Transcript Unit 1 Lesson 1 and 2

Unit 1
Lesson 1 and 2
Lesson 1: Introduction to Ecology
Lesson 2: Roles in Energy Transfer
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The Web of Life
• Organisms need energy and matter to live.
• When organisms interact with one another there
is an exchange of energy and matter.
• All organisms are connected to each other and to
the environment.
• Ecology – the study of how organisms interact
with one another and with the environment.
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The Web of Life
• Through the living environment.
– Biotic factor – an interaction between
organisms (living) in an area.
• Bio = life
• Through the nonliving
environment.
– Abiotic factor – a nonliving part of an
environment.
• A = non or not
– Examples: water, nutrients, soil,
sunlight, rainfall, temperature, climate,
rocks, air.
– Abiotic factors influence where
organisms can survive.
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Levels of Organization
• The environment can be organized
into different levels.
• Level 1 – an individual organism.
• Level 2 – Population – a group of
individuals of the same species
that live in the same place at the
same time.
– Species – organisms that are closely
related and can mate to produce
offspring.
– Individuals within a population often
compete for resources such as food,
mates, shelter, etc.
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Levels of Organization
• Level 3 – Communities – make up
all the populations of different
species that live and interact in an
area.
– There is also competition for
resources among all species.
• Level 4 – Ecosystems – a
community of organisms and
their nonliving environment.
– Includes all biotic and abiotic
factors.
– Examples: Pond, forest, swamp, etc.
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Think Globally
Biome – Contains many ecosystems.
- Large regions that share climate conditions, such as
temperature and rainfall, and have communities of species.
- Major land biomes: tropical rainforest, grassland, desert,
rain forest, tundra, savanna, taiga, etc.
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Home Sweet Home
• Ecologists – a scientists who studies the different kinds of
organisms and their role in the environment.
• Niche – a role a population of species play in an
ecosystem.
– Example: how it gets food, how it interacts with other
populations.
– Lion and gazelle.
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Home Sweet Home
• Habitat - a place where an organism lives, a part
of an organisms’ niche.
– Provide all the resources an organism needs to
survive.
– 2 populations cannot occupy the same niche.
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Unit 1: Lesson 2
Get Energized!
• Energy is all around you!
• Energy from food is known as chemical energy.
• All living things need a source of chemical
energy to survive.
• Producers convert energy into food!
– Producer – also known as an autotroph
– Producer/autotroph – use energy to make their own
food.
– Use the process called photosynthesis.
• Sunlight energy + water + carbon dioxide = food + oxygen
– Examples include all green plants such as grasses
and trees, plants, shrubs, etc.
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Get Energized!
• Decomposers break down matter.
• Decomposer – an organism that gets energy and
nutrients by breaking down the remains of other
organisms.
• They are nature’s recyclers; they help move matter
through ecosystems.
• Examples include: fungi such as mushrooms and some
bacteria.
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Get Energized!
• Consumers eat other organisms.
• Consumer – an organism that eats other
organisms.
– They cannot make their own food.
• 4 types
1. Herbivore – Eats only plants.
2. Carnivore – Eats other animals.
3. Omnivore – Eats both plants and
animals.
4. Scavenger – Eats dead organisms.
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Get Energized!
HERBIVORE
CARNIVORE
OMNIVORE
SCAVENGER
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Energy Transfer
• Energy is transferred from one organism to another when it is eaten
or decomposed.
• Food chain – the path of energy transfer from producers to
consumers.
• The arrows represent the transfer of energy as one organism is
eaten by another.
• Producers form the base of the food chain.
• Energy is then transferred to the primary consumer.
• Then to a secondary consumer.
• Then to a tertiary consumer.
• Lastly, decomposers recycle matter back to the soil
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World Wide Webs
• Food web – the feeding relationships among organisms in
an ecosystem.
• Made up of many food chains combined.
• At the top of each chain are the top predators, animals
that eat other animals but are rarely eaten.
Website recap
Game
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World Wide Webs
• All living organisms are connected by global food webs.
• Global food webs include webs that begin on land and
webs that begin in the water.
• Because global food webs are connected, removing even
one organism can affect many organisms in other
ecosystems.
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Dangerous Competition
• Invasive species – are sometimes
introduced into a new area.
• They often compete with native species
for energy resources, such as sunlight and
food.
• Kudzu plant – introduced to stop soil
erosion but outgrew all native plants
preventing them from getting sunlight.
• Zebra mussel – They eat by filtering tiny
organisms out of the water, often leaving
nothing for the native mussel species
• Walking catfish – moves across land to get
from one pond to another competing with
native species for food.
• Snakehead fish – native to Asia invaded
FDR park in South Philly.
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