Transcript Four Laws of Ecology

Four Laws of Ecology:
Everything is connected
to everything else.
Everything must go
somewhere.
Nature knows best.
There is no such thing as
a free lunch.
All organisms fit into a:
Habitat - the
physical area in
which an
organism lives.
Niche - the
way of life of
an organism.
Energy enters an
ecosystem from the sun
and flows between
organisms as one eats
another.
the flow of
energy through
an ecosystem.
Energy is always lost from one
level to the next.
organisms
using solar or
chemical energy to produce
all the organic nutrients
for an ecosystem.
Organisms that cannot
make their own food.
They get energy from
the chemical bonds in
the nutrients they eat.
eat primary
producers
(plants).
eat primary
consumers
(herbivores)
eat secondary
consumers
(carnivores)
eat only producers (plants)
eat only meat. (secondary
consumers and above)
eat both plants and animals
Break down dead tissue and waste
So how do all of these pieces fit
together????
For more
information about
food chains click here
the specific sequence in which
organisms obtain energy within
an ecosystem.
Sun
Energy
Grass
Producer
Rabbit
Fox
Bear
Primary
Consumer
Secondary
Consumer
Tertiary
Consumer
Interrelated
food chains
within an
ecosystem.
As the diagram indicates, a food
web may have many linked food
chains and be very complex.
Within any
ecosystem, some
organisms utilize
resources and
reduce the
availability of
those resources
to other
organisms.
The relationship
between a predator
and its prey.
Even predator and prey populations are
related. If the predator population is low,
the numbers of the prey species will
increase. Most predator species will
reproduce in larger numbers if food is
abundant. As the numbers of the predator
species increase, the prey population begins
to decline.
So…to sum things up! The
Four Laws of Ecology are:
Everything is connected to
everything else.
Everything must go
somewhere.
Nature knows best.
There is no such thing as a
free lunch.