Activity 2: What Do You Think?

• Dead trees, whether still standing or fallen, create a lively ecosystem.
  Bacteria and fungi begin to decompose the tree and they in turn become food for other animals. Trees that fall into water provide resting places for frogs and birds and safe havens for fish. On land, the decomposers turn the tree into nutrient-rich soil in which ferns and other forest plants can live. It is not uncommon to walk through a forest and see another tree rooted in a decaying, fallen tree.

Student Conceptions
Some students may underestimate the role of decomposers in an ecosystem. Decomposers provide the link between the abiotic components and the biotic components of the biosphere. Without decomposers most of the organic matter would remain “tied up” in dead organisms.

Stress to the students the difference between the organisms that eat dead matter and garbage, the scavengers, and those that break down waste and dead materials, the decomposers.