1. The Biosphere
Chapter 3

2. Ecology
The scientific study of interactions among organisms and between organisms and their environment
Biosphere

3. Levels of Organization
Biosphere Largest (World)
Biome (Certain Characteristics, Desert)
Ecosystem (Living and Non-living)
Community (Different Populations Interacting)
Population (All One Type of Organism)
Species (Smallest)
Individual

4. Energy Flow Producers: sunlight Autotrophs – make their own food
EX: plants

5. Consumers: Heterotrophs: Herbivores: Carnivores: Omnivores:
Detritivores:
Decomposers:

6. Feeding Relationships
Food chains: series of steps in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten.
Food webs: the network formed from the feeding relationships among the various organisms in an ecosystem
Trophic level

8. Ecological Pyramid
Three different kinds Energy pyramid: shows the amount of energy available at each level

9. Biomass pyramid: amount of living organic matter at each trophic level

10. Pyramid of numbers: shows the relative number of individual organisms at each level

11. Recycling in the Biosphere
Matter is recycled within and between ecosystems
Biogeochemical Cycles: elements, chemical compounds, and other forms of matter are passed from one organism to another
Do not use up matter, they transform it

12. Nutrient Limitation
A limited amount of a nutrient hinders the productivity of the environment
Primary productivity: the rate at which organic matter is created by producers
Controlled by amount of available nutrients
EX: in the ocean, nitrogen is not abundant, so it is the limiting factor

13. Algal bloom: when an ecosystem receives a large input of a limiting nutrient
Causes the producers to grow more quickly and produce more
Can sometimes disrupt the equilibrium of an ecosystem