What Is an Ecosystem?: Concept Map
≈ 24 minConcept Map
Organise the vocabulary, quantities and relationships into a connected model.
This extension applies that lens specifically to What Is an Ecosystem?.
A habitat is the particular place where a plant or animal lives — the reeds at the edge of a dam, a crack in a Karoo rock, the soil under a mielie field.
An ecosystem is bigger than that. It is all the living things in a place, together with the non-living surroundings they depend on, working as one system.
- Living parts: plants, animals, fungi and the tiny living things in soil and water.
- Non-living parts: sunlight, water, air, soil, rock and temperature.
Scientists study ecosystems as systems because the parts are connected. Change one part and the others feel it.
Worked example — a farm dam outside Bloemfontein.
| Part of the ecosystem | Living or non-living? |
|---|---|
| Reeds along the edge | living |
| Frogs and dragonflies | living |
| Barbel in the deep water | living |
| Water and mud | non-living |
| Sunlight and air | non-living |
In a dry summer the water level drops (a non-living change). The reeds shrink back, the frogs lose their breeding pools, and the birds that eat frogs move away. One non-living change ran right through the living parts — that is what makes it a system.
Natural Sciences — Grade 6 — Concept Map: Which of these is a non-living part of a wetland ecosystem?
Natural Sciences — Grade 6 — Concept Map: The particular place where a plant or animal lives is called its ______.
Natural Sciences — Grade 6 — Concept Map: Sipho says: "The ecosystem of the dam is just the fish and the frogs." What is the best correction?
Name the original topic being extended by this concept map lesson.
Which statement is the best evidence-led starting point for What Is an Ecosystem?: Concept Map?