En anglais

The Ocean Is One Big System

Science · Ocean Life · ages 9-11

Name ______________________ Date ____________

An ocean ecosystem includes...
- Only the living animals and plants
- Living and non-living together
- Only the water's temperature and salt
Which of these is a non-living part of an ocean ecosystem?
- Currents
- Coral fish
- Sea turtles
Salinity means how much light reaches the water.
Circle one: True False
Which statement best describes an ocean ecosystem as a system?
- The living and non-living parts operate separately
- Only non-living parts affect living things, never the other way
- The living and non-living parts interact and affect each other
How many non-living factors does this topic name: temperature, salinity, light, and currents? Type the number.
Answer: ______________
A current shifts and brings colder water to a reef. What is the best way to think about what happens next?
- It could affect plankton, then fish, then bigger animals
- Only the water temperature changes, nothing else
- The change stays in the water and never reaches living things
A big storm stirs up the ocean and changes the currents in one area for a week. Which is the most likely result?
- Nothing changes because ecosystems are separate from currents
- Only the color of the water changes forever
- Changed currents could move nutrients and fish food
Jake says, 'A drop in ocean temperature only matters to fish that live in cold water.' What is wrong with Jake's thinking?
- Nothing, Jake is right
- He forgot it can move through the whole food web
- He forgot that temperature never changes in the ocean

Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

Living and non-living together · An ecosystem is the whole system: living things and non-living factors interacting together.
Currents · Currents are moving water, not living things. Fish and turtles are living parts of the ecosystem.
False · Salinity means how much salt is dissolved in the water. Light is a separate, different factor.
The living and non-living parts interact and affect each other · In a system, living and non-living parts interact. Living things can even affect non-living conditions, like how plankton affect how clear the water is.
4 · Temperature, salinity, light, and currents: that's four factors.
It could affect plankton, then fish, then bigger animals · In a real ecosystem, a change in one factor tends to move through the whole food web.
Changed currents could move nutrients and fish food · Currents carry nutrients and heat. When they shift, the animals that depend on those conditions feel the effects too.
He forgot it can move through the whole food web · A change in temperature can shift plankton growth, which then affects many animals up the food web, not just cold-water fish.