Topic
Plants in Ecosystems
Framing Question
How do plants interact with the living and non-living environment?
Learning Objectives
- Compare the relative contributions of plants and another photosynthetic organisms like lichens or terrestrial algae to production of food and oxygen on land.
- Evaluate the statement that plants are the foundation of terrestrial ecosystems.
- Chose an example of an interaction between a plant and another organism and elaborate on the ways in which they interact to the benefit of one or both organisms.
- Choose a plant metabolite that affects other organisms in the ecosystem and explain the mechanism of the effect.
- Evaluate the geological evidence that plants contributed to glaciation (i.e., ice ages).
- Contrast the general properties of plants, soil, and fauna on Earth at the time that plants first colonized dry land with the general properties of those organisms today.
- Analyze the progression of changes in plants and other organisms that occur after a volcanic eruption or a major wildfire.
