Ecology-Relationships

Ecosystems: Understanding Nature's Connections

S7L4
Learning Target: I can explain the interconnectedness of an ecosystem.

Ecology

Ecology is the study of the interactions of living organisms with their environment.
One core goal of ecology is to understand the distribution and abundance of living things in the physical environment.
Ecologists ask questions across four levels of biological organization—organism, population, community, and ecosystem.

• ​organism level, ecologists study individual organisms and how they interact with their environments.

• population and community levels, ecologists explore, respectively, how a population of organisms changes over time and the ways in which that population interacts with other species in the community.

• ecosystem level examine the living species (the biotic components) of the ecosystem as well as the nonliving portions (the abiotic components), such as air, water, and soil, of the environment.

What Makes Up an Ecosystem?

Two main components:

• Biotic factors: All living things (plants, animals, bacteria)

• Abiotic factors: Non-living elements (water, air, soil, sunlight)

An ecosystem is a community where living things interact with each other and their environment

Multiple Choice

The living portions of the ecosystem.

• Biotic factors
• Abiotic factors

Multiple Choice

The nonliving aspects of an ecosystem.

• Abiotic factors
• Biotic factors

Multiple Choice

What are the Abiotic factors in this image? 

• water, sunlight, dirt, air
• birds and plants
• birds, water, dirt
• plants, water

Types of ecosystems

The two basic types of ecosystems are terrestrial (on land) and aquatic (in water) These are further separated into specific Biomes.

Key Terms

• biome: any major regional biological community such as that of forest or desert

• ecotone: a transition area between two adjacent ecosystems

• habitat: a specific place or natural conditions in which a plant or animal lives

• population: a collection of organisms of a particular species, sharing a particular characteristic of interest, most often that of living in a given area

• ecosystem: a system formed by an ecological community and its environment that functions as a unit

Multiple Choice

A collection of organisms that make up a community as well as all of the nonliving aspects of the environment.

• Population
• Community
• Habitat
• Ecosystem

Multiple Choice

• any major regional biological community such as that of forest or desert

• Biome

• Community
• Habitat
• Ecosystem

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• a specific place or natural conditions in which a plant or animal lives

• Biome

• Community
• Habitat
• Ecosystem

A series of Relationships

As we study the ecosystems throughout the world- we will focus on RELATIONSHIPS between organisms and their environment.

Terms to know:
Ecological Relationship: the interaction between different organisms within an ecosystem, where one organism affects the survival, growth, or distribution of another
Symbiotic Relationship: a long-term biological interaction between two different species of organisms.

Look for: predation, competition, mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism;

Predator and Prey Relationships

Key Points

• Helps control population sizes

• Creates food chains and food webs

• Examples: Hawks hunting mice, wolves hunting deer
  • Population balance: When predators decrease, prey increases

Predator: Animal that hunts other animals

Prey: Animal that gets hunted

​PREDATION

Multiple Choice

A tiger kills a deer for dinner. What is the deer?

• Predator

• Prey

• Mutualist

• Parasite

Multiple Choice

A bear fishes for salmon. What is the bear?

• Predator

• Prey

• Mutualist

• Parasite

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In this relationship, one organism hunts, kills, and eats the other organism.

• Mutualism

• Commensalism

• Predator-Prey

• Parasitism

Competition and Mutualism

Mutualism: Both organisms benefit

• Bees and flowers

• Clownfish and sea anemones

• Birds eating parasites off large animals

Competition: When organisms fight for the same resources

• Food, water, space, or sunlight

• Can happen between same species or different species

• Example: Trees competing for sunlight

Multiple Choice

A lion and a pack of hyenas are fighting for food that the lion killed. What is happening here?

• Mutualism

• Commensalism

• Predator-Prey

• Competition

Multiple Choice

This is when both organisms in the relationship are benefiting from their interaction.

• Mutualism

• Parasitism

• Commensalism

• Predator-Prey

Multiple Choice

Plants on the bottom of the forest floor do not get as much sunlight when they grow near tall trees. What type of relationship is this?

• Mutualism

• Commensalism

• Competition

• Parasitism

Multiple Choice

The Egyptian plover eats the scraps out of the Nile Crocodile's mouth. The plover benefits because it gets a meal. The Crocodile benefits because its mouth gets cleaned. This is an example of...

• Mutualism

• Parasitism

• Commensalism

• Predator-Prey

Multiple Choice

In this relationship, organisms fight for resources necessary for survival. It could be things like food, water, space, light, or mates.

• Predator-Prey

• Mutualism

• Parasitism

• Competition

Parasitism and Commensalism

Commensalism: One benefits, other unaffected

• Example: Birds nesting in trees

• Barnacles on whales

• Orchids growing on tree branches

Parasitism: One benefits, one is harmed

• Parasites live on or in a host

• Examples: Ticks, tapeworms, fleas

• Host provides food and shelter

Multiple Choice

Vines grow on a tree. The vines get light but the tree is not affected. What kind of relationship is this?

• Competition

• Mutualism

• Commensalism

• Parasitism

Multiple Choice

In this relationship, one organism benefits, and the other is harmed in an interaction.

• Mutualism

• Commensalism

• Parasitism

• Predator-Prey

Multiple Choice

In this relationship, one organism benefits and the other doesn't get anything.

• Mutualism

• Commensalism

• Parasitism

• Predator-Prey

Multiple Choice

A tapeworm can get into animals (including humans) by eating undercooked or raw beef, pork, or fish from an animal that was infected. The tapeworm benefits by taking nutrients from the host, who is harmed. This is an example of...

• Mutualism

• Parasitism

• Commensalism

• Predator-Prey