Ecology Notes
How are all environments connected?
Name: _______________
Ecology ... The Study of Nature
 How living things ______________________________________ and
their ________________.
Certain populations tend to live in certain climates.
 Population-
Certain populations live with each other to form a community.
 CommunityCommunities are very interactive!!!
 Abiotic BioticThe sum of all the interactions between all the biotic and abiotic factors in an
area is called an ______________
Different populations have different roles in a community.
These roles are called Trophic Levels:
 Autotrophic HeterotrophicAnother name for autotrophs is:
 Producers- make all the food for the community. Mainly __________ are
producers.
Another name for heterotroph is:
 Consumers- organisms that eat other organisms. Mostly ___________.

1st Order or Primary Consumers-

Herbivores-
 2nd Order or Secondary Consumers 3rd Order or Tertiary Consumer Carnivores
Omnivores-
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Terminology Quiz
Eats plants?
Eats only animals?
All the turtles in a pond is it’s?
Non-living?
Living?
All the living things in the pond?
The plants in this pond?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------All food energy comes from the _________!
The sun’s energy gets passed to all organisms on earth through ...
 Food ChainsThe order of a food chain is always:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
And of course, _______________________ always get the last of the energy
breaking down all of the dead things!
In reality, any community has many food chains interacting.
 Food WebBecause energy gets used by organisms in the food chain, there is less energy
available at the end. This is called an...______________ _____________
If energy decreases the farther you are along the food chain so will the # of
organisms and biomass-
#’s and Biomass Pyramid
All the world’s energy comes from the sun. When the sun is gone...We’re Gone!
The materials of life, however, are 100% recyclable!
 Decomposers
 Scavengers-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Symbiosis MutualismExample –

CommensalismExample -

ParasitismExample -
Ecology depends on the interaction between biotic and abiotic factors.