Transcript Ecology Notes

Ecology
Everything is Connected
Ecology
• __________the study of the interactions
between organisms and their environment
The environment is made up of living and
non-living parts.
biotic
Living part = ____________
environment
Made up of all the organisms that live together
mushrooms, ferns, monkeys, bacteria
Examples: _____________________________
abiotic
Non-living part = ______________
environment
Made up of all the physical factors
soil, sun, water, rocks
Examples: ____________________________
The Six Levels of Environmental
Organization
organism
1st ____________
- individual life form
sea sponge, platypus, euglena
Example: ______________________________
population
2nd ____________ - group of individuals of the
same species that live together in the same area
at the same time.
hive of bees, flock of birds, colony of yeast,
grove of trees
Examples:__________________________
community - all of the populations of
3rd ___________
different species that live and interact together.
all the populations on the prairie or wetland
Examples:________________________________
ecosystem
4th _____________a community of organisms
and its abiotic environment
coral reef, desert
Examples: __________________________
biome
5th ____________all the related ecosystems
in an area
rainforest, desert, grassland
Example: _____________________________
biosphere
6th _____________
- the part of the Earth where life
exists.
Living Things Need Energy
producers
_____________
- make their own food
plants, some bacteria, some protists
examples: __________________________
consumers
_____________ - obtain their energy
by eating producers or other consumers
herbivores - eat plants and other producers
__________
deer, bison, zebras
examples: ___________________________
carnivores - eat animals
______________
polar bears, T-rex, wolves
examples: _________________________
omnivores
______________ - eat producers and animals
squirrels, turtles, humans
examples: ________________________________
scavengers
______________ - eat bodies of dead animals
vulture, hyena, cockroach
examples: _____________________________
decomposer - obtain their energy
_____________
by breaking down the remains of dead organisms
fungi, some bacteria, some protists
examples: _________________________________
• We can make drawings to illustrate how energy is transferred
from one living thing to another in a community.
Food Chain
• __________shows how the energy
moves from one organism to another
• Note: energy always goes in only one
direction.
For example, owls eat mice but mice never
eat owls.
Draw a food chain:
Food Web
• __________-all
of the interconnecting
pathways of food chains
Energy Pyramid represents the loss of
• ____________energy at each level of the food chain.
• The energy levels in the pyramid are
Trophic levels
called ___________.
• Look at the picture in your notes.
Habitat and Niche
Habitat
• __________
- the environment in which
the organism lives
Niche
• _________an organism’s way of life
within an ecosystem, including its habitat,
food, predators, competitors, abiotic
factors
Very Close Interactions
Symbiosis
__________-
close, long-term relationship
between two or more species
Mutualism
1. ___________both organisms benefit
example: Bacteria in your intestine, they
get free food, you get the vitamins they
produce
Commensalism
2. ____________one benefits and the
other is unaffected
example: Remoras get a ride and eat scraps
of food left over by shark
3. Parasitism
___________- one benefits and the other
is harmed
Example: Tapeworms
The organism
that has the
parasite is called
the host.