2. Big Idea Matter & Energy, Interdependence in Nature ↓ Essential Question How do living and nonliving parts of the Earth interact and affect the survival of organisms? 1.How do we study life? 2.How do different organisms get the energy they need to survive. 3.How does energy move through an ecosystem? 4.Why is the cycling of matter important to life on Earth? What is Ecology???

3. Ecology  Oikos = Houses  Study of Nature’s “Houses” and the organisms in them  Study of interactions among organisms, between organisms and their physical environment What Is Ecology???

4. Ecology & Economics  Economics =  Study of human “houses” & the interactions between them, just based on money or trade  Ecology =  Based on Nature’s Currency  Energy & Nutrients What Is Ecology??

5. Ecological Levels of Organization  Individual Organism  Any contiguous living system  Population  2 or more individual organisms of the same species living in the same area @ the same time  Community  2 or more populations living in the same area @ the same time What Is Ecology???

6. Ecological Levels of Organization  Ecosystem  2 or more communities in the same geographical areas @ the same time and all the environmental factors that influence them  Biomes  2 or more ecosystems in a large geographical area that share similarities in environmental factors & populations  Biosphere  All the biomes in the world What Is Ecology???

7. Notebook Time:  In your notebooks, do the following task  Draw a circle & label it with your name.  Draw 5 concentric circles (around the me circle) and label each circle for the other levels of organization  Describe each level as it pertains to you & where you live What Is Ecology??? Your Name (i.e. Mr. Pearson) Organism Population Community EcosystemBiome Biosphere

8. Environment  Contains Environmental Factors  Biotic Factors  Any living part of the environment  Ex. Animals, plants, mushrooms, bacteria  Abiotic Factors  Any non-living part of the environment  Ex. Sunlight, temperature, precipitation, humidity, wind, soil type  Environment  Refers to all conditions, or factors, that surround an organism What Is Ecology???

9. Ecological Methods  Observation  Always the 1 st step in asking & solving ecological questions  Experimentation  May set up an artificial environment  Ex. A greenhouse  May carefully alter the conditions of the environment  Ex. The greenhouse experiment Dr. Nakano ran  Modeling  Used to study things which are over long periods of time or are too large to study directly  Use computer & mathematical models to study those phenomena  Use real observations and data to simulate what could happen  Ex. Climate Change, Human Population growth, Disease transmission What Is Ecology???