Download Ecology is the study of the interaction s among living things and

Ecology is the study of the
interactions among living things
and between living things and
their surroundings.
Ecologists study nature on different levels
The ORGANISM
 The POPULATION
 The COMMUNITY
 The ECOSYSTEM
 The BIOME

The ORGANISM: An
organism is an individual
living thing.
The POPULATION: A
group of the same species that
lives in one area
The COMMUNITY: A group
of different species that live
together in one area.
The ECOSYSTEM: All of the
organisms as well as the climate,
soil, water, rocks and other
nonliving things in a given area
The BIOME: A major
regional or global community
of organisms.
Within an ecosystem there are
ABIOTIC and BIOTIC factors
Abiotic Factors
Factors in an ecosystem that are not living.
 Examples are wind, sunlight, and soil.

Biotic Factors
 Factors
in an ecosystem that are living
 Examples are plants, animals and
bacteria.
A change in a single factor can affect
an entire ecosystem.
A KEYSTONE SPECIES is a species
that has an unusually large effect on
its ecosystem.
Organisms in an environment
take on several different titles.
They can be….
 Heterotrophs
 Autotrophs
 Producers
 Consumers
A
PRODUCER
is an organism
that creates it’s
own food and
energy
A
CONSUMER is
an organism that
gets it’s energy
by eating another
organism
A
A
producer is
also called an
AUTOTROPH.
consumer is
also called a
HETEROTROPH
The flow of energy in an ecosystem
is diagrammed in either a food chain
or a food web
The source of energy in every
ecosystem is the SUN.
A FOOD CHAIN is a
sequence that links species
by their feeding
relationships
A food web is a model that shows
the complex network of feeding
relationships and the flow of energy
within and sometimes beyond an
ecosystem
A trophic level is the level of
nourishment in a food chain.
They are demonstrated in
levels in an energy pyramid
There are varieties of categories
of organisms displayed in food
chains and food webs. They are…





Carnivores: Organisms that eat meat
Herbivores: Organisms that eat plants
Omnivores: Organisms that eat meat and plants
Detritivores: Organisms that eat detritus, or dead
organic matter
Decomposers: Organisms that break down organic
matter into simpler compounds.
Biomass is the
measure of the
total dry mass
of organisms in
a given area
As organisms are
consumed, or
broken down,
biomass is
transferred
throughout the
ecosystem.