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Ecology

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Ebrima Sanyang
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8 views2 pages

Ecology

Uploaded by

Ebrima Sanyang
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Organisms and Their Environment

Ecology

Ecology can be defined as a study of the interaction of living things in relation to their environment. This
interaction makes us to understand the overall adaptation of the living things in their environment,
which is a part of the continuity of the species.

Ecological organization

There are five Levels of Organization, and all levels are listed according to their size in increasing order –
from small to large.

1. Organism

It is the lowest level of organization, which includes both unicellular and multicellular organisms.
All the living species in this level exhibits all the characteristics required for the existence of life.

2. Population

It describes a group of organisms of a single species living together within a particular


geographic area by interbreeding and competing with each other for resources. It is larger than
the organism.

Attributes of Population

The following are the attribute around the population:

 Birth Rate: It can be defined as the birth rate of new individuals per unit of population per unit
time.
 Death Rate: It is the death rate of individuals per unit time depending on the various
environmental changes such as competition, predation, and other changes.
 Population size: It is defined as the number of individuals of a species per unit area.
 Sex Ratio: It is the ratio of the males to the females of a species in a given area.
 Population Growth

The population of a species depends on various factors like availability of food, weather, predation, and
competition. The changes in the population density depend on the factors like natality, emigration,
immigration, and the mortality rate.

3. Community

It refers to the several interacting populations that inhabit a common environment and are
inter-dependent. It is larger than the population.

4. Ecosystem

It is the set of all living species, living together in a given area by interacting with both living and
nonliving components of their environment.
5. Biosphere

It is the highest level of organization. It is the global ecological system that consists of all the
living organisms and other factors that support life. The biosphere mainly refers to the part of
the earth’s crust.

Biotic and Abiotic Factors of Ecology

The basic motive of ecology is to understand the distribution of biotic and abiotic factors of living things
in the environment. The biotic and abiotic factors can be defined as the involvement of the living and
nonliving factors and their interaction with the environment.

Biotic component in an ecosystem

The living factors of an ecosystem are termed as the biotic components. Bacteria, Animals, Birds, Fungi,
Plants, etc. are a few examples of biotic components

Abiotic Components in an Ecosystem

These are the non-living chemical and physical factors of an ecosystem, thus:

 Water: It is an important factor that affects life on this planet. Water is essential for the
existence of the majority of the life forms. As in the case of humans, it can be observed that
other organisms as well require water for temperature regulation and other physiological
activities. It has been found that the species richness is denser near the water bodies.
 Temperature: The temperature affects the earth follows a geographical trend, and it directly
affects life in an area. Temperature is responsible for carrying out several enzymatic reactions in
living beings. Therefore, the biodiversity observed in various places on this planet varies along
with the temperature gradient.
 Light: Light that comes directly from the sun is an important source of energy for living things
and their environment. Plants use this energy to carry out the process of photosynthesis, which
is basically the manufacture of the food in the plants. This energy gets passed on to the other
organisms after they consume the plants, and then the other organisms consume these animals,
and the food chain continues.
 Soil: The type and availability of soil in an area determine the type of vegetation in that area.
This affects the type of organisms that will be found in that area. The soil contains the essential
minerals that are important to support the life of the various living beings.

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