Biosphere

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1 What is Ecology?

Studying Our Living Planet

• Ecology is the scientific study of

interactions among organisms and
between organisms and their
environment, or surroundings.

• Ecology is the study of nature’s

“houses” and the organisms that live
in those houses.

The Biosphere

• The biosphere consists of all life on Earth

and all the parts of the Earth in which life
exists including land, water, and air or
atmosphere.

It extends

8 km
above

earth and

11 km
below
ocean.

Interactions and Interdependence

Organisms and their environment are interdependent. These
giraffes could not survive without plants to eat, and the
plants could not grow unless bacteria and other organisms
help recycle nutrients in the water and soil.

Levels of Organization

The study of ecology ranges from
individual organisms to populations,
communities, ecosystems, biomes, and
the entire biosphere.

Levels of Organi

zation

• A

biome

is a group of ecosystems that have the

same climate and similar dominant communities.

• An

ecosystem

is a collection of all the organisms

that live in a particular place, together with their
nonliving, or physical, environment.

• A

community

is composed of different populations

that live together in a define area.

• A

population

is a group of individuals that belong

to the same species and live in the same area.

• A

species

is a group of individual organisms similar

to one another.

Biology.com – Activities: Art in Motion

Biotic and Abiotic Factors

•

Biotic Factor

– any living part of the environment

with which an organism might interact. (animals,
plants, bacteria)

•

Abiotic Factor

– any nonliving part of the

environment. ( sunlight, heat, precipitation, wind)