Ecology

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Ecology
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Definition

• The study of interactions between organisms and
  their surroundings.

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What Shapes an Ecosystem?

• Abiotic vs Biotic Factors
• Abiotic factors anything that is NONLIVING that
  affects the environment.
• Biotic factors anything that is LIVING that
  affects the environment

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Levels of Organization
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Biosphere

• All the living and nonliving things on the
  planet. (all the biotic and abiotic factors)

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Biomes

• Group of ecosystems that have the same climate
  and similar dominant communities.

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Ecosystem

• Collection of all the organisms that live in a
  particular place, together with their nonliving
  environment.

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Ecosystem

• Collection of all the organisms that live in a
  particular place, together with their nonliving
  environment.

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Population

• Group of individuals of the SAME species that
  live in the same area

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Individual (Organism)

• One member of a population.

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Main source of energy

• sun
• all organisms use the suns energyeither
  directly or indirectly.

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Producers

• also called autotrophs
• harness sunlight through photosynthesis
• organisms can also use chemical energy to produce
  carbohydratescalled chemosynthesis

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Consumers

• also called heterotrophs
• herbivores
• carnivores
• omnivores
• detritivores
• decomposers

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Feeding Relationships

• Food webs and food chains

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Food Chains

• A series of steps on which organisms transfer
  energy by eating and being eaten.

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Another example
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Food Webs

• Network of complex interactions formed by the
  feeding relationships among various organisms in
  an ecosystem