Name _______________________________
13.1 – Ecologists study relationships
• Key Concept:
– Ecology is the study of the relationships among organisms and their environment.
Ecologists study environments at different levels of organization.
• Ecology is the study of the _________________________________________________________, and between living things and their surroundings.
• An _______________________ is an individual living thing, such as an alligator.
• A ________________________ is a group of the same species that lives in one area.
• A ________________________ is a group of different species that live together in one area.
• An _______________________ includes all of the organisms as well as the climate, soil, water, rocks, and other nonliving things in a given area.
• A ________________________ is a major regional or global community of organisms characterized by the climate conditions and plant communities that thrive there.
13.2 – Biotic and Abiotic Factors
• Key Concept:
– Every ecosystem includes both living and nonliving factors.
An ecosystem includes both biotic and abiotic factors.
• Biotic factors are _____________________________.
– Plants, Animals, Fungi, Bacteria
• Abiotic factors are ____________________________.
– Moisture, Temperature, Wind, Sunlight, Soil
Changing one factor in an ecosystem can affect many other factors.
• Biodiversity is the ________________________________________________________________.
• Rainforests have more biodiversity than other locations in the world, but are threatened by human activities.
Keystone Species
• A keystone species is a _________________________
___________________________________________.
• Keystone species form and maintain a
____________________________________.
13.3 – Energy in Ecosystems
• Key Concept:
• Life in an ecosystem requires a source of energy.
Producers provide energy for other organisms in an ecosystem.
• Producers get their energy from ________________________________. (___________________)
• Producers are also called ______________________ because they make their own food.
• Consumers are organisms that get their energy by _______________________________________
___________________________________.
• Consumers are also called ________________________ because they feed off of different things.

Almost all producers obtain energy from sunlight.
• ___________________________ in most producers uses sunlight as an energy source.
• ___________________________ in prokaryote producers uses chemicals as an energy source.
13.4 – Food Chains & Food Webs
• Key Concept:
– Food chains and food webs model the flow of energy in an ecosystem.
A food chain is a model that shows a sequence of feeding relationships.
• A food chain ____________________________________________________________________.
• A food chain follows the connection between ___________________________________________ within an ecosystem.
Consumers are not all alike.
• __________________________ eat only plants.
• __________________________ eat only animals.
• __________________________ eat both plants and animals.
• __________________________ eat dead organic matter.
• __________________________: detritivores that break down organic matter into simpler compounds.
• __________________________: consumers that primarily eat one specific organism or a very small number of organisms.
• __________________________ are consumers that have a varying diet.
Trophic levels are the nourishment levels in a food chain.
• __________________________ are herbivores that eat producers.
• __________________________ are carnivores that eat herbivores.
• __________________________ are carnivores that eat secondary consumers.
• __________________________, such as humans that eat both plants and animals, may be _______
__________________________ in different food chains.
A food web shows a complex network of feeding relationships.
• An organism may have multiple feeding relationships in an ecosystem.
• A food web emphasizes ___________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________.

Name _______________________________
13.5 – Cycling of Matter
• Key Concept:
– Matter cycles in and out of an ecosystem.
Water cycles through the environment.
• __________________________________________________________________ is the circular pathway of water on Earth.
• Organisms all have bodies made mostly of water.
Elements essential for life also cycle through ecosystems.
• A
is the movement of a particular chemical through the biological and geological parts of an ecosystem.
Oxygen Cycle
• The main processes involved in the oxygen cycle are _____________________________________.
• _________________________________________ through an ecosystem by the cycling of other nutrients.
Carbon Cycle
• Carbon is the building block of life.
– The carbon cycle moves carbon from the ________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________.
– Carbon is emitted by the burning of ___________________________________.
– Some carbon is stored for long periods of time in areas called carbon sinks.

