Science Notes

Notes by Jun Guan

I Levels of Organisation
Organism
★ An individual form of life, such as a plant, an
animal, a protist, or a fungus.

Population
★ Made of all the individuals of the same species
in an area at a certain time.
● Not all individuals are identical.
● Most importantly, not all members of a population are
equal in their ability to survive and reproduce.

Community
★ The populations of organisms of different
species in a specific area at a given time.

Ecosystem
★ All the living (biotic) and all of the physical
nonliving (abiotic) factors in an area.
● Ecosystems can only support a certain number of
individuals based on the amount of food, water, living
space, mates, and other resources.
I Biotic and Abiotic Factors
Biotic and Abiotic
● Sunlight, air, and rocks are examples of abiotic factors.
● Kangaroo, grass, and plants are examples of abiotic
factors.

Biotic Factors
★ Bio = prefix for life
● Living or once-living organisms in an ecosystem.
○ Animals
○ Plants
○ Fungi

Abiotic Factors
★ “A” = prefix for not or without
● Non-living elements in an ecosystem
○ Water, Air, Sunlight/Sun, Soil/[Link]
○ Climate, Weather, Temperature

Limiting Factors
★ Limiting factors are abiotic or biotic factors that
limit the number of individuals that can live in
an ecosystem.
● Keeps the population from growing too large.
Biotic Limiting Factors
Competition for Food
● When resources are scarce, fewer organisms can
survive.
● When resources are plentiful, greater numbers of
organisms can survive.
Predator-Prey Relationships
● A greater amount of prey means a greater number of
predators.
● A fewer amount of prey means a fewer number of
predators.
Parasitism
● When an organism lives off of a host organism,
sometimes kills the host.
○ Worms in animal digestive tracts
○ Mistletoe in trees
○ Pine bark beetles invade and kill pine trees
Disease
● When outbreaks kill off most or all of a population.
● Influenza outbreaks caused millions of human deaths
in 1918.
● Lyme disease, carried by ticks.
Human Activities
● Human activity can destroy animal habitats through:
○ Development
○ Damming rivers
○ Clear cutting of trees
Abiotic Limiting Factors
Sun
● Availability increases photosynthesis.
● Plants compete for sunlight by growing taller than
others around them.
Temperature
● Warm lush areas support greater numbers of
populations with less competition occurring.
● Cold harsh areas support limited numbers of
populations with greater competition occurring.
Water
● Many factors affect competition and survival ability in
populations:
○ Availability
○ Movement
○ Temperature
○ Salinity (salt content)
○ Chemical components (quality)
Changing Conditions
● Reduce populations through
○ Drought
○ Flood
○ Volcanic eruptions
○ Earthquakes

Carrying Capacity
★ The largest number of individuals of the same
species that an area can support.
● If the population goes over the carrying capacity,
some individuals will die or move to another location.
I Energy Pyramids
Energy in a Living System
★ All living things need energy.
● Energy made by plants (through photosynthesis) is
transferred to an animal that eats it.
● The organism then transfers the energy to the next
organism which eats it, and so on.
● A graphic representation of this system is called an
energy pyramid.

How is an EP organized?
Trophic Levels
● The feeding position in a food chain or energy
pyramid that an organism occupies is based on what it
eats.
● Energy decreases from lower to higher trophic levels.
● Biomass (living or organic matter) decreases from
lower to higher trophic levels.

Producers
● Gets their energy from the sun.
● Make their food through the process of
photosynthesis.
● Autotroph: Makes their food.
Consumers
● Unable to make their food.
● Heterotrophs: Cannot make their food, so they have to
eat other organisms like plants or animals.

Primary Consumers
● First-level consumers.
● Herbivores: Cannot make their food, so they consume
plants.
● Heterotrophs.

Secondary and Tertiary consumers

● Eat primary consumers and each other.
● Carnivores: Cannot make their food, so they consume
meat.
● Omnivores: Cannot make their food, so they eat both
meat and plants.
● Heterotrophs.

Quaternary Consumers
● Apex predators.
● Top of the food chain (animal upon which nothing
preys.)
● Typically carnivores.
● Heterotrophs.

