1. Ecology
Use the image above to make a list of all the things you can think of in a pond ecosystem.

2. Interactions of Living Things
Ecology = the study of interactions of organisms with one another and with their environment.
2 parts to an environment:
Biotic = all of the organisms that live together and interact with one another
Abiotic = consists of the non-living parts of the environment (water, soil, light, temperature, and weather)

3. Organization in the Environment

4. Population = a group of organisms of the same species that live together in a specific geographical area.
Community = all of the populations of species that live in the same habitat and interact with each other.

5. Ecosystem = a community of organisms AND their abiotic environment.
Includes temperature, air, precipitation, and soil characteristics
Biosphere = the part of Earth where life exists.
Extends from the deepest parts of the ocean to high in the air where plant spores drift

7. Living Things Need Energy to Survive
All living things can be divided into three groups based on how they get their energy:
1. Producers
Organisms that use sunlight directly to make food through a process called Photosynthesis.
Include plants, algae, plankton and some bacteria

8. 2. Consumers: Organisms that eat other organisms
Herbivore = A consumer that eats only plants
Carnivore = A consumer that eats animals
Omnivore = A consumer that eats both plants and animals
Scavenger = Omnivores that eat dead plants and animals

9. Primary Consumers
Feed on producers
Secondary Consumers
Feed on primary consumers
Tertiary Consumers
Feed on secondary
consumers

10. 3. Decomposers
Organisms that get energy by breaking down dead organisms.
Bacteria and fungi
Are often called “Nature’s recyclers” because they remove stored energy from dead organisms and return those nutrients back into the environment.

11. Food Chain = a diagram that shows how
Food Chain = a diagram that shows how energy in food flows from one organism to another

12. Food Web = a diagram that shows the feeding relationships between organisms in an ecosystem.
Energy moves in a
one-way direction!

13. Energy Pyramids
Diagrams that show an ecosystem’s loss of energy. They have a large base and a small top.
Less energy is available at higher levels because only energy stored in the tissues of an organism can be transferred to the next level.

14. Types of Interactions Between Organisms
1. Competition
When 2 or more individuals or populations try to use the same resource, such as food, water, shelter, space, or sunlight
These resources are in limited supply in the environment so their use by one individual or population decreases the amount available to other organisms.
Competition exists between organisms of the same population. Competition also exists between different populations of organisms.

15. 2. Predators and Prey Prey = the organism that is eaten
Predator = The organism that eats the prey by catching and killing it
Predators help to reduce the size of prey populations by catching and eating prey.
Eating and avoiding being eaten are important to survival and are a driving force behind many adaptations
Speed, agility, camouflage, acute senses, poison, claws, teeth, etc

16. 3. Symbiosis = a close, long term association between 2 or more species
1. Mutualism = both organisms benefit from the symbiotic relationship
Example: Humans and bacteria living in the large intestine
Example: Clownfish and Sea Anemone

17. Plover and Crocodile

18. 2. Commensalism = a symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits and the other is unaffected (unharmed)
Example: a shark and a remora

19. 3. Parasitism = a symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits while the other is harmed
Parasite = organism that benefits
Host = organism that is harmed
Most parasites don’t kill their hosts because they depend on them to survive.
Examples: tapeworms, ticks, fleas