2. © 2004 Plano ISD, Plano, TX Ecology is the study of the interactions between organisms and their environment. 1 of 8 Introducing

3. © 2004 Plano ISD, Plano, TX 8.11 (A) Describe producer/consumer, predator/prey, and parasite/host, relationships as they occur in food webs within marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems. 8.11 (B) Investigate how organisms and populations in an ecosystem depend on and may compete for biotic and abiotic factors such as quantity of light, water, range of temperatures, or soil composition.

4. © 2004 Plano ISD, Plano, TX Ecosystem includes all abiotic and biotic factors in one particular environment Biotic Factors the living parts of an ecosystem Abiotic Factors the nonliving parts of an ecosystem

5. © 2004 Plano ISD, Plano, TX Examples of Biotic Factors

6. © 2004 Plano ISD, Plano, TX Examples of Abiotic Factors

7. © 2004 Plano ISD, Plano, TX interact with each other in complex ways Biotic Factors also interact with abiotic factors in the ecosystem Producer/consumerPredator/preyParasite/hostProducer/consumerPredator/preyParasite/host dependent upon water, minerals, temperature, light such as

8. © 2004 Plano ISD, Plano, TX The environment can be divided into 5 different levels, increasing in size: 1.Organism (ex: zebra) 2.Population (ex: a herd of zebras) 3.Community (ex: all the zebras, giraffes, lions, warthogs etc. in an area) 4.Ecosystem (ex: all the biotic plus abiotic factors) 5.Biosphere (Earth) “One pony comes each birthday” 2 of 8

9. © 2004 Plano ISD, Plano, TX Food Chains Show the path of energy from one organism to the next with arrows Always start with a producer! All food chains in a community make up a food web 3 of 8

10. © 2004 Plano ISD, Plano, TX A pyramid can be used to show how much energy is available at each level of a chain: Producers Primary consumers Secondary consumers 4 of 8

11. © 2004 Plano ISD, Plano, TX Types of Relationships –Competition for Biotic and Abiotic factors –Predator/Prey –Parasite/Host –Producer/Consumer *Ecosystems can be terrestrial, marine, or freshwater 7 of 8

12. © 2004 Plano ISD, Plano, TX The Food Web Community Producer –Plants –Uses sun to produce food by photosynthesis Consumer - Usually animals –Must eat/consume other organisms 1.Herbivore = eats plants 2.Carnivore = eats animals 3.Omnivore = eats both plants and animals 4.Decomposer = feeds on dead animals 1 2 3 4 5 of 8

13. © 2004 Plano ISD, Plano, TX …continued Decomposer –Gets energy from breaking down the remains of dead organisms –Examples are bacteria and fungi (such as mold and mushrooms, and worms) 6 of 8

14. © 2004 Plano ISD, Plano, TX McLaren, James E, and Rotundo, Lisa (1985). Heath Biology. D. C. Heath and Company. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition. (1992). Houghton Mifflin Company. Arms. (1996). Environmental Science. Orlando,Florida: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc. Bibliography