Download Abiotic or Biotic?

What is
Ecology?
Ch. 3.1
1
What is Ecology??
• The study of interactions that
take place between organisms
and their environment.
• It explains how living
organisms affect each other
and the world they live in.
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Levels of
Organization
3
Levels of Organization
• Ecologists have organized the
interactions an organism takes
part in into different levels
according to complexity.
4
ORGANISM (species)
• An individual
living thing that
is made of cells,
uses energy,
reproduces,
responds, grows,
and develops
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POPULATION
• A group of
organisms, all
of the same
species, which
interbreed and
live in the
same place at
the same time.
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COMMUNITY
• All the
populations of
different
species that
live in the same
place at the
same time.
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ECOSYSTEMS
• Populations of plants
and animals that
interact with each
other in a given
area with the
abiotic components
of that area.
(terrestrial or
aquatic)
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BIOMES
• A group of
ecosystems that
have the same
climate and similar
dominant
communities
– Grassland
– Rain forest
– Desert
– Tundra
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BIOSPHERE
• The
portion of
Earth that
supports
life.
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What level of organization?
Organism
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What level of Organization?
Community
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What level of Organization?
Population
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Habitat & Niche
• Habitat is the
place a plant or
animal lives
• Niche is an
organism’s total
way of life
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The Nonliving Environment
• Abiotic factors- the
nonliving parts of an
organism’s environment.
• Examples include air
currents, temperature,
moisture, light, and soil.
• Abiotic factors affect an
organism’s life.
15
The Living Environment
• Biotic factors- all the
living organisms that
inhabit an environment.
• All organisms depend on
others directly or
indirectly for food,
shelter, reproduction, or
protection.
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Abiotic or Biotic?
Abiotic
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Abiotic or Biotic?
Biotic
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Abiotic or Biotic?
Abiotic
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Abiotic or Biotic?
Biotic
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Biomes Video
21
Energy
Flow
Ch. 3.2
22
Feeding Relationships
• Energy flows through an ecosystem in
one direction
– From sun or inorganic compounds to
autotrophs then heterotrophs
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Food Pyramid
• Each step in a food
web or chain
• Trophic levels
– Each step in a food
chain or food web
– Producers make up
1st trophic level
– Consumers make up
2nd, 3rd and higher
levels
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Food Webs
• Complex network of
food chains
• Multiple organisms
at each step
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Energy Pyramid
• Only part (10%) of
energy stored in one
trophic level is
passed on to the
next
• Most used to
perform life
functions
• Rest released as
heat
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Biomass Pyramid
• Total amount of
living tissues
within a trophic
level is called
biomass
• Represents total
amount of
potential food
available for each
trophic level in an
ecosystem
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Cycle of
Matter?
Ch. 3.3
28
Recycling in the Biosphere
• Matter is recycled within
and between
ecosystems
• Passed through
biogeochemical cycles
• Matter is transformed as
it is recycled
– The air you breath may
have been once been
inhaled by a dinosaur
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Nutrient Cycles
• Nutrients– All chemical substances
that an organism needs to
sustain life
– Needed to build tissues
and carry out essential life
functions
– Carbon cycle, nitrogen
cycle and phosphorus
cycle all cycle nutrients
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Carbon Cycle
• Carbon is a key ingredient of living
tissue
• Carbon is in the atmosphere,
underground, on land and in oceans
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Nitrogen Cycle
• Nitrogen is required for
all organisms to make
amino acids (which are
used to build proteins)
• Nitrogen makes up 78%
of earths atmosphere
• Nitrogen cycles through
earth and living tissues
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Phosphorus Cycle
• Phosphorus is required for
making DNA and RNA
• Not very common in the
biosphere
• Phosphorus does not enter the
atmosphere
• Found mostly in rock, soil and
ocean sediments
• Released as rocks and
sediments gradually wear down.
• Consumers eat producers to
obtain phosphorus
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