MODULE 2

Principles of Ecology
1 Organisms and Their Relationships
BEFORE YOU READ WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
On the lines below, list the organisms that you have encountered • the differences between
today. You share the same environment with these organisms. In biotic and abiotic factors
this lesson, you will learn how many organisms exist in the same • the levels of biological
environment. organization
• the difference between an
organism’s habitat and its
niche
• how ranges of tolerance affect
the distribution of organisms

READ TO LEARN
Ecology ⊳ FOCUS
Create an outline of this
Each living organism depends on nonliving factors for survival lesson. Use the headings to
in its environment. Each living organism also depends on other organize your outline. List
living organisms in its environment. Green plants are a food details from what you have
source and can be a place where other organisms live. The read to complete your outline.
animals that eat plants provide food for other organisms.
Organisms depend on each other in all types of environments—
deserts, tropical rain forests, and grassy meadows. Ecology is the
study of the interactions between organisms and their
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environments.
Get It?
What do ecologists do? 1. Describe some of the
Scientists who study ecology are called ecologists. The German interactions that occur
biologist Ernst Haeckel introduced the word ecology in 1866. between living and non-
living things in your
Eventually, it became a separate field of study. community.
Ecologists use various tools and methods to observe,
Animals drink water to stay
experiment, and create models. Ecologists conduct tests to learn alive, and some live in or
why and how organisms survive. For example, tests might help around water like ponds,
rivers, or lakes. They also
explain how some organisms survive in cold water. use it to cool off or find food.
Ecologists also learn about the interactions between organisms
by observing them in their environments. Models allow ecologists
to simulate a process or system that is difficult to observe.

Reading Essentials • Principles of Ecology

9
 Why do ecologists use models?
Get It? Studying organisms in their environments is not always
2. Explain how physical and
computer models can help possible. Ecologists use models to represent a process or system
design a solution for an in the environment. By using models, ecologists can control the
ecological problem. number of variables. Scientists can measure the effect of each
Physical models test ideas. variable, one at a time, using the model.
Computer models predict
impacts. Both help solve
eco problems safely.
The Biosphere
The biosphere (BI uh sfihr) is the portion of Earth that supports
life. Ecologists study what takes place in the biosphere. The
Get It? biosphere includes the air, water, and land where organisms can
3. Define the term biosphere. live, both above and below the ground.
The porpotio of earth that
supports life
The biosphere supports a wide variety of organisms in a wide
range of conditions. Climates, soils, plants, and animals differ in
different parts of the world. Frozen polar regions, deserts, and
rain forests contain organisms. The organisms are adapted to
survive in the conditions of their environments. The factors in all
environments can be divided into two groups—living factors and
nonliving factors.
What are biotic factors?
Biotic (bi AH tihk) factors are the living factors in an
organism’s environment. For example, the algae, frogs, and
microscopic organisms in the stream are biotic factors for salmon
in a stream. Other biotic factors live on the land bordering the
stream. These include plants, insects, and small animals. Birds
that feed on organisms in the stream are also part of the salmon’s
biotic factors. These factors interact directly or indirectly. The
salmon depend on biotic factors for food, shelter, reproduction,
and protection, and in turn can provide food for other organisms.

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Get It? What are abiotic factors?
4. Compare and contrast The nonliving factors in an organism’s environment are called
abiotic and biotic factors for abiotic (ay bi AH tihk) factors. The abiotic factors for the salmon
a plant or animal in your might be the temperature range of the water, the pH of the water,
community.
A tree needs abiotic factors and the salt concentration of the water. For a plant, abiotic factors
like sunlight, water, and soil might include the amount of rainfall, the amount of sunlight, the
to grow. It also depends on type of soil, the range of air and soil temperatures, and the
biotic factors like birds,
insects, and fungi to nutrients available in the soil.
survive and thrive. Organisms are adapted to the abiotic factors in their natural
environment. If an organism moves to a different location with
a different set of abiotic factors, the organism must adjust, or it
will die.

