CHAPTER 1 / SECTION 1CHAPTER 1 / SECTION 1

•LIVING THINGS AND THE ENVIRONMENT!

LIVING THINGS IN THEIR ENVIRONMENTLIVING THINGS IN THEIR ENVIRONMENT

• An organism or type of living thing needs to obtain food, water, shelter and other things it needs to live, grow, and reproduce from its environment.

• An environment that provides the things an organism needs to live is called its habitat.

Factors in an EnvironmentFactors in an Environment

Biotic – living parts of the environment.Ex. Producers and consumers.

Abiotic – nonliving parts of the environment.Ex. water, sunlight, oxygen, temperature, and soil.

Photosynthesis: The process of a plant making its own food.

• Living organisms can be

studied at different levels

of complexity.

• From least to most

complex, these levels are

(in an ecological context):

– Individual / Species

– Population

– Community

– Ecosystem

– Biome

– Biosphere

Biosphere

Biome

Ecosystem

Community

Population

Individual

Biological ComplexityBiological Complexity

A species is a group of organisms

that are physically similar and can

reproduce with each other.

Organisms do not generally live

alone. A population is a group of

organisms from the same species

occupying in the same geographical

area.

This area may be difficult to define.

Why?

PopulationsPopulations

Migrating wildebeest populationMigrating wildebeest population

Tiger populations comprise Tiger populations comprise widely separated individualswidely separated individuals

Communities and EcosystemsCommunities and Ecosystems

• A community is all the populations that live together in an area.

• An ecosystem is the community of organisms that live in a particular area and along with their nonliving surroundings.

**The community and the abiotic factors together form an ecosystem.

EcologyEcology• The study of how living things interact with

each other and their environment.