by Jean Trusedell
Have you ever wondered why gorillas aren't living in your backyard? Or why koala bears only live in Australia? Every animal is adapted to their own environment or Ecosystem. You have been given the exciting job of helping our zoo build a habitat for different ecosystems! Remember that the plants and animals must all live together in their Ecosystem.
Task: First you will need to learn about an ecosystem. Use that information to create an environment with food that will support the animal you have select. Make sure the ecosystem and animals are compatible. Create a food chain to show how the animals live within their ecosystem. To promote your new exhibit, you will create a trading card about your ecosystem for kids to collect.
Procedure: Activity 1 Activity 2 Activity 3
Activity 1: Learn about Ecosystems and the Food chain
What is an Ecosystem
An ecosystem may be as small as a tidal pool or a rotting log or as large as an ocean or a continent-spanning forest. Each ecosystem consists of a community of plants and animals in an environment that supplies them with raw materials for life such as water. How the plants and animals live is determined by the climate (how cold and how much rain), altitude (how high above sea level), water and soil characteristics as well as other physical conditions of the environment.
Plants, animals, and
other living things existing in one place make up a community. In communities
the food chain begins with
plants, which are the
producers. Animals eat these
producers or some other animal. Even meat eating animals (carnivorous) eat
animals that eat these plants. A food
chain is the transfer of food energy from the plants through a series of animals
with repeated eating and being eaten behaviors.
For example, a green plant, a leaf-eating insect, and an insect-eating bird
would be a simple food chain. All living things make food chains. Plants
need the sun to grow. Many insects eat plants, many toads eat insects, many
snakes eat toads, and many hawks eat snakes. This is another example of a food
chain. Whenever we eat food, we are members of a food chain.
View a movie and take a quiz about the food chain
Now that you know how the food chain works, you will apply that knowledge to your ecosystem. You are going to learn how the environment, supports the plants, that supports the animals in your ecosystem. You will choose your ecosystem, learn about the climate, that plants and animals and how they all live and thrive together.
Activity 2 -Below you will find 5 different ecosystems located throughout the world. Gather information about your system and how animals and plants live together.
Tundra Desert Grassland Rainforests Oceans
Polar/Tundra- 
The tundra is very cold and dry habitat. The temperature rarely rises above 50 degrees, and it can drop to -40 degrees! The ground is covered with snow more than half of the year. there is always a layer of frozen soil, and no trees grow in this severe climate. Grasses and mosses are some of the plants that live in the area. Animals living in this frozen land have developed many special adaptations to help them survive. Here are two examples of animals.
Caribou- Caribou eat grasses and mosses. They dig with their hooves to get the plants under the snow. They also use their hooves for fighting.
Gray Wolf- The typical prey of the gray wolf is the caribou. Wolves hunt in packs and mostly kill the young, old, sick or injured caribou. Sometimes they will hunt smaller mammals such as beavers or rabbits.
View a movie and take a quiz about the tundra
Desert-A desert is a habitat that receives less than 10 inches of precipitation a year. The animals and plants in the desert have adapted to life without very much water. Some deserts are hot and dry, while others are cold and dry. The Sonoran desert in Arizona and the Southwest United States is an example of a hot, dry desert.
Diamondback Rattlesnake- This snake feeds on a variety of animals such as rabbits, rats, lizards and birds. The Diamondback rattlesnake is aggressive and can be dangerous.
Saguaro
Cactus- The saguaro cactus has a system of shallow and deep roots.
This plant can grow to 40 feet in height.
View a movie and take a quiz about Deserts
A grassland is a habitat where most of the plants are grasses. Grasses are plants that survive in spite of irregular rainfall and long periods of drought. A grassland area may have a few trees and some shrubs. The African savanna is a diverse grassland with many species of low-growing grasses and tall elephant grass. Each of the grazing animals feed on different parts of the grass, so they seldom compete for food. For example, zebras eat the tough tops of the grass stem, wildebeests eat the leafy center, and gazelles prefer the young shoots.
Marabou Storks- The Marabou stork is a scavenger and obtains most of its food from the kill of other animals, such as lions. It is attracted to grass fires, where it marches along the fire front to catch escaping animals or scavenge the dead ones.
Cheetah- The cheetah is the fastest hunter in the African savanna running up to 70 miles per hour! Using a stalk-and-rapid-chase technique, cheetahs catch grazers such as the Thompson's gazelle. They can go from 0-45 mph in 2 seconds.
Click here to see a video about Cheetahs
Tropical rain forest- are between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn where they receive at least 80 inches of rain per year. The rain forest supports an abundant diversity of both plant and animal life, more than any other habitat. Approximately 300 species of trees are found on 2.5 acres of rain forest land in Peru, compared to a typical forest in Ohio that has only seven species in the same amount of land.
Poison Arrow Frogs- This frog produces the most powerful known poison. Just a small amount can kill a person. Bright colors warn predators to stay away. These frogs live in the Mahogany tree.
Mahogany Tree- This tree is a valuable crop for lumber companies. It is found throughout central South American rain forest and provides a home for animals that live in the rain forest canopy.
Ocean- One habitat found in a cold-water ocean is a kelp forest. Giant kelp is large brown seaweed (algae) that anchors to a hard surface and provides a habitat for a diverse number of organisms. Within its branches and hold fasts (anchors), an entire community makes its home over time. This community includes snails, crabs, brittle stars and worms. Certain fish adapt to the forest of kelp by size, shape and other physical characteristics.
Panorama view from inside the
exhibit.
Giant Kelp- Kelp is a member of the plant group algae. Giant kelp can grow as much as 18 inches in a day. This plant needs nutrient-rich waters and temperatures below 70 degrees.
Sea
Otter- The sea otter eats, sleeps, mates and even gives birth at sea.
This sea mammal fees on abalone,
crabs, clams
and sea urchins. 
.
T
The sea otter is the smallest sea mammal. It lives on kelp weed beds and dives for shellfish. It uses stone tools to break the shells.
Using the information you have gathered, you are going to create a trading card of your ecosystem, and it's food chain through the use of facts and pictures.
