Exercise to examine the smaller life forms that can be found in the topsoil.
| Grade | Discipline | Core Idea |
|---|---|---|
| 3-5 | ESS2.E: Biogeology |
Living things can affect the physical characteristics of their environment. |
| 3-5 | LS2.A: Interdependent relationships in ecosystems |
The food of almost any animal can be traced back to plants. Organisms are related in food webs in which some animals eat plants for food and other animals eat the animals that eat plants, while decomposers restore some materials back to the soil. |
| 6-8 | ESS2.E: Biogeology |
[Content found in LS4.A and LS4.D] |
| 6-8 | LS2.A: Interdependent relationships in ecosystems |
Organisms and populations are dependent on their environmental interactions both with other living things and with nonliving factors, any of which can limit their growth. Competitive, predatory, and mutually beneficial interactions vary across ecosystems but the patterns are shared. |
| 9-12 | ESS2.E: Biogeology |
The biosphere and Earth's other systems have many interconnections that cause a continual co-evolution of Earth's surface and life on it. |
| 9-12 | LS2.A: Interdependent relationships in ecosystems |
Ecosystems have carrying capacities resulting from biotic and abiotic factors. The fundamental tension between resource availability and organism populations affects the abundance of species in any given ecosystem. |
| PreK-2 | ESS2.E: Biogeology |
Plants and animals can change their local environment. |
| PreK-2 | LS2.A: Interdependent relationships in ecosystems |
Plants depend on water and light to grow, and also depend on animals for pollination or to move their seeds around. |