1. Ecology
…the study of how organisms interact with each other and their environments

2. Like a set of nesting dolls…
We can think about the interactions and types of living things by organizing them into groups, smallest to largest.
A individual (species) includes only one type of organism.
Example: pigeon
A population includes all members of one species that live in the same area.
Example: all the pigeons in Denton
Modify the species/ city here to your own.

3. …bigger and bigger groups!
A community includes all of the different species that live in the same area.
Example: all the pigeons, ants, maple trees, dogs, etc. that live in Denton
An ecosystem includes both the community and the abiotic factors.
Example: the Denton community plus the cars, buildings, rocks, air…
Continue modification of city here.

4. Levels of Organization

5. Levels of Organization
Individual
Population
Community
Ecosystem
Biome
Biosphere
Biome- is a major regional or global community of organisms

6. Abiotic Vs. Biotic Factors
Abiotic Factors
The nonliving environment
Ex.: air currents, temperature, light, moisture, and soil
Determine which species survive in a particular environment
Biotic Factors
The living organisms that inhabit an environment
Ecologists study how biotic factors affect different species

7. Habitats A habitat is the place where an organism lives out its life
It can change or disappear from an area through both natural and human causes

8. Niches
How an organism meets its needs for food and shelter, how it survives, and how it reproduces. It includes abiotic and biotic factors.

9. Niches
In the coastal habitat in Florida there are a number of species of wading birds, each with a unique niche

10. Symbiotic Relationships
Definition: Relationship where 2 species live closely together.
The word symbiosis can be broken down into two parts to determine its meaning.
sym means together (like in the words sympathy and symphony)
bio mean life (like in the words biology and biome)

11. Types of Symbiosis + - Relationship Type Species A Species B Mutualism
Commensalism
Parasitism -

12. Mutualism Relationship where BOTH species BENEFIT!
A + / + relationship.
Bee and a Flower (flower provides food for the bee and the bee helps pollinate the flower.

13. Commensalism
Commensalism is where one species benefits while the second species remains unaffected.
A + / 0 relationship
A bird nesting in a tree. (the nest is up away from predators and it doesn’t benefit or harm the tree)
Barnacles adhering to the skin of a whale

14. Parasitism
Parasitism is the situation where one organism benefits while the other is harmed.
A + / - relationship.
Tick on a human (tick feeds off the blood of the human, and the human can catch diseases from the tick)

15. Predation- an interaction in which one organism captures and feeds on another organism.

16. Competition- occurs when organisms attempt to use an ecological resource in the same place.

17. Food Wed and Food Chains
1. Producer (autotroph)
*can make its own food
*forms the base of the food web
Auto= self; autograph, automatic, automobile, autobiography…how many can your students think of?
troph= feeding

18. Food Webs and Food Chains
2. Consumer (heterotroph)
cannot make its own food
There are several words that describe consumers…
Prey: the hunted
Predator: the hunter
Scavenger: eats dead things
Herbivore: eats plants
Carnivore: eats animals
Omnivore: eats both plants and animals
hetero= different; heterogeneous, heterosexual
troph= feeding

19. 3. Decomposer 4. Detritivore Breaks down dead organisms
Examples: bacteria, maggots, fungi, worms
They complete the circle of life by returning nutrients to the soil
4. Detritivore
Feeds on dead organic material

20. Food Chain
Food Chain- is a sequence that links species by their feeding relationships.
ARROWS represent ENERGY FLOW!

21. Primary producers (organisms that make their own food from sunlight and/or chemical energy from deep sea vents) are the base of every food chain - these organisms are called autotrophs.
Primary consumers are animals that eat primary producers; they are also called herbivores (plant-eaters).
Secondary consumers eat primary consumers. They are carnivores (meat-eaters) and omnivores (animals that eat both animals and plants).
Tertiary consumers eat secondary consumers.
Quaternary consumers eat tertiary consumers.
**Food chains "end" with top predators, animals that have little or no natural enemies**

23. Food webs
Sequence of who eats whom in a biological community (an ecosystem) to obtain nutrition
Again….ARROWS represent ENERGY FLOW!!!
Ask students to describe the interactions shown in the food web.

24. Trophic Levels Levels of nourishment in a food chain.
Energy glows UP the levels from the lowest to the highest.

25. RULE OF 10
Only 10% of energy
is transferred from one trophic level to the next.
Example:
It takes 100 kgs of plant materials (producers) to support 10 kgs of herbivores
It takes 10 kgs of herbivores to support 1 kg of 1st level predator

26. Biomass
- Dry weight of tissue and other organic matter found in a specific ecosystem - When trophic levels are shown in an energy pyramid, each higher level on the pyramid contains only 10% of the biomass found in the level below it.

27. Cycles Matter is Recycled within and between the ecosystems.
Matter can cycle through the biosphere because biological systems do not use up matter, they recycle it!
Matter is Recycled within and between the ecosystems.
Matter is assembles into living tissues or passed out of the body as waste.
**Just think, with every breath you take, you inhale hundreds of oxygen atoms that might have been inhaled by dinosaurs millions of years ago!!**

28. The Water Cycle Plants and animals need water to live
Natural processes constantly recycle water throughout the environment
Animals breathe out water vapor, return water to the environment through urination
Plants pull water from the ground and lose water from their leaves through transpiration

29. The Carbon Cycle
All life on earth is based on carbon. Carbon is a key ingredient of living tissue.
Begins during photosynthesis in which CO2 gas is converted to carbon molecules
Carbon molecules are then used for energy and growth
As heterotrophs eat plants, they also gain this energy from carbon
When the carbon is used, CO2 is released and returned to the atmosphere

30. Nitrogen Cycle
Lightening and bacteria in the ground “fix” Nitrogen into a form usable by plants.
It is absorbed by plants, through their roots as nitrates, so they can be used to build amino acids essential for building proteins, enzymes and the nitrogen bases of DNA.

31. Phosphorus Cycle All organisms require phosphorus for growth
Phosphorus cycles in two ways
In the short term cycle, phosphorus is found in plants, animals eat plants, they die, and the phosphorus returns to the soil
In the long term cycle, phosphorus is washed into the sea and is incorporated into rock