Mrs gren

Read the following passage to find out about how to determine if something is living.








Complete the following table.
Characteristic Definition Human Car






M Movement
Change in position of
part of body or of
whole body by their
own efforts.





R Respiration
Release of energy
from food within cells.

Release energy in every
cell, 24/7.


Cars do not respire.
S Sensitivity
Respond to stimuli.





G Growth
Gets bigger in size.





R Reproduction
Produces offspring.





E Excretion
Gets rid of waste
products.





N Nutrition
The taking in of
energy and raw
materials.







How do we know if something is living or non-living?
An individual living thing is called an organism. All living organisms have seven life
processes in common. The life processes are movement, respiration, sensitivity, growth,
reproduction, excretion and nutrition. They can be remembered using the first letter for
each, which spells MRS GREN.
Read the following passage to find out about adaptations.
Underline or highlight any keywords




















.

Highlight or underline the section(s) of the text above which answer the following questions. Use a
different colour for each question.
1. What does the survival of an organism depend on?
2. What structural adaptations does a white face heron have?
3. What is an example of a functional adaptation?
4. What are behavioural adaptations?
The survival of an organism depends on a number of physical and biological factors. It also
depends on the characteristics of the organism itself. These characteristics are called
adaptations.
The white faced heron lives in wetland areas throughout New
Zealand. It has long legs to enable it to walk through
swampy areas where it finds its food. Its beak is long and
pointed so it can collect snails, insects, frogs and fish from
the water and mud. It also has large strong wings to help it
escape from danger. These adaptations make it successful
in its habitat.
Adaptations are classified into three groups structural, functional and behavioural.
Structural adaptations refer to the shape and size of the organism and how the various
parts are put together; for example, the size of a leaf, or the type of teeth.
Functional adaptations refer to the internal workings of an organism; for example, the way
an animal digests its food, or the production of venom.
Behavioural adaptations are to do with how the organism behaves; for example, mating
behaviour, or aggressive behaviour.
Food chains
Read the following passage to find out about food chains.





Study the diagram of a food chain below and then answer the questions that follow.


a. Name the producer in the above food chain. ________________________________
b. Name the top carnivore. ________________________________
c. What type of organism is the aphid? ________________________________
d. What type of organism is the praying mantis? ________________________________
e. What occupies the 4
th
trophic level? ________________________________
f. What do the arrows in the food chain represent? _______________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
Sea lettuce is eaten by crabs, which are eaten by humans. Draw a food chain in the space below
to show this food chain.

A food chain is a diagram showing the transfer of nutrients in food from one living thing to
another. Food Chains always begin with a producer, e.g. lettuce, grass, and have arrows
to show the direction of transfer of food. In the following diagram, the first arrow shows
that the food is being transferred from the lettuce to the snail.






This food chain is made up of four levels each is a trophic level. The first trophic level
in a food chain is always a producer. The second is a primary consumer- a herbivore or
omnivore. The third, fourth and fifth levels are also consumers. The carnivore at the end
of the chain, in this case the cat, is always the top carnivore.
Food webs

The diagram below shows a food web based on a lettuce plant as the producer. Study the
diagram and then answer the questions that follow.

From the food web name a: (i) herbivore _________________________________
(ii) carnivore _________________________________
(iii) top carnivore _________________________________
What do blackbirds eat? _________________________________________________
What feeds on aphids? _________________________________________________
Circle the type of feeder below that best represents the wolf spider.
PRODUCER HERBIVORE CARNIVORE OMNIVORE
Name all the primary consumers in the food web.
___________________________________________________________________________
Write a food chain from the food web that involves a slug.
____________________________________________________________________________
Write a food chain from the food web which has four trophic levels.
____________________________________________________________________________
Food chains are not separated off from one another they are joined together in webs.
When all food chains for an area are combined together, the result is a food web.
HUMAN IMPACT!!
The diagram below shows an Antarctic food web.

What role do CRYSTAL KRILL play in this food web? ___________________________
Write two food chains below which both involve CRYSTAL KRILL.
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
Krill is not a traditional human food, but Krill contain high-quality protein, and are low in fat and rich
in vitamins, so people currently remove about 100 000 tonnes of krill a year, using them for food,
medicines, fish food and fishing bait. Referring to the food web above make an inference (or two)
about the impact this will have on the Antarctic food web.
____________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________



Question 3
Foxton Estuary

The food web below is for the Foxton estuary



Discuss the roles of the living things in this estuary and explain what might happen if all the
shore birds suddenly disappeared

In your answer you should:
Name a producer and describe its role (job) in the estuary
Name two consumers from the food web above and describe their role (job) in the
estuary community
Draw two food chains from the food web above
Explain what a food web shows and what the arrows represent
Discuss the effect the disappearance of the Shore birds would have on the estuary
community.

Question 3

The Foxton estuary is home to many different species of birds. The Godwit is one of them. The
Godwit feeds on marine worms and crabs. Crabs feed on worms, and worms feed on
phytoplankton (microscopic plants). Snails feed on phytoplankton also.
Discuss why we know that the Godwit is a living thing and explain what would happen to the
Godwit population at the Foxton Estuary if the marine worms were suddenly killed off.
As part of your answer you should:
State what each letter stands for in MRS GREN and explain using MRS GREN how you
would know that the Godwit is a living organism.
Using the information provided above, draw a food web for the Foxton Estuary.
Describe what a producer and a consumer is and give named examples from the food web.


Question 3 A Long Way Home

The Foxton estuary is home to many
different living organisms, the Bar-
Tailed Godwit is one of them. These are migratory birds that fly north for the winter. Unfortunately, habitat
loss and other changes to their wintering wetland habitats around the world are having a negative effect on
the population of these birds.
a) Choose an example from the food web above and using MRS GREN explain how you know it is living.
b) Explain what affect(s) a decrease in the number of Bar-Tailed Godwits would have on the other living things
found in the estuary.

In your answer you should:
Identify what the letter in MRS GREN stand for
Draw two food chains found at the Foxton Estuary, using the food web above.
Describe what a producer is and how they get their energy.
Describe what the arrows in a food web represent.
Explain why organisms are arranged the way they are in food webs.
Explain what affect(s) a decrease in the number of Bar-Tailed Godwits would have on the other
living things found in the estuary.


Question 3 Foxton Estuary

The food web above represents part of the community of living organisms found at the Foxton
Estuary.
a) Name the producers in the above food web and explain their importance to the rest of the
food web.
b) Explain how we would know that the Wrybill bird is a living thing. In your answer you
should:
State what each of the letters of MRS GREN stand for
Use MRS GREN to help explain why the Wrybill is living
c) Explain what effect a toxic spill would have on the other living things found in the Foxton
estuary if the spill killed all of the insect life. In your answer you should:
State the role (job) of the insects in the estuary
Refer to two specific food chains which would be affected (draw them)
Explain what the arrows in the food web represent
Explain what effect(s) a loss of insects would have on named living organisms