Ecology

 Ecosystems
 Branch of biology
 Living and non-living things
 Things interacting together
Unit title: Ecology
 Key concepts: systems
 Related concepts: transformation and energy
 Global concept: globalisation and sustainability
 Statement of inquiry: Photosynthesis and respiration
form a system of energy transformation between living
things
What is ecology
 Ecology is the study of the way in which organisms
interact with one another organisms and the
environment
Organisms
 An Organism is a living thing
Habitat
 A habitat is the place where a living organism lives
Population
 A population is a group of the same species living together
in a habitat
Community
 A community is a group of living organisms who share
the same habitat

Biotic factors
The living things in ecosystems (the organisms) are the biotic
factors
Examples:
 Animal droppings
 Life/death
 Predators
 Food chain

Abiotic factors
The non-living thing features are the abiotic factors
Examples:
 Light
 Water levels/availability
 Land e.g., countries
 Temperatures

Biosphere
Encompasses all life that exists

Ecosystems
Interactions of living thing and non-living things

Distribution
The spread of a species in an ecosystem

Different types of distribution

  Random: species are distributed all over the habitat
without any visible pattern
 Cluster: species are distributed in specific parts of a
habitat in group
 Uniform: species are distributed equally all over the
habitat

identify the type describe the type of distribution

of distribution
low lying bush uniform the species are species are spread out equally
in the habitat
small burrowing animal cluster the species are grouped together in this
habitat near low lying bush
predator random the species are spread out in the habitat
without any pattern (not equally)

Abundance
Is simply the measure of how many of these species are
present in a particular area

 The more individuals there are the greater their

abundance
 Ecologists cannot always know the absolute numbers in a
population and must apply techniques to make estimate
sample sizes
Food chains

 A food chain is a visual representation of who eats what

 The flow of energy is shown by the direction of the arrow
 All food chains start with a producers
 The producer gets its energy from the sun
 It uses this light energy to make its own food (matter) by
photosynthesis
 Producers are also known as autotrophs
 Then primary consumers feeds on producers
 Consumers gain their food energy by feeding in other
organisms
 Organisms that feed on plants only are called herbivores
 The secondary consumers feeds on primary consumer
 They are called consumers because they consume and feed
on primary consumers
 Organisms that feed on meat ONLY are known as
carnivores
 Therefore, each species is usually involved in serval food
chains and they become interconnect and form a network
called a food web