Ecology Word Study

Ecology Word Study

By Georgia Jones

Eco-system

Eco: From the Greek word "oikos," meaning "house" or "environment."
system: From the Latin "systema," meaning "a whole made up of parts."

Meaning: An ecosystem is a community of living organisms interacting with each other and their physical environment.

Open Ended

When you hear the word 'ecosystem,' what comes to your mind?

Multiple Select

Which of the following are components of an ecosystem? Select ALL that apply.

• sunlight

• water

• animals

• buildings

• soil

Open Ended

​Biotic:
Bio-tic
What does the prefix Bio- mean?

Bio-tic

Bio- means life in greek.

So biotic factors are all the organisms that are currently living or were once living. This includes dead plants and animals.

Open Ended

Name 2 things that are biotic.

Multiple Choice

Abiotic

A-bio-tic

What does the prefix A- mean?

• The prefix A- means 'before' or 'prior to'.
• The prefix A- means 'full' or 'complete'.
• The prefix A- means 'not' or 'without'.
• The prefix A- means 'with' or 'together'.

A-bio-tic

By combining a- “without” and bio- “life" we get the combination “without life.”

So abiotic factors are all the nonliving things within an environment. They are the factors that have never been living.

Open Ended

Name 2 things that are abiotic.

Categorize

Options (15)

bird

tree

fish

flower

insect

dead leaves

fungus

bacteria

rock

water

air

sunlight

dirt

temperature

clouds

Organize these options into the right categories

Biotic

Abiotic

Match

The word interdependence can be broken down into 3 parts.

Inter-depend-ence.

Match the different parts of the word to their root meaning.

• inter-

• depend

• -ence

between

to rely on

state or quality

• between

• to rely on

• state or quality

Inter-depend-ence

The word interdependence comes together to show how living things (like plants and animals) depend on each other in ecosystems. For example, a bird may rely on a tree for shelter and nesting, while the tree benefits from the bird by having its seeds spread to new locations. This relationship is important because it helps keep the ecosystem balanced and healthy.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is an example of interdependence?

• A fish swimming in a pond without any other species.
• A tree growing in isolation without any plants nearby.
• A lion hunting alone in the savannah.
• A bee and a flower relying on each other for survival.

​Hierarchy is a term that describes how different groups are organized by levels of complexity.

Hier-: This part comes from the Greek word "hierarchēs," which means "sacred" or "holy." In the past, it often referred to leaders in religious groups.
-archy: This part comes from the Greek word "archia," which means "rule" or "government." It refers to how things are managed or organized.

The word hierarchy combines these parts to show a system where things are ranked or ordered. In ecology, we can think of hierarchy as the way living things are organized in an ecosystem. For example, in a food chain, the sun is at the top, providing energy, followed by plants (producers), then herbivores (primary consumers), and finally carnivores (secondary consumers).

We will be focusing on the levels Ecosystem, Community, Population, and Organism.​

Reorder

Put the photos in order from least complex to most complex.

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2

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4

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Reorder

Put the levels in order from least complex to most complex.

• Organism - an individual of a species

• Population - a group of the same species

• Community - multiple groups of different species

• Ecosystem - a system of the living organisms and the nonliving factors they interact with

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