Ecology

Basic Needs of Living thingsOrganisms and Their Environment

Ecology• The study of the relations ships between

organisms and between organisms and their environment.

What do you mean environment?

The environment is made up of two things

1. Abiotic Factors: Non-living (never was living) Examples: rocks, water, air, weather, sunlight, sand, temperature…

2. Biotic Factors: Living ,once living things or part of a living organism. Examples: Leaves, trees, poop, whales, flowers, mushrooms.

Organism

• Any unicellular or multicellular form exhibiting all the characteristics of life, an individual

• The lowest level of organization in ecology

Species

• All the organisms of a single kind (plant, animal or microbe).

• Organisms can and do mate and produce fertile offspring

Not found in nature, not a

biological species

Population

• A group of individuals of the same species that live in a given area and interbreed.

• Example: Wolves of Yellow Stone Park, The ants at AISE, Plumeria’s in Cairo.

• Population vs. Species: Gray wolves of Yellowstone park vs. gray wolves of the world.

Biotic Community (Biota)

• All the living organisms that live in a particular area

• Includes vegetation to animals to microscopic creatures such as bacteria.

• depend on one another

Ecosystems

• An interactive complex of the communities and the abiotic environment affecting them within a particular area.

Ecotones and Biomes

Ecotone: The transition area between two ecosystems

Share’s many characteristics between both ecosystems

Biome: a large area of Earth’s surface with the same climate and similar vegetation.

Examples: Tropical rainforest, tundra, grasslands, deserts

Biosphere

• The overall ecosystem of the Earth.

• All ecosystems are interconnected through global processes such as the water cycle and the atmospheric cycle.

Hierarchy of life