Introduction to Ecology

​Your Do Now is inside of teams! You have 3 minutes to answer the question(s). Once you have answered the question, please get your paper and pencil out IOT take notes! Let's have a great day today!

• ​•6.LS2.1 Evaluate and communicate the impact of environmental variables on population size.

SWBAT evaluate organisms and populations as functions of environmental variables IOT explain observed patterns that indicate causation and correlation.

• ​Evaluate- to decide the value or worth after study 

• ​Organisms-an individual animal, plant. or single-celled life form 

• ​Explain- to make something clear by describing it in more detail 

• ​Causation- the action of causing something 

• ​Correlation- the process of establishing a relationship or connection between two ro more measures 

• 6.LS2.4 Using evidence from climate data, draw conclusions about the patterns of abiotic and biotic factors in different biomes, specifically the tundra, taiga, deciduous forest, desert, grasslands, rainforest, marine, and freshwater ecosystems. 

• ​SWBAT obtain and evaluate information about Earth’s major biomes-tundra, taiga, deciduous forest, desert, grasslands, rainforest, marine, freshwater IOT communicate about patterns between the biotic and abiotic factors in each biome.  

  -Obtain- to get 

  -Evaluate- to decide the value or worth after study 

  -Biomes-large regions characterized by climate and communities of species (grouped together) 

  -Biotic- an interaction between organisms in an area 

  -Abiotic- a nonliving part of an environment 

• ​Ecology

  Biotic Factor

  Abiotic Factor

  Population

  Sprcies

  Community

  Ecosystem

  Habitat

  Niche

• Organisms need energy and matter to live.

• Interactions between organisms cause an exchange of energy and matter. This exchange creates a web of life in which all organisms are connected to each other and to their environment.

• Ecology is the study of how organisms interact with one another and with the environment.​

• Each individual organism has a role to play in the flow of energy and matter.

• In this way, organisms are connected to all other organisms.

• A biotic factor is an interaction between organisms in an area.

• Competition is one way that organisms interact.

• For example, different kinds of plants might compete for water in the desert.

• ​An abiotic factor is a nonliving part of an environment, such as water, nutrients, soil, sunlight, rainfall, or temperature.

• All organisms rely on the nonliving environment for survival.

• For example, plants use sunlight, water, and soil nutrients to make food.

• In a terrestrial environment, temperature and rainfall are important abiotic factors.

• Changes in these basic abiotic factors affect where organisms can live and how many individuals are able to survive in the environment.

• ​The environment can be organized into different levels.

• These levels range from a single organism to all of the organisms and their surroundings in an area.

• The levels of organization get more complex as more of the environment is considered.

• ​•A population is a group of individuals of the same species that live in the same place at the same time.

• A species includes organisms that are closely related and can mate to produce fertile offspring.

• An ecosystem is a community of organisms and their nonliving environment.

• In an ecosystem, organisms and the environment exchange energy and other resources.

• Alligators need to live near a body of water such as a marsh. They eat animals that live near the water.The water helps alligators keep a stable body temperature.

• All abiotic and biotic factors make up an ecosystem. Examples of ecosystems include salt marshes, ponds, and forests.

• •A community is made up of all the populations of different species that live and interact in an area.

• The species in a communiy depend on each other for many things, such as shelter and food. For example, herons get energy and nutrients by eating other organisms.

• Organisms in a community compete with each other for resources just as members of a population do.

• ​Each ecosystem has its own unique biotic and abiotic factors.

• Some ecosystems have few plants and are cold and dry. Others have forests and are hot and moist.

• Large regions characterized by climate and communities of species are grouped together as biomes. A biome can contain many ecosystems.

• Major land biomes include tropical rain forest, tropical grassland, temperate grassland, desert, temperate deciduous forest, temperate rain forest, taiga, and tundra.

• All of the ecosystems in a biome share some traits.

• They share climate conditions such as temperature and rainfall, and have similar communities.

• ​Some biomes have the same temperature (taiga and tundra)

• rTemperate biomes have warm summers and cold​er winters.

• ​In some biomes major temperature changes occur within a single day. For example, some deserts are hot during the day and cold at night.

• ​Biomes also differ by the amount of precipitation they receive

• ​Tropical rain forests receive a lot of rain and deseerts do not.

• ​The taiga and tundra have moist summers and dry winters.