Ecology Part 1Standard 6

Stability in an Ecosystem is a Balance between Competing Effects

Vocabulary

Create a flashcard or foldable (2) for the following words. Include the word, definition, and quick picture for each:

Ecosystem

Population

Immigration

Water cycle

Carbon cycle

Nitrogen cycle

Abiotic Factor

Biotic Factor

Decomposers

Producers

Food web

Energy pyramid

Biodiversity

Habitats

What is Ecology??

Ecology is the scientific study of interactions among organisms and between organisms and their environment/surroundings.

The BIOSPHERE contains all of the life on the planet and there are smaller groups within the biosphere.

Levels o

f O

rgan

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Levels of Organization

SPECIES is a group of organisms so similar to one another they can breed and produce fertile offspring.

Populations are groups of individuals that belong to the same species and live in the same area.

Communities groups of different species that live together.

An ecosystem is a collection of all the organisms that live in a particular place including the non-living environement

A biome is a group of ecosystems that have the same climate and dominant communities

The biosphere encompasses all of these items.

Video Clip—Levels of Organization

2Facts from the clip

Energy Flow SUNLIGHT is the main energy source for life on

Earth! PRODUCERS are AUTOTROPHS or organisms

that make their own food. Plants use PHOTOSYNTHESIS to process

sunlight into carbohydrates (sugar) Organisms who cannot use light use a

process called CHEMOSYNTHESIS to produce carbohydrates from chemical reactions (bacteria)

CONSUMERS or HETEROTROPHS are other organisms that cannot gets its energy directly from the environment but instead eat the autotrophs for energy.

Feeding Relationships

ENERGY flows through an ecosystem in one direction: from the sun to the autotrophs to various heterotrophs.

The energy stored by producers can be passed through an ecosystem when eaten by a heterotroph. This can be described in a FOOD CHAIN.

Mouse

FOOD WEBS

In most ecosystems feeding relationships are more complex and varied than can be shown in a simple food chain.

A FOOD WEB shows the complex interactions of multiple organisms in an ecosystem.

Food Web; simple

Food Web; Complex!

INTERACTIVE

Each group will receive an animal…

Create a food web!

Trophic Levels

Each step in the food chain or web is called a Trophic level

Producers make up the first trophic level, consumers make up the second, third, or higher levels.

Each consumer depends on the trophic level below it for energy

Ecological Pyramids

Energy Pyramid

Biomass Pyramid

Energy Pyramids

Only about 10 percent of the energy available within one trophic level is transferred to organisms at the next trophic level.

The higher up in the pyramid, the less energy that remains from the original amount within the producers.

Lion King Recap

Recycling in the Biosphere

Water Cycle Carbon Cycle

Nitrogen Cycle

Phosphorous Cycle

Brainpops!

Write down 3 facts per cartoon.

Pass the Pen

Investigating Chemical Cycles