1. Ecology

2. Ecology is the study of plants, animals and their environment
The environment is everything that surround an animal or plant (for example air, water, rocks and soil)
The habitat is the place where a plant or animal lives

3. Different types of habitat
Each habitat has its own community of organisms
For example hedgehogs, snails, foxes and primroses belong to the Woodland habitat
Crabs, seaweed, shrimps and starfish would be found in the __________ habitat

4. What kind of habitat ?

5. What kind of habitat?

6. What kind of habitat?

7. Interdependence
Animal and plants in a habitat depend on each other for things like food, shelter and pollination
Buttercups depend on bees!
Hedgehogs depend on dead leaves!
Birds depend on trees!

8. Animals Depend on other animals
Foxes need rabbits for food
Rabbits need grass for food
If the grass becomes scarce then rabbits will become scarce so the foxes wont have food either
Everything is connected but it is very important that there is a balance

9. Plants Depend on other Plants
Ivy needs large trees to grow up to get light
Small shade loving plants need large trees for shelter
The large tree needs birds to eat their seeds and spread them around
If one large tree dies this can cause lots of difficulties for other organisms

10. Food Chains A food chain shows how one organism eats another and so on
Food chains must start with green plants because they are the only things that can make food
Green plants are called producers

11. A food chain
Grass Rabbit Fox
Producer Herbivore Carnivore

12. Put the following in the correct order + label producer, herbivore and Carnivore
Woodlouse, Blackbird, Dead leaves
Leaf, Sparrow hawk, slug, thrush

13. Feeding levels
The position of an organism in the food chain is called its feeding level
The first organism is in the first feeding level
The second organism is in the second feeding level and so on…
The first feeding level is always a green plant

14. Decomposers
Organisms that feed on dead animals and plants are called Decomposers
Bacteria, Fungi, earthworms and Dung Beatles are examples of decomposers
Decomposers are very important as they break down dead things and release lots of minerals into the soil

15. Energy transfer in the Food Chain
The Energy in any food chain comes from the sun
Plants have the most energy as they make it from the sun
Herbivores get some energy when they eat plants
Carnivores get some of this energy when they eat herbivores

16. The amount of energy gets less and less as you go up the food chain
To provide enough energy for a fox lots of rabbits are needed and to provide enough energy for rabbits lots of grass is needed
There must be more rabbits than foxes and more grass than rabbits

17. A Food Web Single food chains are rare most are inter-connected
More than one organism eats grass and more than one organism eats slugs
Food webs show these connections

19. Learn the food web in your book page 100

20. Competition
Competition occurs when 2 or more organisms look for the same thing
Plants compete for light, water, minerals and space
Animals compete for food, shelter, territory and mates

21. Adaptations
Adaptations are features that give an organism a better chance of surviving in their habitat

22. The Dandelion
The dandelion has a long root which means it reaches below the short root of grass to get water
Dandelions are able to compete for space because the are able to spread their seeds in the wind

23. Hedgehogs
Hedgehogs have an excellent sense of smell to make them good at finding food
Hedgehogs have spikes to fight off predators
Hedgehogs have a colour which makes them Camouflaged so predators can’t find them easily

24. Conservation and Pollution
Conservation is the protection, preservation and careful use of our natural resources
Our natural resources include land, rivers, seas, plants and animals
If we don’t protect these the environment could be destroyed and plants and animals may become extinct

25. Pollution
Pollution is adding unwanted wastes to the environment causing damage to it
If a poisonous waste builds up it may kill a certain plant or animal
We have seen that all plants and animals are part of a food chain
If one organism is damaged it can be harmful to many other plants and animals
The Balance of Nature can be damaged

26. 3 Types of Pollution
Air pollution : Caused by smoke, dust and harmful gases – most of these come from cars, buses, factories and power stations

27. When fossil fuels are burned they produce gases called carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide
These dissolve in rainwater to form carbonic acid and sulfuric acid
This acid rain damages plants and buildings

28. Soil Pollution
Caused by Pesticides, Artificial fertilisers and Acid Rain
These chemicals sink into the soil and can be absorbed by plants
They the get passed up the food chain and can cause illness
The chemicals can also seep into rivers and cause pollution there

29. Water Pollution
Rivers, Lakes and Seas are polluted by fertilisers, sewage, oil and Detergents
Fertilisers seep into rivers and cause too much plant growth, bacteria populations boom as they feed on dead plants and no oxygen is left for fish

30. Sewage, slurry and Detergents cause harmful algal blooms

31. Oil Spills

32. Waste and Waste Management
Household waste- rubbish
Medical waste – disease
Industrial waste – toxic chemicals
Nuclear Waste - radioactive

33. How do we deal with waste?
Incineration – burning the waste, this can release dangerous gases into the atmosphere, difficulties with location nobody wants to live near an incinerator

34. Landfill- Burying the waste in ground – damages soil, rivers and ground water, attracts rodents, disease causing, bad smell, difficulties as nobody wants to live near landfill sites

36. Recycling
Paper, glass, some metals and plastics can be processed and reused
This reduces damage to the environment