The Living Environment

An environment includes living things such as

plants, animals, people, and even the tiniest
of microbes. The living portions of the
environment are called the biotic parts. The
nonliving portions, such as rocks, sunlight, and
air, are called the abiotic parts.

Interactions among organisms and their

environments can be very complex because
an organism gets everything it needs to
survive from the biotic and abiotic parts of its
environment. For example, a tree gets the
energy it needs from sunlight, carbon dioxide
from the air, and water and minerals from the
soil. All organisms rely on the abiotic factors
of their environment in addition to relying on
other organisms for survival.

Organisms that live in the same environment

affect other living organisms within that
community. For example, prairie dogs are
rodents that can be found in the grasslands of
western North America. They rely on the
grasses in their environment as a food source
and energy supply. The black-footed ferret is
a predator of prairie dogs, relying on them as
a food source. Suppose a drought results in a
drastic reduction of the abiotic factor of water
in their environment. The drought kills the
grass and the prairie dog population starts
dying out. Since the ferrets depend on the
prairie dog as a food source, the ferret
population is also affected. All these
organisms are interconnected. Something
that affects one part of an environment can
affect all the organisms that live there. Each
abiotic and biotic factor of an environment
must be in place for energy to flow from one
organism to another.

Levels of Organization Within the

Environment
To organize means to arrange or group items
so they can be easily found and understood.
There are four basic levels of organization
within an environment: organisms, population,
community, and ecosystem.

Organisms: All living things in the

environment are organisms, such as plants,
animals, fungi, and microorganisms.
Population: A population of organisms is a
group of individuals from the same species
living in a specific area at the same time.
Green-winged macaws, anacondas, and
capuchin monkeys are three populations of
organisms in the Amazon rain forest.
Community: A biological community is made
up of all the interacting populations of
organisms in an environment. Interacting
populations may compete for food, or one
species may hunt the other as a food source.
Species in a community may also be helpful to
the survival of another species. For example,
in the rain forest, the capuchin monkey feeds
on the nectar of flowering trees. As it drinks
the nectar, the pollen from the flower
attaches to the fur on its face. As the monkey
drinks the nectar of another flower, it passes
the pollen from its face to the flower and
helps pollinate the flowers of that tree.
Ecosystem: An ecosystem is made up of both
the community of organisms in an area and
their abiotic surroundings. The Amazon rain
forest-including all the plants, animals, and
abiotic factors such as sunlight, water, soil
and rocks-is an example of an ecosystem.
Other ecosystems include grasslands,
wetlands, deserts, and oceans.
A group of capuchin monkeys represents a
population. Several populations together
form a community. All organisms and the
abiotic factors in their environment make up
an ecosystem.

Ecologists
Ecology is the branch of biology that examines
the interactions among organisms and the
interactions between organisms and their
environment_ Scientists who study ecology
are called ecologists.

An ecologist studying a population may look

at the ways in which organisms compete for
resources such as food and water. Ecologists
also examine how the organisms in a
population cooperate to avoid predators or
raise young.

Ecologists that study communities in an

ecosystem investigate the factors that
contribute to the diversity of populations in
an area. Ecologists studying a community may
look at the relationships between predators
and prey, the ways in which different species
compete for the same kinds of food, or how
the presence of one species may benefit or
harm another species.
Ecologists studying the ecosystem as a whole
seek to answer questions such as how
sunlight and nutrients affect the plants that all
other organisms in the ecosystem depend on,
or how changes in the composition of the
atmosphere affect an ecosystem. Ecologists
are also interested in studying changes in
ecosystems brought about by climate.
change.

Ecologists call the unique strategy a species

has for survival its niche. More specifically, a
niche is an organism’s role in the larger
ecosystem. If you think of a species’ habitat as
its home address, its niche is its occupation.
Species hunt, eat, hide, or reproduce in
different ways to avoid occupying the same
niche as other organisms or to avoid
competing with them.
To avoid competition, woodpeckers, tufted
titmice, and nuthatches each have a beak
adapted for eating different types of insects
that live in different parts of the trees their
shared habitat.

Biomes
Around the world, similar communities
develop in places of similar climate. Some
regions have short, cool summers and long,
cold winters, while. other regions are warm all
year-long with little change of temperature. A
biome. 1s a large region that contains similar
ecosystems or communities and contains
similar organisms that have adapted to the
conditions of that region.

Influence of Climate
Species adapt to live in a particular climate.
Climate is the typical patten:i of weather that
is observed over a long period of time in an
area. A place with water-conserving plants
and very little rain is a desert. Climate is
determined by such factors as temperature,
precipitation, latitude, elevation, nearness to
water, and land features.

The patterns of temperature and precipitation

throughout the year are the most important
features of climate. Species adapt to survive
in specific climates_ Their physical features
and their behaviors are influenced by the
ecosystem’s temperature range as well as by
the availability of food and water in the
region.

