Introduction to Ecology

Ecology is the study of __________________________ among organisms and between _________________________

and their _______________________________.

Ecological Vocabulary!!

A species includes only ____________________ type of _________________________________.

o Example:
A population includes ________________________________ members of one species that live in the
___________________ ________________________.
o Example:
A community includes all of the __________________________ species that live in the
_____________________ _______________________.
o Example:
An ecosystem includes both the _______________________________ (living things/biotic factors) and the
___________________________ things/abiotic factors.
o Example:
Biotic factors are _______________________________________
o Example:
Abiotic factors are _________________________________________
o Example:

Organism Types

Autotroph organism that ___________________________________________________________ (i.e. a plant)

Heterotroph organism that must _______________________________________________________________

utotroph.
Producer an organism that makes (_______________________________) food. Also called an a

eterotroph.
Consumer an organism that eats (________________________________) its food. Also called a h

o Primary

o Secondary

o Tertiary

o Quaternary

Decomposer an organism that __________________________________________________________,

recycling their organic molecules.

Herbivore consumer that ______________________________________________________

Carnivore consumer that ______________________________________________________

Omnivore consumer that ______________________________________________________

Detritivore consumer that _____________________________________________________

Energy Flow

Energy Transfer: Major reason for interaction of organisms within an ecosystem

Organisms pass energy from one to another _________________________

When two organisms are shown connected on a food chain, an arrow always points in the direction where the
energy flows, from the organism eaten, to the organism eating.

Different organisms belong to different ______________________ (feeding) levels based on:

o What they eat

o How far away they are from the Producers

Cant forget about the Decomposers and Scavengers!

o Eat dead material (detritus)no hunting

We can look at how energy moves using:

o Food ________________

o Food ________________

o Label the food chain and the food w

eb pictures above.

o Food chains dont show us the whole picture in an ecosystem, for that, we must use a food web

Decomposers are ___________________________________!

Eventually everything gets decomposed.

Much of the suns ____________________ is not used, and then after plants take their share,
_________________ is available for ______________________ consumers, then ______________________ for
secondary consumers and so forth.

Since there is ________________________ ___________________________________ the food chain, there

must always be _____________________ top predators than the prey they feed upon or the top would run out
of energy quickly.

Energy Pyramid

o Most Energy is at the _____________________________!