1. Living Things in Ecosystems Chapter 2

2. Case Study
Borneo – 1955
World Health Organization used DDT to kill malaria-carrying mosquitoes
Also killed wasps
Wasps eat local caterpillars
Caterpillars ate thatch roofs
DDT infected roaches were eaten by geckos
Gave the geckos nerve damage  slow reflexes

3. Case Study Geckos eaten by house cats
Cats ingested DDT and began to die
Rats moved from forests to town
Fleas live on rats
The fleas carried the bacteria that cause the plague
Healthy cats had to be parachuted into Borneo to deal with rat population

5. What is an Ecosystem?
The dynamic and interrelating complex of plant and animal communities and their associated non-living environment
Communities and their abiotic environment
Examples?
Have no distinct boundaries
Ecotone
Area where two ecosystems overlap
Movement between ecosystems

8. What is an Ecosystem? Has both Biotic and Abiotic factors Biotic
Living parts of an ecosystem
Plants, animals, microorganisms
Complex interactions between them
Abiotic
Non-living parts of an ecosystem
Temperature, sunlight, humidity, water supply, soil type, mineral nutrients

9. Organization Organism Species Population One individual living thing
Animal or plant
Species
A group of organisms that are able to reproduce together
Individuals resemble one another
Population
Individuals of the same species living together in a particular place at a given time

10. Organization Community Ecosystem Biosphere
A group of interacting populations
All populations make up communities
Land communities are dominated by plants
Ecosystem
Biosphere
Areas of planet where life exists
Composed of many ecosystems

12. Niche and Habitat Niche Habitat
All of an organism’s relationships with its environment, both living and non-living
Its “profession”
Reproductive habits
Active time of day
Habitat
The actual place that an organism lives
Its “address”

13. Niches by Location

14. Coastal Niches

15. How Species Interact
Symbiosis:
Predation
One organism kills and eats another
Predator
Prey
Tends to have little effect on prey populations
Predators eat whatever is abundant

16. How Species Interact Competition
When species attempt to use the same limited resource
Animal or plant
Competing species don’t necessarily have to come in contact with one another
Not always competing for food

17. How Species Interact Parasitism
One organism benefits while the other is harmed
Parasite
Lives on or in another organism (the host) and feeds on it without immediately killing it
Tends to weaken the host
Vulnerable to predators

18. Parasites

19. How Species Interact Mutualism Commensalism
A cooperative partnership between two species
Both benefit, neither is harmed
Commensalism
One species benefits while the other is neither helped or harmed