1. Friday, June 6, 11:34:02 AM Topic 6 Ecology

2. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM The environment is every living and nonliving thing that surrounds an organism

3. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM Ecosystem describes any portion of the environment

4. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM All the living things in an ecosystem are called biotic

5. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM Non living influences are called abiotic factors

6. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM The specific environment in which organisms live is their habitat

7. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM All the organisms of a species that live in the same area make up a population

8. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM All the different populations are combined to form a community

9. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM Collectively all of the Earth’s ecosystems make up the biosphere

10. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM The fundamental concept of ecology is that all living organisms are interdependent, and they interact with one another and with the physical environment

11. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM Competition is the struggle for resources among organisms

12. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM Factors in the environment that limit the size of populations are known as limiting factors

13. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM Predators kill and eat other organisms

14. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM Prey are killed for food

15. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM The number of organisms of any single species that an ecosystem can support is referred to as its carrying capacity

16. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM DISCOVERY CHANNEL VIDEO CLICK ON PLANET EARTH

17. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM The role that each species plays in the ecosystem is called its ecological niche

18. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM In predator – prey relationships food chains show what eats what

19. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM Photosynthetic organisms make their own food. They are known as autotrophs or producers

20. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM Heterotrophs must acquire food by consuming other organisms. Heterotrophs are also called consumers

21. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM Herbivores are heterotrophs that survive on plant tissues

22. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM Carnivores are heterotrophs that eat other animals

23. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM The wastes and dead bodies of all organisms are consumed by decomposers

24. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM Scavengers are consumers that eat dead organisms they do not kill

25. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM Parasites are organisms that attack other live organisms (called host organisms) but rarely kill them

26. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM Food webs are diagrams that show more complex feeding relationships

27. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM CLICK FOR VIDEO

28. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM Almost all organisms use the solar energy (the sun) in food to power their life processes

29. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM 1000 Calories 990 Calories lost to the environment 10 Calories of plant matter available as food 1 Calorie available as food 9 Calories lost to the environment As energy is transferred, much of it is lost to the environment

30. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM An energy pyramid is a diagram that illustrates the transfer of energy through a food web or chain

31. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM Herbivores Carnivores Producers

32. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM Release of oxygen (photosynthesis) Release of carbon dioxide Dead animals Decomposition nutrients

33. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM CLICK FOR VIDEO

34. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM Biodiversity is a measurement of the degree to which species vary within an ecosystem

35. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM Many species may be lost when natural disasters cause large scale destruction to habitats

36. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM Species can also be lost when humans do not consider the environmental impact of their action

37. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM Endangered species

38. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM Biodiversity also represents one of the greatest resources known to humans. Medicinal herbs and plants are one example

39. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM The series of changes by which one habitat changes into another is called ecological succession

40. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM Climatic changes, natural disasters, and the activities of animals (including humans ) can alter stable ecosystems

41. Friday, June 6, 11:34:32 AM View the process of ecological succession as it occurs in coastal lowlands by clicking on the image below