2.01 Living Things and Their Environment

Hi Everyone!

I am so glad you chose the Extreme Eco Adventure for your first trip! We are going to jam pack this tour full of fun and fascinating activities.

As your guide, it is my duty to make sure we arrive at our destinations on time and see that you have fun while completing all the tour activities!

Organization is essential in planning an exciting, fun-filled trip. As you know from your first tour to the World of Science, we need to make sure we have the background we need before we head out into the unknown. This first activity is an Extreme Tour intro activity. You'll be doing some challenging hiking. Hope you're in shape!

Let's get started!

In this activity you will: compare the different levels of biological organization and important relationships in ecology. distinguish between the biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living) factors in the environment. explain the difference between a niche and a habitat.

Living and Non-living Things All Around Us

Look at this postcard. Beautiful, isn't it? You'll be visiting places like this soon. When you arrive, you'll be exploring a variety of environments and the relationship between the living components and the non-living components of those environments.

Look closely at the image in the postcard. What living things do you see? What non-living things do you see?

Do you see that there are both living and non-living things in the picture?

• living things - birds, trees, and grass
• non-living - water, soil, and the air (might even include some man made items)

There is an important balance between living and non-living things that must be maintained. In this module you'll discover many wonderful things about your surroundings. The study of the interactions between living organisms and the non-living parts of the environment is called ecology. We have special names for each component too: living organisms are considered biotic and the non-living things in an environment are considered abiotic.

As you participate in each of the Extreme Eco Adventure activities, it is extremely important to remember that everyone's action affects the Earth. We study ecology so that we understand how our actions actually affect the environment. When humans change the environment for themselves, they also change things for native plants and animals in ways that are not always apparent right away.

With that said, get your gear! We'll be boarding a plane to get to our first destination! Let's explore!

Click on the BioVenture tab to continue your Extreme Eco Challenge.