How do water, sunlight, wind, soil, rocks, and temperature affect organisms? Water – 1. Organisms can die from lack of water – desiccation 2. Organisms that live in salt water cannot survive in fresh water, and vice versa – the salinity of the water is important

This little guy hides underground to stay cool, and he even has a way of getting water from dry seeds! Amazing.

This guy has no leaves, so he doesn’t lose water. He even has enough storage space that he can survive a drought using water from just one rain fall.

Plants that don’t receive enough sunlight can’t photosynthesize.

Wind can cause water to evaporate faster, and impair plant growth.

The pH, structure, and minerals in soil and rocks controls what can grow on and around them.

At low temperatures… water in cells freezes. As a result, cells rupture. At high temperatures … proteins get denatured.

As a result, only certain organisms can live in certain ecosystems, depending on the abiotic factors that are present there.

Relationships Among Organisms In relationships, organisms can benefit (+), be harmed (-), or not be affected (0).

What’s an example of a relationship in which both animals benefit? Flowers and their pollinators

Birds eat the bugs from hippos – they get food, the hippos get clean

When both organisms benefit, the relationship is called “mutualism.” (+/+)

Sometimes, one organism benefits while another is not affected. This is called commensalism. (+/0) The clownfish hides in the sea anemone and receives protection. The anemone is not affected.

The cattle egret spends time in the grasses around cattle. When the cattle move, they rustle up bugs, which the egret eats.

When one organism benefits and the other is harmed, we call that parasitism. (+/-)

When one organism hunts and kills another, that’s called predation. (+/0)

Competition is when organisms compete for territory, food, mates, or other resources.