1. Ecology Notes 1
Whale Book Chapter 2.1

2. What living things are found in and around your school?
What nonliving things are found in your school?
Into what large groups are the students in your school divided?
Into what smaller groups are these large groups divided?
Are these groups ever divided into even smaller groups? If so, what are these groups?

3. What is ecology?
Ecology is the study of the relationships between living things and their environments.

4. What is the organization of living things?
tissues
organs
organ systems
molecules
cells
groups of cells
organism
population
community
ecosystem
biome
biosphere

5. What is the organization of living things?

6. population
A group of the same species of organism living in the same place at the same time
ex.- tree frogs living in the woods behind the school
ex.- mockingbirds in my neighborhood

7. community
The different populations that live in the same place at the same time
ex. frogs, rabbits, squirrels, & mockingbirds in the woods behind the school

8. ecosystem
An ecosystem is a collection of all the organisms that live in a particular place, together with their nonliving, or physical, environment.
Within an ecosystem, there are several levels of organization.
The school and its grounds are similar to an ecosystem.
Ex. frogs, rabbits, squirrels, mockingbirds, water, & rocks in the woods behind the school

9. biosphere all ecosystems on Earth
Includes the land, water, & air where life exists
(from 11 km below sea level up to 8 km above it)

10. What kinds of factors affect ecology?
abiotic factors
and
biotic factors

11. Abiotic factors nonliving factors in an ecosystem
ex. temperature, water, light, minerals

12. Biotic factors living factors in an ecosystem
ex. intraspecific & interspecific interactions between organisms
Intraspecific- between members of the same species
Interspecific- between members of different organisms

17. Abiotic Factors
Biotic Factors
ECOSYSTEM

18. How does an abiotic factor affect food production
How does an abiotic factor affect food production? Green plants carry out the process of photosynthesis. Glucose, a sugar, is one of the products produced during this process. Thus, glucose production can be used as a means for judging the rate at which the process of photosynthesis is occurring. Examine the following graph of a plant called salt bush. It shows how this plant’s glucose production is influenced by temperature.
Name the abiotic factor influencing photosynthesis and describe the influence of this factor on photosynthesis.
Name the biotic factor being influenced.
Based on the graph, describe the type of ecosystem this plant might live in. Explain.
Does the graph tell you how the rate of photosynthesis might vary for plants other than the salt bushes?
Hypothesize why the formation of glucose drops quickly after reaching 30°C.

19. What is a habitat?
The area where an organism lives is called its habitat.
A habitat includes both biotic and abiotic factors.

20. What is a niche?
A niche is the full range of physical and biological conditions in which an organism lives and the way in which the organism uses those conditions. (its job, or way of life)
type of food the organism eats, how it obtains this food, and which other species use the organism as food
when and how it reproduces
Summary video clip 1 and 2

21. Symbiosis
Any relationship in which two species live closely together; “living together.”
Ex- mutualism, parasitism, commensalism
Video clip
Ecological Relationships handout

22. Community Interactions
Mutualism
Commensalism
Parasitism + -