[act56]

How do you explain the difference between
ecosystem and habitat to a third grader?
I think of an ecosystem as being a more
general or broader term (includes various animals and plants)
while I see a habitat as being the immediate
surroundings of a particular species
(particularly of an animal). For example,
the ecosystem of a desert includes a lot of
animals and plants (as well as soil, rocks,etc)
but the habitat is about one particular animal and
could include a cactus and the surrounding area.
At this age level it seems a bit confusing or I am not doing
a very good job of it.

[de'anna]

That's how I think of it, too.
I generally draw on a white board showing the habitat of a frog at a pond and explain that is its habitat, and then draw a bigger picture around that--a forest, and explain that the forest is the ecosystem and includes the habitat. I think sometimes the concept is a bit beyond them, but the drawing helps a lot.

Hope it helps,
De'Anna

[jensw]

A habitat is the environment in which a population lives and gets its needs met fron. Populations are groups of one organism. An ecosystem is a variety of "populations" living in "community" and interacting with the non-living portions of the region.

We just learned about this in fourth grade, and it was very easy for them to understand. So I'd guess that a third grader could get it with some guidance.

BTW, ecosystems are not necessarily big. They can be the pond or they can be the entire savannah or even smaller or larger. Habitats are not necessarily small. A blue whale's habitat is a wide range of the temperate and cold oceans, for example.

[shazam]

I draw circles within each other. (I can't take credit, it was in our science textbook). The largest is the ecosystem or all the living and nonliving things, then the community or all the living things, then the population or all the living things in one family, then the habitat or where a particular organism lives.

You can also think about it like the ecosystem is the city where you live, the community is your neighborhood, the population is your family, and the habitat is your house.

[luvmycat]

Where does the biome fit in all this?

OK, this will require a little explaination.

1. An individual is a single member of a species (E.G.: a trout)

2. A population is the total collection of members of a single species (E.G.: all of the trout in a stream)

3. A community is how all of the plants and animals of an area interact with each other (E.G.: a pond)

4. A habitat is the physical location a community, population and individuals live

5. An ecosystem essentially houses a community in a habitat (I.E.: a habitat + community = ecosystem)

6. Biome: you could think of a biome as a larger classification of the previous. A biome is defined as a geologically and climatically isolated area. For example, a land mass in central California might include a low-lying grassland, surrounded by a forest and framed by a single Mountain. All of these habitats contain somewhat isolated communities of organisms (for example, you won't find many grasshoppers on the upper slopes of the mountain, but you will find a mountain goat who doesn't wander into the predator filled grassland), but are all related by climate and region.

I hope that helps.