1. Ecosystems
What is ecology?

2. Habitats
An organism obtains food, water, shelter , and other things it needs to live, grow, and reproduce from its environment.
Organism = an individual animal, plant, or single-celled life form (living thing)
Habitat = an environment that provides the things the organism needs to live, grow, and reproduce
Why do different organisms live in different habitats?

3. Biotic Factors
An organism interacts with both the living and nonliving parts of its habitat.
Biotic Factors = the living parts of a habitat
Name a biotic factor in your environment.

4. Abiotic Factors
Abiotic factors = the nonliving parts of an organism’s habitat
Examples: water, sunlight oxygen, temperature, and soil

5. Levels of Organization
Population = all the members of one species in a particular area
Species = a group of organisms that are physically similar and can mate with each other and produce fertile offspring.

6. Levels of Organization
Community = all the different populations that live together in an area
Ecosystems = the community of organisms that live in a particular area, along with their nonliving surroundings

7. Summary
The smallest level of organization is a single organism, which belongs to a population that includes other members of its species. The population belongs to a community of different species. The community and abiotic factors together form an ecosystem.

8. Energy Roles
An organism’s energy role is determined by how it obtains energy and how it interacts with other organisms. Each of the organisms in an ecosystem fills the energy role of producer, consumer, or decomposer.

9. Energy Roles Producers = organisms that make their own food
Example: plants, algae and some bacteria
Energy enters most ecosystems as sunlight
Most producers use the sun’s energy to make food molecules (photosynthesis)

10. Energy Roles
Consumer = an organism that obtains energy by feeding on other organisms
Herbivores = consumers that eat only plants
Carnivores = consumers that eat only animals
Omnivores = consumers that eat both plants and animals
Scavenger = a carnivore that feeds on the bodies of dead organisms

11. Let’s Discuss What do herbivores and carnivores have in common?
What does an ecosystem need in order to allow matter to be recycled?

12. Energy Roles
Decomposers break down wastes and dead organisms and return the raw materials to the ecosystem.
Examples: mushrooms & bacteria

13. The movement of energy through an ecosystem
What is the difference between a food chain and a food web?

14. Example of Ecosystem

15. The movement of energy through an ecosystem
A food chain is a series of events in which one organism eats another and obtains energy.

16. The movement of energy through an ecosystem
A food web consists of the many overlapping food chains in an ecosystem.

17. Energy Pyramid
An energy pyramid shows the amount of energy that moves from one feeding level to another in a food web

18. Draw the pyramid
Decomposers

19. Another Way To Look At It

20. Biomass Pyramid
A biomass pyramid represents the total mass of living organic matter (biomass) at each trophic level in an ecosystem.

21. CYCLES
Matter Cycles

23. WATER CYCLE

24. NITROGEN CYCLE

25. Carbon-Oxygen Cycle

26. The Food Cycle