Environmental Systems and Societies
Environmental Systems and Societies
Revision for test week
Ecosystems – “An assemblage of parts working together forming a functioning whole.”
“A community of independent organisms and the physical environment they inhabit.”
All systems have many small parts working together. A system can be living (BIOTIC FACTORS) or non-living (ABIOTIC FACTORS) and has inputs as well as outputs. A system can be an abstract concept as well as something tangible. All systems have: * STORAGES * FLOWS * INPUTS + OUTPUTS * BOUNDARIES * PROCESSES
There are three types of systems: * Open system – exchange matter and energy with the environment. (ex. Ecosystems) * Closed system – exchange matter but not energy with the environment. (ex. Planet Earth) * Isolated system – exchange neither energy nor matter. (ex. We have none, possibly universe)
BIOTIC FACTORS | ABIOTIC FACTORS | Living components | | Organisms (species), their interactions, waste, number of organisms, distribution of organisms | |
INTERACTIONS 1) Competition
a. Intraspecific – between individuals of one species. (ex. Male moose fighting over females)
b. Interspecific* – between individuals of different species. (ex. Competition for light by different species of plants) 2) Predation
a. One animal, the predator, is eating another animal, the prey. (ex. Lions eating zebras)
b. Consumption of one organism by another (doesn’t have to be an animal). Herbivore – an animal eating a plant. 3) Symbiosis (“living together”) – close relationship between individuals of two species.
a. Parasitism i. A relationship between two species in which one species (the parasite) lives in/on another (the host) gaining food from it. ii. The parasite benefits of the cost of the host. (ex. Mosquitos)
b. Commensalism i. Living on another organism without harming it. ii. One species benefits, the other is affected. (ex. Moss
Revision for test week
Ecosystems – “An assemblage of parts working together forming a functioning whole.”
“A community of independent organisms and the physical environment they inhabit.”
All systems have many small parts working together. A system can be living (BIOTIC FACTORS) or non-living (ABIOTIC FACTORS) and has inputs as well as outputs. A system can be an abstract concept as well as something tangible. All systems have: * STORAGES * FLOWS * INPUTS + OUTPUTS * BOUNDARIES * PROCESSES
There are three types of systems: * Open system – exchange matter and energy with the environment. (ex. Ecosystems) * Closed system – exchange matter but not energy with the environment. (ex. Planet Earth) * Isolated system – exchange neither energy nor matter. (ex. We have none, possibly universe)
BIOTIC FACTORS | ABIOTIC FACTORS | Living components | | Organisms (species), their interactions, waste, number of organisms, distribution of organisms | |
INTERACTIONS 1) Competition
a. Intraspecific – between individuals of one species. (ex. Male moose fighting over females)
b. Interspecific* – between individuals of different species. (ex. Competition for light by different species of plants) 2) Predation
a. One animal, the predator, is eating another animal, the prey. (ex. Lions eating zebras)
b. Consumption of one organism by another (doesn’t have to be an animal). Herbivore – an animal eating a plant. 3) Symbiosis (“living together”) – close relationship between individuals of two species.
a. Parasitism i. A relationship between two species in which one species (the parasite) lives in/on another (the host) gaining food from it. ii. The parasite benefits of the cost of the host. (ex. Mosquitos)
b. Commensalism i. Living on another organism without harming it. ii. One species benefits, the other is affected. (ex. Moss