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Ecosystem: all of the living and nonliving things
in an area
Abiotic Factor: nonliving parts of an ecosystem
Biotic Factor: living parts of an ecosystem
Population: all of the organisms of a species
living in the same area
Community: all of the populations living in an
area
Ecology: study of how all things in an
ecosystem interact
Ecologist: scientists who study ecology
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Habitat: the place where organisms live
Niche: role of an organism in the community
Herbivore: an animal that only eats plants or algae
Carnivore: an animal that only eats other animals
Omnivore: an animal that eats both plants and animals
Scavenger: a meat eating animal that feeds on the
remains of dead animals
Producer: a plant (produces its own food and creates
food and oxygen for animals)
Consumer: an animal that eats plants and animals
(consumes its food rather than making its own food)
Decomposer: break down dead plants and animals into
useful things like minerals and nutrients (bacteria, worms,
some bugs, and fungi)
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Predator: an animal that hunts other animals for food
Prey: a living thing that is hunted for food
Symbiosis: a relationship between two kinds of
organisms that lasts over time
Mutualism: a relationship between two kinds of
organisms that benefits both
Parasitism: a relationship in which one organism lives
in or on another organism and benefits from that
relationship while the other organism may be harmed
by it
Commensalism: a relationship between two kinds of
organisms that benefits one without harming the
other
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Starts with the sun
and ends with the
decomposers
The arrow points to
the predator
Displays the
movement of
energy
Displays the interactions
between organisms,
specifically who eats
what
 Arrows point to the prey
 Multiple food chains
 If one organism is taken
out of the web, it affects
all of the other organisms
(predators die due to
lack of food and prey
increases population
because its predator is
no longer hunting it for
food)
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Displays the amount
of energy each type
of organism receives
Producers receive all
of the energy from
the sun to make their
food
Carnivores receive
the least amount of
energy
Limiting factor: anything that controls the
growth or survival of a population
 Carrying capacity: the maximum
population size that an area can support
 Endangered species: a species that is in
danger of becoming extinct
 Extinct: a species that has died out
completely
 Threatened species: a species that is in
danger of becoming endangered
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Population
 Urban growth
 Deforestation
 Mining
 Protecting a species
 Recycle, reduce, re-use
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Fertilizer: human made material that add nutrients to
the soil
Composting: human made fertilizer made from dead
materials that turns into fertilizer when decomposers
break it down
Inexhaustible resource: cannot be depleted (sun)
Non-renewable resource: a natural resource that
cannot be replaced (oil)
Raw Materials: material not yet refined,
manufactured, or processed (wood, metal, etc…)
Renewable resources: a natural resource that can be
replaced (trees)
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Heat Source,
evaporation,
condensation,
precipitation, run-off,
groundwater,
transpiration
Animals role:
perspiration and
urination
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Plants give off oxygen and
animals breath in the oxygen
Animals give off carbon dioxide
and plants breath in the carbon
dioxide
Carbon can in the form of burned
materials
Humans burn fossil fuels and give
off carbon into the atmosphere
Carbon dioxide is also given off
when plants and animals die. This
occurs when decomposers break
down dead plants and animals
and release the carbon
compounds stored in them.
Very often, energy trapped in the
dead materials becomes fossil
fuels which is used as combustion
again at a later time.
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Animals eat food,
animals then give off
feces, and the
decomposers break
down the feces and
dead materials in the
ground into nitrogen
(nutrients) for plants.
Nitrogen is introduced
to the soil by
precipitation (rain,
lightning) because it is
78% of our air.
Ecological succession: the gradual
replacement of one community by
another
 Pioneer species: the first species living in
an otherwise lifeless area
 Pioneer community: the first community
thriving in a once lifeless area
 Climax community: the final stage of
succession in an area, unless a major
change happens
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Natural Changes: forest fire, volcanoes,
overpopulation, land changes, flood,
drought, severe storms, etc…
 Abandoned farms, cities, and houses
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Biome: large ecosystem that
has its own kind of climate,
soil, plants, and animals
 Study the charts on B64 and
B65
 Terrestrial (land biomes)
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Taiga (Coniferous Forest)
Deciduous Forest
Tropical Rain Forest
Desert
Tundra
Grassland
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Marine (Ocean)
Freshwater
Salt Water Marshes
Estuaries
Aquatic (water biomes)
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Forests have many trees (with needles or with leaves),
shrubs, grasses and ferns, and a variety of animals.
They usually get more rain than grasslands. Diverse
types of animals can be found in forests, depending
on their type. Deciduous: black bear, deer, red fox,
vole, rabbit, cardinal. Rain forest: panther, monkeys,
capybara, snakes, spiders. Temperatures in the forests
may vary depending on where the forest is located.
