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Explore the fascinating world of biology and learn about the characteristics of life, levels of complexity, ecosystems, energy flow, and the diverse interactions between organisms and their environment.
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BIOLOGY What is this class I am taking???
BIOLOGY-STUDY OF LIFE • Biology deals predominantly with living things…but what exactly defines life???
6 CHARACTERISTIC OF LIFE • All organisms are composed of cells. • All organisms are highly organized • All organisms respond/or and adapt to their environment.
6 CHARACTERISTICS OF LIFE • All organisms use energy. • All organisms must have the ability to reproduce • All organisms must grow, develop, and maintain.
ALL LIVING THINGS ARE CALLED ORGANISMS. Organisms are usually grouped by the similarities they share and the fact that they can reproduce fertile offspring. These organisms are called SPECIES.
Level of Complexity. • Molecules • Cells • Tissue • Organs • Systems • Organisms • Population • Community • Ecosystem • Biosphere
Biosphere • Biosphere contains the combined portions of the planet in which all life exists, including land, water, and air, or atmosphere. • It extends from about 8 kilometers above Earths’ surface to as far as 11 kilometers below the surface of the ocean.
ECOLOGY/INTERACTION • ECOLOGY- The scientific study of interactions between organisms and their environment. • Every organism is connected in some way to many other organisms and the connections/interactions occur between living and non-living parts of the world.
STABILITY • For an ecosystem to be stable AND self-sustaining, there must be: • a constant source of energy • a cycle of materials between living organisms in the ecosystem & the environment
Factors • BIOTIC FACTORS - living things 6 characteristics of living things (could be 5-8) • ABIOTIC FACTORS - nonliving things that determine what types of organisms can live in a particular environment
Energy Flow • Without a constant input of energy, living systems cannot function. • Sunlight is the main energy source for life on Earth
AUTOTROPHS • AKA- Producers An organisms that has the ability to make its own food. It uses energy from the sun to do this
AUTOTROPHS • They harvest energy from the sun through a process called photosynthesis.
HETEROTROPHS • AKA- Consumer An organism that does NOT have the ability to make its own food.
Herbivores • A herbivore is an animal that eats only producers (plants) • Ex: Deer, Cow, and horses.
CARNIVORE A carnivore is a meat eater Ex: Alligator and lion
OMNIVORE • A Omnivore is both a plant and meat eater. • Ex: Humans and bears
SCAVENGERS SCAVENGERS Feed on dead and decay animal tissue. Examples: Buzzard, Vulture, and Opossum
SCAVENGERS…AKA…DETRITIVORES Detritiviores Feed on plant and animal remains and other d3eat matter. Mites, Earthworms, snails, and crabs.
Decomposer • Decomposers they turn dead decaying tissue into useable nutrients. Ex: Bacteria and Fungi
INDIVIDUAL • An individual is one member of one species
POPULATIONS A population is several members of the same species.
COMMUNITY • A Community includes several species living together in the same area at the same time.
Ecosystem • All the organisms living in an area and the nonliving features of their environment
Biome • A biome is a group of ecosystems that have the same climate and similar dominant communities.
HABITAT • The actual place an organism lives.
NICHE • An organisms place and function in an environment. • Physical location. • Trophic level. • Limit and tolerance for environmental factors. • Relationship to other organisms.
SYMBIOSIS • SYMBIOSIS- The relationship between two organisms that live in close association with one another. • Parasitism, Mutualism, Commensalism
PARASITISM • Parasitism Where one organism will benefit at the expense of another. Ex: • Tapeworm/Human
PARASITISM • Parasitism Where one organism will benefit at the expense of another. Ex: • Wasp/Caterpillars..Tiny parasitic wasps, lay their eggs inside of caterpillars. The was larvae literally eat the caterpillars alive as both animals mature
MUTUALISM • Relationship where both organisms will benefit. • Ex:. The bulls horn acacia has special enlarged thorns that house colonies of ants. The acacia’s nectar attract the ants, which use it as their major food source. In return, the ants protect the acacia from being eaten by caterpillars and other herbivourous insects.
MUTUALISM • Aphids are small, soft-bodied, near defenseless insects that feed on plant sap.. Plant sap, a combination of water and sugars, is low in other nutrients, however, and the aphid must process a great deal of plant sap in order to get the amino acids and other nutrients it needs. Most of the sugars and water, therefore, are excreted as waste through a pair of structures called cornicles located near the rearend of the insect. If you own a car and have parked it under a tree during the summer, the sticky sap you find on the car is likely to be the waste plant sap produced by aphids. • Some ant species use this excess plant sap for their own nutrition. Ants find a colony of aphids and milk the waste plant sap from the cornicles. In return the ants protect the aphids from predators and parasites. In some cases ants tend colonies almost like ranchers with their cattle, not only protecting the aphids, but moving them around from plant to plant. • In the photograph to the left a group of ants are tending a colony of aphids (the almost invisible gray spots) living on a weedy plant species.
MUTUALISM The mutualistic relationship is clear. The birds and mammals derive a food benefit by eating the berries and fruits. The plant, in turn, disperses it seeds.
COMMENSALISM • The relationship where one organism benefits and the other organism is neither hurt nor helped. • EX: Egrets and cattle. Egrets can eat up to 100 insects an hour…wow!!
COMMENSALISM • Certain types of barnacles attach to whales and obtain a free ride as the whale swims. Since barnacles rely on currents to bring them food that they can filter out of the water, movement by the whale greatly benefits the barnacles. Because of the whale's movements, the barnacles are always in a new environment with a new supply of food. The whale, however, does not appear to be helped or harmed by this relationship.
Succession • Natural, gradual changes in the types of species that live in an area; can be primary or secondary. • Primary – begins in a place without soil • Secondary – where soil already exists
Succession • Primary – begins in a place without soil
Succession • Secondary – where soil already exists
A group of organisms, such as lichens, found in the primary stage of succession and that begin an area's soil-building process Pioneer Species
A community that has reached a stable stage of ecological succession Climax Community
Matter cannot be created nor destroyed it must be recycled Energy can be replaced and is by the sun which is our constant source of energy. MATTER AND ENERGY ARE CONSTANTLY MOVING THROUGH OUR ECOSYSTEM
ENERGY • Energy flows through an ecosystem in one direction, from the sun to autotrophs and then to various heterotrophs. • An energy pyramid can be used to illustrate how much energy, biomass, or raw number of individuals are available at each trophic level.
Energy Pyramids • PYRAMID OF ENERGY (ecological pyramid) – diagram used to show the flow of the amount of available energy in an ecosystem. • Each level of the pyramids are called TROPHIC LEVELS (1-4) • BIOMASS- The total mass of organic matter at each trophic level