Unit B

Module 3 Introduction

Overview

The organisms and physical characteristics of an ecosystem make each one unique. Organisms are classified according to their characteristics. The organisms in an ecosystem affect each other and their surroundings just as their surroundings affect them. Ecologists examine the environments that organisms inhabit and how changes to these environments affect populations immediately and over long periods of time

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Big Ideas

This module will investigate ecosystems and the specific relationships within them.

By the end of this module you should be able to
  • explain that the biosphere is composed of ecosystems, each with distinct biotic and abiotic characteristics.

Key Concepts

Concepts that you should be able to explain by the end of this module are
  • diversity of ecosystems
  • limiting factors
    • principles of taxonomy and the binomial nomenclature system
    • interrelationships in ecosystems
    • measurement tools and procedures used to investigate an ecosystem

    Skills

    Skills that you should be able to do by the end of this unit are
    • explain how limiting factors influence the range and distribution of an organism
    • use a dichotomous key to classify an organism
    • plan a field study to investigate the impacts of abiotic or biotic characteristics on an organism

    Assessments

    There are four graded assessments in Module 3.

    1. Unit B: Section 1 Assignment
    2. Unit B: Section 2 Assignment
    3. Unit B Summative Part 1
    4. Field Study

    As you work through this unit and its module, you will find Self-Check questions,  labs, and critical thought questions. There will be lesson goals indicated at the beginning of each lesson and then clearly identified throughout the lesson.