Nitrogen Cycle
• The nitrogen cycle mostly takes place underground.
– Some bacteria convert gaseous nitrogen into ammonia through a process called __________
______________________.
– Some nitrogen-fixing bacteria live in nodules on the roots of plants; other live freely in the soil.
• Ammonia is released into the soil is transformed into ammonium.
• Nitrifying bacteria change the ammonium into nitrate.
• Nitrogen moves through the food web and returns to the soil during decomposition.
Phosphorus Cycle
• Phosphate is released by the ______________________
________________________________.
• Phosphorus moves through the food web and returns to the soil during ______________________________.
• Phosphorus leaches into groundwater from the soil and is locked in sediments.
• Both ________________________________________ add phosphorus into the environment.
Biogeochemical Cycles Video Notes
Biogeochemical Cycles: how chemicals move from _____________ things to ______________ things and back
Atom Name Importance/Need Cycle
C Carbon
H Hydrogen
N Nitrogen
O Oxygen
P Phosphorus
S Sulfur

Name _______________________________
14.1 – Habitat and Niche
• Key Concept:
– Every organism has a habitat and a niche.
A habitat differs from a niche.
• A ____________________ is all aspects of the area in which an organism lives.
– Biotic factors
– Abiotic factors
• An ecological _____________ includes all of the factors that a species needs to survive, stay healthy. And reproduce.
– Food
– Abiotic conditions
– Behavior
Resource availability gives structure to a community.
• Species can share habitats and resources.
• Competition occurs when two species ________________________________________________.
• Competitive exclusion ____________________________________________________________.
Competitive exclusion has different outcomes.
• One species is better suited to the niche and the other will either be __________________________
________________________________.
• The niche will be divided.
• The two species will further diverge.
• __________________________________________ are species that occupy similar niches but live in different geographical regions.
14.2 – Community Interactions
• Key Concept:
– Organisms interact as individuals and as populations.
Competition and predation are two important ways in which organisms interact.
• Competition occurs when __________________________________________________________.
– Intraspecific competition (______________________________)
– Interspecific competition (______________________________________)
Predation
• __________________________________________________________
Symbiosis
• ___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
• Mutualism: __________________________________________________________
• Commensalism: __________________________________________________________
• Parasitism: __________________________________________________________

14.4 – Population and Growth Patterns
• Key Concept:
– Populations grow in predictable patterns.
Population growth is based on available resources.
• Exponential growth is a _____________________________________________ due to an abundance of resources.
• Logistic growth is due to a population facing __________________________________.
• Carrying capacity is the ____________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________.
• A population crash is a _____________________________________ in the size of a population over a short period of time.
Ecological factors limit population growth.
• A limiting factor is _______________________________________________________________.
• Density-dependent limiting factors are affected by the ____________________________________ in a given area.
• ______________________________________
• ______________________________________
• ______________________________________
• Density-independent limiting factors limit a population’s growth regardless of the density.
• ______________________________________
• ______________________________________
• ______________________________________
14.5 – Ecological Succession
• Key Concept:
– Ecological succession is a process of change in the species that make up a community.
Succession occurs following a disturbance in an ecosystem.
• Succession _____________________________________________________________________.
– A sequence of biotic changes
– _________________________________________________________________________
– _________________________________________________________________________
Types of Succession
1.
Primary succession – started by ____________________________________ (where there never was an ecosystem)
2.
Secondary succession – started by _____________________________________ (after a fire, etc.)

Name _______________________________
15.3 – Biomes
• Key Concept:
– Biomes are land-based, global communities of organisms.
Earth has 6 major biomes.
• A biome is a _________________________________________________________.
Tropical Rainforest
• Produce lush forests
• __________ temperature
• __________________________________________
• __________________________________________ all year
Grassland
• Where grass is the primary plant life
Temperate Grassland
• ________________________________ in summer
• Most precipitation falls as ___________ in winter
• _____________________________________
Tropical Grassland
• _____________ throughout the year
• Definite ____________________________________
• __________________________________________________
Desert
• Characterized by a very __________________________
– Very _____________________________________________
– _____________ have deep root systems or other adaptations

Temperate Forest
• Temperate deciduous forests
– Have ________________________________ and ________________________________
– ___________________________________ are the dominant plant species
– Broadleaf forest
• Temperate Rainforest
– Have a _______________________________ and a relatively _______________________
– Evergreen ___________________________
Taiga
• Located in ________________________________________________
• Boreal forest
• __________________________ and ___________________________
• _______________ amount of _________________________________
Tundra
• Far northern latitudes with ______________________________
– Winters last _______________________ with ____________________________________
– Limited precipitation
– ______________________________
– Only mosses and other low-lying plants