Five Levels of the Environment

The climate and types of plants that are found in similar places around the world.

Biome

There are many ecosystems within each biome. Inside an ecosystem, living and non living factors interact to form a stable system. An ecosystem is smaller than a biome and only includes organisms and their local environment.

Ecosystem

Made up of the living components of the ecosystem. Different plants, animals and other organisms interact with each other.

Community

A group of organisms of the same species that live in the same area.

Population

A single individual animal, plant, fungus or other living thing.

Organism

PATTERNS IN SPACEPopulations can be crowded together, spread

far apart or live in small groups.Think of us!!

Patterns exist in populations

Spaced evenly throughout the desert.Not planted by humans .Same distance from each other because the

roots of each bush release a toxin that prevents the roots of other bushes from growing.

Example 1: Creosote bushes in the Mojave desert

Bird houses need to be at least 100 meters apart from each other.

Bluebirds needs a large area of their own around their nest in order to collect enough insects to feed their young.

Example 2: Bluebirds

Swim in schools.Individual fish are packed together.Safety in numbers.

Example 3: Herring

Roam the African grasslands in closely packed herds.

Group safety.Think about it: even if one member is

attacked, many more will survive.

Example 4: Wildebeests

The number of individuals in the population may rise or fall, depending on the season or other conditions, or as a result of interactions with other organisms.

PATTERNS IN TIME

In spring you wouldn’t see yellowjacket wasps.

In autumn they would swarm your picnic.

Population size changed with time.

In spring, the queen wasp lays eggs and new wasps hatch.

Lays eggs all summer population grows.

Winter all die (except queen) population decreases.

Example 1: Wasps

Seasonal patternsIn North America

birds fly south to Central and South America in winter.

Food and good nesting sites.

Small populations in winter and large ones in summer in North America.

Example 2: Birds

Cicadas actually hatch and grow underground over 17 years!!! Check out the bar graph on the cicada population.

Example 3: Cicadas

Answer the following to find out:

1. What are two characteristics of a population?

2. Order these terms from simplest to most complex (biome, community, ecosystem, organism, population).

3. Infer: How might the seasonal patterns of insect populations relate to seasonal patterns of bird populations?

Did you understand?