Ecology Part 1 Standard 6 Stability in an Ecosystem is a Balance between Competing Effects

Vocabulary Create a flashcard or foldable (2) for the following words. Include the word, definition, and quick picture for each:  Ecosystem  Population  Immigration  Water cycle  Carbon cycle  Nitrogen cycle  Abiotic Factor  Biotic Factor  Decomposers  Producers  Food web  Energy pyramid  Biodiversity  Habitats

What is Ecology??  Ecology is the scientific study of interactions among organisms and between organisms and their environment/surroundings.  The BIOSPHERE contains all of the life on the planet and there are smaller groups within the biosphere.

Levels of Organization

 SPECIES is a group of organisms so similar to one another they can breed and produce fertile offspring.  Populations are groups of individuals that belong to the same species and live in the same area.  Communities groups of different species that live together.  An ecosystem is a collection of all the organisms that live in a particular place including the non-living environement  A biome is a group of ecosystems that have the same climate and dominant communities  The biosphere encompasses all of these items.

Video Clip—Levels of Organization  2Facts from the clip

Energy Flow  SUNLIGHT is the main energy source for life on Earth!  PRODUCERS are AUTOTROPHS or organisms that make their own food.  Plants use PHOTOSYNTHESIS to process sunlight into carbohydrates (sugar)  Organisms who cannot use light use a process called CHEMOSYNTHESIS to produce carbohydrates from chemical reactions (bacteria)  CONSUMERS or HETEROTROPHS are other organisms that cannot gets its energy directly from the environment but instead eat the autotrophs for energy.

Feeding Relationships  ENERGY flows through an ecosystem in one direction: from the sun to the autotrophs to various heterotrophs.  The energy stored by producers can be passed through an ecosystem when eaten by a heterotroph. This can be described in a FOOD CHAIN.

INTERACTIVE  Activity on p.70  A simple food chain in action

Mouse

FOOD WEBS  In most ecosystems feeding relationships are more complex and varied than can be shown in a simple food chain.  A FOOD WEB shows the complex interactions of multiple organisms in an ecosystem.

Food Web; simple

Food Web; Complex!

INTERACTIVE  Each group will receive an animal…  Create a food web!

Trophic Levels  Each step in the food chain or web is called a Trophic level  Producers make up the first trophic level, consumers make up the second, third, or higher levels.  Each consumer depends on the trophic level below it for energy

Ecological Pyramids Energy Pyramid Biomass Pyramid

Energy Pyramids  Only about 10 percent of the energy available within one trophic level is transferred to organisms at the next trophic level.  The higher up in the pyramid, the less energy that remains from the original amount within the producers.

Lion King Recap

Energy Pyramid Video Clip

Recycling in the Biosphere Water Cycle Carbon Cycle Nitrogen Cycle Phosphorous Cycle

Brainpops!  Write down 3 facts per cartoon.  Pass the Pen

Investigating Chemical Cycles