Name 3 things you observe about this picture.

What is Ecology?

Ecology is…

• The study of how organisms interact with each other and with their non-living environment.

• The science that tries to answer questions about how nature works—the BIG picture

• The key word is INTERACT

What is an ecosystem?

• All of the organisms living in a geographical area (region) interacting with each other and with the non-living features of their environment.

• Earth is one huge ecosystem!

• A Population is…All of the organisms in an ecosystem that belong to the same species

•A Community is …All the populations (plant and animal) living in an ecosystem

2 PARTS OF AN ECOSYSTEM

•ABIOTIC (NON-LIVING)

•BIOTIC (LIVING)

BIOTIC FACTORS – all living things in the ecosystem and the waste they produce

•All the plants and animals living in the area

ABIOTIC FACTORS (Non-living parts of the ecosystem that affect the species that live there.•Sunlight/shade•Temperature•Precipitation (rain, snow, sleet, or hail)

•Wind•Elevation above sea level•Type of soil

A Habitat is…Place where an organism or a community of organisms lives,including all living and nonliving factors plus the conditions of the surrounding environment.

What is a MICROHABITAT?

Definition: A small specialized habitat within a larger habitat.

Examples: 1. my backyard within the west Katy rice field and pasturelands.

2. a canopy tree within the rainforest

3. a pond within a field

4. this room within the school

What is Photosynthesis?Photo means “light”

Synthesis means “to put together”

The process in which a plant’s chlorophyll traps light energy and sugars are produced.

Radiant energy (sunlight) is converted into chemical energy (food for the plant)

Carbon dioxide + water + light energy = glucose + Oxygen

6CO2 + 6H2O + radiant energy = C6H12O6 + 6O2

carbon + water + sunlight = glucose + oxygen

dioxide

Photosynthesis uses the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere plus water to make glucose (sugar) and oxygen.

Leaves are where most gas exchange takes place.

CHLOROPLAST

Why Photosynthesis is Important to YOU

1. Breathing – plants take in carbon

dioxide (waste product from us) and

releases oxygen that we need

2.Producers – Make own food – We

eat them and we eat the other

animals that eat plants (i.e. wheat,

corn, cows)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo5XndJaz-Y

Let’s watch a quick clip about photosynthesis!

Producers (Autotrophs) – make their own food (photosynthesis)

Consumers (Heterotrophs) – (cannot make their own food) eat other organisms for food

Interactions within the communities

Decomposers* Organisms that break down

dead or decaying organisms

* Eat wastes, dead animals and plants

* Fungi, bacteria, worms

A food chain is one feeding relationship

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZOvqYypOuo

Food Webs are multiple feeding relationships (multiple food chains interconnected)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGODmyXkkPU

Trophic levels

• The trophic level of an organism is its position in a food pyramid, food web, food chain (the sequence of consumption and energy transfer through the environment).

• Trophic levels are easily identifiable on an energy pyramid:

Energy Pyramid

An energy pyramid is a graphical model of energy flow in a community.

Trophic levels

Draw

This!

Where do Humans fit?

* The further up the pyramid, the more an organism has to eat to get the same amount of energy.

* Energy is burned up (used) through activity at each level. Only a percentage of energy is available from one level to the next as you move up the pyramid