Reading Essentials • Principles of Ecology

10
 What factors limit populations in communities?
Any abiotic factor or biotic factor that restricts the numbers,
reproduction, or distribution of organisms is called a limiting
factor. Abiotic limiting factors include sunlight, climate, water,
fire, and space. Biotic limiting factors include other plant and
animal species. Factors that limit one species might enable
another to thrive. For example, water is a limiting factor.
Organisms that need less water can survive in a desert
community.

How does range of tolerance affect species?

For any environmental factor, there is an upper limit and a
lower limit that defines the conditions in which an organism can
live. Tolerance is the ability of any organism to survive when
exposed to abiotic or biotic factors. The figure below shows a
range of tolerance for steelhead trout. The limiting factor in this TAKE A LOOK
case is water temperature. Trout can tolerate water temperatures 5. Explain what the curved
line on the graph
between 9˚C and 25˚C. Most trout live in the optimum zone, represents.
which is the temperature range that is best for trout survival. The where the fish lives
zone of physiological stress lies between the optimum zone and
the tolerance limits. Fewer trout live in this zone. Trout that do
live in this zone experience physiological stress, such as the
inability to grow.

Lower limit Tolerance range Upper limit

Optimum range
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Number of Organisms

Tolerance of steelhead trout

Reading Essentials • Principles of Ecology

11
Get It? Levels of Organization
6. Infer what other types of The biosphere is too large to study all the relationships at one
biomes might be found in time. Scientists use smaller pieces, or levels of organization, for
the biosphere if the image
shown is called a marine
their studies. The numbers and interactions among organisms
biome. increase at higher levels of organization. The following are levels
coral reefs of organization from simplest to most complex:
1. organism
2. population
3. biological community
4. ecosystem
5. biome
6. biosphere
The first four of these levels of organization are shown in the
figure below.

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Organism Population Biological Ecosystem
community

THINK IT OVER
7. Identify Which of the What are organisms, populations, and
following is a population? biological communities?
(Circle your answer.)
The lowest level of complexity that ecologists study is an
a. all rabbits living on Earth
individual organism. Individual organisms of the same species
b. all white-tailed rabbits
living in the same geographic location at the same time make up
living in a meadow today
a population. A school of fish is a population. Individual
c. all white-tailed rabbits
that have ever lived in a organisms in the population must compete to survive. They
meadow compete for food, water, mates, and other resources.

Reading Essentials • Principles of Ecology

12
 A population can keep growing as long as resources are
available to its members. If a population grows too large,
there will not be enough resources for all members of the
population. The population will get smaller until it reaches a
number that can be supported by the available resources. THINK IT OVER
A biological community is a group of populations that interact 8. Draw Conclusions If a
population is growing, what
in the same geographic area at the same time. Organisms might can you conclude about the
or might not compete for available resources in a biological amount of resources
community. The plants and animals that live in a park are a available to the organisms?
biological community. that theres is plenty of
resources
How do ecosystems, biomes, and the biosphere differ?
An ecosystem is a biological community and all the abiotic
factors that affect it. Water temperature and available light are
examples of abiotic factors. An ecosystem can be large or small.
The ecologist defines the boundaries of the ecosystem.
Boundaries can change or overlap each other.
A biome is a large group of ecosystems that share the same
climate and have similar types of biological communities. All the
biomes on Earth combine to form the biosphere.

Ecosystem Interactions
Organisms increase their chances of survival by using available
resources in different ways. Birds might use a tree for shelter,
while insects use the tree’s leaves for food.
The tree is the habitat for the community of organisms that live
there. A habitat is an area where an organism lives. An organism
such as an insect might spend its entire life on one tree. Its
habitat is that tree. A bird flies from tree to tree. Its habitat is the
grove of trees.
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Organisms also have a niche. A niche (NIHCH) is the role an

organism has in its environment. It is how the species meets its
specific needs for food and shelter. It is how and where the
species survives and reproduces.

