Ecology

Essential Questions

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1. How are the level of ecological organization related (i.e. organism, population, community, ecosystem, biome, and biosphere)?

2. What are the biotic and abiotic components of an ecosystem?

3. How does energy flow through an ecosystem (e.g. food chains/webs, energy pyramids)?

4. How do biotic features of an ecosystem interact (e.g. competition, predation)?

5. How does matter recycle through an ecosystem (i.e. water, carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen cycles)?

6. How do ecosystems change in response to natural and human disturbances?

7. How do limiting factors impact population dynamics and potential species extinction?

Key terms

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Biotic factors
The living parts of an ecosystem
Abiotic factors
The nonliving parts of an ecosystem
Biomes
Ecosystems around the planet with similar characteristics
Food chain
shows the flow of energy from one organism to another
Food web
shows the complex set of feeding relationships among the many populations in a community
Trophic level
positions in a food chain
Carbon cycle
Respiration converts organic carbon, in the form of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, to carbon dioxide, an inorganic compound
Nitrogen cycle
the movement of nitrogen between the atmosphere, the soil, and living things
Water cycle
Fresh water moves between the atmosphere, Earth's surface, and organisms
Ecological succession
orderly process by which an ecosystem changes over time
Population dynamics
The study of the balance of these factors determines whether a population increases or decreases, and how quickly it does so
Non-native species
living outside their normal range and compete with native species.
Agricultural runoff
The cause of eutrophication
Eutrophication
refers to the changes that occur to an aquatic ecosystem as a result of added nutrients.
Climate change
a change in global climate patterns
Habitat destruction
Human caused changes to an ecosystem
Ecology
The study of the interactions among different types of organisms, and between organisms and their physical environment
Species
a group of living organisms consisting
Population
All the individual of a single species that inhabit a particular area
Community
All the populations of different species that share one area
Biosphere
The largest level of ecological organization
Competition
Population that requires the same resource
Predation
the ecological relationship in which one consumer preys on another
Parasitism
one species benefits at the expense of the other
Mutualism
Both species benefits from each other
Limiting factor
any biotic or abiotic resource that limits the size of a population.
Carrying capacity
the maximum population size an ecosystem can support