I:\7th grade\ecology\chapter1\ecology intro notes

Warm up…

1. What is Ecology?

2. What would you call a person who studies ecology?

Who Eats Whom???1. Arrange the cards on your desk in a chain to show

who eats whom.

2. In nature, would you expect to see more cougars, more deer, or more oak trees?

3. Arrange the organisms in order of most to fewest individuals.

4. What might happen to the other organisms if the oak trees were removed? The cougars?

5. Are there any organisms in this group that eat more than 1 kind of food?

•The study of the interactions between organisms and their environment

Biotic Factors: living parts of an ecosystem

Abiotic Factors: non-living parts

• Rain • CO2• Temperature• Rabbit

• Sunlight• Oxygen• Grass

• Mushrooms

• Bacteria• Moss

• Rocks• Cricket

5 Levels of Organization:

Organism

Population

Community

Ecosystem

Biosphere

Warm up…

1. What is the difference between abiotic and biotic? Give an example of each.

2. What is the difference between an organism and a population?

Graph the following to show how populations grow:

1800, 1 billion people

1930, 2 billion people

1960, 3 billion people

1975, 4 billion people

1987, 5 billion people

1999, 6 billion people

1. What does the curve you have drawn indicate about human population growth?

2. Do you think the human population can continue to grow indefinitely?

3. Why or why not?

• Every organism has a niche or a role in an ecosystem

based on how it gets energy.

Producers: organisms that get energy from sunlight and make food.

Ex: plants, plankton, algae, cyanobacteria, some bacteria

Consumers: organisms that eat producers or other consumers.

Primary: eat producersSecondary: eat primary consumersTertiary++: eat secondary consumers, etc.

Consumers can be:

Herbivores: eat only plantsCarnivore: eat only other consumersOmnivore: eat either producers or consumersScavenger: eat dead animals

That’s disgusting!!!!

Cockroaches have survived on Earth for over 300 million

years as the most successful scavenger! Dead

skin, fingernails, shoe polish, and even paint are unlikely food sources for

these animals

Decomposers: organisms that get

energy by breaking down the remains of dead organisms.

Organisms create food chains…

• shows how energy flows from one organism to the next

Warm up…

1. What is the producer in the ecosystem above?2. What is a carnivore in the ecosystem above?3. What is an omnivore in the ecosystem above?

•Complex web of interlocking food chains

… and Food Webs

This shows all of the food relationships in an ecosystem

Warm up…

1. What is the difference between a population and a community?

2. What is the space on Earth where all living things exist called?

Energy Pyramid…

Shows how energy is lost as it is transferred from one organism to the next

Figure this…• Grass (at the base of the energy pyramid)

has 12,000 units of energy available from the sun.

• 10% is lost at each step of the pyramid.• Calculate the food energy stored by each

of the following in the food chain/energy pyramid: grass, rabbits, coyotes

Create…• Create an energy pyramid for a river

ecosystem with 4 levels:– Aquatic plants– Insect larvae– Bluegill fish– Largemouth bass

• Plants have 10,000 units of energy available• Each level uses 90% of what is available

Interactions in an ecosystem…• What factors interact?• Populations cannot grow indefinitely• Carrying capacity

– Limiting factors