Ecology

Ecology: study of how living things interact with each other & with their environment.

Producer: makes its own food

Consumer: feeds on other organisms

•Herbivore: eats plants (rabbit, cow, elephant)•Carnivore: eats meat (wolf, cat, snake)

• Scavenger: feeds on already dead organisms (vulture, crab)

•Omnivore: eats both plants & animals (human, bear, crow)

Decomposer: also called detritivores• break down wastes & dead organisms

• return raw materials to the environment

(fungi, insects, worms)

Food Chain: series of events in which one organism eats another & obtains energy

• 1st in series = the producer

• Next = first level consumer (which eats a producer)

• Next = second level consumer (which eats a 1st level consumer, etc.)

Predator and Prey https://youtu.be/CsfJL-IIVz4

The arrow points towards the mouth it feeds.

Food Web: consists of many overlapping food chains

• Most animals eat or are eaten by more than one thing

Energy Flow in EcosystemsThe flow of energy can be represented by an energy pyramid.

An energy pyramid shows the amount of energy that moves from one feeding level to another in a food web. It loses energy as it goes up. Only 10% of energy goes to next level.

Amoeba Sisters: Food Webs and Energy Pyramids: Bedrocks of Biodiversityhttps://youtu.be/-oVavgmveyY

Biomes

Biomes are a large group of ecosystems determined by temperature and amount of precipitation.

These abiotic factors largely determine what kinds of plants grow in an area which, in turn, provides niches for different animals.

Organisms in that biome are adapted to that environment.

Interactions within Ecosystems Reading*BE AWARE: The first page was stapled on backwards. Directions: 1. Read the text and answer the questions on the side as you read. There are 10 questions

you need to answer throughout the text. 2. Answer questions 1-3 on the last page (p. 322). 3. Complete the Ecosystems Lesson Outline. 4. Title a piece of paper ECOLOGY. Find the following definitions in the text you have been

given and record them in your notes: ● Biotic, ● abiotic, ● ecosystems, ● habitats, ● populations ● communities, ● niche ● aquatic, ● terrestrial, ● predation

The Wolves and Moose of Isle Royale