Decomposers
● The recycle organism of the ecosystems.
● Active at each level of the pyramid.
 ● Break down dead organisms and return their nutrients
to the environment.

The Shape of an Energy

Pyramid
★ An energy pyramid’s shape shows how the
amount of useful energy that enters each level
(chemical energy in the form of food) decreases
as the organisms use it at that level.

Loss of energy
● The amount of energy in every level decreases by
about 90% as you go up the pyramid.
● The energy is measured in – Kilocalories (Kcal) or
Joules (J)
● 1Kcal = 4184 Joules (J)
Where Does the Energy Go?
• Remember energy cannot be destroyed.
• Energy is used up by the animal’s metabolic processes,
running, eating, finding mates, escaping danger – daily
living.
• Given off to the environment as heat.
I Food Webs
Energy in a Living System
★ All living things need the energy to survive.
● Energy made by plants (through photosynthesis) is
transferred to an animal that eats it.
● That animal then transfers that energy to the next
animal that eats it, and so on.

Food Chain
★ A single pathway in which energy and nutrients
are passed from one living organism to another.
● Energy is used up as it moves up the food chain.
● The arrows in a food chain represent where the energy
is being transferred.

Food Web
★ A network of food chains by which energy and
nutrients are passed on from one living
organism to another.
● Multiple pathways.
● The arrows represent energy being transferred.
● Energy is the greatest at the bottom of the food web.

Types of Consumers
Herbivores: Eat only plants.
Carnivores: Eat only meat.
Omnivores: Eat both plants and mear.
Scavengers: Eats the bodies of dead organisms.

Levels in a Food Web

● Producer
● Primary Consumer (First-level consumers)
● Secondary Consumers (Second-level consumers)
● Tertiary Consumers (Third-level consumers)
● The top consumer is called Apex Consumers.

Deep Ocean Food Webs

● No sunlight reaches the deep ocean floor, but still,
there is life.
● In these extreme environments, energy comes from two
places:
○ Cold seeps
○ Hydrothermal vents
● This process is called chemosynthesis.
○ Chemosysntehis is the process of making sugar with
chemicals and heat instead of sunlight.

Cold Seeps
● Areas where methane and hydrogen sulfide are
released into the ocean.
● Certain single-celled organisms (microbes) live off
these gases.
● Clams, mussels, shrimp, crabs, bacteria, and
tubeworms eat those microbes for food.

Hydrothermal Vents
● Water is heated by underwater volcanic activity.
● Hot water spews from holes in the crust, called vents.
● Microbes turn chemicals in the hot water into energy.
● Fish, shrimp, giant tubeworms, mussels, crabs, and
clams live on these microbes.
I Symbiosis Relationships
Symbiosis
★ A type of close and long-term biological
interaction between two different species.
● Three types of symbiosis:
○ Mutualism
○ Commensalism
○ Parasitism

Commensalism
● A type of symbiosis occurs between individuals of two
different species.
● One species obtains food or other benefits from the
other without either harming or benefiting the latter.

Parasitism
● A type of symbiosis occurs between individuals of two
different species.
● One organism is harmful to the other but may not kill
the other organism.
● The organism being harmed is called the host.

Mutualism
● A type of symbiosis occurs between individuals of two
different species.
● Each of the organisms benefits the other.
I Structures and Behaviour
Structures
★ A specialized part of an organism that serves to
promote survival.

Humans
● Thumbs
○ Throwing (Can throw stuff at deadly speeds with
deadly accuracy.)
○ Grabbing (Use tools.)
○ Build
○ Craft

Other Body Parts

● Eyes
● Hair/Fur
● Spines / Quills
● Feet / Hooves / Claws
● Beak
● Lungs / Gills
● Horns
○ Defending from predators
○ Defending territory
● Tails
○ Shooing away flies
○ Balance
Behaviours
★ Specialized actions and abilities that promote
survival and reproduction.

Defence Mechanisms
★ Protects you from danger.
● Camouflage
● Release odour
● Play dead
● Poisonous
● Noises
● Grouping

Mating Rituals
★ Special behaviour to attract a viable (fit) mate.
● Dances
● Songs / Vocalization
● Fighting