1. Building ecological concepts

2. Something that you can´t explain in your own words is unknown Here is a list of concepts that you will need for the next class in biology

3. Clearing our mind Ecology Ecosystem Habitat Niche Community Population Abiotic Biotic Interaction Relationship Three steeps First: write your ideas about each one Don´t worry about making mistakes First: write your ideas about each one Don´t worry about making mistakes Second: Look in the dictionary or use an internet source Last step Write in your own words a new phrase (no copy paste) that gives a clear idea about each concept

4. Concept Ecology: The scientific study of the distribution, abundance and dynamics of organisms, their interactions with other organisms and with their physical environment. Source: http://www.britishecologicalsociety.org Ecosystem: All organisms and the abiotic environment found in a defined spatial area. For an ecosystem to be a useful unit of biological organisation, it is generally assumed to be the collective description of a community and its physical environment. – Source http://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/about-ecology/key-concepts-in- ecology/#sthash.hBXHynM2.dpuf Habitat: Refers to the kind of place where an organism normally lives. It includes the arrangement of food, water, shelter and space that is suitable to meet an organism's needs. You can think of this as the "address" where an organism lives. Habitat is the place a plant or animal lives in Source http://www.nmnaturalhistory.org/BEG/EcoConcepts_IV_SBEC.html

5. Concept Niche: Is the "occupation" of an organism. It defines the role of an organism in an ecosystem It includes the adaptations and strategies a species uses in it’s environment. The sum total of all the resources used by, and the biotic and abiotic conditions suffered by, a species. Each resource (e.g. food, shelter) and condition (e.g. temperature, exposure) forms an axis of a multi- dimensional ‘hypervolume’ that describes the ecological requirements and constraints that allow a species to maintain long-term average population growth. An important distinction exists between a species’ fundamental niche (where it could persist) and its realised niche (where it does persist). – See more at: http://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/about-ecology/key-concepts-in- ecology/#sthash.7afe8gLb.dpuf Community: All species in a defined spatial area or ecosystem, which interact via trophic, competitive, commensal, amensal or mutualistic interactions. Members of a community may interact directly, or indirectly (e.g. apparent competition) if they share interaction links to other species in the community. There is some debate regarding the true scale at which a ‘community’ can be defined as an independent unit of organisation, with no interaction links outside its boundaries. A common obfuscation is to define a ‘sub-community’ (an arbitrarily chosen set of species that are part of a wider community) as a ‘community’ associated with a key species (e.g. the herbivore ‘community’ associated with a certain plant species). – See more at: http://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/about-ecology/key-concepts-in- ecology/#sthash.7afe8gLb.dpuf

6. Concept Population A population is all of the individuals of the same species within an ecological community. Ecologists are interested in the growth of a population, fluctuations in population size, the spread of the population, and any other interactions within the population or between it and other populations. http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/population-ecology-definition-theory-model.html#lesson A population is a subset of individuals of one species that occupies a particular geographic area and, in sexually reproducing species, interbreeds. http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/470416/population-ecology Abiotic factors- There are the nonliving parts of an organism’s environment. Examples include air currents, temperature, moisture, light, and soil. Abiotic factors affect an organism’s life Interaction competition (biotic interaction) competition biotic interaction in ecology, utilization of the same resources by organisms of the same or of different species living together in a community, when the resources are not sufficient. http://global.britannica.com/search?query=interactions+in+ecology Some types of interaction in ecology Competition, comensalism, predation, herbivorism, parasitism, mutualism,

9. Presentation Ecology And debate