ECOSYSTEM Biosphere The layer around our planet where

ECOSYSTEM

• Biosphere -The layer around our planet where living things exist • -solid portion (rock, soil, etc) Lithosphere • Hydrosphere -liquid portion (oceans, lakes) • Atmosphere -gaseous portion (air) These “spheres” have living and nonliving parts And they are also very large and difficult to study Ecologists break them into smaller parts

ECOSYSTEM - a distinct piece of the biosphere in which living things interact with each other, and the environment Ecosystems vary in size …from a drop of water …to the entire ocean Providing for the smallest of organisms (living things) to the largest

Terms to be familiar with • ECOLOGY - the study of relationships between organisms and their environment • HABITAT • NICHE - a place where an organism lives (it’s “home”) - the way an organism interacts with it’s environment (it’s “job” eg. Bee and flower)

We classify organisms according to some of their jobs: PRODUCER - makes it’s own food by photosynthesis Plants are “self feeders” or autotrophs • CONSUMER Animals - eat other organisms for food are “other feeders or heterotrophs Note: There also levels of consumers depending on where you sit in the food chain. Primary consumers eat plants, secondary consumers are the animals that eat the plant eater and so on (see food web) Consumers are classified according to their diet: CARNIVORES HERBIVORES OMNIVORES DECOMPOSER SCAVENGERS

Food Web