Community Interactions Get It?

9. Compare and contrast
Organisms living in biological communities interact constantly. a habitat and a niche.
Ecosystems are shaped by these interactions and the abiotic A habitat is "where" an
factors. In a biological community, each organism depends on organism lives.
A niche is "how" it lives and
other organisms and competes with other organisms. survives there.

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13
 When do organisms compete?
Get It? Competition occurs when organisms need to use the same
10. Describe one example
each of competition and resource at the same time. Organisms compete for such resources
predation. as food, water, space, and light. When strong organisms compete
Competition: Two squirrels with weak organisms, the strong organisms usually survive.
fight over the same tree's During a drought, water might be scarce for many organisms.
acorns for food.
Predation: A hawk hunts Strong organisms will use the available water. Weak organisms
and eats a rabbit. might die or move to another location.

What is predation?
The act of one organism consuming another organism for food
is predation (prih DAY shun). Most organisms obtain their food
by eating other organisms. If you have seen a cat stalk and
capture a mouse, you have seen a predator catch its prey. The
organism that pursues—the cat—is the predator. The organism
that is pursued—the mouse—is the prey. Predators can be plants,
THINK IT OVER animals, or protists.
11. Classify List two more
examples of predation that
What is symbiosis?
you have seen or of which Some species survive because of relationships with other
you have learned. species. A relationship in which two organisms live together in
A lion hunting and eating a close association is called symbiosis (sihm bee OH sus). The three
zebra.
A spider catching and kinds of symbiosis are mutualism, commensalism, and
eating an insect in its web. parasitism.
Mutualism A relationship between two species that live together
and benefit from each other is called mutualism (MYEW chuh
wuh lih zum). A lichen (LI kun) is a mutualistic relationship
between algae and fungi. The algae provide food for the fungi.
The fungi provide a habitat for the algae. Food and shelter are the
benefits of this relationship.

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Commensalism A relationship in which one organism is helped
and the other organism is not harmed or helped is called
commensalism (kuh MEN suh lih zum). For example, mosses
sometimes grow on tree branches. This does not harm or help the
THINK IT OVER
tree, but the mosses benefit from a good habitat.
12. Apply Clownfish live
among sea anemones. Parasitism A relationship in which one organism benefits and
The anemones provide another organism is harmed is called parasitism (PAYR us suh tih
protection for the clown
fish. The clownfish eats
zum). When a tick lives on a dog, it is good for the tick but bad
food missed by the sea for the dog. The tick gets food and shelter, but the dog might get
anemones. What term best sick. The tick is the parasite and is helped by the relationship. The
describes this relationship? dog is the host. Usually the parasite does not kill the host, but it
mutualism
might harm or weaken it. If the host dies, the parasite will also
die, unless it can find another host.

Reading Essentials • Principles of Ecology

14
 2 Flow of Energy in an Ecosystem
BEFORE YOU READ WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
If a pet had to survive without your care, how would its diet • the flow of energy through
an ecosystem
change? Write your ideas on the lines below. Read about how
organisms get food and energy in their environment. • food chains, food webs, and
pyramid models
It would depend on pet and where I leave it, and the resoruces they are
there for them to consume, and their depredators. But its diet would change
drastically because they wont have the comfort of someone feeding them,
they would have to do it by themselfs, they would have to search for the
food themselfs.

READ TO LEARN
⊳ FOCUS
Energy in an Ecosystem Make a flash card for each
One way to study the interactions within an ecosystem is to question heading in this
lesson. On the back of the
trace how energy flows through the system. All organisms are flash card, write the answer to
classified by the way they obtain energy. the question. Use the flash
cards to review what you have
How do autotrophs obtain energy? learned.
All green plants and other organisms that produce their own
food are the primary producers of food in an ecosystem. They are
called autotrophs. An autotroph (AW tuh trohf) is an organism
that captures energy from sunlight or inorganic substances to
produce food. Autotrophs make energy available for all other
organisms in the ecosystem.
Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education

How do heterotrophs differ from autotrophs?