Latitude, or distance from the equator, has an

influence on the temperature and
precipitation of a region. Regions close to the
equator or the poles have more extreme
conditions than those between the two While
warm temperatures and large amounts of
precipitation are characteristic near the
equator, cold temperatures and low amounts
of precipitation are characteristic of climates
at the poles. Regions at higher altitudes, or
distance above sea level, also have a colder
and drier climate than those at lower
altitudes.

Large bodies of water, including the ocean

and large lakes, also have an effect on
climate_ The climate near water is warmer
and wetter than mland climates_ Mountain
ranges near the coast also affect climate. The
climate between the ocean and the mountain
will be warmer and wetter, while the climate
beyond the mountain will be hotter and drier.
These factors influence the communities that
develop in a particular region.

Land Biomes
There are two main types of biomes: land
biomes and water biomes. The seven major
land biomes are shown on the map.

Biome Map
Tundra
The tundra is a cold, dry, treeless plain.
Permanently frozen soil called permafrost lies
beneath the surface and prevents trees from
taking root. In the short summer season, the
tundra is filled with flowering plants, lichens,
insects, birds, and grazing mammals. During
the long, cold winters, most plants and
animals become inactive or travel to warmer
lands.

Taiga
As you travel south from the tundra, tall trees
appear. This is the taiga, an evergreen forest
that covers more area on Earth than any
other biome. Winter is still long and cold, but
during the short summer, temperatures are
milder. The precipitation in the taiga is mostly
snow. Animals that stay active in the winter
adapt by growing thick coats and living in
burrows to keep warm.
Temperate Rain Forest
South of the taiga, several different biomes
form. Temperate rain forests form between
oceans and coastal mountains. A temperate
rain forest is a cool, wet, evergreen forest
receiving up to 400 cm of rain per year. The
nearby ocean keeps the average temperature
mild. The temperate rain forest has a higher
density of living and dead matter of any
biome.

Deciduous Forest
Deciduous forests contain hardwood trees
that drop their leaves in cold temperatures.
Deciduous forests receive up to 150 cm of
precipitation per year. The year is divided into
four distinct seasons. Summer temperatures
may reach 30°C, while winter temperatures
can dip below freezing. The soil of a
deciduous forest is rich from the leaves that
fall and decay.
Grassland
Grasslands form where there is not enough
precipitation to support trees. Grasses
dominate, and trees are found only along the
banks of streams and rivers. Grasslands
receive up to 75 cm of precipitation per year.
Grasslands have cold winters and hot, dry
summers. Many animals live on grasslands,
from large grazing mammals to insects.

Tropical Rain Forest

Tropical rain forests form near the equator,
where it is warm and rainy year-round. They
receive up to 600 cm of precipitation per year.
The climate conditions are ideal for many
plants, insects, and birds. In the rain forests
there is competition for sunlight and nutrients
from the soil. Lush growth blocks the Sun
from many plants and animals.

Desert
A desert forms where there is not enough
rainfall to support grasslands. They are the
driest places on Earth, with fewer than 25 cm
of precipitation per year. In many cases,
deserts form because moisture from ocean
breezes is blocked by coastal mountains.
Temperatures vary greatly because the dry air
does not block the Sun’s rays or trap heat. The
temperatures may rise above 40°C during the
day and fall below freezing at night.
Organisms that live in the desert have
adapted to temperature extremes and lack of
water.

Water Biomes
About 75 percent of Earth’s surface is covered
by water. The water may be deep or shallow,
fresh or salty, moving or still. Each of these
factors affects the kinds of organisms that live
in the water and the biome that develops.

Freshwater Biome
Freshwater, which contains very little salt, can
be found in wetlands, ponds, lakes, streams,
and rivers. Wetlands are land areas where the
soil is so saturated with water that aquatic
plants are able to grow. These plants allow
nutrient-rich soil to form. Oxygen allows many
different animal species to thrive. Marshes,
bogs, and swamps are examples of wetlands.
Ponds and lakes form where water pools in a
low-lying area. Rivers and streams are biomes
that contain moving water. Slow-moving
rivers have muddy bottoms with plants
growing in them. Swift streams have rocky
bottoms, which doesn’t allow for much plant
growth.

Marine Biome
The oceans and seas of the world make up the
marine, or saltwater, biome. The marine
biome covers most of Earth’s surface. Like
freshwater lakes, oceans can be divided into
shallow and deep layers. Sunlight penetrates
about 200 m into the water, creating a warm
shallow layer where plants can grow. The
plants produce oxygen, allowing many sea
creatures to live in this shallow underwater
layer. The deep water of the ocean is cold,
dark, and largely lifeless except for areas
around undersea volcanoes. Coral reefs are
regions of marine biomes that can support a
diverse array of sea life.