Everything is Connected

1. Everything is Connected Pgs. 4 - 7

2. Scenario • An alligator is drifting in a river with a small fish, called a gar, swimming next to it. • The gar swims too close and the alligator eats the fish. • This predator prey relationship is just one way animals interact. • How else can they interact?

3. Studying the Web of Life • All living things are connected in the web of life. • Ecologists study the connections among living things. • Ecology is the study of the interactions between organisms and their environment • An environment has two parts: • The biotic part is all of the living organisms that live together and interact with one another. • The abiotic part is all of the physical factors that affect the organisms living in a particular area such as water, soil, light and temperature.

4. Organization in the Environment • An environment may look disorganized at first glance, but it is actually arranged into levels. • The first level is the individual organism. • The second level contains similar organisms making up a population. • The third level contains different populations forming a community. • The fourth contains a community and its abiotic environment making an ecosystem. • The fifth level includes all ecosystems forming the biosphere.

5. Populations • A population is a group of individuals of the same species that live together in the same area at the same time. • Example: All the seaside sparrows that live together in a salt marsh are members of a population. • Individuals within a population compete with one another for food.

6. Communities • A community consists of all the populations of different species that live and interact in an area. • Example: The various animals and plants that live in the salt marsh are a community. • Some of these species include: jellyfish, red fish, anchovy oyster, cordgrass, egret, hermit crab, laughing gull, seaside sparrow, heron, etc.

7. Ecosystems • An ecosystem is made up of a community of organisms and its abiotic environment. • Example: Our salt marsh area ecosystem would include all the living organisms within it and things like the water, rocks, air, temperature, weather, and soil. • An ecologist would examine how each organism interacts with each abiotic substance to understand how the ecosystem is balanced.

8. The Biosphere • The biosphere is the part of the Earth where life exists. • It includes the deepest part of the ocean to the very high parts of the atmosphere. • Ecologists study the biosphere to learn how organisms interact with the abiotic environment like Earth’s gases, water, soil and rock.

9. Think of a different example of all the levels of the environment and write them in below. • Organism: • Population: • Community: • Ecosystem: • Biosphere: