1. Topic 4 – Ecosystems & Ecology Statements: A-F
EcoStructure
Topic 4 – Ecosystems & Ecology
Statements: A-F

2. Organization of Life…. “Ecology Style”
Species – organisms that can mate and ___________________________
Population – a group of interacting individuals of _____________ species
Community – a group of __________________ of different species in given ________
Ecosystem – community + _____________________environment
Ecosphere – (biosphere) all of Earth's ____________________

3. Influences on Ecosystems
Abiotic Factors
Biotic Factors
Which factors would affect organisms/ecosystems?
What are some biotic interactions between organisms in ecosystems?

4. Trophic Levels
The position that an organism occupies in a food chain, or a group of organisms in a community that occupy the same position in food chains.

5. Two Main Categories of Trophic Levels
1. Producers (also called ____________ = "self–feeders") make their own food/sugar from compounds in the environment.
Usually by what process?
Some bacteria use what other process?
They then use this sugar to make energy in a process called:
2) Consumers (also called _____________ "other–feeders") get their food/nutrients by feeding on other organisms or their remains.
Use what process to make energy?

6. Types of Consumers
primary consumers: (herbivores) feed directly on ________________________
secondary consumers: (carnivores) feed on ___________________________
tertiary consumers: (top carnivores) feed only on carnivores
omnivores: consumers that feed on __________________________________
scavengers: feed on ________________________ organisms
detritivores: feed on _____________(partially decomposed organic matter, such as leaf litter & animal dung), which makes this material smaller for the decomposers.
Examples:
decomposers: _______________________ dead organisms and return nutrients to ___________________. Examples:

7. Food Chains vs Food Webs
Show the flow of energy in an ecosystem (i.e.: who eats who).
Arrows point in the direction of the flow of energy.
Using the trophic levels, draw a model of a food chain:
A series of interacting and interdependent food chains.
A more accurate account of the interactions in an ecosystem - Why?

8. SYLLABUS DETAILS 4. A&B
4A: Define the Term Trophic Level.
4B: Identify and explain trophic levels in food chains and food webs selected from a local environment.
Use your phones to research examples of a local food chain & food webs.
AQUATIC & TERRESTRIAL
Named Organisms

9. Habitat vs Niche Niche Habitat
The particular set of abiotic and biotic conditions and resources that an organism responds.
“occupation” or role of an organism
2 Types:
Fundamental niche: the full range of conditions and resources in which a species could survive.
Realized niche: the actual conditions and resources in which a species exists due to interactions.
the actual location where an organism lives.
habitat is like "address" of an organism;
Examples:

11. Symbiosis
Interaction between two different organisms living in close physical association.
3 Types: 1. 2. 3.

13. Two Types of Competition – A common demand by two or more organisms.
Interspecific
Intraspecific
Competition between different species
Examples?
Competition between members of the same species.
Examples?
Which type of competition is the most intense? Why?

14. Predator-Prey Relationship
An interaction between two organisms of unlike species in which one of them acts as predator that captures and feeds on the other organism that serves as the prey.
Examples:
Why is parasitism not considered a predator-prey relationship?

15. Predator-Prey Relationship
What kind of graph does a predator-prey relationship cause?
Why does the predator level almost never rise above the prey level?