Ecology: introduction and term.

ECOLOGY - is the study of the interaction organism with one another and with their physical environment, and how how the interaction determine the

abundance and distribution of organism.

ECOSYSTEM
- is biological environment consisting of
all organism (biotic) living  in a particular area as well as
the nonliving (abiotic) physical component of the environment,
with which the organism interact, such as air, organism water and sunlight.

BIOME -
are a classification of globally similar areas, including ecosystem,
such as ecological communities  of plants and animal, soil organism and climate condition.
- biomes are in part defined based on factors such as plant structures (such as trees, shrubs, and grasses), leaf types (such as broadleaf and

needleleaf), plant spacing (forest, woodland, savanna) and climate.

A fundamental classification of biomes is:
1. Terrestrial (land) biomes.
2. Freshwater biomes.
3. Water biomes.


SPECIES - is a group of organisms so similar to one another, that they can breed.

POPULATION - are groups of individual that belong to the same species
and living in the same area.

COMMUNITY - are assemble of the different poplations that live together in a defined area.


ECOSPHERE:
organism -> population -> community -> ecosphere

BIOTIC COMPONENT are the living things that shape an ecosystem.
A biotic factor is any living component that affects another organisms, including animals that consume the organism in question,
and the living food that the organism consumes.
Each biotic factor needs energy to do work and food for proper growth.
Biotic factors include human influence.

Biotic Components usually include:
- Producers, i.e autotrophs. eg. plants
- Consumers, i.e heterotrophs. eg. animals
- Decomposer, i.e detrivores. eg. fungi and bacteria, they break down chemicals from producers and consumers into simpler form which can be reused.


ABIOTIC COMPONENTS - are non living chemical and physical factors in the environment which affect ecosystems.

From the  viewpiont of biology, abiotic influences maybe classified as light or more generally radiation, temperature, water, the chemical

surrounding the terrestrial atmospheric gases, as well as soil.
The macroscopic climate often influences each of the above.
Not to mention pressure and even sound waves if working with marine, or deep underground, biome.

For example, there is a significant difference in access to water as well as humidity between temperate rainforests and deserts. This difference in

water access causes a diversity in the types of plants and animals that grow in these areas.


AUTOTROPH - producer
is an organism that produces complex organic compounds (such as carbohydrates, fats, and proteins) from simple inorganic molecules using energy from

light (by photosynthesis) or inorganic chemical reactions (chemosynthesis).
They are the producer of the food chain, such as plants on land or algae in water.
They are able to make their own food and fix carbon.

HETEROTROPH - 'hetero' another 'troph' nutrition
is an organism that cannot fix carbon and uses organic carbon for growth.

This contracts with autotrophs, such as plants and algae, which can use energy from sunlight (photoautotroph) or inorganic compound (lithoautotrophs)

to produce organic compounds such as carbohydrates, fats, and proteins form inorganic carbon dioxide.
This reduced carbon compounds can be used as an energy source by the autotroph and provide the energy in food consumed by heterotrophs.


ECOSYSTEM INTERACTIONS

- Abiotic components permit and limit life
- Biotic components affect their physical environment
- Boundaries are unclear
- Each ecosystem, community, or population may be part of a larger one


FOOD CHAIN - succession of organisms in an ecological community that constitutes a continuation of food energy from one organisms to another as each consumes a lower member and in turn is preyed uopn by a higher number.

FOOD WEB - a complex of interrelated food chains in an ecological community. that form a network.