1. Chapter 2 Principles of Ecology
Section 2.1
Organisms and their environment

2. Bellringer Quick Write-5 mins
Describe the kinds of organisms you see in your environment everyday.

3. Objectives I can statements
Describe and identify Abiotic and Biotic factors in an environment
Compare the different levels of biological organization and living relationships important in ecology
Explain the difference between a niche and a habitat

4. Why is this important?
Organisms get what they need to survive from their immediate environment
They find food and shelter, reproduce and interact with other organisms
It is important to understand how living things depend on their environments
How are we dependent on our environment?

5. What is Ecology
Ecology is the branch of biology that focuses on the study of interactions that take place between organisms and their environment
Ecologists use descriptive and quantitative data to describe environments
Ecologists obtain quantitative data by making measurements in the field and the laboratory
An ecologist may ask questions about the diets of animals, how day length influences plant growth, the effect of pollution on fish populations.

6. The Biosphere
The Biosphere is the portion of the Earth that supports living things.
Living things can be found in the air (atmosphere), land (lithosphere) and water (hydrosphere) environments.
The biosphere supports a diverse group of organisms in a wide range of environments

7. Abiotic & Biotic Factors
Living things are dependent on Abiotic or Non-living Factors
Water-Preciptation
Gases in the atmosphere and dissolved in water
Oxygen, Nitrogen, Carbon Dioxide,
Air currents
Minerals that make up the soil
Sunlight
Salinity

8. Abiotic Factors
Determine which organisms survive in a particular environment
What changes in a grassland might result from a drought

9. Biotic Factors
Living things are dependent on Biotic factors-all the living organisms that inhabit an environment
Living things affect other living things.
In what ways do living things interact and cause changes in other living things?

10. Levels of Organization
Ecologists Study
Individual Organisms-Level 1
Interactions among organisms of the same species which interbreed and live in the same area at the same time-Population Level 2
Interacting populations of organisms found in a location all the time-Community Level 3
Infer how a change in level 1 might affect levels 2 and 3? Why?
Individual 1
Population 2
Community 3

11. Ecosystems-Biotic and Abiotic Factors Working Together
An Ecosystem is made up of interacting populations in a biological community and the community’s abiotic factors.
There are 2 kind of ecosystems
Terrestrial-those located on land
Forests, meadows and rotting logs
Aquatic Ecosystems
Freshwater-ponds, lakes, streams
Saltwater also called Marine ecosystems
Ocean, Seas, Estuary

12. Organisms in Ecosystems
The place where an organism lives out its’ life is called the Habitat
The bottom of a stream
A specific species of tree
Habitats can change and sometimes disappear
Natural
Human causes
What kind of habitat might have existed here before the city was built?

13. Organisms have jobs too!
Centipedes are predators who capture and eat beetles
The role or position a species has in its environment-how it meets its specific needs for food, shelter, reproduction is called a Niche.
It is not advantageous for 2 species to occupy the same niche in a habitat.
Unique adaptions allow species to coexist in the same habitat.
Earthworm eat organic matter in the soil
Millepedes eat decaying leaves
These ants eat dead insects

14. Homework-Biotic and Abiotic Factors
Observe and take notes on the biotic and abiotic factors in your neighborhood can be your backyard, front yard or local park. Explain the importance of each factor to the community. Identify a single organism, a population of similar organisms and the members of a community in the ecosystem you observe. Infer what might happen if one of the members of the community disappeared.