Activity 1
You can illustrate the abiotic and
biotic components by an example of an ecosystem in our surroundings.
You can take the example of a garden. Visit a garden close to your
residence.
As you know a garden is an example of
terrestrial ecosystem. Terrestrial ecosystem is where you find many
animals like insects, frogs and lizards and the plants like flowering
and non-flowering plants and grass. So, garden is an ideal example of
the terrestrial ecosystem. Terrestrial ecosystem is found on land.
Similarly there can be aquatic ecosystem, which you find in a water
body.
In the garden you would find abiotic
and biotic components. You can name some components of a garden, for
example, grasses, trees, plants with flowers and animals like frogs,
insects and birds. Do write on a sheet of paper the local names of
all living organisms of the garden you observe at the time of your
visit to the garden. All these living organisms interact with each
other. You would be curious to know how the abiotic components of
this terrestrial eco-system affect the growth, reproduction and other
activities of its living organisms. Details about this process you
will learn a little later and then you can describe how the two
components affect each other.
At the moment it is good to keep in
mind that a garden is an example of a human-made or artificial
eco-system. So is also a crop field whereas forests, natural ponds
and lakes are examples of natural eco-systems.
Activity 2
Form a series of organisms in a pond
and draw the pictures of organisms feeding on one another and write
about the ways they make a food chain.
Activity 3
Discuss the relationship between
aquatic organisms by taking the example of an aquatic ecosystem. In
the water, you would find free floating plants, called phytoplankton.
Fish eat phytoplankton. Big fish eat small fish and large birds eat
big fish. Now make out the relationship among phytoplankton (the
free-floating plants), small fish, the big fish, and the bird. Write
down names of the groupings of producers and consumers they belong
to. In this way you can show the relationship among various biotic
factors within the aquatic system. In the end, write about the role
of phytoplankton in an aquatic ecosystem.