HOW do species interact with each other and their environment?
SPECIES INTERACTIONS
Definitions
 Symbiosis
 Predator
 Prey
 Parasitism
 Host
 Commensualism
 Mutualism
Classify these
Levels of Organization
 Draw a picture of you. Draw a circle around it
and label the circle “Individual.” An
individual is a single organism. Write this
definition near your animal.
 Draw or write the name of a group you are a
member of. Draw a circle around all of them.
Label this circle “Population.” A population
is a group of individuals of the same type
living in the same area. Write this definition
near your population.
 Draw or list two other groups in the school (living
things) next to your first few. Circle everything
now and label it “Community.” A community is
all of the populations living in an area. Write
this definition near your community.
 Draw some of the abiotic (non-living) things that
inhabit our school. Circle them and label all of
these items an “Ecosystem.” An ecosystem is
group of organisms that live together and
interact with each other and their
environment. Write this definition near your
ecosystem.
 Draw some other factors including temperature
of defined areas around the school (ie: gym,
cafeteria, biology classroom). Circle all of this
and label it “Biome.” Biomes are large areas of
Earth with similar types of organisms and
climates. Write this definition near you biome.
 Draw the entire school. This is the “Biosphere.”
The biosphere is all the areas on Earth were life
exists. Write this definition near your world.
The school as a Biome
 This analogy is limited by its scope, but you can
get the main ideas about ecological
organization.
 Up until biome it is pretty much on par.
 However, all of Creek and our surroundings,
indeed much of Texas, are in the same Biome –
the grasslands.
 The Biosphere would be the entire Earth as well
as the atmosphere around the Earth. Anything
that supports life is included in the Biosphere.
Make Sure…
 You should now have all the levels of
organization used in Ecology. In order from
smallest to largest you should have:
Individual  Population  Community 
Ecosystem  Biome  Biosphere
Questions
Test your
Knowledge
A Pod of bottlenose dolphins living in a
specific region can be identified as
which level of organization?
 A. Biosphere
 B. Ecosystem
 C. population
 D. community
C population
A population is a group of organisms of one
type that all live in the same area.
Study the picture below
Which level of organization is BEST represented by the entire picture?
 A. Organism
 B. ecosystem
 C. population
 D. community
B ecosystem
 An ecosystem is a community and its
nonliving surroundings as labeled here
Air
Bird
Trees
Bushes Grass
Water
Alligator
Fish
Study the diagram below
 A. Plant
 B. Animal
 C. Biosphere
 D. community
Which is a level of
organization that could be
represented by X?
D. community
A community is larger than a population but
less inclusive than an ecosystem
Which sequence correctly identifies the
levels of organization in a biosphere from
most complex to least complex?
 A
OrganismPopulationCommunityEcosystem
 B ecosystemcommunitypopulationorganism
 C communityorganismecosystempopulation
 D populationecosystemorganismcommunity
B. ecosystemcommunitypopulationorganism
 An ecosystem is a community and all its
surroundings making it the most complex and
an organism is one living object making it the
simplest
K: Study the tables below. Ospreys, egrets and cranes were observed in an area around a
small oxbow lake at Perry Lakes Park in Alabama
Birds observed during one year
Bird
Number
observed
Osprey
63
Egret
85
Crane
22
Which student correctly categorized the
observations according to the levels of
organization in the biosphere
Student
Organisms
Population(s)
Communities
1
3
3
1
2
3
1
3
3
170
3
1
4
170
1
3
A Student 1
B Student 2
C student 3
D student 4
C student 3
Since an organism is a single living thing you
have to include all of them so 63+85+22=170
and a population is only one type of animal
and three birds were being studied there
were 3 populations and since a community is
all the populations combined there is only 1
community
Study the Diagram below
Forests, animals, sunlight, soil, water
Oak forest, grey squirrels, deer
Oak forest
Oak tree
Which example below represents the organizational levels shown in the diagram?
 A Organism
B ecosystem
Population
community
C Community
D Population
Ecosystem
Organism
Community
population
Organism
Ecosystem
Ecosystem
organism
Population
Community
B
ecosystem
community
population
organism
An ecosystem is a community and its nonliving
surroundings. Communities are populations in a
defined area. Populations are groups of
organisms. An organism is a single living thing.
10
 Study the picture
Hint: This includes the
water ,soil, animals &
trees.
Which level of organization is BEST represented by the entire picture?
This includes the water ,soil, animals & trees.
A: Population
B: Community
C: Ecosystem*
D: Organism
 C. Ecosystem, because it is made up of the
living & non living things.
11
 A scientist studied a coral reef in an ocean. The
scientist made a data table to record what was
observed. How many populations are
represented by the data?
A: 2
B: 6
C: 67
D: 101
 The answer to that question is B. 6
 It asked how many populations, and there are 6
populations. (Sea turtle, Sea Star, Nurse Shark,
Clown Fish, Parrotfish, Sea urchin. Each TYPE is
a different population.
 The population of a town is the number of
people that live there.
13 : Student Question
A herd of animals in the same area is an example of,
A. Population
B. Biosphere
C. Organism
D. Ecosystem
 The answer is A. population
 because, a population is a group of organisms of
one type staying in the same area.