Hello, everyone. And welcome back to science
alive. Today we have a very exciting program for you. We're going to
be doing Strand G. How living things
interact with their environment. We're going to be covering several
benchmarks today. And they are SCG
1.2 point two, SCG,
1.2 point three, SCG
1.2 point five and SCG
2.2 point one. Today's
program is going to be de composers, producers and
consumers, and I have very special guest with us today. I'm
real excited. I think you will be too. We have Joe site.
Tacky Hijo. Welcome to science Alive. Thanks for having us
on. Joe is from the Museum of Discovery and Science, and
he's here with us for today's program. See you later. Thank
you, Dr Safe. Yeah, thanks for having us aboard here at Beacon.
And I'm going to talk with you about producers, consumers and
D composers. First off, let's get right into D composers and the good
example of a de composer is a mushroom. And basically, what
a D composer is is an organism that feeds on
dead materials. So imagine a world without D composers there would be
piles and piles of of material just piled up everywhere. So when a tree
bark falls off a tree, um, it would just there would just be piles and
piles of it. So organisms like this mushroom actually take care of that. So
let's take a closer look at the mushroom. Gonna take a peek inside
here. By the way, you should never, ever
dissect anything without the supervision of an adult. And also,
mushrooms could be very dangerous. So please, although these air safe mushrooms from from the
store please do not play with mushrooms at home or
eat them. So if we look inside, we can see that
this mushroom is much different than a plant. You can see that it has
instead of a stem, it has a stipe, which is this piece right here, which provides
structure. Then it has the mushroom cap, which is this piece
and then underneath, kind of hard to see on this mushroom. But in this
area right here we have gills and the gills. Are you mostly
used for reproduction? That's where the spores are produced. So the main
function of a de composer is to is to
consume and get rid of dead materials.
So let's take another close. Let's take a closer look at a mushroom.
This one is a portabello mushrooms, so you might have had this for lunch today
and you can see that this is the cap. Look
underneath. You can see that we have the Stipe here. It's been
cut off, but now this is a great example of those gills, which are
these pieces right here. The cap
provides protection for the gills, which are underneath so a
defense mechanism, since a mushroom can't move. One of the defense mechanisms
is that some of the mushrooms are poisonous. They're harmful or toxic for animals to
eat, and that keeps certain animals from going out and consuming those those
mushrooms. Additionally, another cool fact about him is that
mushrooms, like plants, require sunlight to survive.
But mushrooms, they're just the opposite. They like dark, moist areas to to
survive. Well, fantastic. Let's get the mushroom out of here
and move on in transition into our plants,
which are producers. Implants are
beautiful. First of all, we love. We love to have them around to make us feel good when they're around, but also What they
do is is they take the carbon dioxide out of the out of the air and they
produce oxygen for us so we can't survive without without having
plants. Producers are basically organisms
that produce their own food. They don't rely on any other food source or any other.
They don't get food from anywhere else, but they make it themselves. Right? Self contained right in
this organism. Boy, when I'm hungry, sometimes I wish I could make my own food. So that way I would
have to go to the store when I'm busy anyway. So here's how
this basically works. You have this son which which produces radiant energy
shining down onto our plant. The plant takes that energy and
converts it into a chemical energy, and it uses that chemical energy
as fuel to survive. Now, a couple of
adaptations that the plant has looking at this one.
It has these nice big leaves here, and you can see this one is a tropical
plant, which means that these big leaves this is there's this would
live in the understory, so these big leaves help. They're like big
solar shield, so it helps collect mawr rays of the sun because
remember, the tree canopies might be this high. This plant is down there in the lower
canopy, so it needs to get as much sun as possible. Additionally, in a moist
environment, they don't want a whole lot of water around the root system. They need some, but
they want to protect that somewhat. So when it rains, let
me open my little spray bottle here. So when it rains on this
plan, you can see that the water is diverted
away from the center route section right down here in the middle. It's kind of diverted off
to the side and then the amount that the plant needs Teoh absorb
is going right down the stem and you can see how that works.
Now, in a natural environment, this is also a defense
mechanism. You can see this plant very shiny. There's sort of like a waxy coating, if you
will, all around the plant. This is one of my house plants from home,
and obviously in my in my house, it doesn't rain
at least like this. I don't want it ever too. Now, if you don't
take care of your plans like I've sort of neglected here a little bit if you don't water them or spread them
regularly. Little parasites. See if we can see that these little
parasites will in art. All sorts of arthropods
will attach himself to the plant. They'll actually suck the water out of the plant
and dehydrate the plant. This plant doesn't deal with that in
nature because Mother Nature makes it rain. And when it
rains, it makes it very difficult for those little organisms to stay on.
