1) Define Ecology.
2) Differentiate between biotic and abiotic factors and give examples of each.
3) What is an ecosystem? Give some examples of ecosystems.
4) What are some of the major biomes in the world?
5) Give examples of how biotic and abiotic factors in an ecosystem interact with each other.
6) Draw an illustration of the levels of organization from a cell all the way up to a biome.
7) Explain each level of organization.

• the study of the relationships between biotic and abiotic factors in environments

• Includes all of the living things and the environment in which they live
• includes all abiotic and biotic factors
• Biotic Factors: the living parts of an ecosystem
• Abiotic Factors: the nonliving parts of an ecosystem

• include plants, animals, fungi, microorganisms

• include air, water, soil, temperature, wind, source of energy (usually sun)

• do not necessarily have clear boundaries due to biotic and abiotic changes
• can change daily as things move from one ecosystem to another
• Biotic: migration, seed dispersal
• Abiotic: flood, erosion, drought

• interact with each other in complex ways
• such as
Symbiotic relationships:
• Parasitism
• Mutualism
• Competition

• also interact with abiotic factors in the ecosystem
• dependent upon water, minerals, temperature, light

Biotic Factor Interactions:
Symbiotic Relationships
• Parasitism: one organism benefits (the parasite), while the other is harmed
(host)

Biotic Factor Interactions:
Symbiotic Relationships
• Commensalism: one organism is benefits while the other is not affected

Biotic Factor Interactions:
Symbiotic Relationships
• Mutualism: both organisms in the relationship benefit

• a major regional or global biotic community, a super ecosystem, defined chiefly by the dominant forms of plant life and the prevailing climate

• Desert
• Grassland
• Tropical Rainforest
• Deciduous Forest
• Coniferous Forest
• Tundra
• Ocean

• Biosphere -LARGEST
• Biome
• Ecosystem
• Community
• Population
• Organism
• Organ System
• Organ
• Tissue
• Cell-SMALLEST

• Within an ecosystem, organisms occupy habitats and niches.
• What are these and what is the difference between these?

• A location in the environment where an organism can grow and survive
• Includes all of the physical and biological resources available to a species

• Refers to the way an organism fits into and survives in its ecosystem
• Includes not only where it lives but what it does in its environment
• No two species occupy exactly the same niche
• Niche is determined by physical characteristics of organism, its behavior, how it reproduces, etc.