GEC 10 - Environmental Science Week 3

Components of an Ecosystem

• Biotic component

• Abiotic component

Biotic Component

living component consists of plants, animals and bacteria

Abiotic Component

nonliving component that relate physical, or non living, factors that shape the ecosystem.

Producers (Green Plants)

• able to manufacture food through the process of photosynthesis

• provide oxygen for humans and animals in the process of respiration

Consumers (Animals)

obtain their food from plants or other animals, also known as the consumers

3 Types of Consumers

1. Herbivores

2. Carnivores

3. Omnivores

Herbivores

those that eat plants only

Carnivores

those that eat other animals only

Omnivores

eat both plants and animals

Different Types of Consumers

• Primary Consumers

• Secondary Consumers

• Tertiary Consumers

Primary Consumers

mainly depend on plants for their food

Secondary Consumers

eat the flesh and meat of other living animals

Tertiary Consumers

certain carnivores that eat other carnivores

Food Chains and Food Webs

• diagrams that represent feeding relationships

• they model how energy and matter move through ecosystems

Biotic Factors

• Producers

• Consumers

• Decomposers

Five Types of Interactions

• Competition and Predation

• Parasitism

• Commensalism

• Mutualism

• Amensalism

Competition and Predation

• Predation when one entity hunts another animal to suffice its nutritional requirement

• Competition when populations or even an individual compete for food resources

Competition

• Interference competition

• Preemptive Competition

Interference Competition

when there is competition for territory

Preemptive Competition

when there is a competition for a new piece of territory ad have arrived first

Metabiosis

one entity is dependent on the other for survival

Parasitism

• one entity benefits from other entities and is harmed, but not killed

• the entity that is harmed is the host and the one benefited is the parasite

Parasitodism

When the host is killed

Parasites

• Ectoparasites - living on the surface of the host

• Endoparasites - live inside the host

Commensalism

an imbalanced type of interaction wherein one entity benefits while the other is neither harmed nor benefited

Mutualism

both species involved in the interaction are benefited

Amensalism

In this type of interaction, when one population finds itself in danger the other population is not majorly affected.