And you can see I'm flooding the stage. But I'm also I'm
also washing some of those insects away, and every day,
even with the do with ground do from the morning the plants get
moist, those insects fall off, so the insect has the right amount
of time to get extract nutrients from the plant. But then, when it
rains, those insects are washed away so the plant can retain the enough
nutrients for itself to grow. It's a moving right
along and talking about producers.
Here's something that's benefited us quite a bit. This is called the Al a plant,
and before I get into that, let me show you what happens here and
adaptation in this plant has to survive. Now notice. It's much
different than our tropical foliage that we were just looking at. This aloe plant has a
very cylinder appearance to it. It also has these nice,
big, sharp thorns all on the side. And if I were, if I were a
herbivorous animal animal that eats vegetation, I certainly would not want to
take a bite of this plant with the sharp thorns on it. But watch what happens when I spray this
plan. The's plants, by the way, live in very arid environments.
If you notice what's happening on these back, he's really tall
plant step these leaves on the back for you in a column that the waters is
filtering right down to the center. So in a dry, arid environment, the water is
being channelled right to the base of the plant. Little different, a little different strategy
for survival from the tropical foliage we're just looking at. But
here's a fantastic thing about plants. Plants provide lots of
different medical uses for humans, and and if I take this
little aloe plant here and break it open, you'll see this
substance, which is Talavera and that's good for treatment
on on any wounds or burns you can. Actually,
even they've even bottled it and put it on the store shelves for you to use at home. So
plants have many benefits to humans, and it's necessary. They're necessary for our
survival in that they help with medication. They help with providing
oxygen to the atmosphere. And they also help by taking the carbon dioxide
out of the atmosphere. Too much carbon dioxide can be toxic and very
dangerous for humans. Okay, we're gonna
move on. We've talked about D composers, which were the mushrooms. We've
talked about the plants which are producers. They produce their own food.
Let's talk about some animals now. Those are the consumers. So we
need a new animal to come up here in or three different types of
consumers in the first consumer is a primary
consumer, and I've got a friend of mine from the museum named Diane Robaina, who handles are
It was a program manager there, and she has her friend Mr Magoo,
who's a gofer tortoise and ago for tortoises,
primarily a herbivorous animal, an animal that feeds on
vegetation on Lee, and you can see Mr Magoo, you might want to put him on the table.
Mr. Magoo has some of dictations that help him live on land. You can see that he
has. He's really nice. Big claws for
digging. He has a nice big hard shell for protection.
Oh, by the way, how does eternal grow with such a hard show? And listen to
that. That's pretty hard internals a reptile. So the turtle will
shed its entire show. It doesn't come out of it. Show like in the cartoons.
It'll actually shed its skin and it show, just like
just like a snake would shed its skin. Except for a turtle, it will shed each one
of these different patches, which is called, which is called a scoot. So
so going back to the consumer portion. This
animal, the first level of consumption, is that this animal is going to find a plant
to eat like fruits and vegetables. At the museum, we feed him nice salads
and tomatoes, lettuce, all sorts of the same things you eat at home,
and that's a that's a primary consumer, an animal that eats vegetation
on Lee. And before Diane takes it away, I'd like to talk. One more
say one more thing about this very special animal is that the go for tortoises? A
keystone species? It's also an endangered animal here in Fort
Lauderdale or South Florida. It's endangered because of loss of habitat.
We like to build our homes exactly where this ST this animal lives, which is the
scrub habitat. Unfortunately, or fortunately, however, you want to look at it, The
scrub habitat is a dry environment, and it's a perfect place for us to build our
homes. However, it's the same place where this animal lives. So
we're competing for Resource is now what the go for tortoise will
dio getting back to that Keystone species point. What to go
for Tortoise will do is he will. He lives in a very, very
dry environment, by the way, and what he'll do to escape the heat is
he'll dig these big long tunnels under the ground as much as 10
to 15 feet deep in long, and he'll crawl down in those tunnels
and you'll find a nice shelter there for rain or heat. At the
same time, all the other animals that live in an ecosystem also rely on
these go for tortoise burrows for survival, you might find
rattlesnakes. You might find mammals,
raccoons or a mouse. You might find a squirrel in there. You might find
other species of reptiles or amphibians. So they go for tourist is essential to the
survival of many other animals in that habitat
to to ensure their their survival. Now, if we take the
gofer toward us away, we also in danger all the lives of those other animals.
So a keystone species is that one species that's that's
holding the survival or the main. The main reason for
its existence is other. Other animals are existing because of its
survival. And if you take this one away, all the pieces fall
down and those animals might have difficulty surviving as well.
Well, thank you, Diana. You're gonna be back with the mother of our friends from the museum.
But why she's doing that? Let me show you another animal
which will represent the next layer of consumers.
