Environmental Science Module 2

Ecology indicates the relationship between organisms and their environment. It is the study of the ways organisms interact with each other and with their non-living surroundings. Ecology supplements our world and is crucial for humanity. It provides resources and services vital for sustaining biodiversity, food production, quality of air, clean water, etc.

What are the Ecological Hierarchy ( Bottom to Top)

Refers to an interacting group of natural elements and the organisms in a given environment. It is a unit of interrelationships between biotic and abiotic factors. Thus, all living organisms depend on, influence, and adapt to nonliving components to maintain their steady-state conditions (homeostasis).

It encompass all living organisms present in the ecosystem. These organisms are autotrophs and heterotrophs.

This are also called "self-feeders" or the “producers”. They use the energy from the sun (light energy) or chemical energy to make their food. There are two types of autotrophs

This are organisms that use the energy from sunlight to make their food in the process called photosynthesis. Some examples are plants, algae, and certain bacteria.

This are organisms that use chemical energy from compounds to make their food in the process called chemosynthesis. Examples are some bacteria and also archaea – a microorganism that resembles bacteria.

This are called "consumers." These organisms cannot make their food, primarily animals; and get their energy from other plants and animals, and classify as:

-feed directly on plants -1st order/ primary consumers Rabbit, Goat, Cow, sheep

• that feed directly on animals -2nd order/ Secondary consumers Snake, Tiger, Eagle, Lion

-feed both on plants and animals -1st or 2nd order consumers Bears, birds, dogs, foxes, humans

They are also unable to make their food. They decompose waste products and dead organisms for food and are returned to the soil to be recycled and used by plants again. Bacteria and fungi are decomposers. Decomposers are classified based on the type of organic matter they break down

feed on the soft tissues of dead animals. Examples include vultures, raccoons, and blowflies.

feed on detritus - remains of plants, animal feces, and other organic debris. They can be found on the soil like earthworms, millipedes, dung beetles; and at the bottom of bodies of water such as sea cucumbers and catfish.

This are the nonliving features of the environment that influence an organism or group of organisms.

Is required by all organisms to sustain life

It is the ultimate source of energy for almost all organisms in ecosystems.

the greatest importance to plants because it is essential for photosynthesis. The following factors play a crucial function in an ecosystem

The most vital gases are oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen utilized by plants and

Used during animals' respiration, carbon dioxide on plant photosynthesis, and nitrogen made available by certain bacteria through various fixation processes

It includes wind or air currents, soil, pH, and temperature.

It is associated with the physical nature of the land surface/area. It includes altitude, the slope of the land, and the area's position with the sun or rain-bearing winds.

All organisms play a critical role in the ecosystem. Different categories were involved.

Some organisms can make their own food (producers), and other organisms have to get their food by eating other organisms(consumers). The species that can eat many different types of foods is called a generalist. For example, raccoons eat many things, including human garbage. A specialist is a species that consumes only a specific type of food. For example, koalas only eat eucalyptus plants.

Happens between organisms arises when more than one organism struggles to obtain the same essential resources in the same habitat. Both participants in the interaction are potentially harmed. The one who is harmed less is considered the winner, and the one who is harmed more is the loser. It controls the population size by limiting the number of organisms that can survive on the area's resources.

Happens between members of two or more different species over various limiting resources such as food, water, light, soil resources, or space. It often leads to extinction, specifically with the species that are less well-adapted, less likely to survive, and the species may go extinct. For example, predators of various species might compete for the same prey just like lions and leopards that compete for similar prey; and a farm of rice paddies with weeds growing in the field.

Arises between members of the same species and may compete over mates, water, sunlight, territory, or food energy sources.This type of competition is a basic factor in natural selection that leads to the evolution of better adaptations. For example, two individuals of the same zooplankton species compete for nutrients in the ocean.

Occurs when one species directly affects the ability of another to consume resources. For example, (a) an animal may chase other individuals away from a potential food source; and (b) in some species, individuals or groups maintain and defend territories.

Occurs when one species makes a resource unavailable for consumption of another species. It is the most common mechanism of competition in nature. Examples of exploitative competition include (a) lions and cheetahs competing for gazelles on the African plains, and (b) two species of prairie grasses competing for light, soil moisture, and soil nutrients.

It is a place where an organism lives. It is characterized by the physical environment, including distinctive physical features, vegetation, and the group of species living in it. Conversely, each species' niche is defined by the sum of activities and relationships in which it engages to secure and use the resources necessary for its survival and reproduction.

Occurs when one species uses another species as food. The organism that hunts other living things for food is called the predator, and the prey is the animal hunted by a predator.

Include the presence of armor in animals (spines) or thorns in plants to discourage predation and herbivory by preventing physical contact with the predato

include odors and toxins released by plants and animals.

Indicate aposematic coloration

A protective coloration in which an animal resembles its background.

It is when organisms resemble other species.

It is where a harmless species imitates a harmful one.

It occurs when various species share the same warning coloration and resemble each other but have their own defenses.

It describes a close and often long-term relationship between two or more different organisms. This relationship may be beneficial or harmful, or it may not affect the other organisms. The term symbiosis was first by the mycologist Heinrich Anton de Bary, who termed it "the living together of unlike organisms".

It is an interaction between two species in which both organisms benefit. An example of this is the pollination of plants by bees and other pollinators.

It is a type of symbiosis where one organism benefits, but the others are unaffected. For example, numerous orchids, mosses, and ferns that grow atop higher plants benefit from structural support and greater access to sunlight.

It is a relationship where one organism, termed the parasite, benefits at the expense of the host. Some parasites live on the surface of their host called an ectoparasite. Others live inside their host called endoparasite. Examples include tapeworms, lice, and fungus.

(The global ecosystem)

(A groups of ecosystems that share similar climates and typical organisms)

(Different communities working as a unit, interacting with both its physical and biological environment)

(A group of different populations distributed into a specific geographical area

(A group of same species occupying a specific geographic area and time)

(A group of individuals with the same genetic characteristics and is capable of interbreeding with one another)

Ecology

Biotic Factors

Abiotic Factors

Individual

Population

Community

Ecosystem

Biome

Biosphere

Autotrophs (Producers)

Photosynthetic Autotrophs

Chemosynthetic Autotrophs

Heterotrophs (Consumers)

Primary Consumers

Secondary Consumers

Tertiary Consumers

Decomposers

Scavengers

Detritivores

Interspecific Competition

Intraspecific Competition

Predation

Niche

Habitat

Symbiosis

Mutualism

Commensalism

Parasitism