagles eat
rabbits).
 Tertiary consumers: eat both producers and
consumers, so they are omnivores (birds eat
fruits and worms).

7. How do they interact?

8. Food chains and food webs
 Food chain: living things eat each other
passing the energy from one to another.

9. Food chains and food webs
 Food webs: most living things are part of
several food chains. When we connect them,
we have a food web.

10. Food chains and food webs
 Balance of living things: if one population
changes, it can affect other populations. As a
result, it modifies the ecological balance.
When a big change affects the balance of
living things, it can lead to the extinction of
species.

11. Terrestrial ecosystems
 Cold deserts: Antarctica and Greenland. They
have:
 Freezing temperatures
 Little precipitation
 Land is covered with snow and ice
 Very little vegetation
 Animals have thick layer of fat

12. Terrestrial ecosystems

13. Terrestrial ecosystems
 Taiga: in Russian means dense evergreen
forest. Covers the very North of Europe, Asia
and North America. It has:
 Very cold temperatures (snow in Winter)
 Long and reainy days in Summer
 Many evergreen trees

14. Terrestrial ecosystems

15. Terrestrial ecosystems
 Temperate forests: are located in canada,
eastern United States, Europe and China.
They have:
 Cold temperatures in Winter and mild in
Summer
 Moderate rain
 Most trees are deciduous
 Wide variety of animals that migrate during
cold winters

16. Terrestrial ecosystems

17. Terrestrial ecosystems
 Warm deserts: Sahara and Atacama deserts.
They have:
 High temperatures during day and cool at
night
 Scarce precipitation
 Very little vegetation
 Animals can survive with little amounts of
water.

18. Terrestrial ecosystems

19. Terrestrial ecosystems

20. Terrestrial ecosystems
 Savannahs: cover half the surface of Africa.
You can also find them in Australia, South
America and India. They have:
 High temperatures all year
 There is a dry season (almost no rain) and a
wet season (lots of rain)
 Land is covered mostly in grass, few trees and
shrubs
 Wide variety of animals

21. Terrestrial ecosystems

22. Terrestrial ecosystems
 Rainforests and jungles: Amazon and Congo
are the largest in the world. They have:
 High temperatures
 Rains all year long
 Abundant vegetation

23. Terrestrial ecosystems

24. Aquatic ecosystems
 There are two type of aquatic ecosystems:
 Marine: the oceans and the seas
 Freshwater: lakes, ponds, rivers and streams

25. Aquatic ecosystems
 Marine ecosystems: in it we can find
producers, consumers and decomposers.
 Producers: phytoplankton (algae). They
perform photosynthesis.
 Consumers: fish, marine mammals, starfish,
coral and zooplankton.
 Decomposers: fungi, bacteria and other
microorganisms.

26. Aquatic ecosystems
 φύτον (phy to n, "planta") y πλαγκτος
("plánktos", "vagabundo" o "el que va dando
tumbos")
 ‘Zoo’ (animal) y πλαγκτός [p la g któ s ], ‘errantes’

27. Aquatic ecosystems