And he lives in here. And I'm gonna be very careful with this animal
if I can even get it open here. And let's see
now, The next level, a secondary consumer is an animal. A
carnivorous animal, An animal that eats, eats meat or hunts
for its food. A carnivorous animal that feeds on herbivorous animals.
Secondary consumer. So I have in this case, you can see right now some
crickets. Well, unfortunately for these crickets, they are
not the animal I'm demonstrating. Those are the food. You see. Crickets
like to feed on vegetation, so there are herbivorous animals.
So if I carefully lift this piece of
wood, you'll see our next guest who
actually is eating a cricket. Right now you can look and
see there. That's an Emperor Scorpion and this Emperor Scorpion.
You focus down here by my you can see him right there. He's
actually eating that cricket. So that's a carnivorous animal
that's captured another captured, a herbivorous animals consuming it.
That's a secondary consumer. Now, the Emperor
Scorpions really fascinating. So I'm gonna mess with him while he's eating, and he's still going
to He's not gonna let go that food because he needs that food for survival. But
there's a couple of really cool adaptations that that this animal has evolved to
have. Now, the first thing you might notice is these huge
pinchers right in the front. Here, in here,
there's a nice big claws you can seize, demonstrating it perfectly for us. He actually
captured his animal, his prey with that pincher. Now those
really aren't the killing device or the device that's most powerful. The most
powerful portion is back here, if you can see that on the camera or not,
if I can get that out there and that's this venomous spines. And by the
way, what's the difference between Veneman poison? Well, basically, venom
is injected like snakebites. You it's injected into the
prey and poison is consumed. It's eaten. So like a mushroom is
poisonous. But, ah, a snake bite is venomous, so
there's no such thing, really is a venomous, poisonous snake. It's a venomous snake.
So this this guy here, he has venom in this little spine right
here, and you'll use these painters to capture its prey,
and he'll then sting them with this picture in the back. Additionally, here's
another fascinating, uh, adaptation this animal has.
Right now. The animal looks black. However, at night, if we were
to see this on the desert or in a dark area, it would
glow green if we used ultraviolet light. Humans can't see the
ultraviolet spectrum, but insects can. So this animal has
phosphorescence in this body, which make it glow green. Wordy bugs go
at night. Well, bugs generally go to light sources at night,
and so the bugs come right to the scorpion and they get a nice free meal.
Just like that, Another easy way of catching prey. One
last comment I like to make about this animal before we move into our last group of
consumers is that it's both of these animals. The
cricket and the Scorpion are members of the arthropod
family in arthropods of the most successful animals in the entire
earth. Right now there are more arthropods in any other species of animals on our planet
and that that success is based on a couple of things they can
reproduce quite quickly. The state gestation period of the amount of
time it takes to have their young might be just a month or two on, and
they could have hundreds of young at one time, instead of like mammals that have like
an elephant. Their gestation period is just 12 months to have one calf,
so it doesn't take that long for the species to replenish itself. Well, with these
guys, they reproduce ready quickly. Also what to
arthropods. Eat well, basically everything in anything. Their food
supplies are just They're just out there. They'll eat and feed on everything and
anything. You can find cockroaches in the garbage you confined, eating the apples on the
tree. You can find them just about everywhere.
And lastly, they can live on any any they live on any continent, the
entire world. They live everywhere. You can find him at the bottom of the ocean next to
you. Hot, huge vents that air steep, producing huge amounts of
hot water. And you'll find Arthur positive you didn't go to Antarctica
and you confined crabs and all sorts of Arthur Potts living in those extreme
environments as well. So that's a great example of how animals can
adapt, um, and survive a za whole group
or whole family. So the last animal
I want to show you is the
tertiary for consumers, and these animals tend to be
the top of the food chain. They tend to be the apex predators.
They are the highest level of the food chain. They Basically, what you have in a
food chain is you have a consumer that goes along and eats smaller versions of animals
always throughout, and Diane is gonna come back. Let me get this out of the way.
Diane, Diane is gonna
come back with this friend. He's been named alley here by the staff at Beacon
Alley. The alligator, this is, Ah, a Florida alligator. It's
just a baby, though. He's only about a year and 1/2 old. When he
hatched, he hatched from the egg about the size of a about a Cuba
pool pool table. Cuba, now a tertiary
consumer, is an animal that feeds on the carnivorous animal
that feeds on other Carter carnivores. So, for example, this
alligator feeds on fish. Those fish, like a bass or something
like that, might feed on other, smaller prey that are also
carnivores. Now there's a challenge in that there's a danger in that as
well. Every deliver is an organism in our bodies or in
invertebrate animals, bodies that basically extracts all the
toxins they take filters all the toxins out of our system. When a
carnivore carnivorous animal like this alligator eats another carnivore, eats the
whole body of another animal. They also eat that liver, so they
also consume all of those
toxics toxins into their body as well. So
pollutants and a food chain can be quite destructive because a little