1. Ecosystems AND Environments

2. What is an organism
An organism is any living thing

3. What does an organism need from their environment?
Food
Water
Shelter
Ability to grow
Ability to reproduce

5. Habitat
An environment that provides what an organism needs (food, water, shelter,
ability to grow, ability to reproduce) is called a habitat.

7. Can their be more than 1 habitat in the same area
There can be more than one habitat in a single area
For example
A mushroom lives in damp soil
A salamander lives on the forest floor
A woodpecker lives in a nest in a tree trunk

8. Why can there be more than 1 habitat in the same area?
There can be many habitats in one area because different organisms require different resources to live
An organism cannot live where those requirements are not
A hermit crab cannot live in the prarie

9. Living and Non-living
All organisms interact with the living and non-living parts of their habitat
Living parts is called BIOTIC factors
Bio means life
Non-living parts are called ABIOTIC factors
A means without or not when at the start of a word

12. LEVELES OF ORGANIZATION

13. What are the levels of organization
Levels of organization start with an atom molecule and end with view of planet earth
Atom Species
Cell Population
Tissue Community
Organ Ecosystem
Organ System
Organism

14. Levels of Organization vocabulary
Atom = basic unit of a chemical element
Cell = smallest unit of life
Tissue = a group of specialized cells performing the same job
Organ = collection of tissues joined in a unit to do a common function
Organ System = group of organs that work together to perform a certain task
Organism = living entity composed of several organ systems that work together to achieve a common goal

15. Species = group of organisms that are physically similar and mate with each other to reproduce
Population = all the members of one species in a particular area
Community = different populations living together in one area
Ecosystem = a community along with all of the abiotic factors in an area
Biosphere = all of the Earths ecosystems (view from space of the earth)

18. ADAPTING TO THE ENVIRONMENT

19. Natural Selection
Characteristics that makes and individual better suited into its environment
Individuals best suited survive
Organisms pass those traits down to their offspring
Those offspring reproduce

23. What does natural selection result in?
It results in adaptions
These adaptions are behaviors and physical characteristics that allow organisms to live successfully in the environment

24. What is a niche? A niche is the role of an organism in its environment
Type of food an organism eats
How an organism gets its food
Which other organisms use the organism as food
When an organism knows when and how to reproduce
How the organism gets its shelter
How it interacts with other organisms
How an organism avoids danger

25. Niche of a rattlesnake It lives on the ground
It preys on small animals and lizards
It uses oxygen and releases carbon dioxide
It is prey for a hawk

26. Niche vs Habitat Habitat is where an organism lives
Niche is how an organisms lives in its habitat

27. INTERACTIONS AMONG ORGANISMS

28. 3 major interactions
Competition
Predation
Symbiosis

29. Competition
The struggle between organisms to survive as they attempt to use the same limited resources
Every ecosystem has limited food, water and shelter. Organisms that survive have adaptions that enable them to reduce competition.

30. Predation The interaction in which one organism kills another for food
Predator – Prey relationship
Predator = animal that does the killing
Prey = animal that is killed

32. Predation has a major effect on population
When death rates exceeds birth rates in a population, the size of the population decreases
If there is a large number of predators the population of their prey decreases
But a decrease in the number of prey results in less food for the predator
Without adequate food supply the population of the predators starts to decline
So populations of predators and prey rise and fall in related cycles

33. Predator Adaptions Runs fast in a short time
Tentacles with poisonous substances
Sticky goo on plants leafs to catch insects
Seeing in the dark
Hunting without seeing – using hearing

35. Prey Adaptions Chemical defense Physical defense
Smells to scare of predators
Physical defense
Mimicry
False coloring
Warning colors
Camouflage
Protective covering

37. Symbiosis The relationship between 2 species Mutualism Commensalism
Parasitism

38. Mutualism
Both organisms benefit from each other

39. Commensalism
1 organism benefits and 1 organism is not helped or harmed

40. Parasitism
1 organism is living on or in another and is harming it

42. FLOW OF ENERGY IN AN ECOSYSTEM

43. Each organism in an ecosystem fills the energy in an environment
Producer = organism that can make its own food (usually comes from the sun)
Consumer = organism that obtains energy by feeding on other organisms
Herbivore = consumer that eats only plants
Carnivore = consumer that eats only animals
Scavenger = carnivore that feeds on the bodies of dead organisms
Omnivore = consumer that eats both plants and animals
Decomposer = organisms that breaks down wastes and dead organisms (natures recyclers)

44. Movement of energy through the ecosystem
Food chain
Food web

45. Food Chain
Series in which one organism eats another

46. Food Web
Consists of overlapping food chains

47. Energy Pyramid
Shows how energy moves from one level to the next The most energy is available at the producer level of the pyramid As you move up the pyramid each level has less energy than the level below Only 10% of the energy is transferred to the next level

49. CHANGES IN COMMUNITIES

50. Primary succession No soil exists No organisms exist
Ex. An island is formed from volcanic eruptions

52. Secondary succession Occurs following a disturbance
An ecosystem already existed once
Ex. An area where there was a tornado, fire or hurricane

54. This ends the exciting topics relating to the ecosystem and environment