Five Levels of the Environment
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Transcript of Five Levels of the Environment
Five Levels of the Environment
The climate and types of plants that are found in similar places around the world.
Biome
There are many ecosystems within each biome. Inside an ecosystem, living and non living factors interact to form a stable system. An ecosystem is smaller than a biome and only includes organisms and their local environment.
Ecosystem
Made up of the living components of the ecosystem. Different plants, animals and other organisms interact with each other.
Community
A group of organisms of the same species that live in the same area.
Population
A single individual animal, plant, fungus or other living thing.
Organism
PATTERNS IN SPACEPopulations can be crowded together, spread
far apart or live in small groups.Think of us!!
Patterns exist in populations
Spaced evenly throughout the desert.Not planted by humans .Same distance from each other because the
roots of each bush release a toxin that prevents the roots of other bushes from growing.
Example 1: Creosote bushes in the Mojave desert
Bird houses need to be at least 100 meters apart from each other.
Bluebirds needs a large area of their own around their nest in order to collect enough insects to feed their young.
Example 2: Bluebirds
Swim in schools.Individual fish are packed together.Safety in numbers.
Example 3: Herring
Roam the African grasslands in closely packed herds.
Group safety.Think about it: even if one member is
attacked, many more will survive.
Example 4: Wildebeests
The number of individuals in the population may rise or fall, depending on the season or other conditions, or as a result of interactions with other organisms.
PATTERNS IN TIME
In spring you wouldn’t see yellowjacket wasps.
In autumn they would swarm your picnic.
Population size changed with time.
In spring, the queen wasp lays eggs and new wasps hatch.
Lays eggs all summer population grows.
Winter all die (except queen) population decreases.
Example 1: Wasps
Seasonal patternsIn North America
birds fly south to Central and South America in winter.
Food and good nesting sites.
Small populations in winter and large ones in summer in North America.
Example 2: Birds
Cicadas actually hatch and grow underground over 17 years!!! Check out the bar graph on the cicada population.
Example 3: Cicadas
Answer the following to find out:
1. What are two characteristics of a population?
2. Order these terms from simplest to most complex (biome, community, ecosystem, organism, population).
3. Infer: How might the seasonal patterns of insect populations relate to seasonal patterns of bird populations?
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