* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Download Chapter 2: Living Things in Ecosystems Name: 2.1 Everything is
Biogeography wikipedia , lookup
Wildlife corridor wikipedia , lookup
Mission blue butterfly habitat conservation wikipedia , lookup
Human impact on the nitrogen cycle wikipedia , lookup
Molecular ecology wikipedia , lookup
Pleistocene Park wikipedia , lookup
Biodiversity action plan wikipedia , lookup
Reconciliation ecology wikipedia , lookup
Source–sink dynamics wikipedia , lookup
Ecological resilience wikipedia , lookup
Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project wikipedia , lookup
Habitat conservation wikipedia , lookup
Restoration ecology wikipedia , lookup
Habitat destruction wikipedia , lookup
Theoretical ecology wikipedia , lookup
Ecosystem services wikipedia , lookup
Chapter 2: Living Things in Ecosystems Name: __________________________________ 2.1 Everything is Connected Scientists don’t yet completely understand how the environment works because it is so complex and interconnected Human actions have unexpected effects on the environment (ex: Borneo in Southeast Asia; pesticide DDT) The unfortunate chain of events on Borneo occured because the living things were connected to each other What is an Ecosystem? An ecosystem includes all the different organisms living in a certain area, along with their physical evironment (ex: coral reef, wetlands) Ecologists think of an ecosystem as an isolated unit, but ecosystems usually do not have clear, cut boundaries; things move from one ecosystem to another (ex: birds fly from one ecosystem in summer to another in winter) Ecosystems contain both biotic factors (living parts: animals, plants) and abiotic factors (nonliving parts: temperature, sunlight, soil type) All parts work together in an ecosystem, if one part is destroyed, the entire ecosystem can be affected Organism An organism is one individual living thin)g (ex: an ant, an ivy plant, a gorilla) A species is a group of organisms that are able to produce fertile offspring and share common genes, therefore, resemble each other (ex: all humans, domestic dogs) Population A population is a group of individuals of the same species living in a particular place (ex: the bullfrog population of a pond, the lion population of a savanna) Community Organisms don’t exist in isolation, neither does a population, every population is a part of a community Communities are all the living inhabitants of interacting populations of different species living in an ecosystem (ex: a pond community includes the different plants, fish, insects, amphibians, microorganisms the live in and around the pond) Niche and Habitat Niche is an organism’s way of life (ex: a lion eats other animals (gazelle, zebra); the leftovers are consumed by scavengers (vultures, hyenas, bacteria, insects); the lion itself is also food to ticks, fleas, mosquitoes An organism’s relationship with its environment, both the living and the nonliving Niche includes when and how often it reproduces, how many offspring it has, what time of day it is most active, where it finds food; it’s “lifestyle” Habitat is the actual place on organism lives (ex: lion’s habitat is a savanna, cactus’s habitat is a desert); it’s “address”