Standard and Objectives: 

LS.8.1 Understand the hazards caused by agents of diseases that affect living organisms.

LS.8.1.1 Construct an explanation to compare the basic characteristics of viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites relating to the spread, treatment and prevention of disease.

Standard and Objectives: 

LS.8.2 Understand how organisms interact with and respond to the biotic and abiotic factors in their environment.

LS.8.2.1 Carry out investigations to explain how changing biotic and abiotic factors such as food, water, shelter, and space affect populations in an ecosystem.

Standard and Objectives: 

LS.8.2 Understand how organisms interact with and respond to the biotic and abiotic factors in their environment.

LS.8.2.2 Construct an explanation to summarize the relationships among producers, consumers, and decomposers including the positive and negative consequences of such interactions including: coexistence and cooperation, competition (predator/prey), parasitism, and mutualism.

Standard and Objectives: 

LS.8.2 Understand how organisms interact with and respond to the biotic and abiotic factors in their environment.

LS.8.2.3 Construct an explanation to summarize how food provides the energy and the building materials required for the growth and survival of all organisms (to include plants).

Standard and Objectives: 

LS.8.2 Understand how organisms interact with and respond to the biotic and abiotic factors in their environment.

LS.8.2.4 Use models to explain how the flow of energy within food webs is interconnected with the cycling of matter (water and carbon).

Standard and Objectives: 

LS.8.3 Understand the evolution of organisms over time based on evidence and processes.

LS.8.3.1 Analyze and interpret data to infer evolutionary relationships by using evidence drawn from fossils and comparative anatomy.

Standard and Objectives: 

LS.8.3 Understand the evolution of organisms over time based on evidence and processes.

LS.8.3.2 Use models to explain the process of natural selection, in which genetic variations in a population affect individuals’ likelihood of surviving and reproducing in its environment.