1. ECOLOGICAL RELATIONSHIPS
In This Section We Will Be Studying The Following Topics:
Classifying plants.
What effect does the habitat have on the community of organisms living in it?
Adaptation to an environment.
How do we measure population size?
Predator/ Prey relationships.
Food webs.
Pyramids of number and mass.
Nutrients in a food chain.

2. LIVING THINGS
All living things can carry out the 7 life processes:
PLANTS AND ANIMALS
ARE ABLE TO DO ALL THESE THINGS.
Movement.
Reproduction.
Sensitivity.
Nutrition.
Excretion.
Respiration.
Growth.
MRS NERG.
Animals can also be classified into two groups:
Vertebrates or Invertebrates
VERTEBRATES HAVE A BACKBONE
We look for similar characteristics in each group.
Plants are also divided up into groups.

3. LIVING THINGS Prey. Predator. Consumer. Producer. Herbivore. Omnivore.
Can you remember these facts from the Year 7 topic?
If so link them up.
An organism that eats meat.
An organism that eats plants and meat.
An organism that eats plants for food.
An organism that produces its own food using sunlight.
An organism that eats other plants and animals for food.
An organism that hunts other organisms for food.
An organism that is hunted for food.
Prey.
Predator.
Consumer.
Producer.
Herbivore.
Omnivore.
Carnivore.

4. CLASSIFYING PLANTS
Plants can be classified into different groups as well.
This usually depends on whether they produce seeds or spores.
PLANTS.
Seeds.
Spores.
Flowering Plants.
Conifers.
Mosses.
Liverworts.
Ferns.

5. Which statements are true and which are false?
TRUE OR FALSE?
Which statements are true and which are false?
Conifers are a type of flowering plant.
Conifers produce seeds.
Plants can be classified into groups just like animals can.
Mosses are plants that produce seeds.
Ferns are plants that produce spores.
Flowering plants produce spores.
False
True
True
False
True
False

6. There are lots of different species of plants here too.
COMMUNITY
A community is the name for all of the different things living together in a habitat.
The community and the habitat together are called an Ecosystem.
Birds and insects could live here in the trees.
Rabbits could live here as there is grassland.
A fox may live here because the smaller animals can survive and it will have food.
Fish, frogs and newts could live in the water.
There are lots of different species of plants here too.
This is a very large community of living things as the conditions are good for living things.

7. This food chain is one that might exist
COMMUNITY
A community is the name for all of the different things living together in a habitat.
The community and the habitat together are called an Ecosystem.
Few birds and insects live here. It is too cold.
Frogs and newts could not live in the water, it is too cold.
A European fox will not live here as it will not have any food.
This food chain is one that might exist

8. COLLECTING SAMPLES In this sample there are three daisies.
Imagine if you needed to count all of the daisies in a field. It would take a long time!
Scientists use a piece of equipment called a Quadrat. This is a square 1m x 1m.
They place this on the ground and count the number of daisies inside it.
They then multiply that number by the size of the field.
In this sample there are three daisies.
The garden is 100m by 50m.
So the total area is 100 x 50 = 5000m2
So there are (5000/1) = 5000
1m2 Quadrats in the garden.
So there must be 3 x 5000 daisies.
15,000 Daisies in the garden.
Quadrat Square.
1m.

9. In the whole field there are 66 x 1250 = 82,500 daisies.
COLLECTING SAMPLES
Another Example:
The area of a field is 1250m2
In 1m2 there are 66 daisies.
In the whole field there are 66 x 1250 = 82,500 daisies.
Try these:
Field is 5000m2 in 1m2 there are 12 daisies
60,000 daisies
Field is 100m2 in 1m2 there are 140 daisies
14,000 daisies
Field is 67m2 in 1m2 there are 140 daisies
9,380 daisies

10. Total number of organisms
SAMPLE DATA
Work out the total number of organisms for each of the following:
Organism
Number found in 1m2
Size of land (m2)
Total number of organisms
Bluebells 47
342
Oak trees 1
700
Poppies 12 15
16074
700
180

11. ADAPTING TO A HARSH ENVIRONMENT
Living on a rocky shore presents a lot of problems.
The plants have to find a way to anchor themselves so that they do not get washed away.
Kelp -Bladder wrack seaweed
It can stand periods of drying out when the tide goes out and leaves it on the rocks.
It has air pockets within it which allows the plant to float to the surface and photosynthesise.
Has strong anchors to keep it in place when the waves bash it around.
It can stand very cold water in the winter and warmer water in the summer.

