All Ecology Notes 2024 Updated Chapter 1-25 Verified & Graded A+

- Ecology: The study of interactions between organisms and their environment that determine the distribution and abundance of organisms • Ecology is a rigorous science, ecologists study organisms and how they interact with each other and with the environment, and ecologists study how these interactions lead to the patterns of distribution and abundance for each species - Ecology is not the same as environmental science - Environmental science is an interdisciplinary science that includes ecology but also includes sustainability, economics, etc and is focused on finding solutions to environmental problems - Ecology sits at the intersection of other sciences - Organism: An individual animal, plant or single celled life source - Population: All inhabitants of a particular place - Community: A group of people living in the same place or having the same thing in common - Ecosystem: A biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment - Biosphere: The regions of the surface and atmosphere of earth or another planet occupying living things - Landscape: An area that included patches of multiple ecosystems - Biotic: Living components of a natural system - Abiotic: The physical or chemical components of the environment (precipitation, temp, pH, mineral nutrients, sand) not living - Adaptation: A characteristic that improves an organisms ability to survive or reproduce