Ecology

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Ecology
The study of nature
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Biodiversity

• The variety of species living within an ecosystem
• What is an ecosystem?

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Ecosystems

• Ecosystems consist of a given areas physical
  features (_____ factors) and organisms (______
  factors)
• Organisms that live together in an ecosystem are
  called a __________

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Population

• What is a population?
• A group of organisms that all belong to the same
  species and live in a given area

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Cause and Effect

• Scenario 1
• A big boat that carries oil from Saudi Arabia to
  the United States hits a rock near the coast of
  Redondo Beach and spills a million barrels of oil
  into the ocean. How does this impact the
  environment?
• Kills fish, fish that live off those fish die,
  birds die, food contamination
• Scenario 2
• You and your friend went camping in Yosemite and
  accidentally started a forest fire that burnt
  down a square mile of trees. How does this impact
  the environment?
• Animals that use to live there have no home,
  more CO2 in the atmosphere, less Oxygen

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• When you alter an environment in any way, you
  alter everything that is somehow attached.
  Everything in an ecosystem is connected!

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Producers Consumers
Sheep
Shrimp
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Decomposers

• Which one is a decomposer?

Why are decomposers important for a healthy
ecosystem?
The Earth would be one big pile of dead things!
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Food chain

• Animals and plants are connected through simple
  relationships called food chains.
• Can you describe a food chain that you fit into?
• Are humans ever in the middle or bottom of a food
  chain?

Consumer
Consumer
Consumer
Consumer
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Shark
Consumer
The Best Teacher Ever
Consumer
Consumer
Tuna
Mr. Haas Food Chain
Sardines
Consumer
Plankton
Producer
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Food Pyramid (Food Chain)
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Food Webs

• Nature really more like a web, not a chain.

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Relationships

• Cant we all just be friends?

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Competition

• Two or more organisms compete for a limited
  resource

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Predation

• One species eats the other species
• (predator-prey)

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Symbiosis living together

• Examples
• Commensalism
• Mutualism
• Parasitism

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Commensalism

• One species benefits and the other species is
  neither harmed or benefited

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Mutualism

• Both species benefit

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Parasitism

• One organism benefits at the expense of the other
  organism

Crab Parasite
Swimmers Itch