Ecology Unit Notes

● An organism’s energy role is determined by how it obtains food and how it

interacts with other organisms.
● Each of the organisms in an ecosystem fills the energy role of: producer,
consumer and decomposer.
● Energy enters most ecosystems as sunlight. An organism that can make its own
food is called a producer. They are the source of all food in an ecosystem.
● An organism that obtains energy by feeding on other organisms is called a
consumer. Consumers are classified by what they eat: herbivore - eat plants
only, carnivore - eat meat only, and omnivore - eats plants/meat.
● A scavenger is a carnivore that feeds on the bodies of dead organisms.
● An organism that breaks down biotic wastes and dead organisms and return the
raw materials back into the ecosystem are known as decomposers.
Decomposers are known as “nature’s recycler”. They obtain energy by breaking
down the dead organisms.
● Energy moves through an ecosystem when one organism eats another. This
movement of energy can be shown as food chains, food webs and energy
pyramids.
● A food chain describes how energy moves in an ecosystem.

Sunlight → producers → primary consumer → secondary consumer → decomposer

● A food web consists of multiple overlapping food chains inside an ecosystem. Be

familiar with the food web on page 47.
● An energy pyramid shows the amount of energy that moves from one feeding
level to another in a food web.
● The most energy is available at the producer level of the pyramid. As energy
moves upward the pyramid, each level has less energy available than the level
below.
● Only 10% of the energy at one level of a food web is transferred to the next level.
Most of the energy (90%) at each level is converted to heat. Be familiar with the
energy pyramid on pg 48.
● A biome is a group of ecosystems with similar climates - similar amount of
precipitation and average annual temperatures - and organisms. There are six
major terrestrial (land) biomes: desert, rain forest, grassland, deciduous forest,
boreal forest (taiga) and tundra.
● There are two major aquatic (water) biomes: freshwater and saltwater. All aquatic
ecosystems are affected by the same abiotic factors: sunlight, temperature,
oxygen and salt content.
● Sunlight is an important factor in aquatic ecosystems because it is necessary for
photosynthesis in the water just like on land. Photosynthesis can only occur near
the surface or in shallow water because water absorbs sunlight.
● Half of the oxygen produced on Earth comes from floating algae called
phytoplankton.
● An estuary is found where fresh water of a river meets the salt water of an ocean.
● Know each zone on the ocean: intertidal zone, neritic zone, surface zone and
deep zone. Pg 70.

●
● Desert - a dry region that on average receives less than 25 centimeters of
precipitation per year (some of the driest deserts may not receive any
precipitation in a year) Some deserts undergo large changes in temperature
during the course of a day, high temperatures during the day - below
temperatures at night.
● Rainforest - are forests in which large amounts of rainfall year-round. Both rain
forests: temperate rainforest and tropical rainforest are wet environments with
lots of plants and animals.
● Temperate Rainforests​ - located in Northern California, moderate temperatures
and huge trees. Tropical rainforests only cover a only part of our planet, but they
contain more species of plants and animals than all the other biomes combined.
● Tropical Rainforests ​- are closer to the equator causing it to have humid and
hot temperatures. Tropical rainforests’ trees form several distinct layers:
emergent layer, canopy, understory and forest floor.
● ​Grassland​ - One type of grassy plain called prairies. Prairies receive more rain
than deserts, allowing for a rich soil to support the tall grasses. Another kind of
grassland is called a savanna. A savanna is located closer to the equator, and
receives only 120 cm of rain each year. The largest herbivores such as
elephants, bison, antelopes, giraffes, etc. have a home in the grassland biome.
● Deciduous Forest Biome​ - temperatures vary greatly, trees in this forest shed
their leaves and grow new ones each year. Oak and maple are examples of
deciduous trees.
● Boreal Biome (Taiga)​ - dense forests found in the upper regions of the Northern
Hemisphere. Many trees in the boreal forests are coniferous trees.
● Tundra Biomes ​- It is extremely cool and dry, most of the soil in the tundra is
frozen all year (permafrost).
● Freshwater Biomes​ - Only 3% of water covered by Earth is freshwater. There
are four types of freshwater biomes: streams, rivers, lakes and ponds.
○ Streams/rivers are called flowing water ecosystems. Limited amounts of
plants and animals can survive in a flowing water ecosystem.
○ Lakes/ponds are called standing water ecosystems. Usually ponds are
smaller and shallower than lakes. A lot of algae and plants grow in
lakes/ponds because a lot more sunlight can pass through the water.

● Saltwater Biomes​ - extremely large biome that consists of different ecosystems

within each zone; especially the coral reef located in the neritic zone. The
intertidal zone is extremely important to marine ecosystems because the
producers (plants) produce oxygen and are food for other organisms.