Grade Level Expectations

A. Explain the organization of an ecosystem.

v     Individual

v     Population

v     Community

B.  Identify and explain the interdependence of abiotic and biotic factors in a community using specific examples.

C.  Describe how abiotic factors affect the ability of plants to create their own food through the process of photosynthesis.

v     Photosynthesis

v     Food web

v     Food chain

D. Explain the flow of matter and energy in an ecosystem.

E.  Define the interactions among organisms in a community. Include a positive and negative example.

v     Producer

v     Consumer

v     Decomposer

v     Predator

v     Prey

F.  Identify the components found in various Connecticut ecosystems (pond, river, forest, ocean, valley, hills).

G. Identify questions that can be answered through scientific investigation.

H. Identify independent and dependent variables, and those variables that are kept                       constant, when designing an experiment.