ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

Interconnectedness
JS GERMAN JR
Today's Discussion
Learning Outcomes

Understand the interdependence and

interconnectedness of the abiotic and biotic
factors in an ecosystem
Differentiate the interrelationships of organisms
Relate the concepts of food and energy flow to the
trophic levels
Today's Discussion
Topic Outline

Introduction
Environmental Components: Abiotic Factors
Environmental Components: Biotic Factors
Ecosystem Roles
Energy Flow
Food Chains and Food Webs
Key Takeaways
What is science that deals with the way organisms
interact with one another and with the
Ecology ? nonliving surroundings
An ecosystem is a community of organisms
interacting with other organisms while at the
same time interacting with the non-living
environment
Abiotic and Biotic components
 Energy
Environmental Non-living matter

Components: Processes that involve the interactions

between non-living matter and energy

Abiotic Factors
Abiotic Factors
Energy

Sun is the primary source of energy in an

ecosystem
The amount of living matter that can exist in an
area is determined by the amount of energy
plants, algae and bacteria can collect
Abiotic Factors
Non-living matter

Atoms of elements such as carbon, nitrogen,

phosphorus
Molecules including water

Eventually returned to the environment

Abiotic Factors
Habitat

Physical structure as well as the geographic

and topographic location of the space that an
organism inhabit
Habitats exist at various geographic scales and
form part of the hierarchy of ecological
structures
Hierarchy of
Ecological
Structures
Abiotic Factors
Climatic and Edaphic Factors

Climate reflects the prevailing weather patterns in

an area covering a certain duration of time
Daily and seasonal changes are the products of
temperature changes influenced by sunlight
Wind is an effect of temperature differences
Solar radiation affects water cycles
Precipitation in the form of rain, snow, hail or fog
Soil quality and formation are influenced by
seasonal precipitation patterns, in addition to the
prevailing weather patterns, local topography and
the geologic history of the region
 Include all forms of life with which it
Environmental interacts

Components: Can be categorized as

Producers

Biotic Factors Consumers

Decomposers
Biotic Factors

Producers Consumers Decomposers

Include plants animals that eat bacteria and fungi
that carry out other organisms that cause decay
photosynthesis
Types of Predation
Competition
Ecological Symbiosis
Parasitism
Relationships Commensalism
Mutualism
Predation
Occurs when when one
organism known as a
predator, kills and eats
another organism known
as the prey
Competition

Occurs when two

organisms do every
possible means to obtain
the same limited resource

Interspecific vs
Intraspecific

Competitive Exclusion
Parasitism
Symbiotic relationship
where one organism
(parasite) lives in or on
another organism (host)
from which it derives
sustenance
Commensalism
Symbiotic relationship
where one organism
benefits while the other is
unaffected
Mutualism
Symbiotic relationship
involve both species
benefiting from the
interaction
Ecosystem Producers
Consumers
Roles Decomposers

Niche refers to the functional role of an

organism in an environment
Ecosystem Roles

Autotrophs Heterotrophs Decomposers

Photoautotrophs Also known as
Chemoautotrophs saprophytes
Types of Heterotrophs
Herbivores directly consume plants
Carnivores kill and eat animals
Omnivores eat both animals and plants
Detritivores eat meat but often gets it from
animals that died by accident or were killed by
other animals
Parasites live in or on another organism and gets
food from it
Energy
Flow
Food Chains Food chain is the passage of energy from
one trophic level to the next resulting from
and Food Webs one organism consuming another
Food webs are overlapping and
intersecting food chains where each
organism is likely to be a food source for
several other kinds of organisms.
Food
Web
 Every species was created to interact with each other and has been
doing so from the moment it existed in order to survive.
syawaekaT yeK
An ecosystem is a community of organisms interacting with one
another while at the same time interacting with the nonliving
environment, resulting in a self-sustaining system which uses energy
and cycled materials.
The sun is the primary source of energy which all organisms can derive
directly or indirectly. Other essential requirements for all forms of life
are atoms of certain elements and molecules such as water to maintain
and sustain themselves.
In the second law of thermodynamics where energy, while being
transformed from one form to another, some of the energy converted is
lost as low-quality heat, and generally happens every time energy
passes from one trophic level to the next
END OF DISCUSSION

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