Download Populations and Communities Living Things and the Environment

Populations and Communities
I. Living Things and the Environment
A. Ecosystem
a. all the living and non-living things that interact in a
particular area.
b. Examples: Swamp, wetlands, desert, seashore,
woodland forest, rainforest, arctic, and grassland.
1. Habitats
a. a place that provides water, shelter and the other
things an organism needs to live, grow and reproduce.
b. Examples: Damp soil, forest floor, tree canopy, and
sand dunes.
2. Biotic Factors
a. all the living parts of an ecosystem.
b. Examples: Animals, plants, worms, fungi, protists and
bacteria.
3. Abiotic Factors
a. all the non-living parts of an ecosystem.
b. Types of abiotic factors
1.Water
2. Sunlight
3. Oxygen
4. Temperature
5. Soil
4. Population
a. Species-a group of organisms that are physically
similar and can reproduce with each other to produce
fertile offspring.
1. Examples: Red-winged black birds, grizzly bears,
Emperor penguins, Asian elephants, Maple trees,
Timber rattlesnake and rainbow trout
b. Population- all the members of one species in a
particular area.
1. Examples: All the Red-winged blackbirds in the
Celery Farm, all the Timber rattlesnakes in Harriman
State Park, all the Maple trees in Ramsey.
5. Communities:
a. All the different populations that live together in an
area.
b. Examples: All the white-tailed deer, Maple trees, Gray
squirrels, American crows and Black bears in Bergen
County. All the Palm trees, American alligators, and
Flamingos in the Florida Everglades.
6. What is Ecology?
a. The study of how living things interact with each other
and with their surroundings.
b. Ecologists are scientists who study ecology.
**** The smallest unit of organization is a single organism,
which belongs to a population of other members of its species.
The population belongs to a community of different species. The
community and abiotic factors together form an ecosystem.
The levels of organization represented in a diagram.
Organism
(species)
______________________
Population
______________________________
Community
_____________________________________
Ecosystem
(communities + abiotic factors)