Interactions in Ecosystems:

Niches and Adaptations

Classroom Roles• Tech Director: You will be responsible for

turning the lights on and off at the appropriate times during the class.

• Distributor: You will be responsible for passing out the handout to your classmates.

• Collector: You will be responsible for collecting the handouts once they are complete

• Organizer: You will be responsible for ensuring the classroom is organized before the class leaves.

• Think of your community…What are the various roles/jobs where you live? – Doctors keep us healthy.– Carpenters build our homes.– Farmers grow our food.

• Why do you think it is important to have various species in an ecosystem?

• Why is it important that different organisms have different roles/jobs? What would happen if everybody had the same job? What would happen if one job was removed?

An Organisms Niche:

• Each organism in an ecosystem has a job or a role.

– We call these jobs a “niche”.

• An organisms nicheincludes where it lives, what it eats, and what it does.

Every species does a different job!

• No two species have the same niche in an ecosystem.

• Ex. Even though they are both birds, a hummingbird’s niche includes moving pollen from flower to flower while a blue jay’s niche includes controlling insect populations.

What is this organisms niche (job)?

A beaver’s niche includes:

• cutting down trees

• building dams

• chewing bark and wood

What is this organisms niche (job)?

A chipmunks niche includes:

• Spreading seeds throughout the environment.

What is this organisms niche (job)?

BLACKBERRY BUSH

A blackberry bush's niche includes:

• Providing food for animals

• Providing shelter for animals

• Holding down the soil and stopping erosion

Adaptations

• If two organisms from different species try to do the same job, one species will be better at it than the other.

• This is because one species has adaptations that allow it to be better in it’s role.– Ex. Beaver’s have sharp teeth

so they can cut down trees and large flat tails so they can swim.

Bear Adaptations• What adaptations do these bears have that allow

them to succeed in their niche in their environment?

(Think about where each bear lives and what they eat)