Grade 9 Academic Science: Ecosystems

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Ecology

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The science of the relationships between organisms and their environments

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Ecosystems

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All living organisms that share a region and interact with each other AND non-Living components of their environment - that is, their physical and chemical environment

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Biotic Factor

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Living things, their remains and features (e.g nest) that are associated with the living thing's activities

includes: insects, mammals, micro-organisms, plants, plant and animal remains etc.

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Abiotic Factor

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The non-living physical and chemical components of an ecosystem

e.g. temperature, wind, rainfall, air, water, minerals

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Autotroph

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Anorganism capable of synthesizing its own food from inorganic substances usinglight or chemical energy.

e.g. greenplants, algae and some bacteria

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Heterotroph

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Anorganism that cannot synthesize its own food and is dependent on complexorganic substances for nutrition.

e.g. Consumers

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Sustainability

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Abilityto maintain a natural ecological balance without weakening, interruption orloss of value

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Symbiotic

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Theliving together (orliving relationship) oftwo dissimilar organisms.

Includes relationships such as mutualism, commensalism, predation andparasitism.

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Mutualism

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Asymbiotic relationship between individuals of different species in which bothindividuals benefit from the association.

e.g. oxpecker and rhinoceros

oxpecker eats ticks/other parasitesthat live on the rhino’s skin, oxpecker gets food and the rhino gets pestcontrol.

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Commensalism

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Asymbiotic relationship between two different kinds of organisms when onereceives benefits from the other organism while the second organism inunaffected.

e.g. flatworm and horsecrab.

flatworm attaches to the horsecraband eats the scraps from the crab’s food; the crab isunaffected.

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Parasitism

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Symbiotic relationship where one organism (parasite) lives off of anotherorganism (host) harming it, possibly causing death. Parasite lives on orin the body of the host.

e.g. Lyme disease

abacteria that transmitted by black-legged ticks. Once in the host, the bacteria thrives whilethe host suffers

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Competition

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A symbiotic relationship whereintwo organisms occupying the same area try to utilize the same resource (e.g. eat the same food) that is limited in supply

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Photosynthesis

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Processin which the Sun’s energy is converted to chemical energy

(e.g. sugar)6CO2 + 6H2O + Sun energy =6O2 + C6H12O6

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Cellular Respiration

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Processby which sugar is converted to carbon dioxide, water and energy

6O2 + C6H12O6=6CO2 + 6H2O + energy

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Producer

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Organismthat makes its own energy-rich food compounds using the Sun’s energy (i.e. light)Onland, most producers are green plants, and their colourcomes from chlorophyll which captures light energy

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Consumer

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Organismthat obtains its energy from consuming other organisms.

ConsumersCANNOT photosynthesize

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Food Chain

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Sequenceof organisms, each feeding on the next, shown how energy is transferred fromone organism to the next.

NOTE:FoodChains do NOT exist in nature. Rather,they are part of a complex set of relationships

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FoodWeb

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Arepresentation or illustration of the feeding relationships within acommunity. A Food Web is a group ofinterwoven Food Chains

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Trophic Level

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Thelevel of an organism in an ecosystem depending on its feeding position along afood chain

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Ecological Niche

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Therelational position of a species or population in an ecosystem

Theecological role and space that an organism fills in an ecosystem

Thefunction a species serves in its ecosystem (e.g., consumption patterns, behaviour, habitat preferences

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Carrying Capacity

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Themaximum population size of a particular species (i.e., number of individualorganisms) that a given ecosystem can sustain indefinitely

NOTE:CarryingCapacity is not fixed.Itcan be altered by human intervention (e.g., draining part of a swamp) or bynaturally by “speciesinvasions”

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Biodiversity

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Variety of life in a particulararea.

It is measured by counting thenumber of species in a specific habitat or ecosystem

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Biome

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Alarge geographical region defined by climate (e.g., temperature andprecipitation) with a specific set of biotic and abiotic features

Forexample, a tundra biome is characterized by very low temperatures, littleprecipitation, poor soil quality, low biodiversity, small plants

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Tolerance Range

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Abioticconditions within which a species can survive

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Species Richness

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Number of species in an area

A diverse and healthy ecosystemhas high species richness

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Limiting Factor

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Anyfactor that restricts the size of a population

Limitingfactors can be biotic (e.g., number of prey) or abiotic (e.g., hours ofsunlight)

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Succession

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Thegradual and usually predictable changes in the composition of a community andthe abiotic conditions following a disturbance

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Primary Succession

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Successionon a newly exposed ground where “no life”previously existed.

Usuallyfollows a catastrophic event such as a volcanic eruption

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Secondary Succession

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Successionin a partially disturbed ecosystem.

Followsa minor disturbance such as a forest fire

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Equilibrium

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Describesthe state of an ecosystem with relatively constant conditions over a period oftime

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Pollution

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Harmful contaminants released into the environment