What are they and how do they work?

Cell Review  Smallest functional unit of life  Cell theory  All living things are made of cells  Single or multi-cellular  Prokaryotic  Eukaryotic

Ecology  Study of how organisms interact with one another and with their physical environment (matter and energy)  Connections in Nature

Levels of Organization

Species  Set of individuals that can mate and produce fertile offspring  Classification system  KPCOFGS  Genus species or Genus species

Population  Group of individuals of the same species hat live in the same place a the same time  Variation – genetic diversity  Habitat – where they live

Community  Biological community  All the populations of different species that live in a particular place

Ecosystem  Community of different species interacting with one another and with their nonliving environment (soil, water, other forms of matter, and energy)  No clear boundaries  Not isolated

Biomes  Large regions of land with distinct climates and certain species  Especially vegetation  Aquatic Biomes  Marine  Freshwater (2%)

Biosphere  The Global ecosystem in which all organisms exist and can interact wit one another  Parts of the  atmosphere  hydrosphere and  geosphere where life exists

Atmosphere  Thin spherical envelope of gases surrounding the earths surface  Troposphere – greenhouse gases  Stratosphere – ozone layer

Hydrosphere  All the water on or near the earth’s surface  Liquid, solid, gas forms  71% in Ocean

Geosphere  Earth’s core, mantel and outer crust

3 Factors work together within the Spheres

Gravity  Allows the planet to hold onto its atmosphere  Enables movement and cycling of chemicals through air, water, soil and organisms

Recycling of Matter within and between Ecosystems

One way flow of high quality energy

2 components of an Ecosystem  Abiotic  Nonliving components  water, air, nutrients, rocks, heat, solar energy  Biotic  Living and once living biological components  Plants, animals, microbes

Range of Tolerance  Different species and their populations thrive under different physical and chemical conditions

Limiting Factor Principle  Too much or too little of any abiotic factor can limit or prevent growth of a population, even if all other factors are at or near the optimal range of tolerance  Contributes to population control  Examples?

Trophic(feeding) levels  Producers  Autotrophs  “Self – feeders”  Photosynthesis 6CO 2 + 6H 2 O = light = C 6 H 12 O 6 + 6O 2  Chemosynthesis

Trophic(feeding) levels  Consumers  Heterotrophs  “Other – feeders”  Herbivores, Carnivores, Higher- level Carnivores, Omnivores,  Decomposers, Detritivores

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The movement of nutrients (blue arrows) and energy (red arrows) and both (brown arrows) through the ecosystem

Food Chains  Sequence of organisms, each of which serves as a source of food or energy for the next

Food Web Complex network of interconnected food chains

Useable energy decreases  Ecological efficiency  % of usable chemical energy transferred from one tropic level to the next  Typically 10%  Pyramid of Energy Flow