Science STAAR Review

Life Science

Interdependency

• Organisms interact with both living and nonliving things to survive in their ecosystems.

• An ecosystem is a community of living and nonliving things in their environment.

• The living or biotic components of an ecosystem are: the plants, animals (including humans), fungi, and microorganisms

• The nonliving or abiotic components of an ecosystem are: sunlight, atmosphere and weather, temperature, soil, rock, landforms, bodies of water, glaciers, volcanoes, man-made structures

Interdependency

Interdependency

• Plants interact with living things such as animals and other plants in complex ways and also require nonliving things, such as carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight.

Interdependency

• Animals depend on other living things, such as plants and other animals, and nonliving things, such as air and water, to survive.

Food Webs

• All energy transferred through food chains and webs is derived from the Sun.

Food Webs

• Producers use the Sun’s energy to create their own food through photosynthesis.

• Consumers and decomposers get their energy from producers or other consumers.

• The different parts of a food web are producers, consumers, and decomposers.

Environments

• Environments have specific physical characteristics that provide food, water, air, or protection to populations and communities in an ecosystem.

Environments • Environmental changes, such as floods, droughts, or

fires, will cause some organisms to perish or move, while permitting other organisms to thrive.

• Changes to an environment can affect whether certain organisms can survive in that ecosystem.

Environmental Changes

• Living organisms, including humans, can change their environment.

• Environments have been altered for food resources.

• Environments have been altered for buildings, industry, and transportation.

Environmental Changes

• Changes to the environment made by organisms can affect other organisms.

• We can predict the effects of changes to the environment caused by organisms.

Carbon Dioxide Oxygen Cycle• People and animals exhale carbon dioxide during

respiration.• Plants use carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight to

produce their own food, releasing oxygen as a waste product.

• In order to survive, people and animals inhale the oxygen released by plants.

Adaptations

• Plants and animals have specific structures and functions that enable them to be successful in their environments.

Adaptations

Traits

• Some traits are inherited from parent to offspring, while other behaviors are learned during an organism’s lifetime.

Traits

• Inherited characteristics are things such as hair color, the shape of a beak, and spines on a cactus.

Traits • Acquired characteristics can include learned

behaviors, such as a child riding a bicycle or animals learning tricks, but can also include physical characteristics, such as a scar.

Metamorphosis

• Complete metamorphosis-in insects involves four distinct differences in life stages, including egg, larva, pupa, and adult.

Metamorphosis

• Incomplete metamorphosis in insects involves three life stages, including egg, nymph, and adult.

Metamorphosis

Life Cycles

• Organisms undergo observable changes during their life cycles, including birth, growth and development, reproduction, and death.

Life Cycles