Ecology
Chapter 14
What is Ecology?
▪ The scientific study of how organisms interact with
their environment and all the other organisms that
live in that environment.
Ecosystem
▪ A particular environment and all the living things
that are supported by it.
▪ Can be as small as a pond or as large as a desert.
▪ It is important that all living and nonliving parts of
an ecosystem can relate to one another.
Biotic vs. Abiotic
▪ Biotic Factors: Living parts of an ecosystem.
▪ Plants, animals, microorganisms
▪ Abiotic Factors: Non-living parts of an ecosystem.
▪ Air, soil, water, sunlight
How do you think Biotic and Abiotic
Factors interact?
▪ With your 12 o’clock partner, choose an animal.
▪ Then think about their habitats, and what they need to
survive.
▪ What are some biotic and abiotic factors that they need to survive?
▪ Make a list/table to organize these factors as your brainstorm.
▪ Draw a silhouette of this animal, then draw the biotic
and abiotic factors that animal needs to survive.
▪ The size should be close to a full sheet of paper.
The Circle of Life
▪ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWh-XKhh8xo
▪ Producer: an organism that captures energy and stores it
as food.
▪ Plants, photosynthetic bacteria and algae
▪ Consumer: organisms that cannot produce their own
food, and must get their food from other sources.
▪ Herbivore, carnivore, omnivore.
▪ Grasshoppers, deer, wolves, falcons, etc.
▪ Decomposers: organisms that break down dead plants
and animals.
▪ Fungi and bacteria
Trophic Levels
▪ Producers
▪ Plants
▪ Primary consumers
▪ Herbivores
▪ Secondary consumers
▪ Carnivores that eat the herbivores
▪ Tertiary consumers
▪ Top carnivores that eat other carnivores
Food Chain
▪ Describes the feeding relationship between a
producer and a single chain of consumers in
an ecosystem.
Food Web
▪ A model of the
feeding relationships
between many
different consumers
and producers in an
ecosystem.
Energy Pyramid
▪ A model that shows
the amount of
energy available at
each feeding level of
an ecosystem.
Biomes
14.4
Biomes
▪ Large geographic areas that are similar in climate
and that have similar types of plants and animals.
▪ There are 6 major land biomes:
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Tundra
Taiga
Desert
Grassland
Temperate Forest
Tropical Forest
Tundra
▪ Long, cold winters and short,
cool summers
▪ Not much precipitation
▪ Area is wet due to cold
temperatures
▪ No evaporation
▪ Small plants
▪ Permafrost: a deep layer of
permanently frozen soil that
lies just below the surface soil.
Taiga
▪ Cold temperatures
▪ More precipitation
than the tundra.
▪ More snow = insulates
the soil below (keeps it
from permanently
freezing).
▪ Coniferous trees
(evergreens)
Desert
▪ Some are cold, and
some are hot.
▪ All have dry soil.
▪ Low precipitation.
▪ Cannot support trees.
Grassland
▪ Moderate rainfall.
▪ Enough to support
grasses
▪ Periodic wildfires and
droughts keep smaller
shrubs and tree seedlings
from growing.
▪ Warm summers, and
cold winters.
Temperate Forest
▪ Winters are short.
▪ Enough rain to support
trees.
▪ Deciduous trees
▪ Trees that drop their
leaves as winter
approaches, and grow
new leaves in the
spring.
Tropical Forest
▪ Located near the equator.
▪ Warm all year.
▪ Wettest land biome.
▪ The trees have leaves year
round.
▪ More types of animals and
plants live in the tropical rain
forest than anywhere else on
Earth.
Water Biomes
▪ Freshwater Biomes:
▪ Affected by the qualities of the landscape in which they are found.
▪ Plants take root in the soil under the water if the water is not too deep or
moving too fast.
▪ Estuary: the lower end of a river that feeds into the ocean, where fresh water
and salt water mix.
▪ Marine Biomes (saltwater biomes):
▪ Coastal ocean: beaches and tidal pools
▪ Open ocean: less sunlight than in coastal ocean, and temperatures are colder.
▪ No plants
▪ Deep ocean: much colder and darker than the upper ocean.
▪ Animals feed on each other, or on material that falls from upper levels.