Unit 7: Principles of Ecology
ESSENTIAL IDEA:
Existence in the world is made up of living and non living things. The two groups have to coexist in order to share the resources that are available within the environmental ecosystem.
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:
UNDERSTANDINGS / APPLICATIONS / SKILLS / NATURE OF SCIENCE:
* Denotes objectives covered in Honors Integrated Science
Existence in the world is made up of living and non living things. The two groups have to coexist in order to share the resources that are available within the environmental ecosystem.
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:
- How do matter and energy link organisms to each other and their environments?
- Why is sunlight essential to life on Earth?
- How can change in one part of an ecosystem affect change in other parts of the ecosystem?
- Why would the removal of a keystone species have such a drastic effect on an ecosystem?
UNDERSTANDINGS / APPLICATIONS / SKILLS / NATURE OF SCIENCE:
- 7.1.U1: All biological systems from cells and organisms to populations, communities and ecosystems are affected by complex biotic and abiotic interactions involving exchange of matter and free energy.
- 7.1.U2: Organisms and their environments are interconnected. Changes in one part of the system will affect other parts of the system.
- 7.1.U3: Matter needed to sustain life is continually recycled among and between organisms and the environment.
- 7.1.S1: Energy from the Sun flows irreversibly through ecosystems and is conserved as organisms use and transform it.
- 7.1.A1: Humans can alter the living and nonliving factors within an ecosystem, thereby creating changes to the overall system.
- 7.1.NOS: Ecologists use data collected in the field in order to protect human health and with safeguarding the natural environment.*
* Denotes objectives covered in Honors Integrated Science