BASIC ECOLOGY NOTES PPT WORKSHEET
What is ecology?
NAME: _____________________
DATE: ________________
PERIOD: _______________
_____________ - the scientific study of interactions between organisms and
their environment, focusing on _________transfer
• It is a science of________________.
The environment is made up of __2___ factors:
 _________ factors- all ___________ organisms inhabiting the Earth
 __________ factors- ____________ parts of the environment (i.e water
soil, rocks, moisture, wind currents)
____________- any unicellular or multicellular form exhibiting all of the
characteristics of life, an individual.
• The ___________ level of organization
_______________ -a group of organisms of one species living in the same place
at the same time that _____________
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 Produce ______________ offspring
 ____________with each other for resources (ex. food, mates, shelter)
_________________- several interacting populations that inhabit a common
environment and are ____________________.
_______________- populations in a community & the abiotic factors with which
they interact (ex.marine, terrestrial)
________________- life supporting portions of Earth composed of air, land,
fresh water, and salt water.
• The _____________ level of organization
Habitat vs. Niche
_________- the role a species plays in a community (job)
____________- the place in which an organism lives out its life (address)
A __________is determined by the tolerance limitations of an organism, or a
limiting factor.
_____________ factor- any biotic or abiotic factor that restricts the existence
of organisms in a specific environment.
Examples of limiting factorsAmount of _________
Amount of _________
_______________________
Feeding Relationships
___________- all autotrophs (plants), they trap energy from the sun.
- __________ of the food chain
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_____________- all heterotrophs: they ingest food containing the sun’s energy
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Carnivores
Carnivores
_____________
- Eat ________
________________ or ________________
• ______________
Decomposers
Herbivores
– Eat __________
• ______________ consumers
• ________ animals
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•
________ prey animals
for food.
__________ or ___________
Feed on ___________, dead animals
Omnivores
- Eat _______ plants and animals
Decomposers_______________ the complex compounds of dead and decaying
plants and animals into simpler molecules that can be ______________
Trophic Levels
• Each link in a food chain is known as a ____________ level.
• Trophic levels represent a feeding step in the _________ of _________
and matter in an ecosystem.
____________- the amount of organic matter comprising a group of organisms in
a habitat.
• As you move ___ a food chain, both available energy and biomass
__________.
• _________ is transferred upwards but is diminished with each transfer.
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________ chain- __________ model that shows how matter and __________
move through an ecosystem
Draw a sample food chain that you might see in Texas: include a producer, a
primary consumer, a secondary consumer, and a tertiary consumer
_____________
_____________
_____________
______________
Food Chain- shows all possible feeding relationships in a community at each
_________ level
• Represents a network of interconnected food _________
Food chain- just ___ path of energy
Food web- ____ possible energy paths
Toxins in food chainsWhile energy ____________ as it moves up the food chain, __________
___________ in potency.
• This is called _________________ ________________
Ex: ______ & Bald ___________
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