Resource Availability

Resource Availability

​Standard 6

7.ECO.6 Analyze and interpret data to predict how environmental conditions, genetic factors, and resource availability will impact the growth of individual organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.

Essential Question

Can you explain how resource availability affects both populations of organism and the ecosystem?

​Ecosystem

• Ecosystem: A community of organisms interacting with the biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living) factors in their physical environment.

​Abiotic Factors

• Definition: Non-living components of an ecosystem, such as water, sunlight, and soil.

• Impact on Ecosystems: Availability of abiotic resources can affect the growth and survival of organisms.

• Ex. Without water, organisms will not be able to survive. All living things require water.

​Biotic Factors

• Definition: Living components of an ecosystem, including plants, animals, and microorganisms.

• Relationship with Abiotic Factors: Biotic factors rely on abiotic resources for survival.

• Ex. Animals depend on water, temperature, and the sun for survival.

Multiple Choice

The specific environment in which all the biotic and abiotic factors in an area interact.

• Ecosystem

• Organism

• Struggle

• Competitive Interaction

Multiple Choice

Which of the following lists contains only abiotic factors?

• water, air, temperature

• grass, air, people

• trees, fish, polar bears

• grass, water, sand

​Resources in an Ecosystem

• Definition of Resources: Anything an organism needs to survive, such as food, water, and shelter.

• Types of Resources: Renewable (e.g., sunlight) and non-renewable (e.g., minerals).

  • Renewable- can be replaced by nature

  • Nonrewable- fixed amount that can't be easily replaced

​Competition for Resources

• Competition: When organisms or populations vie (compete) for the same resources.

• Example: Plants competing for sunlight or animals competing for water.

• Example: Two birds fighting over a worm.

Multiple Choice

A ____________________ Relationship is when two living things "fight" for limited resources.

• Dependent

• Competitive

Multiple Choice

Hawks and owls eat the same type of food and struggle with one another to get their food. What is this an example of?

• Competition

• Biotic factor

• Symbiosis

• Population

Multiple Choice

In an ecosystem, what do organisms and populations with similar needs compete over?

• food

• water

• shelter

• all of the above

​What Affects Population Growth?

Population size depends on:

1. Environment – weather, temperature, or natural disasters.

2. Resources – food, water, and space.

3. Genetics – some organisms are better at surviving or adapting.

• Every environment can only hold so many living things.

• If there’s not enough food or space, some will die or move away.

• This limit is called carrying capacity.

​

​Carrying Capacity

Limiting Factors are things that keep a population from growing too big:

• Not enough food or water

• Too many predators

• Disease

• Not enough space

​

​Limiting Factor

Multiple Choice

What is a limiting factor?

• Factors that always increase a population

• Factors that always decrease a population

• Resources that are unlimited

• Factors/resources that limit how many organisms can live in an area at the same time

Competition

• Interspecies Competition - members of the different species in an ecosystem compete for limited resources such as water, food, shelter, & mates

• Intraspecies Competition- members of same species in an ecosystem compete for limited shared resources such as food, shelter, water

Multiple Choice

What type of species interaction is the following: two bears fighting over the same mate. 

• predation 
• mutualism 
• competition 
• parasitism 

Multiple Choice

What type of competition does this picture show?

• Interspecific
• Commensialism
• Intraspecific
• Friendly

Fill in the Blanks

What type of relationship is shown in the picture?

Predator-Prey Relationship

• A predator is an organism that eats another organism.

• The prey is the organism which the predator eats.

• Predator and prey often coevolve together.

• Predator and prey relationship is dependent on each other.

Predator-Prey Cycles

• There is a close relationship between the population of predators and prey.

• When the prey population increases, the predator population will increase in the coming years.

• The increase in predators will cause the prey population to go down.

Multiple Choice

What is a predator-prey relationship?

• A predator-prey relationship is a symbiotic interaction between two organisms, where both organisms live together and depend on each other for survival.

• A predator-prey relationship is a mutualistic interaction between two organisms, where both organisms benefit from each other.

• A predator-prey relationship is a biological interaction between two organisms, where one organism (the predator) hunts, kills, and consumes the other organism (the prey) for food.

• A predator-prey relationship is a competitive interaction between two organisms, where both organisms fight for the same resources.

Multiple Choice

How does predation affect the population size of the prey species?

• Predation only affects the population size of the predator species.

• Predation increases the population size of the prey species.

• Predation has no effect on the population size of the prey species.

• Predation reduces the population size of the prey species.

Multiple Choice

When predator numbers decrease, prey numbers ____________ because fewer of them are being consumed.

• decrease
• increase
• stay the same
• divide in half

Multiple Choice

A frog eats a fly. The frog and fly are demonstrating ________.

• mutualism
• competition
• predator/prey
• parasitism

Multiple Choice

A bear catching and eating a salmon from a river is an example of...

• predation

• commensalism

• mutualism

• parasitism