1. Ecology and our Ecosystems
Everything you ever wanted to know and were too afraid to ask!

2. Ecology Ecosystems
All the living and nonliving parts that interact in a specific environment.
The study of the interactions between living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem.

3. Ecology Biotic factors – the living parts of an ecosystem
Abiotic factors – the nonliving parts of an ecosystem

5. Biotic and Abiotic Factors
In an Ecosystem

6. Ecology Vocabulary
Populations – all the members of one species in a particular area
Habitats – the place where an organism lives and provides the things it needs
Communities – all the DIFFERENT populations that live together in an area
Niches – An organism’s role in an ecosystem, or how it makes its living

7. More Vocabulary
Adaptation – the behaviors and physical characteristics of species that allow them to live successfully in their environment
Competition – the struggle between organisms for the limited resources in a habitat
Symbiosis – a close relationship between species that benefits at least one of them

8. Food Chains and
Food Webs

9. Food Chains
A model showing the links from one organism in an ecosystem to another
Always begins with a producer
Sun – basic form of energy for all living things

10. Producers Anything that produces/makes its own food
Supplied with energy directly from the sun
Largest part of a food chain/food web
Plants

11. Consumers
Organisms that obtain energy by feeding on other organisms

12. Types of Consumers Herbivores – consumers that eat only plants
Carnivores – consumers that eat only animals
Omnivores – consumers that eat both plants and animals

13. Producers & Consumers

14. Decomposers
Organisms that break down dead plants and animals and return nutrients back into the soil
Bacteria
Fungi

15. Decomposers

16. Sample Food Chains Grass -> Gazelle -> Lion
Grass -> Cow -> Human
Lettuce -> Human
Grass -> Grasshopper -> Little Fish ->
Big Fish -> Bear -> Bacteria

17. Many overlapping food chains in an ecosystem
Food Webs
Many overlapping food chains in an ecosystem

18. Food/Energy Pyramids Producers are at the bottom - most abundant
Herbivores are above the producers
Carnivores and Omnivores eat the herbivores and the producers
Humans are at the TOP of the pyramid

19. Food & Energy Pyramids

20. Human Impact on Ecosystems

21. THE END
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