Unit 7 Reflection

In this unit, we learned about Ecology. Ecology is the study of organisms interacting with each other. There are 2 big ideas in ecology: Homeostasis, and Interdependence. Homeostasis is the concept that environments and ecosystems are healthiest when they are in balance. We learned the difference between a habitat and a niche, a niche being the ideal factors for a species to survive in an environment, while a habitat is all the abiotic and biotic factors that affect an organism where that organism lives. We leaned abiotic factors which are nonliving, and biotic factors, which include other organisms. We then learned about the 6 levels of organization: Organism, Population, Community, Ecosystem, Biome, and Biosphere. We then learned about food chains and food webs. A food chain is a way that energy is passed from organism to organism. A producer like a plant makes energy from abiotic factor. Then, Something eats the producer, and something eats that consumer and so on so forth. There are 4 types of consumers: Herbivores, Carnivores, Omnivores, and Decomposers. Food chains are inaccurate because it only shows one possible scenario of transfer. A food web shows you all the possible ways energy is transferred from one organism to another. The energy going up the pyramid decreases by a factor of 10 as it goes up the pyramid. For example, a producer can make 100,000 units of energy (like Joules) and the 3rd level above it would only have 100 units of energy. This is why there are less predators than prey. Population Ecology is the study of populations of organism reacting to their environment. Two important concepts are the difference between exponential growth and logistic growth. Exponential growth is when a population is growing at an increasing rapid rate. Logistic growth who's how after some time of near exponential growth, the curve plateaus. It plateaus when it reaches its carrying capacity, or the amount of organism the environment can support. Factors for this carrying capacity include the following: Immigration, Emigration, Births, Deaths, Disease, Predators, Abiotic Factors, and Population Density and Dispersion. A healthy ecosystem is shown by the amount of tertiary and quaternary consumers there are. Biodiversity is essential for maintaining a healthy ecosystem. Habitat Loss, Introduction of exotic species, overexploitation, and climate change are all causes of species extinction and endangerment. We must protect Biodiversity hotspots through conservation because we need to save them from species loss. Sustainable Development is essential for this to be true. Our group project was a success and we worked together as a team. There was barely any fighting or disagreement and everyone did what they had to do. I hope to learn more about realistic solutions to conservation that can be applied fast. Overall, this unit has been pretty strong for me and I am meeting my goals.