Transcript Ecology - Cobb Learning

Ecology
Ecology
• Study of the Interactions between Organisms and the
Nonliving Components of their Environment
Levels of Organization
• Organism- a single life form
Population
• Population- all the organisms of the same species
living in one place at one time
Community
• Community- all of the populations in one area at one
time
Habitat
• Habitat- the physical location of the community
Ecosystem
• Ecosystem- All the living and the non-living things in
an area
• (as small as your back yard or as big as the world).
Diversity
• Diversity- measure of the number of different species
there are in an area
• (Ecosystems flourish more with more diversity)
Niche
• Niche- an organism’s role in the community (like a job)
• (ex. How it gets food, how it finds shelter, etc)
Generalist
• Generalists- species with broad niches, who can
tolerate many conditions (ex cats, roaches)
Specialists
• Specialists- Species that have narrow Niches, who
can only tolerate certain conditions. (ex. Koala and
Panda)
Abiotic Factors
• Abiotic factors- non-living factors in the ecosystem
• Ex. Sunlight, Climate, Chemicals, etc
Biotic Factors
• Biotic factors- living components of an ecosystem
• Interactions between organisms can affect the
ecosystem
Competition
• competition- two species or organisms struggling for
the same resource (- and -)
• (ex. lions and hyenas.)
Mutualism
• Symbiosis- organisms living in a close
relationship
• mutualism- two species cooperating (+ and +)
• (ex. bees and flowers, hippos and fish)
Commensalism
• commensalism- one species benefits from another,
the other species is not affected (+ and no affect)
• ex. Sea anemones and clown fish
Predation
• predation- one species hunting and eating
another (+ and -)
• leopards and gazelles
Parasitism
• parasitism- one species benefits from another, the
other species is harmed (+ and -)
• (dogs and ticks, humans and tape worms)