1. Ecology is the study of an organism’s home.

2. An ecosystem is a specific environment in which organisms live
An ecosystem includes:
All living organisms (plants and animals)
How these interact with each other
The non-living environment
How the non-living affects the living environment

3. Ecosystem Components Biotic Factors Abiotic Factors
Living things that affect an organism
Examples: all other organisms
Abiotic Factors
Physical and chemical characteristics of the environment
Examples: sunlight, rain, temperature, humidity, salt, oxygen concentration, nutrients, minerals, nitrogen, etc.

4. Ways of describing Ecosystems
People use a lot of descriptors to talk about ecosystems. The two main ways differ in terms of whether they describe just the physical location (non-living) of organisms; or whether they include all the living things in the location.

5. Physical Location – Organisms do not have street addresses so descriptions like habitat and biome are used instead – see next slide.

6. 6 Levels of PHYSICAL Organisation1 2
6 Levels of PHYSICAL Organisation 3 4 5 6

7. Levels of NON-PHYSICAL Organisation
Biosphere
All living and nonliving found below/above and including Earth’s surface
Ecosystem
All Biotic and Abiotic factors in an region
Community
All the living organisms in a certain area
Population
All members of a particular species
Organism

8. Types of Biomes in the World
There are many different types of biomes
A biome is an area that has similar climate conditions eg rainforests and deserts
Types of Biomes in the World

9. Different types of biomes have different climate conditions
Different types of biomes have different climate conditions. This affects what types of organism’s can survive there
Examples:

10. Desert Biome in Australia