MsRalenyena

OUR ENVIRONMENT
Our environment is the earth and all that’s exists around us.

ECOSYSTEM: a particular place in the environment together with its living and non-living
components.

Living Components/ biotic factors: refers to animals and plants

Non Living components/abiotic factors: refers to rocks, water, air, sunlight, minerals
etc

Habitat: is a place / an area where a plant grows and animal lives.

Examples: a game reserve, a log, a pond.

Species:Organisms of the same type.

Examples: People of different races are all organisms of same species.

Population: The number of organisms of the same species living in a particular habitat.

Community: A group of different species of organisms in a particular area at specific time.

CHARACTERISIICS OF ECOSYSTEM
 Geographical size
 Climate
 Water
 Non-ling factors /abiotic factors
 Living factors/biotic factors

FOOD CHAINS

A food chain is linear diagram showing the flow of energy from one single type of organism to
another.

Each link of a food chain is called a trophic level or feeding level.

The food chain above has 4 feeding levels.

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A food chain must always start with a plant.

In a food chain energy flows from one of organism to another.

ORGANISMS FALL INTO TWO GROUPS

1. Producers: organisms that are able to manufacture their own food (Plants)
2. Consumers: organisms that feed on other organisms. (Animals)

Consumers are further divided according to their diet into:

a. Herbivores: Animals that feed on plant material only.

b. Carnivores: Animals that feed on animal material.
c. Omnivores: Animals that feed on both animal material and plant material.
d. Decomposers: are animals that decompose organisms.

Producer----- PrimaryConsumer ------SecondaryConsumer ---- TertiaryConsumer

From the food chain above,

Grass Producer Producer

Antelope Primary Consumer Herbivore
Lion Secondary Consumer Carnivore
Vulture Tertiary Consumer Carnivore

FOOD WEBS

A food web is amore realistic idea of how energy flows from one single type of organism
to another.

A food web shows us that an organism does not depend on one single type of organism
for food.

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How many food chains can you see from this food web.

FOOD PYRAMIDS

Food pyramid is made by counting the number of organisms at each feeding level.

Example:

The size of the rectangles shows the number of organisms at each feeding level.

As energy is passed form one organism to another some of it is lost due to:

1. Respiration by the organism- Energy used by the organism itself.

2. Excretion

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Energy reduces along the food chain

Interfering with balance of nature

In a food chain the numbers of organisms normally change.

Whatever happens to organisms at one level of the food chain, it affects other organisms.
Examples:

What would happen if all the grass is wiped by veld-fires?

1. Antelopes will die as they will have no food.

2. As antelopes die, there will be less food for lions.

What would happen if all the antelopes are killed by a certain disease?

1. The number of lions will reduce as they do not have enough food.
2. The grass will increase as it is not being eaten by anything.

What would happen if the Lions are killed by a certain disease?

1. The number of antelopes will increase as they will no predator to eat them. This will
result in overgrazing.

Overgrazing comes as a result of:

a. keeping a too many animals in a small area.

b. Having a few or no predators to keep herbivore population down.

2. The vultures will increase in numbers as they will have a lot of food.

POLLUTANTS

Pollutants are substances that have a harmful effect on the environment or organisms.

Some of these pollutants come from:

- Homes
- Industries
Chemicals become more and more concentrated in the bodies of organisms as we move
along the food chain.
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