In this activity, students sort samples into living or non-living things.
What makes something a living thing? To be called a living thing, an item must have once eaten, breathed and reproduced. A dead animal or plant is considered a living thing even though it is not alive.
Our coastal temperate rainforest is full of living and non-living things which interact to create a complete and stable ecosystem. When one tree dies and falls over, it becomes a home and provides nutrients for other living things. We call a fallen log with new plants growing on it a nurse log.
Living components of a forest include:
- plants (e.g. trees, ferns, mosses)
- animals (e.g. mammals, birds, insects, reptiles, amphibians)
- fungi
- bacteria
Nonliving things in a forest include:
- rocks
- water and rain
- sunlight
- air
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