What is an ecosystem, and how is it put together?
Organism/SpeciesAs you can see in the image, an ecosystem is one of the levels of ecological organization. The first level begins with an individual organism or species. At this level, ecologists study individual features such as size, diet, and homeostatic levels. Basically, scientists study what makes a species unique.
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CommunityA biological community is the collection of populations that are in a given area. Community ecologists study the interactions between populations in the same geographical area. They look at how the populations compete for resources and how each population grows in response to changes in another population.
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EcosystemFinally, we get to consider the question that was asked at the beginning of the lesson: What is an ecosystem? An ecosystem consists of all organisms along with all of the non-living physical environment (landscape, water, air, etc.). Ecosystem ecologists study all the interactions that occur in an ecosystem and how the ecosystem reacts to changes in the living or physical aspects of the ecosystem.
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BiomeA biome is a collection of ecosystems in a given area. In this area, each ecosystem shares a similar climate and consist of similar organisms.
It is important to remember that all of the levels of ecological organization do not have concretely defined borders. Communities, populations, and ecosystems can all overlap with other communities, populations, and ecosystems. Each level is defined by the individual or group of scientists that are studying the level. |
Let's Practice
Mr. Wiggins will divide the class up into groups of 4. In each group, the one group member will write down an organism and pass it to another group member. The second group member will then write down a population the organism belongs to and pass the paper to a third group member. The 3rd group member will write down a description of a community that contains that population then pass the paper to the fourth group member. The final group member has the job of writing a description of an ecosystem that contains that community. When every group is finished, we will share are collaborations with the rest of the class.