1. Organisms and Their Environment
Ecology
Organisms and Their Environment

2. Ecology
Ecology is the study of organisms and how they interact with their environment.
An ecosystem consists of all the living and non-living things in a given area that interact with one another.

3. Some Vocabulary
Communities: many different types of organisms living together in an ecosystem
Populations: a particular species within a community (they are similar and can reproduce)
Habitat: The place in which an organism lives

4. Food and Energy
Producers are the plants that take energy from the Sun and turn it into food.
Consumers get their food by eating plants or organisms that eat plants.
Decomposers get their energy by breaking down dead organisms into simpler substances.

9. GrassAntelope Lion Bacteria
Chains and Webs
Food Chains are strings of organisms that link up together by what they eat
GrassAntelope Lion Bacteria
When food chains overlap they are referred to as Food Webs (It’s never as simple as the example above because there are more producers-consumers-and decomposers involved)

10. The Battle Begins Organisms Compete for their resources
They compete with members of their own species
They compete with other species for food, water, and even things like sunlight
They even compete for mates and the resources needed for reproduction

11. How might it benefit a species to be hunted by predators?
Predation
A predator is any organism that kills and eats another organism
The prey is the organisms that are killed and eaten
How might it benefit a species to be hunted by predators?

12. Organisms in a close relationship that benefits at least one of them
Symbiosis
Organisms in a close relationship that benefits at least one of them
Commensalism – One organism benefits and the other is not affected
Mutualism – Both organisms benefit from the relationship
Parasitism – One organism benefits and one is harmed by the relationship

13. Adapting to the Environment
Adaptation: Evolutionary changes that make organisms better suited to their environment
Natural Selection: Individuals best suited to the environment survive and flourish to successfully reproduce

14. What are some Adaptations?
How have organisms adapted to their climate?
To predators?
To Competition?