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4.6 Ecosystems and their Interaction

Date: 21 Aug 2006


Pennsylvania Academic Standards for Environment and Ecology
4.6: Ecosystems and Their Interactions


This page contains the criteria for teaching Ecosystems and their Interactionsthat were developed in the PA Academic Standards. Clicking on a grade levelbelow will skip directly to the criteria for educators teaching at or belowthat grade. Clicking on the criteria will lead to all the teaching resourcesrelated to it.

Fourth Grade |Seventh Grade |Tenth Grade |Twelfth Grade
Grade 4 : Ecosystems and their Interactions (4.6.4)
Fourth Grade: 4.6A Fourth Grade: 4.6B Fourth Grade: 4.6C
Understand that living things are dependent on nonliving things in the environment for survival.
  • Identify and categorize living and nonliving things.
  • Describe the basic needs of an organism.
  • Identify basic needs of a plant and an animal and explain how their needs are met.
  • Identify plants and animals with their habitat and food sources.
  • Identify environmental variables that affect plant growth.
  • Describe how animals interact with plants to meet their needs for shelter.
  • Describe how certain insects interact with soil for their needs.
  • Understand the components of a food chain.
  • Identify a local ecosystem and its living and nonliving components.
  • Identify a simple ecosystem and its living and nonliving components.
  • Identify common soil textures.
  • Identify animals that live underground.
Understand the concept of cycles.
  • Explain the water cycle.
  • Explain the carbon dioxide/oxygen cycle (photosynthesis).
Identify how ecosystems change over time.

Grade 7 : Ecosystems and their Interactions (4.6.7)
Seventh Grade: 4.6A Seventh Grade: 4.6B Seventh Grade: 4.6C
Explain the flows of energy and matter from organism to organism within an ecosystem.
  • Identify and explain the characteristics of biotic and abiotic.
  • Describe and explain the adaptations of plants and animals to their environment.
  • Demonstrate the dependency of living components in the ecosystem on the nonliving components.
  • Explain energy flow through a food web.
  • Explain the importance of the predator/prey relationship and how it maintains the balances within ecosystems.
  • Understand limiting factors and predict their effects on an organism.
  • Identify niches for producers, consumers and decomposers within an ecosystem.
  • Compare and contrast the major ecosystems of Pennsylvania.
  • Identify the major characteristics of a biome.
  • Compare and contrast different biomes and their characteristics.
  • Identify the relationship of abiotic and biotic components and explain their interaction in an ecosystem.
  • Explain how different soil types determine the characteristics of ecosystems.
Explain the concepts of cycles.
  • Identify and explain cycles within an ecosystem.
  • Analyze the role of different cycles within an ecosystem.
Explain how ecosystems change over time.
  • Explain how ecosystems change.
  • Identify the succession stages of a given ecosystem.
  • Explain how specific organisms may change an ecosystem.
  • Explain a change in an ecosystem that relates to humans.

Grade 10 : Ecosystems and their Interactions (4.6.10)
Tenth Grade: 4.6A Tenth Grade: 4.6B Tenth Grade: 4.6C
Explain the biotic and abiotic components of an ecosystem and their interaction.
  • Identify the major biomes and explain their similarities and differences.
  • Compare and contrast the interactions of biotic and abiotic components in an ecosystem.
  • Analyze the effects of abiotic factors on specific ecosystems.
  • Describe how the availability of resources affects organisms in an ecosystem.
  • Explain energy flow in a food chain through an energy pyramid.
  • Evaluate the efficiency of energy flow in a food chain.
  • Explain the concept of carrying capacity in an ecosystem.
  • Explain trophic levels.
  • Identify a specific environmental impact and predict what change may take place to affect homeostasis.
  • Examine and explain how organisms modify their environments to sustain their needs.
  • Assess the effects of latitude and altitude on biomes.
  • Interpret possible causes of population fluctuations.
  • Explain how erosion and sedimentation have changed the quality of soil related habitats.
Explain how cycles affect the balance in an ecosystem.
  • Describe an element cycle and its role in an ecosystem.
  • Explain the consequences of interrupting natural cycles.
Analyze how ecosystems change over time.
  • Identify and explain the succession stages in an ecosystem.
  • Identify causes of succession.
  • Analyze consequences of interrupting natural cycles.

Grade 12 : Ecosystems and their Interactions (4.6.12)
Twelfth Grade: 4.6A Twelfth Grade: 4.6B Twelfth Grade: 4.6C
Analyze the interdependence of an ecosystem.
  • Analyze the relationships among components of an ecosystem.
  • Evaluate the efficiency of energy flow within an ecosystem.
  • Explain limiting factors and their impact on carrying capacity.
  • Understand how biological diversity impacts the stability of an ecosystem.
  • Analyze the positive or negative impacts of outside influences on an ecosystem.
  • Analyze how different land use practices can affect the quality of soils.
Analyze the impact of cycles on the ecosystem.
  • Evaluate the materials necessary for natural cycles.
  • Explain the processes involved in the natural cycles.
Analyze how human action and natural changes affect the balance within an ecosystem.
  • Analyze the effects of substances that move through natural cycles.
  • Analyze the effects of natural occurrences and their effects on ecosystems.
  • Analyze effects of human action on an ecosystem.
  • Compare the stages of succession and how they influence the cycles existing in an ecosystem