Notes: Unit 10: Interactions of Living Things

Notes: Unit 10: Interactions of Living Things

Section 1: Everything is Connected

Studying the Web of Life

1. Ecology is the study of the _______________________ of organisms with one

another and with their _________________________.

2. The Two Parts of the Environment:

a) All of the organisms that live together and interact with one another make up

the _________________ or living parts of the environment.

Some examples include __________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

b) The __________________ part of the environment consists of the non-living parts.

Some examples are ______________________________________________________________________________________
Never was __________________ or is now __________________.

3. Organization in the Environment: The environment may seem disorganized.

However, the environment can be arranged into different levels.

a) Each living thing is a/an ______________________,

Any thing that can carry out ___________________ processes ______________________.

· Examples: ___________________________________________________

b) Each organism is a part of a ______________________, which is a group of

individuals of the same _________________ that live together at the same time in the same ________________.

· Examples: ___________________________________________________

c) A _________________________ consists of all of the populations of species that live and interact in an area.

· Examples: ___________________________________________________
The type of community is determined by the ______________________ and ______________________ factors available. Examples: ___________________________________________________

d) An _______________________ is made up of the living (biotic) and the ___________________ ( ________________)

factors _________________________ of the communities __________________with each other

· Examples: ___________________________________________________

e) The ____________________ is the part of Earth where life exists. It extends from the deepest parts of

the ocean to high in the air where plant spores drift.

• Ecologists
An ecologist is one who looks at how all the _____________ and _____________ factors in an ecosystem

are _______________________. Ecologists study the biosphere to learn how ___________________ interact with the ___________________ parts of the environment

Section 2: Living Things Need Energy

The Energy Connection

4. An organism’s energy role in an ecosystem may be that of a ____________________,

___________________ or _____________________.

5. Organisms that use sunlight directly to make food are ______________________.

· They make food by using a process called _____________________________,

which is when plants use the sun’s energy to turn _____________ and

___________________________ into molecules of ________________ and

_________________. (Glucose is a type of sugar that is the plant’s ________)

6. Organisms that eat other organisms are called _______________________________.

· Consumers that eat only plants are ____________________________

- Examples: _________________________________________________

· Consumers that eat only animals are ____________________________

- Examples: _________________________________________________

- Carnivores that feed on dead organisms are called _________________

- Examples: ___________________________________________

· Consumers that eat both plants and animals are _________________________

- Examples: _________________________________________________

7. Organisms that get energy by breaking down dead organisms and return the raw

materials to the environment are called __________________________.

· Examples: ______________________________________________________

8. A _________________________ is a diagram that shows how energy in food flows

from one organism to another. It demonstrates this by showing which organism

________ which.

9. A ______________________________ is a diagram that shows the feeding

relationships between organisms in an ecosystem. It consists of many overlapping

______________________ in an ____________________.

10. An _________________________________ is a triangular diagram that shows an

ecosystem’s loss of energy, which results as energy passes through the

ecosystem’s food chain.

· it shows the amount of ______________that moves from one feeding level to

the next in a ______________________

· the most energy is available at the __________________ level

· only about _________ of the energy at one level of a food web is transferred to the next,

________________, level

11. Balance in Ecosystems: All organisms in a food web are important for the

___________________ and _______________________ of all other organisms in the food web.

Section 3: Interactions in communities

Interactions with the Environment

12. A resource that is so scarce that it limits the size of a population is called a

____________________________.

· Limiting factors _________________ a population from growing.

- some examples are: not enough __________, not enough ___________

and poor __________________ conditions.

13. The largest population that an environment can support is known as the

________________________________.

Interactions Between Organisms

14. Individuals and Populations Interact

a) Populations contain individuals of a single _____________ that interact with one

another, such as a group of rabbits feeding in the same area.

b) Communities contain interacting ______________________, such as a coral reef

with many species of corals living in the same area.

c) Ecologists have described four main ways in which organisms affect each other.

They are _____________________, _____________________________,

_____________________ and _______________________.

Predators and Prey

15. _______________________ are animals that eat other animals.

Animals that are killed and eaten by other organisms are called _____________.

16. Predator Adaptations: To survive, predators must be able to __________________

their ___________. Predators have a wide variety of methods and abilities for doing so.

17. Prey Adaptations: Prey also have many methods and abilities to ______________

being eaten, such as:

- ________ away

- stay in a _______________

- _______________________ themselves, they do this by _______________ in with the background

- some can defend themselves with _________________.
The skunk and the bombardier beetle both spray predators with irritating chemicals.
Bees, ants, and wasps inject a powerful acid into their attackers.

- being ______________________ or ________________________

Symbiosis

18. ______________________ is a relationship in which two different organisms live in

close association with each other.

a) ___________________________ is a symbiotic relationship between two

species in which both organisms benefit.

b) ____________________________ is a symbiotic relationship in which one

organism benefits and the other is unaffected.

c) ____________________________ is a symbiotic association in which one

organism benefits while the other is harmed.

- The organism that benefits is called the ________________________, while

the organism that is harmed is called the ___________.

Competition

19. When two or more individuals or populations try to use the same resource, such as

_____________, _______________, _________________, ______________, or

_______________________, it is called _________________________.

20. Competition can happen _______________ a population, or ___________________

populations.

Coevolution

21. When a long-term change takes place in two species because of their close _________________ with one another, the change is called coevolution.

· example: Flowers have changed over millions of years to attract

______________________. Pollinators such as bees, bats, and hummingbirds

can be attracted to a flower because of its ____________, ____________, or

_________________.

Definitions

22. Any species that is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of it’s range

At the brink of extinction now is ___________________________.

23. Any species which is likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future

Likely to be at the brink of extinction in the near future is ___________________________.

24. Any species that is not native to an ecosystem is ________________________________.