Plant Structure, Classification, Pollination, Photosynthesis, Seed Dispersal
LS1.C Organization for matter and energy flow in organisms
K-2 Animals obtain food they need from plants or other animals. Plants need water and light.
3-5 Food provides animals with the materials and energy they need for body repair, growth, warmth, and motion. Plants acquire material for growth chiefly from air, water, and process matter and obtain energy from sunlight, which is used to maintain conditions necessary for survival.
6-8 Plants use the energy from light to make sugars through photosynthesis. Within individual organisms, food is broken down through a series of chemical reactions that rearrange molecules and release energy.
LS2.A Interdependent relationships in ecosystems
K-2 Plants depend on water and light to grow, and also depend on animals for pollination or to move their seeds around.
3-5 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 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.
LS2.B Cycles of matter and energy transfer in ecosystems
K-2 [Content found in LS1.C and ESS3.A]
3-5 Matter cycles between the air and soil and among organisms as they live and die.
6-8 The atoms that make up the organisms in an ecosystem are cycled repeatedly between the living and nonliving parts of the ecosystem. Food webs model how matter and energy are transferred among producers, consumers, and decomposers as the three groups interact within an ecosystem.
9-12 Photosynthesis and cellular respiration provide most of the energy for life processes. Only a fraction of matter consumed at the lower level of a food web is transferred up, resulting in fewer organisms at higher levels. At each link in an ecosystem elements are combined in different ways and matter and energy are conserved. Photosynthesis and cellular respiration are key components of the global carbon cycle.
