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Unit B - Section 1 – Organisms and Their Relationships
All living things are __________________________________ (meaning they depend on one
another for their basic needs)
Their relationships are important to their _______________________________
Scientists gain insight from ____________________________ the interactions between
organisms and their natural environments (in the field) and also sometimes in the
laboratory
Every organism (no matter where it lives) depends on nonliving (_____________________
factors) and on other organisms (______________________ factors) found in its
environment.
The interactions and _____________________________ of organisms with each other and
their environments are not unique
The same type of ___________________________ occurs in any environment (desert,
rainforest, etc.)
_________________________ is the scientific study of the relationships among living
organisms and the interaction those organisms have with their environments
The word ecology was first introduced in 1866 by Ernst ____________________, a German
biologist
It is derived from the Greek words oikos, meaning _________________, and ology,
meaning to ____________________
Scientists who study ecology are called __________________________
Ecologists ________________________ and ______________________ using a variety of tools and
methods (usually in the organisms’ _______________________________)
Ecologists also _________________________ organisms to understand them and the
interactions between them and other organisms in the same environment
Some observations require _____________________ periods of observations over time
(this is called _________________________________ analysis)
________________________ are used to represent or simulate a process or system
Models allow ecologists to control the number of _______________________ in order to
fully understand the effect of each variable (since in the field there may be
____________ many variables to study at one time)
Ecologists study organisms in the ___________________ (the portion of the Earth that
supports life)
The term bio means “_____________” and a sphere is a __________________
___________________ is considered to be “a ball of life”
But this can be misleading since _____________ ALL of the Earth supports life
The biosphere forms a _________________ layer around Earth (several ____________________
above the Earth’s surface and several ___________________________ below the ocean’s
surface)
It includes _______________________, bodies of fresh _______________ and salt ________________,
and all locations ___________________ Earth’s surface that support life – it includes areas
such as the frozen polar regions, deserts, oceans, and rainforests
Most organisms depend on green _________________ or _________________ for survival
Green plants are a good ________________________ of the distribution of living organisms
in a specific area
__________________________________ is a green pigment found in green plants and algae
Looking at the distribution of chlorophyll across the Earth helps to show the relative
____________________________ of life
Ecologists divide the factors affecting organisms in their environment into
_______________ large groups – the living factors (__________________) and the nonliving
factors (_____________________)
The interactions among organisms are necessary for the ___________________ and
survival of all of the species in the same geographic location (food, reproduction,
etc)
The ________________________ factors for different organisms vary across the biosphere
but organisms that live in the same geographic area might ____________________ the
same abiotic factors (temperature, air/water currents, sunlight, soil type, rainfall,
etc)
Organisms are __________________ to surviving in the abiotic factors that are present in
their natural environments (changes in those factors could result in the
_______________ of the organism)
Since the ______________________ is large and complex, ecologists break the study of it
down into manageable levels or organization.
Those levels of organization are

______________________ (a single living thing) - the lowest level of organization

_______________________ (individual organisms of a single species that share the
same geographic location at the same time) – organisms compete for the
same resources – there can be growth but there are also limiting factors

biological _______________________ (a group of interacting populations that
occupy the same geographic area at the same time) – they may or may not
compete for the same resources

__________________________ (a biological community and all of the abiotic factors
that affect it) – ecosystems can be large or small and the boundaries are
flexible and might even overlap

______________________ (a large group of ecosystems that share the same climate
and have similar types of communities)

_______________________ (all of the biomes on Earth combined) – the highest level
of organization
The __________________________ between organisms are important in an ecosystem.
A community of organisms will _____________________ their chances for survival if the
species involved use the available resources in _____________________ ways.
A ___________________________ is an area where an organism lives
A ___________________________ is the role or position that an organism has in its
environment (how it meets its needs – food, living space, reproduction, etc.)
Organisms within a biological community constantly ______________________ and along
with the abiotic factors help to shape an ecosystem
____________________________ occurs when more than one organism competes for a
resource at the same time
Usually the strong organisms ___________________ and the weak organisms
________________
Sometimes organisms will ______________________ to another location with less
competition
Many, but not all, species get their food by eating _________________ organisms
______________________ is the act of one organism consuming another organism for food
The organism that pursues another organism is the ____________________ and the
organism pursued is the __________________
Some types of predators can be _______________________ if they are used to control
certain populations
Some ______________________ can also be predators (e.g. the Venus flytrap)
Some species survive because of a _____________________________ they have developed
with another species – this is called _______________________________
There are _____________________ types of symbiosis

_______________________________ (two or more organisms benefiting from each
other ) – ex. lichens

________________________________ (one organism benefits while the other is neither
helped nor harmed) - ex. Clownfish and sea anemones

__________________________________ (one organism benefits at the expense of
another) – ex. Fleas/ticks/bacteria
In parasitism the organism with the parasite is _______________________________
If the parasite __________________________ the host, then the parasite would also die
unless it found another host fairly quickly
_________________________ parasitism involves the manipulation of a host to raise the
_____________________ of a brood parasite (this occurs with some birds, fish and insects)
– ex. Brown headed cowbirds