• What?– Definition: The scientific study of

interactions between organisms and the living and nonliving components of their environment

• Why?– Every organism on the planet is dependent

upon another organism to survive– Many uses

What living and non-living things do you see in the picture?

What would happen if one of those things disappeared?

How is do Earth’s living and nonliving parts interact and affect the survival of organisms?

Everything is connected– Wolves used to keep the deer population in check in NJ.

Farmers Killed Wolves. What was the ramifications of this?

Answer:

Deer Population increased, Deer Ticks increased, ticks bite wild mice, Mice contain the disease Lyme, then if ticks bite humans they can infect humans.

Everything is Connected

The Earth is our Biosphere. It is divided up into many Biomes (or Ecosystems) based on climate, soil and plant & animal life.

Levels of Organization in a Biosphere

Organism- 1 organism (1 Zebra)

Population- includes all the members of a species that live in one place at one time. (20 Zebra)

Community- is all the interacting organisms living in an area. (Zebra, buffalo, Grass, Trees, Plants)

Ecosystem- includes all of the organisms and the non living environment found in a particular place. (Zebra, Buffalo, Grass, trees, Plants, Oxygen, Water, Sunlight etc)

Biosphere- Earth—all the different types of Ecosystems (Biomes) that exist on Earth (Savanna, Rainforest, tundra )

Definition: ecosystems (biomes) that have similar climates and geographical conditions

There are 10 different biomes characterized by the climate and vegetation of the area.

– Definition: consists of all life on Earth and all parts of the Earth in which life exists, including land, water, and the atmosphere.

– The biosphere extends from about 8 km above Earth’s surface to as far as 11 km below the surface of the ocean.

I Love The Earth Song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5BxymuiAxQ&feature=PlayList&p=9E554F2BCE9464C4&index=38

Ecosystem contains both living and non-living things

Biotic Factors- are the living and once living parts of an ecosystem, including plants and animals, and dead organisms too.

Abiotic Factors are the non-living parts of the ecosystem. Ex: Energy, minerals, nutrients, carbon dioxide, water, oxygen

Name some of the biotic and abiotic factors shown in this picture.

Definition: non-living factors Definition: living factors

Examples: Examples:

The place an organism lives

A howler monkey’s habitat is the rain forest. Every habitat has specific biotic and abiotic factors that the organisms living there need to survive. If these factors change, then the habitat changes.

• Describes not only what an organism does, or specifically where it lives, but also how it interacts with biotic and abiotic factors in the environment; the way a species obtains what it needs to survive and reproduce.

• A niche can be referred to as the organism’s job, role or place in its environment.

• Identify your niche. Include the following:– Your environment– Conditions you can tolerate (like)– What and/or who you need in your environment.

• Does your niche interact with anyone else’s?

Leaf cutter antshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emSHL03NkF8

Ways organisms interact______________________

Between SAME and DIFFERENT kinds of organisms Compete with each other for available resources

__________________________Between DIFFERENT kinds of organisms Hunt and kill other organisms to supply their energy needs

__________________________Between SAME kind of organismsLive together and help each other

__________________________: 3 kindsBetween DIFFERENT kinds of organisms live in close association with another kind of organism

COMPETITION

PREDATION

SYMBIOSIS

COOPERATION

Symbiosis: 1. Mutualism

Any relationship between

two species of organisms

that benefits both species.

• A lichen looks like a plant, but is actually a mutualistic association between a fungus and either a green algae or a blue-green algae.

• Lichen are very important pioneer species in primary succession because they can break down rock into soil necessary for plants to begin growing.

Another Ex. of Mutualism

Symbiosis: 2. Commensalism

• relationship between two species in which one species benefits and the other neither benefits or harms.

• Often, the host species provides a home and/or transportation for the other species. Ex. Barnacles on a whale

Symbiosis: 3. Parasitism

• Relationship between host and parasite.

• parasite spends a significant portion of its life in or on the living tissue of a host organism and which causes harm to the host without immediately killing it.

Symbiosis

Mutualism

Parasitism

Commensalism

This picture is an example of which of the above?

Barnacle

Species Interaction Video Clips: use with worksheet• Example 1: acacia tree ants (mutualism):

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/kids/animals-pets-kids/bugs-kids/ant-acacia-kids.html

• Example 2: Cordyceps (parasitism): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuKjBIBBAL8

• Example 3: snail vs. parasitic worm (parasitism):• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWB_COSUXMw

• Example 4: anaconda vs. mammal (predation): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDw0NdhK6QU&feature=channel

• Example 5: water buffalo (mutualism): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BEKrc-aXF8&playnext_from=PL&feature=PlayList&p=FB25823F9EA9135D&playnext=1&index=11

• Example 6: daddy long legs vs. aphid: http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/kids/animals-pets-kids/bugs-kids/spider-daddylonglegs-kids.html

• example 7: killer whale for sea lion http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWsN63PRCW8&feature=channel

• example 8: rabbit vs. squirrel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_jGE3kF8N4&NR=1

• example 9: lions vs. hyenas http://www.kewego.co.uk/video/iLyROoaftMFx.html

• example 10: algae and coral: http://planetgreen.discovery.com/videos/blue-august-fearless-planet-coral-and-algae.html

• Great white vs. Fur seal: http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/planet-earth/video-player/video-player.html

• Producers – make energy from the sun• Herbivores- obtain energy by eating only plants (rabbit/deer)• Omnivores, eat both plants and animals (bears)• Carnivores – only eat animals (wolves)• Detritivores- feed on dead matter (earthworm, crows, beetles)• Decomposers – break down organic matter (fungi)• Scavengers consume the carcasses of other animals (vultures)

scavengers

decomposers

Pyramid of Energy Flow

 

A predator is an organism that eats another organism. The prey is the organism which the predator eats. Examples: lion and zebra, bear and fish, and fox and rabbit. Bear and berry, rabbit and lettuce, grasshopper and leaf.

Predator-Prey Relationships

Predator-Prey Relationships

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU8DDYz68kM

Battle at Kruger

Energy moves around within an ecosystem, from factor to factor, as producers and consumers are eaten. The flow of energy in this way is what we call the food chain.

Knowing what you know about what eats what in an ecosystem, make two food chains using the

following lists of organisms:

Terrestrial Food Chain

• Grasshopper• Snake• Mouse• Hawk• Plant

• Phytoplankton (autotrophic)

• Sailfish• Zooplankton

(heterotrophic)• Cod Fish• Killer Whale

Marine Food Chain

*Also…indicate the primary producers and the primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary consumers of each chain.

Food Web

• In real life, food chains are not this simple as several different, but interrelated (connected) food chains combine together into a food web.

• The food chains are interrelated because animals do not eat the same food every meal.

A keystone species is a species whose very presence contributes to a diversity of life and whose extinction would consequently lead to the extinction of other forms of life.

Keystone species help to support the ecosystem (entire community of life) of which they are a part.

Ex. Honeybees: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIUo3STj6tw

Every 3

bites!

Food WEB

Food web

• Looking at the previous food web, name 3 things that happen if alligators were removed from the food web?

• ___________________________

• Name 3 things that would happen if grass was removed from the food web?

• _________________________________