1. Trees(Maple, Oak, Birch)
2. Plants(Moss, Ferns, Wildflowers)
3. Animals(Deer, Raccoons, Squirrels, Bears)
Biotic Factor: Raccoons
Abiotic Factor: Water
Carrying capacity is the number of organisms or resources that can be held in an environment.
-Resources needed for a population to survive are water, shelter, food, air, space.
-If there was a drought(or any other limited factor) all of the deer would start dying because they wouldn't have the water they would need to all survive.
-If there was a hurricane or tornado and all the shelter was wiped away, the deer population would then decrease.
-Population would then increase if they were given more food, shelter, space, and water.
Picture of a White-Tailed Deer.
Limiting factors are things that prevent a population from growing any larger.
A few examples of some limiting factors in a Deciduous Forest are:
- Forest Fire
- Lack of Rainfall
- Temperature Changes
Predator & Prey Relationships
ex; Predator----> Prey
-Bald Eagle----> Eastern chipmunks
-Timber Rattlesnake----> small animals like Chipmunks.
-Coyotes----> small mammals like rabbits, mice, reptiles, fruit, and insects.
-Platypus----> frog, shrimp, larvae, fish, and tadpoles.
-Snakes----> dormice, hawks, owls, and humans.
Coyote hunting down a raccoon.
Producers: organisms that make their own food and is part of the first level on a food chain.
Ex: Ferns----> produce their own food
Herbivores: an animal that feeds on plants, usually on the second level in a food chain
Ex: Squirrels----> Acorns, hazelnuts, berries
Omnivores: an animal that feeds on both plants and animals
Ex: Cardinals---->Crickets, earth worms, and other things that live on the forest floor
Carnivores: an animal that eats other animals
Ex: Bobcat----> Mice, squirrels, rabbits
Decomposers: an organism that decomposes organic material
Ex: Earthworms----> Decaying roots and leaves, decomposing remains of other animals
Scavengers: an organism that feeds on dead material
Ex: Maggots----> Dead animal material
-Producers use the sun to make their own food through a process called photosynthesis. Producers are vital to any ecosystem because they are the first level of every food chain or food pyramid, and without plants it would be difficult to survive. 1st level consumers would not be able to eat plants and then 2nd level consumers wouldn't be able to eat the 1st level consumers, so eventually, they would all die out.
Food Chains & Food Webs
-Food webs are more realistic for this ecosystem than food chains because it gives more of a variety of what all the consumers are, and there are more examples of the flows of energy through the animals.
-A food chain is one flow of energy through animals where as a food web is many flows of energies through out an ecosystem.
-If the insects died out, then the mice, spiders, toads, and a few chipmunks would probably began to die out, or have to have more competition over the small amount of food. Then Plants and spiders would begin to depopulate because the chipmunks, deer, and toads would all be consuming since they can't consume insects anymore.
Trophic Levels & Energy Pyramids
-A pyramid shows what a cylinder or cube wouldn't show... how the energy gets smaller as you go though the levels of consumers. There is greater energy at the bottom of the pyramid since it's larger but a smaller amount of energy at the top because its smaller.
-Plants are in the largest level of the pyramid because they have the most amount of energy and there are more of them. Top predators(Bears) are in the smaller part of the pyramid because they have the smallest amount of energy and there are less of them. This represents how little amount of top consumers there are compared to producers.