A heterotroph (HE tuh roh trohf), also called a consumer, is an
organism that obtains energy by consuming other organisms. A
heterotroph that consumes only plants is an herbivore (HUR buh
vor). Cows, rabbits, and grasshoppers are herbivores.
Heterotrophs that prey on other heterotrophs are known as
carnivores (KAR nuh vorz). Wolves and lions are carnivores.
Omnivores (AHM nih vorz) eat both plants and animals. Bears,
humans, and mockingbirds are examples of omnivores.

Reading Essentials • Principles of Ecology

15
 How do detritivores help an ecosystem?
Detritivores (duh TRYD uh vorz) decompose organic materials
in an ecosystem and return the nutrients to the soil, air, and
water. The nutrients then become available for use by other
organisms. Worms and some insects are detritivores. They feed
on animals that have died. Fungi and bacteria are decomposers.
They break down dead organisms by secreting enzymes.
Detritivores play an important role in the biosphere. Without
them, the biosphere would be littered with dead organisms. The
nutrients in these dead organisms would not be available to other
organisms. Detritivores make these nutrients available for use by
other organisms.
THINK IT OVER
1. Explain How do organisms
in an ecosystem depend on
detritivores?
Models of Energy Flow
Because they break down Ecologists study feeding relationships to learn how energy
dead plants and animals, flows in an ecosystem. Ecologists use food chains and food webs
recycling nutrients back into
the soil.
to describe the flow of energy. Each step in a food chain or food
web is called a trophic (TROH fihk) level. Autotrophs are the first
trophic level in all ecosystems. Heterotrophs make up the
remaining levels.
Organisms at the first trophic level produce their own food.
Organisms at all other levels get energy from the trophic level
before it.

What is a food chain?

A food chain is a simple model that shows how energy flows
through an ecosystem. A typical grassland food chain is shown in
the figure below. Each organism gets energy from the organism it
eats. The flow of energy is always one way—into the consumer.
An organism uses part of the energy to build new cells and

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tissues. The remaining energy is released into the environment
and is no longer available to these organisms.

TAKE A LOOK Carnivore

2. Label Draw a circle around Snake
the autotroph. Draw a box Omnivore
around the heterotrophs. Mouse

Herbivore
Grasshopper
Producer
Plant

Reading Essentials • Principles of Ecology

16
 What does a food web show?
THINK IT OVER
Feeding relationships are usually more complex than a single
3. Synthesize Why might an
food chain model can show. Most organisms feed on more than ecologist use a food chain
one species. A food web is a model that shows all the possible for one study and a food
feeding relationships in an ecosystem. Food webs give a more web for another study?
accurate picture of how energy flows in an ecosystem than food to study the direct flow of
energy between specific
chains. organisms, like a simple "
who-eats-who" pathway.
What do ecologists model with an
ecological pyramid?
Ecologists also use ecological pyramids to model how energy
flows through ecosystems. A pyramid model can be used to show
energy flow in three different ways. Each level of the pyramid
represents a trophic level.
A pyramid of energy indicates the amount of energy available
to each trophic level. In the energy pyramid below, notice that
about 90 percent of the available energy is used by the organisms
at each level. Some of the energy is used for cellular processes.
Some is released into the environment as heat. Only about 10
percent is available to the next level of the pyramid. TAKE A LOOK
The biomass, or total mass of living matter at each trophic 4. Explain What unit of mass
level, can also be modeled by an ecological pyramid. In a pyramid is used on the pyramid of
of biomass, each level shows the amount of biomass consumed by biomass?
the level above it. grams per square meter
(g/m²) or population
A pyramid of numbers shows the number of organisms at each
trophic level in an ecosystem. The number decreases at each level
because less energy is available to support organisms.

