Definition of terms

Ecology: a discipline of biology that studies the interrelationships (interaction)

between organisms and their environment.
Organisms: is any life form or any living thing, (human, insect, bacteria, plant
fungi) organisms are made up of cell (s) on the basis of cell structure organisms
can be classified as eukaryote and prokaryote.
Species: organisms can be classified into species, this is a group of organisms
that are similar (in appearance, behaviour, chemistry and genetic makeup)
whose member freely interbreed with one anther to produce fertile offspring.
Example:
Population is a group of organisms all of the same species that live in the same
geographical area at the same time. (all the people of Jamaica who lives in
Jamaica now) remember dont confuse with community population is a single
species.
Ecosystem: short for 'ecological system. This a dynamic interacting system that
encompasses a community (plants, animals, and microorganisms) and its
nonliving, physical environment. (climate, water, soil) working together as a
functional unit.
Ecosystems vary in size. They can be as small as a puddle or as large as the
ocean, the Sahara Desert or the Earth itself.
Biome, are large areas of the Earth (land/surface) that have similar weather,
similar flora, fauna, and microorganisms. Regardless of where it exists in the
world. for example the ecosystems of northern Canada and Russia have similar
plant and animal life, temperature, and amount of sunlight. They combine to

make up the taiga (or coniferous) biome

Because they are so large they encompasses many interacting ecosystems.
An ecosystem is much smaller than a biome but still vary in size. Conversely, a
biome can be thought of many similar ecosystems throughout the world grouped
together.
There are quite a few different types of biomes in the world. Each of them has
unique characteristics. Due to the climate and features, there are different plants
and animals that are able to thrive in them.
How many biomes are there?
There is really no completely right answer to this question. Some people say
there are only 5 major types of biomes: aquatic, desert, forest, grassland, and
tundra. Others split biomes further. Forests are separated into rainforest,
temperate forest, chaparral, and taiga; grasslands are divided into savanna and
temperate grasslands; and the aquatic biome is split into freshwater and marine.
Taiga, grassland, chaparral, deciduous forest, tundra, tropical rainforest, desert,
alpine, Savannah
- Tropical Rainforest (Think about Brazil), - Tropical Savanna (Think about
Africa), - Desert (Think about the middle east), - Mediterranean Woodland (Think
about coniferous forests), - Mid-latitude Grassland (Think about Oklahoma), Mid-latitude Deciduous Forest (Think about the east coast of North America), Tundra (Think about frozen plains of Alaska), - Ice Caps (Think about the poles)
Ecotone. Biomes don't just start and stop when they border each other. They all
have transition zones that have characteristics of both sides. That zone is like a
blending of two biomes. This is called an ecotone.

An ecotone is a zone of transition between adjacent ecological systems, having

a set of characteristics uniquely defined by space and time-scales and by the
strength of the interactions between them.
Ecotones can happen at the edges of forests, deserts, and mountain ranges.
They are often easy to see because one type of world (many trees) changes
quickly into another type (the cliffs of a mountain). While an ecotone on the
ground may not cover a large area of land, climate transition zones between
biomes are often very large. of a river and the ocean is called an estuary."
Ecotone has the following features:
Supports many species not found in either of the bordering ecosystems.
Contains a mix of species and many unique species.
Contains plants and animals from adjacent regions.
Supports species that are adapted to the conditions in the ecotone
The earths sphere.
Everything in Earth's system can be placed into one of four major subsystems:
land, water, living things, or air. These four subsystems are called "spheres."
Specifically, they are the "lithosphere" (land), "hydrosphere" (water), "biosphere"
(living things), and "atmosphere" (air)
The biosphere : describe our living world it is the portion of Earth that supports
living things. It is the whole portion of Earth colonized by living beings. It extends
from high in the atmosphere to the bottom of the oceans it include the earth
(land)
Atmosphere, is a thin layer of gases/ air which surrounds our planet. Most of
our atmosphere is located close to the earth's surface where it is most dense.
The air of our planet is 79% nitrogen and just under 21% oxygen; the small
amount remaining is composed of carbon dioxide and other gasses.

Hydrosphere, The hydrosphere is composed of all of the water on or near the

earth. This includes the oceans, rivers, lakes, and even the moisture in the air.
Ninety-seven percent of the earth's water is in the oceans. The remaining three
percent is fresh water; three-quarters of the fresh water is solid and exists in ice
sheets which contains all of the planet's solid, liquid, and gaseous water.
Lithosphere, The lithosphere contains all of the cold, hard solid land of the
planet's crust (surface), the semi-solid land underneath the crust, and the liquid
land near the center of the planet. The crust is inorganic and is composed of
minerals. It covers the entire surface of the.
Habitat: The physical environment where an organism or a community of
organisms lives. A habitat consists of all the abiotic, or nonliving, resources
influencing the population. At the individual and family levels, one's habitat is
one's home and the buildings in which one goes about daily life. A human habitat
can range in size from a farm with a family of four to a city of ten million or more.
Niche (ecological niche)
Ecological Niche is the relational position of a species or population in an
ecosystem to each other. It is a way of life that is unique to that species. The
ecological niche includes the organism's physical habitat and how it has adapted
to life in that habitat. It is also a special role or function that they play.

The cockroach plays the role of a decomposer, which is an essential part

of any ecosystem. Living organisms are interdependent; they need each

other in order to survive.

The niche filled by birds of prey which eat small mammals

For example: The niche of the red fox is that of a predator which feeds on the
small mammals, amphibians, insects, and fruit found in this habitat. Red foxes
are active at night. They provide blood for blackflies and mosquitoes, and are

host to numerous diseases. The scraps, or carrion, left behind after a fox's meal
provides food for many small scavengers and decomposers. This then is the
ecological niche of the red fox. Only the red fox occupies this niche in the
meadow-forest edge communities. In other plant communities different species of
animal may occupy a similar niche to that of the red fox. For example, in the
grassland communities of western Canada and the United States, the coyote
occupies a similar niche (to that of the red fox.)
An organism's role in an environment, including how it uses its resources, relates
to other organisms, and times its reproduction. Each individual organism has a
niche in its population, community, and ecosystem, but niches are flexible and
change depending on circumstances.