Ecosystems & Ecology
Trophic Cascades Modeling Task
Click on the link below to access the guidelines & rubric. The second link will access an editable Word version of the task planning sheet.
Click on the link below to access the guidelines & rubric. The second link will access an editable Word version of the task planning sheet.
Click on the links below to access PowerPoint outlines and images from the textbook.
Chapter 3 Outline Chapter 3 Images Chapter 4 Outline Chapter 4 Images Chapter 5 Outline Chapter 5 Images |
Click on the links below to access textbook chapter summaries with key concepts, questions and terms.
Chapter 3 Summary Chapter 4 Summary Chapter 5 Summary |
Essential APES!
Levels of Organization: Individual (species) - Population - Community - Ecosystem - Biosphere
Habitat – like an organism’s “address”.
Niche – an organism’s roll or way of life (includes everything that affects its survival & reproduction).
Organisms have a range of tolerance to physical & chemical (abiotic) factors - limiting factors can include precipitation, soil nutrients, sunlight, salinity, etc.
Levels of Organization: Individual (species) - Population - Community - Ecosystem - Biosphere
Habitat – like an organism’s “address”.
Niche – an organism’s roll or way of life (includes everything that affects its survival & reproduction).
Organisms have a range of tolerance to physical & chemical (abiotic) factors - limiting factors can include precipitation, soil nutrients, sunlight, salinity, etc.
Essential APES – Energy Flow Through Ecosystems |
- Levels of organization in the biosphere – define and give examples of species, population, community
- Biotic vs. abiotic
- Food webs - be able to construct one given a list of organisms)
- Trophic levels - (identifying producers, primary consumers, upper level consumer)
- Ecological (trophic) pyramids - biomass, numbers, energy (be able to construct and interpret)
- Energy flow – 10% rule
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Essential APES!
Specific Niches:
- Native & nonnative (invasive, alien or exotic)
- Endemic – only found in one area (i.e., an island) and are vulnerable to extinction.
- Indicator (lichens, trout, river otters) – provide early warning of ecosystem threats.
- Keystone (sea otters, wolves) – have a large effect on the types & abundance of other species.
- Foundation (elephants, beavers) – create or enhance habitats in ways that benefit other species.
Generalists – broad niches
Specialists – narrow niches
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Essential APES!
Specific Niches:
- Native & nonnative (invasive, alien or exotic)
- Endemic – only found in one area (i.e., an island) and are vulnerable to extinction.
- Indicator (lichens, trout, river otters) – provide early warning of ecosystem threats.
- Keystone (sea otters, wolves) – have a large effect on the types & abundance of other species.
- Foundation (elephants, beavers) – create or enhance habitats in ways that benefit other species.
Generalists – broad niches
Specialists – narrow niches
Resource Partitioning – occurs when species competing for similar scarce resources evolve specialized traits that allow them to use shared resources at different times, in different ways, or in different places.
Essential APES! Species Interactions
Symbiosis - any close, co-evolutionary association between individuals (symbionts).
Competition – includes intra- and interspecific interactions.
Commensalism (+, 0) -- in this interaction, one species benefits from the interaction while the other is neither helped nor harmed.
Mutualism (+, +) -- in this interaction, both species benefit from the other in some way.
Parasitism (+,-) -- in this interaction, one species benefits while the other is harmed. Parasites generally attach to a host as a consistent source of nutrition. Parasites may be endoparasites, existing inside the host, or ectoparasites, existing outside the host. The parasite does not “want” to kill its host, as this would remove the source of food.
Predation (+,-) -- in this interaction, one species benefits while the other is harmed. Predators obtain food at the expense of their prey. Predation may be considered herbivory or carnivory.