1. Ecology
The study of organisms and the interactions among organisms and between organisms and the environment.

2. Levels of Organization
Individual – one organism

3. Levels of Organization
Species: A group of organisms that can breed to produce fertile offspring.

4. Levels of Organization
Populations: Members of the same species who live in the same area

5. Levels of Organization
Communities: All populations of living organisms that live in the same area.

6. Levels of Organization
Ecosystems: All living organisms and nonliving parts of an area.

7. Levels of Organization
Biome: A group of ecosystems with the same climate and similar communities

8. Levels of Organization
Biosphere = The portions of the planet Earth where life exists.

9. Energy Flow Vocabulary
Autotroph: Any organism that captures energy from sunlight or chemicals.
Examples: Plants, some bacteria
Produces the energy used in ecosystems

10. Energy Flow Vocabulary
Heterotroph: Any organism that captures energy by eating other organisms
Examples: Animals, fungi
Consumes the energy made available by the producers

11. Types of consumers Herbivores: Consumers that only eat autotrophs
Omnivores: Consumers that eat autotrophs and heterotrophs
Carnivores: Consumers that eat only heterotrophs.
Detritivores: Consumers that eat dead matter

12. Food Chains
A food chain is a way to show the flow of energy through an environment.
As animals eat, they take energy from the organism they eat.
The arrows show the transfer of energy.

14. Food Webs
Most ecosytems have many food chains that interact with each other.
A food web is a diagram to show how energy is transferred through a variety of food chains.

15. Trophic Levels
Each step in a food chain or web is a transfer of energy.
The first step is always a producer.
The following step is a primary consumer.
The following step is a secondary consumer.
The following step is a tertiary consumer.

16. Ecological Pyramids
Pyramids show the amount of energy or mass that pass from one trophic level to the next.
Each level passes 10% of the energy or mass on to the next level.
The rest is lost as energy.