12. MISSING VOWELS
Cnfr
Msss
Lvrwrts
Sds
Sprs
Qdrt
Smpl
Clssfy

13. MISSING VOWELS - ANSWERS
Conifer.
Mosses.
Liverworts.
Seeds.
Spores.
Quadrat.
Sample.
Classify.

14. ENERGY All living things need energy.
Producers capture energy from sunlight in a process called photosynthesis.
Plants are producers.
Consumers need to eat other plants and animals to get energy.

15. Can you explain what is happening?
PREDATOR/ PREY
Look at the graph below.
Can you explain what is happening?
Prey
Predator
There is a relationship. The prey increase in numbers and then the predators follow this trend because there is more food (prey).
They eat the prey so the number of prey goes down.
Then there is less food for the predators. The number of predators goes down. The prey are able to increase as less of them are eaten.

16. How many different food chains can you find in this food web?
FOOD WEBS
A food web shows the interactions between all of the different food chains within a particular community.
Look at the following food web and try to answer the question below:
Fox
Blackbird
Rabbit
Worm
Caterpillar
Grass
How many different food chains can you find in this food web?
There is three.

17. A food web shows the interactions between organisms in a food chain.
FOOD WEBS CONTINUED
A food web shows the interactions between organisms in a food chain.
Use the food web to help you answer the following questions:
What will be the effect on the food web if there are less foxes?
What will happen if the rabbits suffer from a disease and their population reduces in number?
What will be the effect on the population if there are more worms?
What will be the effect on the population if there are more blackbirds?

18. PYRAMID OF NUMBERS E.g. or
A pyramid of numbers is a different way of representing a food chain.
The producer always goes on the bottom of the pyramid. The consumers then go above it.
A pyramid of numbers does not have to be a correct pyramid shape!
Plants to rabbits to foxes
E.g.
Oak trees to beetles to birds or

19. PYRAMID OF NUMBERS
One oak tree feeds 500
aphids which feed 5
blackbirds.
Draw a pyramid of numbers for the following examples:
500 leaves feed 50 worms which feed 3 blackbirds.
100 shrimp feed 20 fish which feed 2 sharks.

20. 2. 100 shrimp feed 20 fish which feed 2 sharks.
PYRAMID OF NUMBERS
500 leaves feed 50 worms which feed 3 blackbirds.
shrimp feed 20 fish which feed 2 sharks.

21. PYRAMIDS OF BIOMASS
Biomass is the weight of living material.
Pyramids of biomass are always the correct shape.
This is because at each trophic (feeding) level organisms use energy for processes such as reproduction, movement and excretion.
Tonnes of krill
Hundreds of char
One seal
This means that some energy is lost between each level.

22. For example, a pyramid of numbers could look like this:
PYRAMIDS OF BIOMASS
For example, a pyramid of numbers could look like this:
2 Blackbirds.
5000 Aphids.
1 Oak tree.
But the pyramid of biomass would look like this:
2 Blackbirds.
5000 Aphids.
1 Oak tree.

23. NUTRIENTS IN A FOOD CHAIN
In a food chain or web the arrows show us the flow of energy from the producers up to the top consumer.
The nutrients in the food are passed up the chain.
At each stage (feeding level) in the chain the organisms use up some of the energy in three ways.
Keeping warm, moving and growing.
Waste products and their bodies are returned to the environment.

24. NUTRIENTS IN A FOOD CHAIN
All animals and plants eventually die and the nutrients that make up their bodies are returned to the ground to rot away.
They also get rid of waste from their bodies as urine and faeces. These fall on the ground and are also returned to the environment.
These nutrients are broken down by DECOMPOSERS and they are ready to be used again by plants.
Decomposers
The nutrients are returned to the soil.

25. CHECK YOUR LEARNING Can plants be classified into groups?
Will there be more organisms in a warm environment compared to a cold one?
Could insects live in a cold environment?
How do we measure population size?
Are there more predators or prey in a food web?
What do the arrows in a food web tell us?
What does a pyramid of numbers tell us about a food chain?
Why is a pyramid of biomass more accurate than a pyramid of numbers?
What happens to the nutrients left at the end of a food chain?

26. CHECK YOUR LEARNING answers
All living things can be classified into groups.
There will be more living things in a warm environment as there is more energy available.
Not many insects can live in a cold environment.
Most are adapted to living in a hot one.
We use a small sample and then multiply this number to get an estimate of size.
There are less predators in a food web.
Arrows tell us the direction of energy flow.
A pyramid of numbers tells us how many of each organism is in the chain.
A pyramid of biomass is more accurate because it tells us the weight of organisms in the chain. The bottom is always the biggest.
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The nutrients in a chain are eventually broken down by decomposers.