What is Ecology? The study of the interactions between organisms and their environment Interactions between organisms is not simply who eats who but varied, some good some bad

Organization in the Environment Organism Populations Communities Ecosystems Biomes Biosphere Single animal Group of the same animal Different populations in the same area Includes the abiotic factors Geographic area characterized by certain types of plant and animal communities Earth where life exists

2 parts of ecology Biotic factors The living part of the environment Animals, plants, insects, humans Abiotic factors The non-living part of the environment Water, soil, light, temperature

Habitat vs. Niche Habitat – the environment in which an organism lives When things like deforestation, building of roads and buildings occur, habitats are being destroyed Niche – organisms way of life in the ecosystem Includes its habitat, food, predators, competitors and abiotic factors

Niche of the Gray Wolf Consumers Carnivores, eating moose, deer, reindeer, sheep and small animals such as birds and snakes Social Structure – hunt in packs Nurture and teach their young Important in population control

Producers Make their own food/energy Use the sun to go through the process of photosynthesis Includes plants, algae and some bacteria

Consumers Can’t make their own energy, get it by eating producers or other consumers Herbivore – eats only plants Carnivore – eats only animals Omnivores – eats both plants and animals

Scavenger vs. Decomposer Scavengers eat dead animals for energy Examples include turkey vultures Decomposers get energy by breaking down the remains of dead organisms Recyclers, bacteria and fungi

Predation Prey – the organism that is eaten Predator – the organism doing the eating Adaptations Predator – speed or ambush prey Prey – run away, camouflage, poisonous, bright colors, groups

Competition Can occur among individuals within a population or between populations Competition for resources, mates, space

Symbiosis Long term, association between two or more species

Mutualism Both organisms benefit

Commensalism One organism is benefiting and the other is unaffected

Parasitism One organism is harmed and the other is benefiting

Limiting factors Populations cannot grow indefinitely because the environment contains only so much food, water, living space and other resources When one or more becomes scarce, it becomes a limiting factor

Carrying Capacity The largest population that a given environment can support over a long period of time When the population gets larger than carrying capacity, limiting factors will cause the population to get smaller

Herbivores evolving with the plants they eat Coevolution Long term change that takes place in two species because of their close interactions with each other Herbivores evolving with the plants they eat Flowers and their pollinators

Food Chains Represent how energy flows from one organism to the next Rare in nature because animals usually eat more than one organism

Food Webs More common Show the many pathways that energy flows in an ecosystem

Represents the loss of energy by each organism in a food chain or web Energy Pyramids Represents the loss of energy by each organism in a food chain or web