How Are Ecosystems Organized?

Ecosystem

Communities

Populations

Individuals

How Do We Understand Interconnectedness in Ecosystems?

Experiences

Scientific Method

Both

Understanding

Knowledge

Wisdom

Ecology at the Beginning Scientific Understanding

Living as Part of the Environment

Indigenous Cultures

Environmental Problem Solving

Merge all knowledge!

Human Ecology

Merge Both!

How are freshwater aquatic ecosystems organized at population and community

levels?

Use all parts of your learning to understand…

“Every part of this soil is sacred in the estimation of my people.

Every hillside, every valley, every plain and grove, has been

hallowed by some sad or happy event in days long vanished. Even the rocks…thrill with memories of

stirring events connected with the lives of my people, and the very dust upon which you now

stand responds more lovingly to their footsteps than yours.”

Chief Seattle

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Chief_Seattle

Let’s Review Important Terms

• Autotrophs

• Heterotrophs

• Detritivores

• Community Interactions

• Competition

– Competitive Exclusion

• Predation

• Symbiosis

• Parasitism

• Trophic Level

• Niche

Trophic Levels

MoreSewageMore Nutrients More

Swimming

More Carp Less Sportfish

Less Oxygen

1. Which trophic level seemed to be impacted the most due to biotic

interactions?

2.In which biotic interactions was a community interaction observed? What

was the interaction? [Use the following list to answer the question.]

•Competition

a)Competitive exclusion

•Predation

•Symbiosis

•Mutualism

•Commensalism

•Parasitism

3. How does this ecosystem represent the real world as you see it in the

watershed?

4. How are these interactions linked to issues like climate change or

pollution?

5. Which elements caused the most change in the ecosystem?

6. How much of your understanding of the ecosystem was based on your

scientific knowledge? How much was based on experiential

knowledge? How are they both important to you?