science

• Ecosystem: interaction & relationships between organisms and their environment. 2 components: Abiotic and biotic factors

  An ecosystem is affected and shaped by its biotic and abiotic components and their interactions.
• Population: same species
• Community: different species
• Ecology: study of how organisms interact with another as well as the abiotic factors in the environment
• Biotic factors: all living organisms in ecosystem

  Producers: utilize energy from the sun to produce food for themselves and for the rest of the ecosystem

  Consumers: mostly animals that feed on plants and other animals to obtain energy and nutrients due to their inability to manufacture their own food.

  Decomposers: feed on dead materials, eventually breaking them into nutrients. Through this process, nutrients are returned to the soil to restart the whole process.
• Abiotic factors: non living organisms of an ecosystem

  Water (H2O): all forms of life depend on this

  Sun (main source of energy): influences the growth and proliferation of organisms.

  Oxygen: used in the mitochondria to generate ATP

  Soil: composed of small particles of rock mixed with water, minerals, and decomposed organic material. Home to diverse organisms.

  Temperature: influenced mainly by the amount of sunlight.
• Biome: area of the planet that can be classified according to the plants and animals living in it.

  (Major biomes: aquatic, grassland, forest, desert, tundra)

  Desert biome: barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and consequently living conditions are hostile for plants n animal life life. Lack of vegetation.

  Aquatic biome: largest & most diverse of all world biomes

  Biosphere: region on, above, or below Earth's surface where life exists. Atmosphere (air), lithosphere (land), and hydrosphere (water)
• Coral reef ecosystem


  Coral reefs developed from massive deposits of calcium carbonate over long periods of time. Ideal for: fish, sharks, corals, turtles, etc.
• Tropical rainforest


  Heavy precipitation leading it to a lot of rainfall, receives, absorbs, and redistributes rainwater, the ground is always wet and covered with decaying leaves. Ideal for: reptiles and amphibians
• Natural ecosystems are made by nature, organisms freely interact with other components of the environment
• Grassland ecosystem


  Covered with cogon grass and talahib, has few to no trees. Ideal for: birds, reptiles, insects, and mammals
• Freshwater ecosystem


  Found in inland bodies of water such as ponds, rivers, streams, lakes, wetlands, etc. Ideal for: amphibians, aquatic birds, mammals, several fish
• Types of natural ecosystems

  • Tropical rainforest
  • Grassland ecosystem
  • Mangrove ecosystem
  • Coral reef ecosystem
  • Freshwater ecosystem
• Mangrove ecosystem


  Trees and shrubs that grow in saltwater (saline), very fertile grounds because of the nutrients from the inland soil that are carried by water, provides safe habitats that serve as nursing grounds for various species, has salt water to brackish areas, subject to tidal fluctuations. Ideal for: shrimp, crab, clams, worms, and fishes
• Artificial ecosystem: manmade

  Agricultural ecosystem: needed to sustain human populations, sources of food, medicine, energy, and raw materials.

  Urban ecosystem: includes towns, cities, and other forms of settlements.
• Ecology: science that deals with these kind of interaction among organisms in an environment
• Ecological interactions: effects organisms in a community have on one another.
• Symbiotic relationships: live together and share resources in other ways. Ex. commensalism, mutualism, and parasitism

  Symbiosis: close relationship between species

  Commensalism: one benefits while the other doesn't

  Commensal: organism that benefits

  Host: dosnt benefit

  Mutualism: both benefit, mutually depends on each other

  Parasitism: parasite = lives on/or attaches to a host for survival. The parasite benefits while the host, which does not need to parasite in order to live, is harmed but not indirectly killed.
• Non symbiotic relationship: live apart from one another. Ex. competition, predation, and neutralism

  Competition: two or more organisms fight for the same thing in order to survive. Neither benefits.

  Predation: predator feeds on a prey. The process of consumptions involves killing them prey. Heterotrophs can prey on autotrophs and other heterotrophs.

  Neutralism: neither organism benefits, indirect/icidental,
• Heterotroph: cannot make their own food, "hetero" means other, energy comes from the sun but indirectly, heterotrophs eat autotrophs or other heterotrophs, consumers

  Autotrophs: can make their own food, "auto" means self and "trophos" means feeder, primary producers
• Energy flow in the ecosystem: energy is transferred from living things to another in the form of food. Energy transfer forms a series of organisms that either produce food, eat, or are eaten.

