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The Organization of life
Chapter 4
Environmental Science
4.1-Ecosystems
• All of the organisms living in an area together
with their physical environment.
Even a vacant lot
Coral Reefs
Oak forests
Ecosystems Connected
• Ecosystems do not have
clear boundaries.
– Soil washes from mtn. tops into
streams.
– Birds migrate.
– Pollen travels from forest to field.
Human Survival:
• “When we try to pick out anything
by itself, we find it hitched to
everything else in the universe”
• John Muir, naturalist, founder of
Sierra club.
• To what extent are humans
“hitched” to everything else?
Ecosystem Survival
• In order for an ecosystem to
survive they need 5 basic
components.
– Energy source
– Mineral nutrients
– Liquid Water
– Oxygen
– Other Living organisms.
Ecosystem Components
• Biotic factors: living and
once living parts.
• Abiotic factors: nonliving
parts.
Human survival:
• Name some biotic and
abiotic components in a
human ecosystem.
Levels of Ecological
Organization
• Organism
• Population
• Community
• Ecosystem
• Biosphere
Organism
An individual living thing.
The wildebeest
Population
All the members of the
same species that live in
the same place at the
same time.
Community
A group of various
species that live in the
same place and interact
with each other.
Ecosystem and Biosphere
• The ecosystem: African
Savanna.
• The biosphere: Earth
Habitats
• The place organisms
live…their “address”.
• Most organisms do not
survive for long outside their
natural habitat…although
organisms can adapt.
4.2- Evolution
Evolution
What characteristics
does this chameleon
possess that helps it
hunt this difficult to catch
fly out of the air?
How did the
chameleon
become so well
suited for its
environment?
Natural Selection
• The unequal survival and
reproduction that results from the
presence or absence of particular
traits.
– Some individuals, because of certain
traits, are more likely to survive and
reproduce than others.
Peppered Moth
• Typically whitish
with black
speckles.
• Industrial revolution
and coal burning
coated trees in black
soot.
• Mutation- all black.
• Black now the
better suited
variety; better
camouflaged.
Evolution
• Darwin suggested that after many
generations, natural selection
caused characteristics of the
population to change.
–The once speckled moth now
the black mutant variety.
Darwin
• Nature selects for certain
traits, such as sharper claws
or lighter feathers, because
organisms with these traits
are more likely to survive
and reproduce.
Adaptations
• An inherited trait that
increases an organism’s
chance of survival and
reproduction.
–Adaption of thicker fur when
moving to a colder environment
Coevolution
• The process of two species
evolving in response to long-term
interactions.
•Flower with sweet nectar
to attract birds
•Birds evolving long
curved beaks to obtain
nectar
•Birds transmit pollen
Artificial Selection
• The selective
breeding of an
organism by
humans.
–Small terriers
being bred to
catch
rats…small, fast,
and determined.
Resistance
• Ability of an organism to
tolerate a particular chemical
designed to kill it.
-The resistant variety
reproduce, passing the
resistance gene on to
future generations.
Evolving
• The faster a population
can reproduce, the faster
its populations can
evolve.
4.3- The Diversity of
Living Things
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Classification of living
things:
Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species
King Philip Came
Over For Good
Spaghetti.
Kingdoms
• Scientists group living things into
six kingdoms.
Archaebacteria
Eubacteria
Fungi
Protists
Plants
Animals
Monera
• Archaebacteria and
Eubacteria are
sometimes lumped
together as one kingdom
called Monera.
Monera
• Microscopic, single-celled, usually
have cell walls, reproduce by
dividing.
• Live in every habitat on Earth.
• Roles: break down of wastes etc
to return nutrients to the soil,
converting Nitrogen in air into a
useable kind for plants.
Fungi
• Nuclei, cell walls, and no
chlorophyll.
• Absorb food from
surroundings.
• Role: break down of
dead organisms,
disease such as athletes
foot, flavor to food such
as blue cheese, rising of
bread (yeast).
Protists
• Diverse group: some
animal like (amoeba),
some plant like
(kelp).
• Environmentally the
most important
Protists are the
algae.
Plants
• Lower plants, gymnosperms,
angiosperms.
–Require moist areas, mosses.
Gymnosperms
• Woody plants,
produce pollen and
seeds (seeds not
enclosed in fruits).
• Certain types called
conifers. Needlelike leaves.
Angiosperms
• Majority of land
plants.
• Flowering plants
that produce
seeds in fruits.
• Many depend on
animals to
disperse seeds.
Animals
• Can’t make their own
food like plants.
• No cell walls.
• Invertebrates (no
backbone), vertebrates.
Animals
• Examples: insects,
mammals, marsupials,
amphibians, reptiles, fish,
birds, etc.