Introduction/Motivation
In your own words, can you explain what makes an environment or an ecosystem? (Key points: An environment is the surrounding area that an organism lives in, including the air, water, food and energy for that organism to survive. An ecosystem is a whole working unit that includes an area's living organisms and nonliving environmental conditions, linked by nutrient and energy cycles.) How is the environment you live in different from another animal's, say a frog or a deer? How are these environments the same? (Make a T-chart on the board or overhead projector to list environment similarities and differences.) What keeps an environment in motion? What fuels the animals and plants that live within these ecosystems? That's right, nutrients, water and energy!