Biosphere

3

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1 What is Ecology?

Studying Our Living Planet

• Ecology is the scientific study of

interactions among organisms and
between organisms and their
environment, or surroundings.

• Ecology is the study of nature’s

“houses” and the organisms that live
in those houses.

The Biosphere

• The biosphere consists of all life on Earth

and all the parts of the Earth in which life
exists including land, water, and air or
atmosphere.

It extends

8 km
above

earth and

11 km
below
ocean.

Open Ended

What is BIOSPHERE, in your own words?

Interactions and Interdependence

Organisms and their environment are interdependent. These
giraffes could not survive without plants to eat, and the
plants could not grow unless bacteria and other organisms
help recycle nutrients in the water and soil.

Categorize

Options (12)

Living things

Plants

Animals

Rocks

Soil

Mountains

Carbon Dioxide

Nitrogen

Oxygen

Oceans

Lakes

Groundwater

Match the following terms.

Biosphere

Geosphere

Atmosphere

hydrosphere

Levels of Organization

The study of ecology ranges from
individual organisms to populations,
communities, ecosystems, biomes, and
the entire biosphere.

Levels of Organi

zation

• A

biome

is a group of ecosystems that have the

same climate and similar dominant communities.

• An

ecosystem

is a collection of all the organisms

that live in a particular place, together with their
nonliving, or physical, environment.

• A

community

is composed of different populations

that live together in a define area.

• A

population

is a group of individuals that belong

to the same species and live in the same area.

• A

species

is a group of individual organisms similar

to one another.

Biology.com – Activities: Art in Motion

Reorder

Change the following from a single organism to a collection of organisms in chronological order.

• Individual

• Population

• Community

• Ecology

• Biosphere

1

2

3

4

5

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

Biotic and Abiotic Factors

•

Biotic Factor

– any living part of the environment

with which an organism might interact. (animals,
plants, bacteria)

•

Abiotic Factor

– any nonliving part of the

environment. ( sunlight, heat, precipitation, wind)

Categorize

Options (16)

rock

water

sunlight

air

soil

temperature

minerals

tree

flower

fish

insect

fungus

bacteria

bird

spider plant

dry eraser

Sort the following terms into biotic and abiotic categories.

Abiotic (Non-living things)

Biotic (Living things)