Topic: The importance of predators in ecosystems

Target group

8th‑grade students of elementary school

Core curriculum

General requirements

I. Knowledge of biological diversity and basic biological phenomena and processes. Pupil:

3. presents and explains the relationship between the organism and the environment.

Specific requirements

VII. Ecology and environmental protection. Pupil:

3. analyzes antagonistic interactions: intra‑species and interspecies competition, parasitism, predation and herbivorousness.

General aim of education

You will learn what role predators play in ecosystems

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• explain what determines the number of predators and their victims in the ecosystem.

Methods/techniques

• activating

  • discussion.

• expository

  • talk.

• programmed

  • with computer;

  • with e‑textbook.

• practical

  • exercices concerned.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• activity in groups;

• collective activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• notebook and crayons/felt‑tip pens;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers.

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

• Students get acquainted with the content of the abstract. They prepare to work on the lesson in such a way to be able to summarize the material read in their own words and solve the tasks themselves.

Introduction

• The teacher explains the aim of the lesson and together with students determines the success criteria to be achieved.

• Then he writes the subject of the lesson on the blackboard or interactive whiteboard. Students write it in notebooks..

• The teacher asks pupils to give examples of victims and predators among animals. Asks the question which group dominates in the ecosystem?.

Realization

• The lecturer presents an interactive illustration of „Balance between the potential prey and the predator” and discusses the effects of imbalance in ecosystems in which, due to the lack of natural enemies, herbivores or omnivores multiply so much that they consume the resources of these ecosystems. Then he explains that predators reduce the number of herbivores by eliminating the weakest and those who have the least chance of surviving the competition for the resources of the given environment..

• The lecturer initiates a discussion in the class forum, which aims to explain why hunters conduct hunting of animals such as roe deer, deer, moose and wild boar every year. Pupils together with the teacher are trying to predict what consequences would result from an excessive increase in the size of large mammals for forest ecosystems..

• Students working in small groups analyze the illustration from the lesson „How predators and prey mutually control each others abundance”. The teacher indicates a person who, based on the illustration, will explain how predators and their victims regulate their numbers..

• The teacher asks students to carry out the recommended interactive exercise themselves.

• Students, using the mechanism included in the abstract, prepare a test question for a friend.

Summary

• The teacher goes on to summarize the lesson, during which the students can discuss any unclear issues and complete the notes..

Homework

• Choose a herbivore and predator that hunts for it. Indicate the victim's defensive adaptations and adaptations that make predator hunting easier. Write down your observations in a notebook..

• Listen to the abstract recording at home. Pay attention to pronunciation, accent and intonation. Learn to pronounce the words learned during the lesson.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

The importance of predators in ecosystems

Predators usually choose old or very young individuals as their prey, those who are sick, weakened by parasites or hunger, i.e. those who are easy to catch. Thanks to this, they leave the strongest individuals alive, who will produce healthy and strong offsprings. The elimination of the weakest individuals results in more environmental resources for the remaining strong ones.

Sometimes predators excessively hunt one species. This results in a significant reduction in the number of potential prey. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find them and hunt them down, and many hunting activities fail. As a result, the predator starts to starve. The weakest carnivores die due to lack of food, some are attacked by diseases and parasites, which leads to the decrease in the number of predators. When the number of hunters falls, their prey is safer. It can feed more calmly, reproduce and hence, soon their number increases. This makes prey easily accessible again, often caught by predators, and leads to their proliferation and abundance.

• The predators and prey mutually regulate their amount.