1. Interactions of Living Things Chapter 1

2. Everything Is Connected 1.2  All living things are connected in a web of life.  Ecology is the study of how everything interacts with one another and the environment.  Biotic- living parts of an environment  Abiotic- nonliving parts of an environment.

3. Organization of the Environment  Levels of organization- See pages 6 and 7 for more specific information.  1 st - Individual organism  2 nd - population, a larger level of the same type of organism.  3 rd - community, a group of different populations  4 th - ecosystem- both abiotic and biotic systems make this up.  5 th - biosphere- all ecosystems together

4. Living Things Need Energy  Sun- the ultimate source of energy  Producers- Produce their own food by using sunlight by a process called photosynthesis.  Consumers- Eat other organisms and cannot use the sun’s energy to make food.  Types of Consumers  Herbivores- eat only plants  Carnivores- eat only animals  Omnivores- eat both plants and animals.  Scavengers- omnivores that eat only dead plants and animals  Decomposers- get energy from breaking down dead organisms.

5. Food Chains and Food Webs  Food chains- shows the flow of energy from one organism to another.  Food web- displays how organisms feed off of each other in an ecosystem.  Energy Pyramid- Shows how energy is lost in the ecosystem at each level.  Balanced ecosystems are ones that each organism is benefiting from the food web.

6. Types of Interactions 1.3  Limiting factor- Helps control populations in limiting resources for that population (food, water, living space).  Carrying Capacity- The largest population that an environment can support. For example, the most amount of frogs in a pond, fish in a lake.

7. Interactions between organisms  Competition- When two or more individuals or populations are going for the same resource. Competition can between individuals within a population, or between populations.  Prey- get eaten  Adaption include- warning coloration (brightly colored with says they are poisonous), traveling in schools or groups, camouflage (blending in with the background), chemical defense (like skunks)  Predator- eat prey  They can adapt in order to catch more prey.

8.  Symbiosis- relationship in which two different organisms live in close association with each other. Below are examples of this.  Mutualism- Both organisms benefit from the relationship (bacteria in our intestines)  Commensalism- One organism benefits and the other is unaffected. (remora and the shark)  Parasitism- One organism benefits and the other is harmed. Parasite benefits, host is harmed.  Coevolution- two or more species change over time that have close interactions.