Living Things and the Environment Outline/Study Guide
I.
II.
III.
What Does an Organism Get From Its Environment
a. An organism gets food, water, shelter and other things its needs to live, grow and
reproduce from its environment
b. A habitat is an environment that provides the things a specific organisms needs to live,
grow and reproduce
c. Organisms in different habitat because they have different needs for survival and
reproduction
d. Ex. A prairie dog needs to live on a prairie because its flat terrain, tall grasses and low
rainfall meets its needs for survival
What are the Two Parts of an Organism’s Habitat
a. An organism interacts with the living and nonliving parts of its habitat
b. Biotic factors are the living parts of a habitat. It can also be a part that was once living.
c. Plants, ferrets and eagles are all biotic factors in a prairie ecosystem
d. Abiotic factors are the nonliving parts of a habitat. They were never living
e. Sunlight, soil, temperature, oxygen and water are all abiotic parts of a habitat
How is an Ecosystem Organized?
a. A single organism is the smallest unit of an ecosystem. Example prairie dog.
b. A species is a group of organisms that can mate and produce offspring
c. A Population is all of the members of one species living in an ecosystem. > Ex All of the
prairie dogs in an ecosystem
d. Communities are made up of all the different populations that live in an ecosystem.
Example. In the prairie the population includes all of the prairie dogs, hawks, snakes
and grasses.
e. Ecosystems include the community of organisms and the abiotic parts of the ecosystem
as well.
f. The smallest level of an ecosystem is a single organism next is a population, then
community and the largest is the entire ecosystem
g. The study of how organisms interact with each other and their environment is called
ecology
Be able to apply the above facts to given examples and scenerios.
Be able to identify the different levels of a given ecosystem.
Be able to identify the abiotic and biotic factors in a given ecosytem
IV.