Grasslands have fertile soil and are covered with tall
grasses. They usually get a medium amount of rain,
but less than forests. Temperatures may also vary
depending on where the grassland is located. Some
examples of animals that live in the grasslands are
prairie dogs, bison, and grasshoppers.
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Aquatic
Lakes and ponds are bodies of freshwater that are surrounded by land.
Ponds are usually shallower than lakes and the temperature of the water
usually stays the same from top to bottom. Plants and algae usually
grow along the edges where the water is shallow. Some examples of
animals may be different types of fish, amphibians, ducks, turtles, or
beavers.
Oceans are large bodies of saltwater divided by continents. Oceans
have many types of ecosystems depending on the conditions (sunlight,
temperature, depth, salinity) of that part of the ocean.
Most organisms live where the ocean is shallow (from the shoreline to the
continental shelf) because sunlight can reach deep and the water is
warm making food abundant. Some examples of organisms that live in
the shallow ocean are drifters (jellyfish or seaweed), swimmers (fish),
crawlers (crabs), and those anchored to the ocean floor (corals).
Some organisms live in the open ocean, near the surface or down to the
deep ocean bottom. Plankton float in the upper regions of the water.
Some organisms swim to the surface to find food or for air (whales,
turtles, sharks) while others live closer to the bottom (certain fish,
octopus, tubeworms).
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Salt Water Marsh
Salt marshes are coastal wetlands that are
flooded and drained by salt water brought in by
the tides. They are marshy because the soil may
be composed of deep mud and peat. Peat is
made of decomposing plant matter that is often
several feet thick. Peat is waterlogged, root-filled,
and very spongy. Because salt marshes are
frequently submerged by the tides and contain a
lot of decomposing plant material, oxygen levels
in the peat can be extremely low—a condition
called hypoxia. Hypoxia is caused by the growth
of bacteria which produce the sulfurous rottenegg smell that is often associated with marshes
and mud flats.
Salt marshes occur worldwide, particularly in
middle to high latitudes. Thriving along protected
shorelines, they are a common habitat
in estuaries. In the U.S., salt marshes can be found
on every coast. Approximately half of the nation's
salt marshes are located along the Gulf Coast.
These intertidal habitats are essential for healthy
fisheries, coastlines, and communities—and they
are an integral part of our economy and culture.
They also provide essential food, refuge, or nursery
habitat for more than 75 percent of fisheries
species, including shrimp, blue crab, and many
finfish.
Salt marshes also protect shorelines
from erosion by buffering wave action and
trapping sediments. They reduce flooding by
slowing and absorbing rainwater and protect
water quality by filtering runoff, and by
metabolizing excess nutrients.
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Estuaries
An estuary is an area where seawater mixes with freshwater.
Estuaries can be found along the coast. Each day as the tide
rises, saltwater is brought into the estuary. Freshwater comes
down the rivers and creeks and mixes with this saltwater.
Plants found in estuaries need to be adapted to salty conditions
Some plants, like pickle weed, can absorb the salt water and
store the salt in special compartments, called vacuoles, in the
leaves. Other plants, like salt grass and alkali heath, are able to
push the salt out onto the surface of the leaves. The salt crystals
can be seen if you look very closely.
The decaying plants are eaten by microorganisms (animals so
tiny you need a microscope to see them.) The microorganisms
are eaten by small invertebrates (animals without backbones.)
Fish, like carp and stickleback, then eat the invertebrates. Many
of the fish we eat depend upon estuaries. They are sheltered
places where fish can have their young and the young fish can
grow before moving out into the open ocean. Without estuaries,
the number of fish in our oceans would decrease greatly.
Occasionally, water in certain areas of the estuary can dry up
and all that is left is a mud flat. It may seem like there is no life in
this mud flat at all, but there are all kinds of mussels, shrimp,
worms and other invertebrates living in the mud. Often you can
see birds probing the mud with their beaks looking for a tasty
meal.
There are a large number of birds found in estuaries. The
migrating birds such as geese use them to rest and feed. There
are also birds who are permanent residents of the estuaries.
Many of these birds, such as the Great Blue Heron, and the Great
Egret, have long legs that they use for wading in the water. Egrets
are excellent at hunting fish. Some wiggle their toes in the sand to
attract fish, which they can snap up for a meal. If you look at the
different types of birds, you will notice that they all have different
lengths of bills. This means that each type of bird is adapted to
eating different things. This reduces the amount of direct
competition between the birds and allows more types of birds to
live in the same area.
People and Estuaries: Everyone wants to live near the ocean,
right? Unfortunately, in order to build houses near the ocean,
estuaries were drained and filled in with dirt so that houses could
be built on top of them. Many of our estuaries were destroyed
before people realized their value.