UNIT 1: Interconnectedness of life
1B: INTRODUCTION TO ECOLOGY
Roadmap for the year:
Unit 1: Interconnectedness of Life
 1A Characteristics of Living Things
 1B Introduction to Ecology
 1C Scientific Method
Unit 2: Ecological Biochemistry
Unit 3: Cellular Biology: Structure Leads to Function
Unit 4: DNA Structure and Cellular Reproduction
Unit 5: Gene Expression and Inheritance
Unit 6: Evolution and Classification of Living Things
Unit 7: Biotechnology, Human Biology, and Disease
Themes for the year:
How does this unit contribute to your
understanding of the following
themes?
 Life on Earth has various Levels of
Organization
 The Structure of Living Things
leads to their Function
The Big Picture for Unit 1…
Science is a body of knowledge and skills acquired through systematic experimentation and
observation to describe natural phenomena; or, more simply, it is a “way of knowing”. The process of
science helps biologists investigate how nature works at all levels, from the molecules in cells to the
biosphere. The existence of life on Earth depends on interactions among organisms and between
organisms and their environment. There is a great diversity among living organisms yet there are
similar characteristics that all organisms share.




What does it mean to be ‘alive’?
How can species change over time?
How do different organisms get the energy they need to survive?
How do Earth’s living and nonliving parts interact to shape ecosystems and
affect the survival of organisms?
 How does energy move through an ecosystem?
 What is science?
Suggested Resources…
Note Packet
Homework assignments
Lab activities
Textbook – Biology (Miller and Levine, 2010) (Sections 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 4.2, 4.4)
Directions: Below are check lists of things you should know and things you should be
able to do by the end of the unit. Use this tool to help you prepare for the unit assessment.
By the conclusion of this unit, you should
know the following:
1. Ecology is the study of organisms and
their interactions with the
environment.
2. The environment is a system of
interdependent components with
living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic)
factors.
3. There is a hierarchy of complexity into
which living things are organized,
from the biosphere to the atoms that
make up cells.
4. There are a variety of different largescale ecosystems called biomes each
with characteristic flora and fauna;
Livingston, NJ is part of a temperate
deciduous forest biome.
5. The primary source of energy for most
ecosystems is the sun.
6. A food web consists of interconnected
food chains.
7. An organism’s role in the ecosystem is
its niche. A species is a group of
organisms that can breed to produce
fertile offspring.
8. Understand how life can be studied at
different levels.
By the conclusion of this unit, you should
be able to do the following:
1. Describe the study of ecology, the
components of an ecosystem, and the
methods used to study ecology.
2. Explain how biotic and abiotic factors
influence an ecosystem, focusing on
Livingston’s temperate deciduous
forest biome.
3. Distinguish between the varying levels
of ecological hierarchy.
4. Compare and contrast the terms
producer, consumer, and decomposer
and identify how each obtains energy
and nutrients.
a. Explain why nutrients are
important in living systems.
b. Identify components of food
chain/webs.
c. Develop a model of a food web
and predict the consequences of
change on the proper
functioning of the food web.
d. Differentiate between the
concepts of trophic levels and
producers and consumers.
5. Describe how the availability of
nutrients affects the productivity of
ecosystems.
6. Apply the term niche to a local
organism.
INTRODUCTION TO ECOLOGY KEY TERMS
Words found in the textbook:
1)
Ecology :
2)
Species :
3)
Population :
4)
Community :
5)
Biosphere :
6)
Ecosystem :
7)
Biome :
8)
Biotic Factors :
9)
Abiotic Factors :
10)
Autotroph :
11)
Heterotroph :
12)
Primary Producer :
13)
Photosynthesis :
14)
Chemosynthesis :
15)
Consumer :
16)
Carnivore :
17)
Herbivore :
18)
Scavenger :
19)
Omnivore :
20)
Decomposer :
21)
Detrivore :
22)
Food Chain :
23)
Food Web :
24)
Trophic Level :
25)
Niche :
26)
Tolerance :
27)
Habitat :
Words NOT found in the textbook:
28) Environment :
29) Competition :
30) Intraspecific :
31) Interspecific :