Ecology & Organization
This is the scientific study of relationships between organisms and their environment.
What is ecology?
In this relationship, both species benefit.
What is mutualism?
This is when one group of living things slowly replaces another group over time.
What is ecological succession?
A forest begins growing again after a fire, and the soil is still present.
Secondary Succession
A hawk catches and eats a mouse. This is the relationship.
What is predation?
These scientist study ecology.
Who are ecologists?
In this relationship, one species benefits while the other is neither helped nor harmed.
What is commensalism?
This type of succession begins where living things have never existed before.
What is primary succession?
Plants begin growing on newly exposed rock where there is no soil.
Primary Succession
A bird builds a nest in a tree. The bird gets shelter, and the tree is neither helped or harmed.
What is commensalism?
This is the part of Earth in which organisms live.
What is the biosphere?
In this relationship, one species benefits while the other is harmed.
What is parasitism?
This type of succession is the regrowth of a community in an area where soil already exists.
What is secondary succession?
Grasses begin growing in existing soil after a disturbance.
Secondary Succession
A parasitic mite lives on a bee and takes nutrients from it.
What is parasitism?
This is a large area where environmental conditions are very similar.
What is biome?
This interaction happens when one organisms catches and eats another organism.
What is predation?
This is a relatively stable community reached through plant succession.
Lichens and mosses are among the first organisms to appear on new land.
Primary Succession
True or False: A biome is always smaller than an ecosystem.
False: A biome is actually a larger ecological category that contains multiple ecosystems.
Put these levels in order from smallest to largest: biome, community, biosphere, population, ecosystem.
Population - community - ecosystem - biome - biosphere
A honey bee gets nectar from a flower while helping the flower with pollination. Name the relationship and explain why.
This type of succession usually takes longer because soil must first develop.
What is primary succession?
A community is destroyed, but its soil remains. Explain which type of succession follows and why.
Secondary Succession. The soil is already present, so the community can regrow.
Name the four species relationships and explain who benefits or is harmed in each.
Mutualism - both benefit
Commensalism - One benefits, other unaffected
Parasitism - one benefits, other harmed
Predation - one catches and eats another