1. Ecology & Biodiversity

2. What is Ecology?
The science of interactions between organisms and their environment (physical surroundings).

3. How is the Earth organized?
In ecology, the Earth is organized into levels.
Biosphere—all the places on Earth where living things reside (from the deepest depths of the ocean to the highest levels of the atmosphere.
Biomes—A large naturally occurring community of flora and fauna occupying a major habitat with similar climate.
Ecosystems—A biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment (This includes living and nonliving items.)

4. Earth’s organization continued
Community—This is small regions similar to ecosystems but they only contain the living aspects of Earth.
Population—All of the same type of species that lives in an area (ex: all the people in Jacksonville, NC or all the alligators in the New River).
Individual—one member of a population/species.

5. Levels of ecological organization

6. How does energy flow through the ecosystem?
Food chain is a simple chain that outlines the flow of energy from the producer through quaternary consumer.

7. What is a food web?
It is all the interconnected food chains in a community.

8. Who are the members of a food web?
Producers—(1st level) turn sunlight into food through photosynthesis (ex: grass).
Primary consumer—(2nd level) herbivores (only eats plants)
Secondary consumer—(3rd level) eats primary consumer.
Tertiary consumer- (4th level) eats those below (can be a carnivore or omnivore)
Quaternary consumer—(5th level) top of the food web/chain

9. Members continued Producer—makes food from sunlight
Consumer—obtains its energy by consuming food
Herbivore—consumer that only eats producers/plants
Carnivore—consumer that only eats meat
Omnivore—consumer that eats both plants and meat

10. What are the major Biomes?
Desert
Tundra
Rainforest
Temperate forest/Deciduous forest
Coniferous forest/Taiga
Grasslands/Prairie
Water (Salt or Fresh)

11. World Biome Map

12. What factors influence the development of the biome?
Climate (temperature and precipitation) biggest factor
Altitude
Soil properties
Succession

13. What is biodiversity?
Biodiversity is the variety of life (plants, animals, fungi, protist, and bacteria) in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem.

14. Why is biodiversity important?
The more biodiversity an biome/ecosystem/community contains the more stable and self sufficient the area is.

15. What factors affect biodiversity?
Urban sprawl (population growth)
Deforestation (habitat destruction)-most damaging
Climate change/Global Warming
Invasive species/Non-native species
Disease
Acid Precipitation