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Ecology
Key Concepts:
Ecosystem Organization Abiotic vs. Biotic Factors Energy Flow
Food Chains & Food Webs Energy Pyramids 10% Rule
How Organisms Obtain Energy Habitats vs. Niches Biomes & Climate
Organism Relationships Types of Symbioses 1’ vs. 2’ Succession
Population Growth Logistic vs. Exponential Growth Human Impacts
Biogeochemical Cycles- water, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur
What I Need to Know/Be able to do:
Distinguish the difference between biotic and abiotic factors.
Describe the levels of biological organization.
Use food chains, food webs, energy and biomass pyramids to show how energy flows through ecosystems.
Compare and contrast autotrophs and heterotrophs.
Differentiate between an organisms habitat and niche.
Evaluate the potential ecological impacts of a plant-based or meat-based diet.
Identify the ultimate energy source for Earth.
Describe how nutrients move through the biotic and abiotic parts of an ecosystem.
Compare the biogeochemical cycles of nutrients (carbon, nitrogen, water, sulfur, phosphorus and oxygen.)
Classify organism symbioses.
Graph and interpret population growth curves.
Explain the concepts of carrying capacity and limiting factors.
Analyze and interpret data about the impact of removing keystone species from an ecosystem or introducing
non-native species into an ecosystem
Explain the trends in human population growth.
Describe several factors that could limit or decrease biodiversity.
Explain how human activities affect the environment.
Describe how ecosystems change over time.
Explain how biotic and abiotic factors function as limiting factors within an ecosystem.
Organism interactions
+ means “benefits” - means “harmed” 0 means “no affect”
+ means “benefits” - means “harmed” 0 means “no affect”
Predation
+
predator
prey
Competition
Competitor 1
Competitor 2
Parasitism
+
parasite
host
Mutualism
+
+
Organism 1
Organism 2
Commensalism
+
0
Organism 1
Organism 2
Ammensalism
0
Organism 1
Organism 2
https://sites.google.com/site/mrsbonesbiologysite/home/unit-1-nature-of-science
Ecology terms
Term
ecology
biosphere
biome
Science definition
A branch of biology that deals with the distribution, abundance
and interactions of living organisms at the level of communities,
populations, and ecosystems, as well as at the global scale.
1) The part of the earth where living things exist.
(2) The part of the earth (or planet) that is capable of supporting
life.
A major ecological community of organisms adapted to a
particular climatic or environmental condition on a large
geographic area in which they occur.
Terrestrial land, - tundra, taiga, grasslands, savannas, deserts,
tropical forests etc.
What it means
Freshwater biomes - e.g. large lakes, polar freshwaters, tropical
coastal rivers, river deltas, etc.
Marine biomes - e.g. continental shelf, tropical coral, kelp forest,
benthic zone, pelagic zone, etc.
Ecosystem
Community
Population
Habitat
A system that includes all living organisms (biotic factors) in an
area as well as its physical environment (abiotic factors)
functioning together as a unit.
An ecosystem is made up of plants, animals, microorganisms,
soil, rocks, minerals, water sources and the local atmosphere
interacting with one another.
An ecological unit composed of a group of organisms or
populations of different species occupying a particular area,
usually interacting with each other and their environment
A group of organisms of one species that interbreed and live in
the same place at the same time (e.g. deer population).
(1) Place where an organism or a biological population normally
lives or occurs.
(2) The location or environment where an organism (or a thing)
is most likely to be found, e.g. the body part of the host of a
parasite as in the scalp of the host is the habitat of a head louse.
(3) The home to a particular organism where the species will
attempt to be as adaptive as possible to that particular
environment
Niche
(ecology) (1) The specific area where an organism inhabits.
Abiotic
(2) The role or function of an organism or species in an
ecosystem
Abiotic non-living things or components of the environment
Abiotic factor A non-living chemical or physical factor in the
environment such as soil, pH, forest fire, etc.
Definition
noun, plural: abiotic factors
A non-living chemical or physical factor in the environment,
such as soil, pH, forest fire, etc.
Supplement
Abiotic factors may be grouped into the following main
categories:
Biotic
Food chain
climatic factors - include sunlight, humidity, temperature,
atmosphere, etc.
