EcosystemsChapter 2

Mr. Sierra

What is an “Ecosystem”? All the different organisms living in a

certain area, along with their physical environment.

This includes: Biotic & Abiotic Factors

Chapter 2 - Section 1

Biotic =Abiotic =

Chapter 2 - Section 1

Living ThingsNon-Living Things

Link to Prezi: Click Herehttp://prezi.com/xqmuenp1d5ex/ecosystems/

1. Individual Organism2. Population3. Community4. Ecosystem5. Biosphere

Biosphere

Chapter 2 - Section 1

Niche vs. Habitat Niche: an organism’s way of life

Habitat: the actual place where an organism lives

Biomes: regions that have distinctive climates and organisms – may contain many separate but similar ecosystems.

Chapter 2 - Section 1

Species Interactions

Chapter 2 - Section 2

Interaction Definition Examples

Competition Two or more organisms of the same or different species attempt to use the same limited resource.

Oak trees and maple trees competing for light.Fish and Frogs eating bugs in the water.

Predation/Parasitism

Organisms that live in or on another organism and feed on it without immediately killing it. (One species benefits, one is harmed.)

Predation: wolf and rabbitParasitism: flea and wolf

Mutualism A cooperative partnership between two species in which both species benefit. - (also called symbiotic relationships)

Insect pollination of flowers

Commensalism A relationship in which one species benefits and the other is neither harmed nor helped.

Birds on the back of a rhinoceros.

Amensalism/Allelopathy

One species harms another (typically by releasing a chemical or toxic

substance), but is not affected itself. affects the development and growth of neighboring plants.

Eucalyptus & Black Walnuts

http://www.learner.org/courses/envsci/unit/text.php?unit=4&secNum=7

“Survival of the Fittest”

Chapter 2 - Section 3

Natural SelectionThe unequal survival and reproduction that results from the presence or absence of particular “traits”.

Chapter 2 - Section 3

(Starburst Activity)

Evolution A change in the genetic characteristics

of populations from one generation to the next.

Chapter 2 - Section 3

CoEvolution When 2 or more species evolve in

response to each other.

Adaptation An inherited trait that increases an

organism’s chance of survival and reproduction in a certain environment.

Chapter 2 - Section 3

Extinction When the last individual of a species

dies.Threatened Endangered Extinct!

Chapter 2 - Section 3

Biodiversity: The diversity of life forms in an environment.• Populations with high genetic diversity are better able to respond to

environmental change than with lower genetic diversity.• Scientists have identified and cataloged approximately 2 million species

on Earth. Estimates of the total number of species on Earth range between 5 million and 100 million, with the most common estimate at 10 million.

• The average rate at which species go extinct over the long term, referred to as the background extinction rate, is very slow: about one species in a million every year. (With 2 million identified = two species per year).

• Under conditions of environmental change or biological stress, species may go extinct faster than new ones evolve. Some scientists estimate that more than 10,000 species are currently going extinct each year—5,000 times the background rate of extinction.

(Friedland page 5)