Ecology Flip Chart Notebook

Ecology Notebook Front View E C O L O G Y N o t e b o o k O R G A N I S M P O P U L A T I O N C O M M U N I T Y T e r t i a r y C o n s u m e r s S e c o n d a r y C o n s u m e r s P r i m a r y C o n s u m e r s P R O D U C E R S

Requirements For each flap of the Flip Chart: -Copy the definitions -Create a picture to show what the definition means -Color the pictures using colored pencils or crayons. (Don’t use markers.) -Name, Date and period number on the back of the Flip Chart.

–ECOLOGY (On back of flip chart) Ecology is: The study of the relationships between organisms and their environment AND between organisms and each other. Ecosystems are organized by individuals or a species, population and community.

ORGANISM (Second Flap) A single individual of a given species.

POPULATION (Third flap) A population is: Two or more individuals of the same species in a given area.

COMMUNITY (Fourth Flap) A community consists of all the populations within a given area. The more populations there are, the more BIOLOGICALLY DIVERSE the area is. Communities are organized by trophic levels – who eats whom (or what).

Tertiary Consumers (Fifth Flap) Tertiary Consumers are those organisms who can eat secondary consumers. Homosapiens (Humans) can be considered tertiary consumers along with bears and the big cats like lions and tigers. The big cats are carnivores (Meat eaters) and Bears and Humans are omnivores (Survive on animal and plant diets.)

Secondary Consumers (Sixth Flap) Secondary consumers are those animals capable of consuming primary consumers. These are either insectivores (If they survive primarily on insects) or carnivores. They are not herbivores (plant eaters).

Primary Consumers (Seventh Flap) Primary consumers eat only producers. Most of these are called herbivores. Examples include cows and horses; sheep, giraffes, elephants, seed eating birds, most insects, some bacteria and some fungi.

PRODUCERS (Eighth and final flap) Producers are Autotrophs – those organisms capable of producing their own food. This is usually done by capturing and converting sunlight energy through the process of photosynthesis. Without producers, no other organisms could survive. Examples include phytoplankton, grasses and mosses.