  Food chain: single energy pathway. Producers, consumers, and decomposers are seen here. Energy flows in only one direction. When the cycle ends, decomposers cause their body to decay, returning it back to the soil to restart the process.

  Food web: combination of two or more food chains.
• Trophic level: feeding level each organism in a food chain is assigned to. Presented as a diagram in the form of an ecological pyramid illustrating different trophic levels in an ecosystem.

  Ecological pyramid: diagram showing the amount of energy in each tropic level of a food web/food chain.

  As the trophic level goes higher, the available energy becomes less.

  Producers -> primary consumers -> secondary consumers -> tertiary/third-level consumers -> apex predators

  Energy pyramid: flow of energy from one level to the next in an ecosystem.
• Asexual reproduction: offspring is produced by a single organism where sex cells are not involved, produces new organisms through mitosis, may be done through binary fission, budding, spore formation, or regeneration. The cells of the parent organism just duplicate to form the offspring. There is no change. Inhibits variation and threatens the adapatation and survival of a population. Example: vegetable propagation

  Mitosis: process wherein cells divide to produce daughter cells that contains the exact genetic makeup of the parent cell. (no seeds)
• Budding

  • Offspring grows from the parent
  • Bud breaks off from the parent body becoming a new individual
• Binary fission

  • Common in prokaryotic organisms
  • Organism grows
  • Duplicates genetic material
  • Divides into two
• Spores

  Thick-walled reproductive cells containing the same genetic material as the parent
• Spore formation

  • Contain the same genetic material as the parent
  • Grow to become new organisms that are identical to the parent when conditions become favorable
• Regeneration


  Body part is detached from the parent

  Grows and develops into a completely new individual
• Vegetative propagation: plants reproducing asexually using their specialized organs for reproduction. (they are genetically similar Hydra)
• Runners/stolents: horizontal stems at the base of a plant. Developing into roots when their nodes touch the ground. Ex. strawberry n bermuda.
• Rhizomes: grows underground. Are similar to runners/stolens but the stems grow horizontally instead of downward. Ex. ginger, turmeric, grasses
• Bulbs: underground stems with fleshy leaves or scales. Sometimes contains miniature plants at the enter. The fleshy leaves/scales of bulbs serve as food storage for the plants. Ex. onion n garlic
• Tubers: fleshy underground stems or roots. New plants grow from the eyes or buds found around tuber. Ex. potatoes, sweet potatoes
• Leaf margin growths: give rise to young plants. Katakataka reproduces through spores.
• Suckers: side shoots that grow from the stem of a mother plant. Ex. banana
• Sexual reproduction: sex cells or gametes come into play, how complex forms of flora and fauna produce new offsprings. A sperm from a male organism and an egg cell form a female need to unite during fertilization to form a zygote which eventually grows into a new individual

  Meiosis: type of cell division that occurs in ovaries and testes, the chromosome number of each of the daughter cells is half of the original chromosomal content of the parent cell. (A chromosome is made of a single molcule of dna bound to proteins) (has seeds)
• Fertilization occurs in the fallopian tube. During the process of fertilization, a sperm and egg cell unite, producing a single-celled zygote. The zygote contains the combined genetic makeup carried by gametes. The elements carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and phosphorus make up DNA.
• External fertilization: occurs outside the body of the organism.

  Ex. female an male fish excreting their sex cells into the water in the same area, fertilizing the ovum. ( common in aquatic animals )
• Internal fertilization: occurs in plants and complex forms of animals, fertilization and initial development of the offspring happens inside of the female body.
• in plants, sperm cells are usually contained in pollen grains. through this process of pollination, these pollen grains are transferred to the stigma of a flower. the sticky substance on the stigma keeps the pollen in place. the pollen grain germinates and creates a pollen tube reaching the ovule of a flower. sperm cells from the pollen swim through the tube and fuse with the egg cells in the ovule. the result is zygotes that form into embryos. each embryo is contained inside a seed. for fruit bearing plants, the ovary swells and becomes a fruit where the seeds are enclosed.