Ecology and Interactions in Ecosystems

Ecology

• Ecology is the study of how living things interact with each other and their environment.

Web of Life

• Objectives:
  • Create food webs and ecological pyramids to show the relationships between producers and consumers in an ecosystem.
  • Give examples of neutralism, competition, predation, parasitism, commensalism, and mutualism.
  • Evaluate a statement about the likelihood of life existing on other planets.
• Essential question: How do living things interact?

Producers and Consumers

• Producers (autotrophs): Organisms that make their own food through photosynthesis (e.g., plants, algae).
• Consumers (heterotrophs): Organisms that consume other organisms; they get their energy from consuming producers or other consumers.

Competition

• Organisms compete for limited resources.
• Example: Carnivores in the savanna during the dry season.

Food Chain

• A linear sequence of organisms transferring energy from one to another.
• Producers (plants) → Herbivores (animals) → Carnivores (animals).

Food Web

• A complex network of interconnected food chains showing multiple feeding relationships in an ecosystem.

Ecological Pyramid

• A graphical representation of the trophic levels in an ecosystem where producers form the base, and energy decreases at higher trophic levels.

Symbiosis

• A close relationship between two different species.
  • Parasitism: One species benefits, the other is harmed. (Example: ticks on animals)
  • Mutualism: Both species benefit. (Example: oxpeckers and animals)
  • Commensalism: One species benefits, the other is neither helped nor harmed. (Example: cattle egrets and rhinos)
  • Neutralism: Both species do not interact at all; neither species is affected. (Example: black mambas and oxpeckers)
  • Amensalism: One species is harmed, the other is unaffected. (Example: grazing herbivores and black mambas)

Explore the fascinating interactions between living organisms and their environment in this ecology quiz. Dive into topics like food webs, ecological pyramids, and the various types of symbiotic relationships. Test your knowledge on producers, consumers, and the essential question of how life interacts within ecosystems.