0.1%
Third-level 1.5 g/m2 Third-level
Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education

consumers Third-level consumers

Po
Av

consumers
p
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ula
ila
Av

bl e

tio
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ns
b io
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90 ize
ma

Sec ,000
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Energy lost 11 de
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Sec g/m 2 con ondar

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con ondar sum y
yd

as
Se
c re

con cond sum y ers

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ec

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sum ary ers

re a

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10% 37 Prim 200

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g/m 2 ary ,000

con Prima con Prim con
sum ry sum ar sum
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100 1
Prim ,500
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pro rima 809 pro
Par duc r
asit ers y g/m 2 duc
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d a d dec duc
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t ea o
ch mpos
lev
el. ers

Reading Essentials • Principles of Ecology

17
 3 Cycling of Matter
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN BEFORE YOU READ
• the importance of nutrients By looking at calendars, you can observe cycles, such as the cycle
to living organisms
of the school year and summer vacation. On the lines below,
• the biogeochemical cycles write about cycles in your life. Read about the cycles in nature.
of nutrients
Cycles in my life are like

READ TO LEARN
FOCUS ⊲
Circle the names of the cycles Cycles in the Biosphere
described in this lesson. The law of the conservation of mass states that matter is not
Underline the text that
summarizes the steps in
created or destroyed. Instead, matter is cycled through the
each cycle. biosphere. Matter is anything that takes up space and has mass.
Matter provides the nutrients needed for organisms to
function. A nutrient is a chemical substance that an organism
needs to perform life processes. An organism obtains nutrients
from its environment. The bodies of all organisms are built from
water and nutrients. Common nutrients include carbon, nitrogen,
and phosphorus.

How do nutrients cycle through the biosphere?

Nutrients cycle through the biosphere through organisms.

Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education

Producers begin the cycle. In most ecosystems, plants obtain
Make a three-tab book nutrients from air, water, and soil. Plants convert the nutrients
using the labels shown. Use into organic compounds that they use. Most capture energy from
it to organize your notes the Sun and convert it into carbohydrates. When a consumer eats
about the water and carbon
a producer, the nutrients in the producer pass to the consumer.
cycles.
For example, the nutrients in green grass pass to the cow that
eats the grass. The cycle continues until the last consumer dies.
Water
Cycle Detritivores return the nutrients to the cycle, and the process
begins again.
Both

Carbon
Cycle

Reading Essentials • Principles of Ecology

18
C02_002A
 Both biological processes and chemical processes are needed to
cycle matter in living organisms. The cycle also requires geological THINK IT OVER
1. Explain why it is important
processes such as weathering. Weathering breaks down large
to living organisms that
rocks into small pieces. Plants and other organisms obtain nutrients are cycled.
nutrients from these pieces. Scientists use the name Nutrients need to be cycled
biogeochemical cycle to describe the combination of processes because they are limited
resources, and living
that exchange matter through the biosphere. organisms depend on them
to survive.
How does water cycle?
Evaporation occurs when liquid water changes into water
vapor—a gas—and enters the atmosphere. Water evaporates from
bodies of water, from water in the soil, and from the surfaces of
plants.
As water vapor rises, it begins to cool in the atmosphere.
Clouds form when water vapor condenses into droplets around
dust particles in the atmosphere. When the droplets become large
and heavy, they fall from the clouds as precipitation. Precipitation
can be in the form of rain, hail, sleet, or snow. Most falls directly
back into the ocean. The figure below shows the water cycle. It is
a model that describes how water moves from the surface of Earth
to the atmosphere and back to the surface again.

Transpiration Condensation Solar

energy
Evaporation
Precipitation

Lake Ocean Get It?

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Runoff 2. Identify three processes in

Percolation the water cycle.
in soil evaporation and
condesation.
Groundwater (aquifer)

What are the carbon and oxygen cycles?

