What is Ecology?

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What is Ecology?
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Questions for Today

• What is the Basic Building Block of Life?
• How many species are there in the World?
• What are the levels of organization of matter in
  nature?

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Cells are the Basic Units of Life

• Any living organism, alive or dead, are composed
  of cells.
• The smallest and most fundamental structural and
  functional units of life.
• This is Called the Cell Theory and it states
• All living things are composed of one or more
  cells.
• Cells are the basic units of structure and
  function in living things.
• New cells are produced from existing cells.

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Cells are the Basic Unit of Life

• Remember from Biology
• Two Types of Cells
• Prokaryotic
• No Nucleus or membrane bound organelles
• Example Bacteria
• Eukaryotic
• Contains a nucleus and membrane bound organelles
• Animal and Plant Cells.

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Structure of a Eukaryotic Call and a Prokaryotic
Cell
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Species Make Up the Encyclopedia of Life

• A species is a set of individuals that can mate
  and produce fertile offspring.
• Named using the Binomial Nomenclature System
  developed by Carolus Linnaeus.
• Remember from Biology
• DKPCOFGS
• Scientific names and the rules when writing them.

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Species Make Up the Encyclopedia of Life

• Scientists estimate that there could be 4 100
  million species in the Environment.
• Best guess is 10-14 million
• Biologist have identified and classified 1.8
  million species.
• Most species are insects
• Over half of the animal and plant species are
  found in the Tropical Rainforests.

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Have You Thanked the Insects Today?

• Pollinators
• Eat other insects
• Loosen and renew soil
• Reproduce rapidly
• Very resistant to extinction

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Species Make Up the Encyclopedia of Life

• In 2007, Scientists began a 100 million, 10-year
  project to list and describe all1.8 million known
  species.
• www.eol.org

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Levels of Organization

• From the inclusive to the most exclusive
• Biosphere
• Ecosystem
• Community
• Population
• Organism
• Cells
• Molecule
• Atom

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Fig. 3-3, p. 52