How Living Things Interact With Their Environment Textbook Pages

What is Ecology? The study of how organisms interact with their environment.

Ecosystems All the living (biotic) and nonliving (abiotic) things that interact in a particular area is known as an ECOSYSTEM. – Examples could be a prairie, a river, a mountain range, a forest, a coral reef, etc. View the clip on the coral reef. Name 3 biotic and 3 abiotic factors in the reef.coral reef

An organism obtains food, water, shelter, and other things it needs to live, grow, and reproduce from its surroundings. An organism will do all of this in its HABITAT. A single ecosystem may contain several habitats. – Ex. A forest ecosystem - fungus will grow on the forest floor, and flicker birds build nests in the trees. An organism will live in different habitats according to its specific needs for survival.

How are the organisms in an ecosystem grouped? Populations – all the members of one species in a particular Communities – all the different populations that live together in an area Ecosystems - the community and its abiotic factors

Interactions Among Living Things Pgs

Every organism has its own adaptations that make it best suited for living in its ecosystem. Niche: an organism’s role or how it makes its living. – Includes what type of food it eats, how it gets this food, and which other species use the organism as food. – Also include when and how it reproduces and the physical conditions it uses to survive. A gila monster and a red-tailed hawk would have two different niches even though they live in the same desert ecosystem.

An organism’s niche may include how it interacts with other organisms. The three major types of interactions among organisms are: – Competition – Predation – Symbiosis

Competition The struggle between organisms to survive in a habitat with limited resources. – Will occur when organisms fight over limited food, water, and shelter – Those organisms that survive have adaptations that enable them to REDUCE competition. Birds will utilize resource partitioning methods. They will eat different parts of the same tree. Everybody WINS!

Predation An interaction in which one organism hunts and kills another for food. – Predator – the organism that does the killing – Prey – the organism that is caught Predators will often use sharp teeth, stinging cells, camouflage, claws, etc. to catch prey. Nature’s Perfect Predator – The Praying Mantis Animal of prey will use defense strategies like MIMICRY. Examples: the monarch and the viceroy butterfly or the nonpoisonous scarlet snake vs. the extremely dangerous king snake

Symbiosis A close relationship between two species that benefits at least one of the species. – Mutualism – Commensalism – Parasitism

Mutualism A relationship in which BOTH species benefit. Bees and FlowersAnts and Aphids Symbiosis in the ocean

Commensalism Relationship in which one species benefits and the other species is neither helped nor harmed.  Whale and barnacle Birds and a Tree Clown fish and sea anemone

Parasitism One organism lives on or in another organism and harms it.  Wasps and the Sphinx larva Mosquito and human

Symbiosis Quiz Interaction: a vampire bat drinks a horse’s blood Type of interaction? PARASITISM

Symbiosis Quiz Interaction: bacteria living in a cow’s stomach to help them break down the cellulose in grass Type of interaction? MUTUALISM

Symbiosis Quiz Interaction: In the desert is where the fringe toed lizard stays in an abandoned desert rat hole Type of interaction? COMMENSALISM