Unit 4-Ecology and
environment
14-ECOSYSTEMS
Components of Ecosystems:
Producers:
• Plants that photosynthesize to produce food.
Consumers:
• Animals that eat plants or other animals.
Decomposers:
• Organisms that break down dead material and recycle nutrients.
Physical Environment:
• Non-biological components of the ecosystem (e.g., water, soil, air).
Levels of
organisatio
n in an
ecosystem
Percentage cover can be assessed using a quadrat
interactions in ecosystems:
Feeding Interactions:
• Plants, animals, and decomposers form a nutrient cycle within the ecosystem.
Competition:
• Animals compete for resources like food, shelter, mates, and nesting sites.
• Plants compete for resources like carbon dioxide, mineral ions, light, and water.
Interactions with the Environment:
• Plants exchange materials with the environment (absorb CO2, H2O, mineral ions; release O2,
water vapor).
• Animals use materials from the environment for shelter.
• Temperature influences both organisms and their environment.
Overall:
• Organisms in an ecosystem are constantly interacting with each other and their physical
environment.
How abiotic factors affect population
size and distribution
Feeding relationships
• At any trophic level organisms produce waste, or may die; the
energy in waste or dead matter is then transferred to
decomposers
Consumers can occupy more than one trophic level in a food web, as they may rely on multiple food sources
Food chains show the transfer of energy that occurs when organisms feed
Food web shows the complex feeding relationships within ecosystems
The bars in a pyramid of numbers indicate the number of
organisms present at each trophic level
oak tree → ladybird → woodpecker
oak tree → ladybird → woodpecker
The bars in a pyramid of
biomass represent the mass of
living matter at each trophic
level of a food chain, and are
always pyramid shaped
Energy and chemical substance are transferred through
food chains when organisms consume other organisms
Energy is lost at each trophic level of a food
chain
