Organisms, environment and their interactions

• Ecology is study of interactions between Living and Non living organism.

  • Non-living components in the environment (abiotic):Light, water, nutrients in soil, heat, solar radiation, atmospehere, etc.
  • Living components (biotic):Plants, animals, microorganisms, human.
  • An ecosystem is a biological community that made up by non-living environment and Living organism at the area. There are many examples of ecosystems such as: a pond, a desert, a forest, a praire, tundra and an ocean.
• What are the three groups of biotic components in an ecosystem based on how they obtain food?

  Producers, consumers, and decomposers
• How do producers obtain their food?

  Producers synthesize their food through photosynthesis
• What is the process by which producers synthesize their food?

  Photosynthesis
• What are the necessary components for photosynthesis in producers?

  CO2, H2O, sunlight, and chlorophyll
• What are the classifications of consumers in an ecosystem?

  Primary consumers, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers, omnivores, and detritivores
• What are primary consumers also known as?

  Herbivores or plant eaters
• How are secondary consumers classified?


  As primary carnivores or meat eaters
• What is the classification of tertiary consumers?

  Secondary carnivores or meat eaters
• What do omnivores eat?

  Both plants and meat
• What are detritivores?


  Organisms that eat dead matter, such as worms, termites, and ants
• What role do decomposers play in an ecosystem?

  They decompose plants or animals into simpler substances
• What happens to the simpler substances produced by decomposers?

  They are used to produce food by plants
• Abiotic (non-living) components

  • Physical components: Include the energy, climate, nutrients and living space that the biological community needs. They are useful for the growth and maintenance of its member. Ex: Air, water, soil, sunlight, etc.
  • Chemical Components: essential nutrients which can be divided into: Organic substances : Protein, lipids, carbohydrates, etc. Inorganic substances: All micro( Al, Co, Zu, Cu)and macro elements (C,H,O,P, N,K) and few other elements.
• FOOD CHAINS is sequence of eating and being eaten in

  an ecosystem

  A food chain always starts with plant life and ends with animal.

  When the organisms die, they are all decomposed by

  microorganism (bacteria and fungi) into nutrients that can again be used by the plants.
• Transfer of Energy in Ecosystem: Transfer of energy from the Sun through a series of organisms

  At each and every level, nearly 80-90% of the potential energy gets lost as Heat.
• FOOD WEB is the interlocking pattern of various food chains in an ecosystem.

  In a food web many food chains are interconnected so that

  there are a number of opportunities of eating and being

  eaten at each tropic level.
• Ecological pyramids: graphical representation of either

  the numbers of organisms, energy of organisms or biomass of

  organisms.
• Biodiversity: the total of all the different species living in a given area.

  • The greatest Biodiversity is RAIN FOREST.
  • The greater the biodiversity the greater the stability of an ecosystem.

  Threats to Biodiversity:

  • Habitat destruction
  • Deforestation
  • Global Climate Change
  • Species Exploitation
  • Species Extinction
• Deforestation

  It can create:

  • Extinction, It is a big alarm extinction and endangered species because most of our pharmaceuticals or medicines come from plants, animals, and fungi that are found in the forest(especially rainforest).
  • Endangered species, is when a species’ population is declining rapidly and they are close to extinction
  • Thinning the ozone layer
  • Increases green house gases (global warming). Ruin the carbon cycle
• What can we do about protecting biodiversity?

  • Plant trees
  • Protect species with laws about poaching
  • Stop deforestation
  • Protect habitats
  • Join the campaign of earth protection.
  • Use or support renewable resources