Biotic living things or components of the environment
Biotic factor created by a living thing or any living component
within an environment in which the action of the organism
affects the life of another organism, for example a predator
consuming its prey.
A feeding hierarchy in which organisms in an ecosystem are
grouped into trophic (nutritional) levels and are shown in a
succession to represent the flow of food energy and the feeding
relationships between them.
Supplement
The directional flow of materials and energy from one organism
to another is graphically represented by arrows. For example:
trees and shrubs (producer) → giraffe (herbivore) → lion
(carnivore).
Most food chains have only about four to five links since too
many links in a food chain will result in high demand, less supply
of food (and therefore energy).
Food web
Tropic level
herbivores
carnivores
omnivore
predators
prey
A food web is a graphical model depicting the many food chains
linked together to show the feeding relationships of organisms in
an ecosystem. It differs from a food chain in a way that the latter
is a linear system showing a succession of organisms whereby
each species is eaten in turn by another species. Food web is a
more complex network of what-eats-what in a particular
ecosystem. The position that an organism occupies in a food
chain or food web is called the trophic level. The two main
categories of trophic levels are the autotrophs and the
heterotrophs. The autotrophs are those organisms that are capable
of producing organic matter from inorganic materials, e.g. carbon
dioxide, and utilizing energy, e.g. light energy from the sun.
Photosynthetic organisms such as plants are an example of an
autotroph. In a food chain, they are also referred to as the
producers. The heterotrophs are those organisms that rely on
other organisms to obtain organic matter because they lack the
ability as that in autotrophs. The heterotrophs feed on organisms
for nourishment. They include the herbivores, carnivores or
predators, and omnivores. Nevertheless, there are autotrophs that
feed on other organisms to partially obtain organic matter
directly from other organisms, such as carnivorous plants. They
are called mixotrophs. Other feeding relations in a food web
include scavenging and parasitism.
A position in a food chain or Ecological Pyramid occupied by a
group of organisms with similar feeding mode
Plant eaters
Meat eaters
animal that includes both plants and animals in its normal diet
predators are those animals that live by preying on other
organisms for food. Many predators hunt and eventually kill their
prey, such as lion preying upon a buffalo, mantis eating a bee,
baleen whale consuming millions of microscopic planktons, etc
the animal being hunted;
The organisms being eaten
Producer
) An autotrophic organism capable of producing complex
organic compounds from simple inorganic molecules through the
process of photosynthesis (using light energy) or through
chemosynthesis (using chemical energy).
1
(2) The first trophic level in a food chain in which it serves as a
food source for consumers or for higher trophic levels.
Consumer
An organism that generally obtains food by feeding on other
organisms or organic matter due to lack of the ability to
manufacture own food from inorganic sources; a heterotroph.
Any of the organisms in all trophic levels in a food chain, except
for producers.
In a food chain, the levels of consumers are:



primary consumers – herbivores that feed on producers
secondary consumers – consumers that feed on primary
consumers and/or producers
tertiary consumers – consumers that feed on secondary
and primary consumers, as well as on producers
Decomposer
An organism whose ecological function involves the recycling of
nutrients by performing the natural process of decomposition as
it feeds on dead or decaying organisms. Examples of
decomposers are fungi and bacteria that obtain their nutrients
from dead plant or animal material.
autotrophs
A organism capable of making nutritive organic molecules from
inorganic sources via photosynthesis (involving light energy) or
chemosynthesis (involving chemical energy based on methane or
sulfer compounds).
Supplement
Autotrophs are the producers in a food chain, such as plants on
land or algae in water. Autotrophs may be photoautotrophs or
chemoautotrophs.
heterotrophs
An organism that is unable to synthesize its own organic carbonbased compounds from inorganic sources, hence, feeds on
organic matter produced by, or available in, other organisms.
Supplement
Heterotrophs are the consumers in the food chain, particularly
the herbivores, carnivores and omnivores. All animals, some
fungi and most bacteria are heterotrophs. They are not capable of
producing their own food. Therefore, they obtain their energy
requirements by feeding on organic matter or another organism.
