SPECIES INTERACTIONS

HOW do species interact with each other and their environment?

Definitions

Symbiosis Predator Prey Parasitism

Host Commensualism Mutualism

Classify these

Levels of Organization

Draw a picture of you. Draw a circle around it and label the circle “Individual.” An individual is a single organism. Write this definition near your animal.

Draw or write the name of a group you are a member of. Draw a circle around all of them. Label this circle “Population.” A population is a group of individuals of the same type living in the same area. Write this definition near your population.

Draw or list two other groups in the school (living things) next to your first few. Circle everything now and label it “Community.” A community is all of the populations living in an area. Write this definition near your community.

Draw some of the abiotic (non-living) things that inhabit our school. Circle them and label all of these items an “Ecosystem.” An ecosystem is group of organisms that live together and interact with each other and their environment. Write this definition near your ecosystem.

Draw some other factors including temperature of defined areas around the school (ie: gym, cafeteria, biology classroom). Circle all of this and label it “Biome.” Biomes are large areas of Earth with similar types of organisms and climates. Write this definition near you biome.

Draw the entire school. This is the “Biosphere.” The biosphere is all the areas on Earth were life exists. Write this definition near your world.

The school as a Biome

This analogy is limited by its scope, but you can get the main ideas about ecological organization.

Up until biome it is pretty much on par. However, all of Creek and our surroundings,

indeed much of Texas, are in the same Biome – the grasslands.

The Biosphere would be the entire Earth as well as the atmosphere around the Earth. Anything that supports life is included in the Biosphere.

Make Sure…

You should now have all the levels of organization used in Ecology. In order from smallest to largest you should have: Individual Population Community Ecosystem Biome Biosphere

QuestionsTest your Knowledge

A Pod of bottlenose dolphins living in a specific region can be identified as which level of organization?

A. Biosphere B. Ecosystem C. population D. community

C population

A population is a group of organisms of one type that all live in the same area.

Study the picture below

Which level of organization is BEST represented by the entire picture?

A. Organism B. ecosystem C. population D. community

B ecosystem

An ecosystem is a community and its nonliving surroundings as labeled here

Air

Water

Bird

Fish

Alligator

Trees

BushesGrass

Study the diagram below

Which is a level of organization that could be represented by X?

A. Plant B. Animal C. Biosphere D. community

D. community

A community is larger than a population but less inclusive than an ecosystem

Which sequence correctly identifies the levels of organization in a biosphere from most complex to least complex? A OrganismPopulationCommunityEcosystem B ecosystemcommunitypopulationorganism C communityorganismecosystempopulation D populationecosystemorganismcommunity

B. ecosystemcommunitypopulationorganism

An ecosystem is a community and all its surroundings making it the most complex and an organism is one living object making it the simplest

K: Study the tables below. Ospreys, egrets and cranes were observed in an area around a small oxbow lake at Perry Lakes Park in Alabama

Birds observed during one year

Bird Number observed

Osprey 63

Egret 85

Crane 22

Which student correctly categorized the observations according to the levels of organization in the biosphere

Student Organisms Population(s) Communities

1 3 3 1

2 3 1 3

3 170 3 1

4 170 1 3

A Student 1

B Student 2

C student 3

D student 4

C student 3

Since an organism is a single living thing you have to include all of them so 63+85+22=170 and a population is only one type of animal and three birds were being studied there were 3 populations and since a community is all the populations combined there is only 1 community

Study the Diagram belowForests, animals, sunlight, soil, water

Oak forest, grey squirrels, deer

Oak forest

Oak tree

A Organism B ecosystem C Community D Population

Population community Ecosystem Organism

Community population Organism Ecosystem

Ecosystem organism Population Community

Which example below represents the organizational levels shown in the diagram?

B ecosystem

community

population

organism

An ecosystem is a community and its nonliving surroundings. Communities are populations in a defined area. Populations are groups of organisms. An organism is a single living thing.

Study the picture10

A: PopulationB: CommunityC: Ecosystem*D: Organism

Which level of organization is BEST represented by the entire picture?This includes the water ,soil, animals & trees.

Hint: This includes the water ,soil, animals & trees.

C. Ecosystem, because it is made up of the living & non living things.

A scientist studied a coral reef in an ocean. The scientist made a data table to record what was observed. How many populations are represented by the data?

11

A: 2B: 6 C: 67D: 101

The answer to that question is B. 6 It asked how many populations, and

there are 6 populations. (Sea turtle, Sea Star, Nurse Shark, Clown Fish, Parrotfish, Sea urchin. Each TYPE is a different population.

The population of a town is the number of people that live there.

13 : Student Question

A herd of animals in the same area is an example of,

A.Population B.BiosphereC.OrganismD.Ecosystem

The answer is A. population

because, a population is a group of organisms of one type staying in the same area.