Living organisms are composed of molecules that contain
carbon. Living things also need oxygen for many life processes.
Carbon and oxygen make up molecules needed for life, including
carbon dioxide and sugar.

Reading Essentials • Principles of Ecology

19
 During photosynthesis (foh toh SIHN thuh sus), producers
THINK IT OVER change carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and release oxygen into
3. Summarize How do the air. The carbohydrates are a source of energy for all organisms
photosynthesis and cellular in a food web. Autotrophs and heterotrophs release carbon
respiration differ? dioxide into the air during cellular respiration. Carbon and
Photosynthesis makes food oxygen cycle quickly through living organisms.
(sugar) using sunlight,
water, and CO. Cellular Carbon is also part of a cycle that takes much longer. During a
respiration breaks that food process that could take millions of years, carbon is converted into
down to release energy.
One makes, the other uses
fossil fuels such as gas, peat, or coal. Carbon is released into the
atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide when fossil fuels are
burned.

What is the nitrogen cycle?

Organisms need nitrogen to produce proteins. The
atmosphere is 78 percent nitrogen. However, most organisms
cannot use nitrogen directly from the air. Nitrogen gas is
captured from the air by a species of bacteria, as shown in the
figure below. These bacteria live in water, the soil, or grow on
the roots of some plants. Nitrogen fixation is the process of
capturing and changing nitrogen into a form that plants can
use. Humans add nitrogen to the soil when they apply chemical
fertilizers to a lawn or to crops.
N2 fixation
N2 in Atmosphere

denitrification
nitrogen-fixing bacteria
in nodules and soil
plants
human
activities N2 fixation
dead organisms denitrifying
and animal waste runoff bacteria
-
nitrification NO
decomposers Biotic
3

Community

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Biotic NH4+ phytoplankton
NH4+ Community
cyanobacteria
nitrifying decomposers
bacteria denitrification
NO3-
NO2- denitrifying
TAKE A LOOK bacteria
4. Determine What captures
the atmospheric nitrogen?
Nitrogen-fixing bacteria

Nitrogen enters the food web through plants. Consumers get

nitrogen by eating producers or other animals that contain
nitrogen. At each step in the food web, organisms use nitrogen
from the organism they consumed to make proteins. The amount
of nitrogen often limits the growth of producers.
Reading Essentials • Principles of Ecology
20
 Nitrogen returns to the soil when animals urinate and when
organisms die and decay. When organisms die, decomposers
break down matter in the organisms into a nitrogen compound
THINK IT OVER
called ammonia. Ammonia is changed by organisms in the soil
5. Name the nitrogen
into nitrogen compounds that can be used by plants. Some compound that comes from
bacteria in the soil change nitrogen compounds into nitrogen gas animal waste and
in a process called denitrification. This process releases nitrogen decomposed organisms.
into the atmosphere. ammonia (NH).

What is the phosphorus cycle?

Organisms must have phosphorus to grow and develop. Large
amounts are used to build bones and teeth. There are two
phosphorus cycles—a short-term cycle and a long-term cycle. In
the short-term cycle, phosphorus is cycled from the soil to
producers to consumers. Phosphorus returns to the soil when
organisms die or produce waste products, as shown in the figure
below. TAKE A LOOK
In the long-term cycle, phosphorus is added to soil from 6. Explain how phosphates
weathering or erosion of rocks that contain phosphorus. are added to water.
Weathering and erosion are long processes. They slowly add Phosphates are added to
phosphorus to the soil. Phosphorus does not dissolve in water, water through runoff from
fertilizers, animal waste, or
and only small amounts are present in soil. The growth of sewage.
producers is limited by the amount of phosphorus available
to them.

mineable rock
sewage treatment plants
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phosphate
fertilizer in solution
plants
organisms
plant and Biotic phosphate
animal wastes Community in soil
detritus

decomposers

Reading Essentials • Principles of Ecology

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