puppylove101

=**__The Windy, Sunny, Deer Island- Meadow__**=

** __Introduction__ **

 * Hi! My name is puppylove101. I am a 6th grade student at the [|Amigos School] in Cambridge, Massachusetts. My grade has visited many ecosystems including the ocean, meadow, pond, and river. In this essay, you will be learning about the meadow. We observed, drew, answered questions, took samples, and took notes on what we found.**

===** __Abiotic__ **===
 * The meadow was on [|Deer Island], a peninsula in the Boston Harbor. We arrived by bus, and walked to the shore, then up a hill to the meadow. On top of the hill we could see the ocean below us. It was windy but the sun was still beating on us. We saw lots of soil; because that is what the plants depend on to get their nutrients and water. We also saw little rocks in the soil and path. There were also abiotics that we couldn’t see, like oxygen and carbon dioxide. Besides there being natural abiotics there were also artificial abiotics. We saw fences, benches, and even a plastic wrapper. The air temperature was 62˚ F (16˚ C). To take the air temperature we used a thermometer. We encountered so many abiotic (non-living) things.**

** __Biotic__ **

 * At the meadow we saw many biotic (living) things. We saw producers, consumers, and decomposers. [[image:jesse_praying_mantis_pic.png width="281" height="203" align="right" caption="One of the tertiary consumers, a praying mantis"]] Producers are the plants. They give energy to all other life, but the sun gives energy to them. We saw Queen Anne’s lace (a plant that actually looks like lace) Chicory, and Dandelions. There are three types of consumers: primary (herbivores), secondary (omnivores or those who eat primary consumers), and tertiary (those who eat secondary consumers). We saw butterflies, bees, grasshoppers, and wooly caterpillars, all primary consumers. We also saw birds and dragonflies, our secondary consumers. Surprisingly, there were also hawks and praying mantises, the tertiary consumers. Now who eats all these organisms when they die? Decomposers! They break down the dead things and put nutrients back into the soil for new plants to grow. We saw worms, snails and signs of an invisible decomposer, bacteria. There are so many living things in just one ecosystem!**

**__Conclusion__**

 * We saw so many things, both abiotic and biotic at the meadow. We observed with hand lenses, to get a closer look at how the animals and plants looked and how they adapted to their environment. I learned that everything has to be connected to work. For example if you were to take away all of the producers, all other life would die. Overall, I learned so much about the life in the ecosystem. I had so much fun!**

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