Ecological Principles

Objectives
• Define Ecology
• Compare and contrast biotic and abiotic
factors
• Describe the three types of symbiosis
 ECOLOGY
• is the study of the interactions
among organisms and their
environment

• studied by an ecologist
THE ENVIRONMENT
• An organism’s surroundings

• Composed of living (biotic) and nonliving

(abiotic)things

• Biotic Factors: humans, plants, birds,

fungi, bacteria, protists

• Abiotic Factors: water, light,

temperature, air, soil
 LIVING
RELATIONSHIPS
• Describes the associations that
organisms have with other organisms
of a different species within the
environment
 Symbiosis
• A relationship between organisms in
which at least one of them benefits

• Three types of symbiosis in

ecosystems are mutualism,
commensalism, and parasitism.
 Mutualism (+, +)
Both species benefit
from being in
relationship with
one another

ex. honeybee
&
flower
 Commensalism (+, 0)
• One organism benefits
• while the other is
• unaffected (neither
• helped nor harmed)
• Ex. robin in a tree
 Parasitism (+, -)
• One organism benefits at
the expense of the other

• One organism benefits,

other harmed but not
not killed

• Example:
deer tick on a deer
 Predation (+, -)
• one organisms benefits
by hunting, killing, and
feeding on another
organism

• AKA predator – prey

relationship
fox & rabbit
• predator = organism that hunts, kills,
and feeds off another

• prey = organism that is hunted &

killed
 Competition
• Occurs when organisms in the same
ecosystem are competing with each
other for resources such as food,
water, sunlight, and living spaces
 Objectives
• Describe plants and animals found in various
biomes
• Identify the biome that we live in
BIOMES
• A large region that contains similar
plant and animal ecosystems and is
characterized by certain climate
conditions.

• Biomes can be terrestrial (land) or

aquatic (water).
Terrestrial Biomes
 Temperate Deciduous Forest
• Trees (birch, oak, maple,
elm) lose leaves in fall

• Animals such as bears,

deer, rabbits, squirrels, &
many species of birds
 Coniferous Forest
• Cone shaped trees (fir,
pine, spruce)

• Moose, bears, lynxes

wolves

• Snow covered ground

during long winters
Tropical Rain Forest
• Made up of tall trees with broad
leaves that form a dense canopy of
vegetation

• Animals include a wide variety of

snakes, lizards, colorful birds, and
many kinds of monkeys
 Grassland
• Made up of
grasses & plants
that produce
colorful flowers

• Called a prairie in
U.S.
• Has rich, fertile soil
• Well suited for growing crops
• Animals include bison, mice, and
prairie dogs
Desert
• Arid or dry

• Very little yearly rainfall

• Vegetation sparse, consists of plants

like cacti

• Animals include snakes, lizards, and

jackrabbits
Tundra
• Very cold conditions

• Very little vegetation

• Contains permafrost (permanently

frozen soil located underneath topsoil

• Animals include musk oxen & wolves

 Aquatic Biomes
• Aquatic biomes can be freshwater or
marine
• Freshwater biomes include rivers,
streams, lakes, ponds, and wetlands

• Wetlands are land

areas that remain
wet for all or part
of the year.
They include
swamps & marshes
• Marine biomes consist of the oceans
• Oceans have 4 distinct zones:
intertidal
neritic
oceanic
benthic
• Intertidal – where ocean meets the
land. Animals include shellfish &
birds

• Neritic – numerous fishes, sea

turtles, squids, coral reefs
• Oceanic – open ocean; most of zone cold
& dark; not much life. Fishes & whales

• Benthic – ocean floor; bottom feeder

animals like starfish, anemones, sponges