10% rule
Only 10% of energy is stored (the rest is lost or used up) when an organism from one level of the
Ten Percent Rule:
What do primary
producers do?
Most primary producers turn light energy into food through
photosynthesis
Ten Percent Rule:
What happens
when a first level
consumer eats a
primary producer?
Ten Percent Rule:
What happens to
the other 90% of
energy not stored
in the consumer's
The consumer gets energy from the producer, but only 10% of
the energy in the producer that was consumed gets stored as
energy in the body of the animal that eats it.
Pyramid of Energy is eaten by an organism from one level above.
Most of the energy that isn't stored is lost as heat or is used up by
the body as it processes the organism that was eaten.
body?
Symbiosis
Mutualism
Parasitism
Commensalisms
Predation
Competition
Primary
succession
Anton de Bary's original definition says: a long-term relationship
between two different species.
The relationship between two different species of organisms that
are interdependent; each gains benefits from the other. A
relationship between different species where both of the
organisms in question benefit from the presence of the other. An
example is the hermit crab whose shell offers a niche for
anemones to exist in which the anemone can defend the crab with
its stinging capabilies.
benefit for both
benefit for one, hurts for the other
benefit for one neutral for the other
A form of symbiotic relationship between two organisms of
unlike species in which one of them acts as predator that captures
and feeds on the other organism that serves as the prey.
(1) A symbiotic relationship between or among living things for
resources, such as food, space, shelter, mate, ecological status,
etc.
An ecological succession that occurs following an opening of
uninhabited, barren habitat or that occurs on an environment that
is devoid of vegetation and usually lacking topsoil.
Supplement
An example of primary succession is the initial development of
plant or animal communities in an area where no soil initially
exists (such as caused by a lava flow following volcanic eruption
or severe landslide that covered the land). The primary
succession is important in pioneering the area to create
conditions favorable for the growth of other forms of plants and
animals.
Secondary
succession
The ecological succession that occurs on a preexisting soil after
the primary succession has been disrupted or destroyed due to a
disturbance that reduced the population of the initial inhabitants.
Supplement
Pioneer species
Keystone species
Carrying capacity
An example of secondary succession is the development of new
inhabitants to replace the previous community of plants and
animals that has been disrupted or disturbed by an event (e.g.
forest fire, flood, harvesting, epidemic disease, pest attack, etc.).
A species of which the members tend to be among the first to
occupy bared ground; these plants are often intolerant of
competition and esp of shading, and may be crowded out as the
community develops,
keystone species is one whose impact on its community or
ecosystem is disproportionately large relative to its abundance.
The classic example is a starfish (Pisaster ochraceus) in the
rocky intertidal of the Pacific Northwest: the prairie dog in the
American Great Plains
The number of individuals of a particular species capable of
surviving in a particular environment over long periods of time,
and dependent on the effects of the limiting factors
Supplement
In biology, the carrying capacity pertains to the number of a
species that an environment can sustain, considering the limiting
factors at play (e.g. food, water, competition, etc.). Hui defined
carrying capacity as the maximal load of a particular
environment.1 McGinley also defined carrying capacity in
relation to population biology. Accordingly, the carrying capacity
is the population size at which the population growth rate equals
zero.2 It should not be confused with the term, equilibrium
population, which is defined as a population in which the gene
frequencies have reached an equilibrium between mutation
pressure and selection pressure.3
Food supply, water supply, habitat space, and competition with
other species are some of the limiting factors affecting the
carrying capacity of a given environment. But in human
population, other variables such as sanitation, diseases, and
medical care are also at play.
Limiting factor
Exponential
growth
Logistic growth
Climate
Diversity
Extinction
A factor present in an environment that controls a process,
particularly the growth, abundance or distribution of a population
of organisms in an ecosystem.
A growth in which the rate is proportional to the increasing
number or size in an exponential (rather than arithmetical) or
logarithmic progression
The S-shaped pattern in which the growth of a population
typically slows down as it approaches carrying capacity.
The meteorological conditions, including temperature,
precipitation, and wind, that characteristically prevail in a
particular region over a long perod of time
The degree of variation of living things present in a particular
ecosystem
The death of an entire species.