Environmental Science Chapter 1 Section 1

Living Things and the Environment Ecosystem: All the living and nonliving things that interact in a particular area Ex: Prairie, dense forest, deep ocean, and mountain stream The ecosystem is the type of place an organism Habitat: Specific part of the ecosystem that meets an organism’s needs and in which it lives – where it lives

Living Things and the Environment Habitat examples

Living Things and the Environment Biotic Factors: The living parts of an ecosystem Grass, plants, animals, worms, and fungi Abiotic Factors: The nonliving parts of an ecosystem Water, sunlight, oxygen, temperature, and soil Organisms interact with both biotic and abiotic factors in an environment

Living Things and the Environment Abiotic Factors: Water: All living things require water Our body is made up of 65% water Water is important to plants along with sunlight and carbon dioxide to make food through the process of photosynthesis

Living Things and the Environment Abiotic Factors: Sunlight Necessary for photosynthesis Without sunlight for plants we wouldn’t have oxygen to breathe Oxygen Most living things need oxygen to survive Organisms that live on land obtain oxygen from air Organisms that live in water obtain oxygen from water

Living Things and the Environment Abiotic Factors Temperature The temperature of an area determines the organisms that can live there Ex: Warm tropical island – palm trees, bright hibiscus flowers, and tiny lizards. These organisms could not survive here in Minnesota Some organisms overcome the temperature of their environment by digging dens to hide from the heat and lining their den with grass to keep in warm in the winter

Living Things and the Environment Abiotic Factors: Soil Mixture of rock fragments, nutrients, air, water, and decaying remains of living things Soil will contain different amounts of these components in different areas Type of soil dictates the type of plants that can grow there

Living Things and the Environment Species: Group of organisms that are physically similar and can reproduce with each other to produce fertile offspring Population: All the members of a species living in a specific area Ex: All of the daisies in a field or all of the pigeons in New York City Populations can be large – the whole planet or small like a blade of grass

Living Things and the Environment Community: All of the different populations that live together in an area The prairie includes prairie dogs, hawks, grasses, badgers, snakes, and many other organisms To be considered a community the different populations must interact Levels of organization in an ecosystem Species – most specific or narrow Population Community Ecosystem

Living Things and the Environment Ecology: study of how living things interact with each other and with their environment Ecologists look at how biotic and abiotic factors are related in an ecosystem Study how organisms react to changes in their environment