1. ECOSYSTEM

2. These “spheres” have living and nonliving parts
-The layer around our planet where living things exist
-solid portion (rock, soil, etc)
-liquid portion (oceans, lakes)
-gaseous portion (air)
Biosphere
Lithosphere
Hydrosphere
Atmosphere
These “spheres” have living and nonliving parts
And they are also very large and difficult to study
Ecologists break them into smaller parts

3. - a distinct piece of the biosphere in which living things with each other, and the environment
ECOSYSTEM
interact
Ecosystems vary in size
…from a drop of water
…to the entire ocean
Providing for the smallest of organisms
to the largest
(living things)

4. Terms to be familiar with 
ECOLOGY
- the study of relationships between organisms and their environment
- a place where an organism lives (it’s “home”)
- the way an organism interacts with it’s environment (it’s “job” eg. Bee and flower)
HABITAT
NICHE

5. We classify organisms according to some of their jobs:
PRODUCER
- makes it’s own food by photosynthesis
are “self feeders” or
- eat other organisms for food
are “other feeders or
Note: There are also levels of consumers depending on where you sit in the food chain. Primary consumers eat plants, secondary consumers are the animals that eat the plant eater and so on (see food web)
Plants
autotrophs
CONSUMER
Animals
heterotrophs
Consumers are classified according to their diet:
HERBIVORES
SCAVENGERS
CARNIVORES
OMNIVORES
DECOMPOSER

6. Food Web