ECOLOGYECOLOGY

Levels of Ecological Levels of Ecological OrganisationOrganisation

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Insects751,000

Other animals281,000

Fungi69,000

Prokaryotes4,800

Plants248,400Protists

57,700

Known species1,412,000

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Communities

Subatomic Particles

Atoms

Molecules

Protoplasm

Cells

Tissues

Organs

Organ systems

Organisms

Populations

Populations

Communities

Ecosystems

Biosphere

Earth

Planets

Solar systems

Galaxies

Universe

Organisms

Realm of ecology

Ecosystems

Biosphere

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• EcologyEcology – study of how whole communities of – study of how whole communities of living organisms living organisms interact with each other and with interact with each other and with their environmenttheir environment

• HabitatHabitat – – place where organisms liveplace where organisms live (e.g. leaf- (e.g. leaf-mining caterpillar inside a leaf on the oak tree)mining caterpillar inside a leaf on the oak tree)

• Population Population – – a group of organisms of the same a group of organisms of the same speciesspecies, which live in the , which live in the same place at the same same place at the same timetime, and , and can interbreedcan interbreed with each other (e.g. with each other (e.g. population of ants/beetles)population of ants/beetles)

• CommunityCommunity – – all the organismsall the organisms, of all the , of all the different species, different species, living in a habitatliving in a habitat (e.g. forest (e.g. forest community/reef community)community/reef community)

• EcosystemEcosystem – relatively self-contained, – relatively self-contained, interacting community of organisms, and the interacting community of organisms, and the environmentenvironment in which they live and with which in which they live and with which they interact – no ecosystem is entirely self-they interact – no ecosystem is entirely self-containedcontained

• Niche Niche – the – the role of an organismrole of an organism in the ecosystem in the ecosystemALBIO9700/2006JK

HabitatHabitat

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PopulationPopulation

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CommunityCommunity

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EcosystemEcosystem

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