1. Ecology Lesson
E. Haniff

2. Objectives
Understand the concepts of ecosystem, habitat, producer, consumer.
Explain these terms as well as the role of decomposers in the ecosystem
Differentiate between abiotic and biotic factors
Construct and interpret food chains and food webs

3. Objectives…
Relate feeding relationships to the transfer of energy from the sun through plants to other organisms
Evaluate the effects of removing any part of a food chain or food web
Identify and explain the pyramids of numbers and biomass
Identify specific feeding relationships

4. What is Ecology?
Ecology is the study of the interactions between living organisms and their environment

5. Let us observe this pond….

6. What do we see?
Living things…
Non-living things…

7. Name the living things you see…
Frog
Snake
Beetles
Fishes
Dragonfly
Tadpoles
Lilies
Water plants
Cat tails

8. We can classify these into two groups
Animals
Frog
Snake
Beetles
Fishes
Dragonfly
Tadpoles
Plants:
Lilies
Water plants
Cat tails

9. What’s special about plants?...
Plants use the sun’s energy to PRODUCE food
So they are known as PRODUCERS

10. How are animals different from plants?
Animals need to CONSUME (EAT) their food
So they are known as CONSUMERS

11. Name the non-living things you see…
Water
Rocks
Soil

12. Can you name any other Non-living factors that affect organisms where they live?
Sunlight
Wind
Temperature

13. Let’s go back to the definition of Ecology…
Ecology is the study of the interactions between living organisms and their environment
But what is the environment?

14. Environment
The environment consists of the factors that influence how organisms live, grow and survive.
The environment has two main components: the physical or abiotic factors and the living or biotic factors.

15. Environment So those living things we named form the biotic component
And the non-living things form the abiotic component

16. Environment Biotic Factors Abiotic Factors Plants Temperature Frogs
Sunlight
Fishes
Water
Beetles
Dissolved gases (CO2, O2 )
Algae
Salinity (salt content)
Snake
Wind
pH (acidity or alkalinity)

17. Habitat The habitat is the natural home of an organism.
The area or place where an organism lives, develops, grows, reproduces and hunts for food.
It is not the same as the environment. The environment is the conditions that affect the organism while the habitat is the place the organism lives.

18. Case study…Scarlet Ibis
The Ibis’ natural home is the Caroni Swamp
So this is the HABITAT
But the environment would be eg:
The temperature, trees, crabs that the Ibis eats
The environment affects how the Ibis eats, grows, reproduces etc.

19. Can you name some Habitats?
Pond
River
Ocean
Forest
Desert
Grassland
Mangrove

20. Is it possible for another living thing to be a habitat?

21. Can you think of other examples?
Oxen
Humans

22. Activity….
Match the organisms to a suitable habitat Seashore Grassland Organisms: zebra, barnacle, lion, grass, crab, mussel,

23. A little more about organisms
Many organisms live in groups for reproduction, protection.
A group of organisms of the same kind living in a habitat is called a POPULATION.
For example in the pond there was a frog population
But they were not the only group…

24. A little more about organisms
Different populations of plants, animals and other organisms living together in a habitat make up a COMMUNITY.

25. Ecosystem
An ECOSYSTEM is the interactions among different communities and their physical environment (the biotic and abiotic factors in an area).
Eg. Seashore, mountains, rain forest, savannahs,

26. How do living things interact with each other?

27. How do non-living things affect the organisms?

28. How do non-living things affect the organisms?
Consider this….
Can a fresh water fish live in the ocean?
The fish will not be able to tolerate the high level of salt or salinity.
So an abiotic factor (salinity) has an effect on the biotic factor (fish).

29. How do non-living factors affect other factors?
Consider this….
The higher the temperature, the greater the amount of rainfall available, so the wetter the environment
The higher the temperature, the lesser the amount of gases dissolved in water, more difficult for organisms to breathe

30. Let’s go back to the pond…
What happens to all the dead organisms?

31. Decomposers
Dead organic matter (plants and animals) are broken down by decomposers.
The process of decomposition returns the living material to minerals and nutrients
Which can then be reused by plants and animals

32. Understanding decomposition
Photosynthesis is the process that converts inorganic material (carbon dioxide and water) into organic material (plant matter)
Consumers eat plant matter and animals and build them into more complex structures
Decomposers are organisms that break down decaying organic material back into inorganic matter.

33. Understanding decomposition
They act by secreting digestive juices that chemically break down the organic matter
Some is used for their growth and repair but some of the nutrients is returned to the ecosystem
Some examples of decomposers are Fungi and earthworms.
Some of the important elements that are cycled include Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen and Nitrogen.

34. Assessment activity Will a frog be able to live on the moon?
You were asked by NASA to design an ecosystem that would allow frogs to live on the moon, write a brief description of the conditions needed (biotic and abiotic) to allow this.
Distinguish among a habitat, an ecosystem and an environment

35. Thank you for your participation
E. Haniff