TOPIC 3: BALANCE OF NATURE | BIOLOGY FORM 2
BALANCE OF NATURE
TOPIC 3: BALANCE OF NATURE | BIOLOGY FORM 2
The Natural Environment
Natural environment is made up of all living and non living things that occur naturally on earth.
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IMPORTANT TERMS
Ecology: is the branch of biology that deals with studying interaction oforganisms with their environment
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Population: is the total number of organisms of the same species living in a certain area. Example the number of frogs in a pond
Community: this refers to the sum of total of all population of different organisms living in a specific called habitat
Habitat:
is the specific area where an organism is found and adopted. i.e it is
an appropriate for the certain community example an ocean, grassland,
and a pond
Ecosystem: refers to a natural unit made up of living and non living things whose interaction
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Biotic (living things)
Abiotic (non living things)
are living components in the environment such as animals, plants,
fungi, andmicroorganisms.
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ways and these waysof interaction include the following;
Competition
That organisms must compete for limited resources in struggle for life.
For anorganism to survive in an ecosystem it must compete with partner
for thelimited resources.
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Predation Is the system in which one
organism utilize the other as food.
The eater is a predator while the
eaten is a prey and a number of predators and preysregulate each other
Symbiotic
relationship This is where there is a close relationship or association
between organism sthis association could take various forms like
mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism
Adaptation Adaptation
has enabled organisms to survive.
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They may be anatomically structurally
physiologically or behavioral.
Eg some organisms are poisoners totheir
predator while others while others develop warming colouration
include non living organisms that are found in ecosystem.
solar,energy, soil, and nutrients. Generally abiotic components of an
ecosystem consist ofphysical environment and they are as follows.
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Climatic
factor Several change of climatic condition influence or determine the
survival of organisms in ecosystem such condition include temperature,
humidity,pressure etc
Aquatic condition Changes in the aquatic
environment and the nature of environment it is self determined by the
type of organism found in the area such a changes include water current,
wave action, salinity, etc
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Light condition factor These affect much plant population where photosynthetic process depend onthe availability of light.
Soil factor/conditionThese are also adaphic factors and they include soil texture, soil structure and soil PH
It is a source of food to organisms
It provides shelter and security for organisms
It allow living and non living things to interact
It provides an appropriate setting for organisms to reproduce andincrease in number.
Grass →Zebra→Lion
Maize plant→grasshoppe→rFrog
Primary consumers
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Differences between food chain and food web
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Food chain | Food web |
1. It consists of the single straight pathwaythrough which food energy travels in an ecosystem | 1. It consists of a number of interconnectedfood chains through which energy travelsin an ecosystem |
2. Usually members of the higher trophiclevel feed upon a single type of organismsof lower trophic level | 2. Usually members of the higher trophiclevel feed upon many organisms of lowertrophic level |
3. Isolated or separate food chainsincreases the instability of the ecosystem | 3. Presence of complex food websincreases the stability of the ecosystem |
4. It does not have any effect on improvingthe adaptability and competitiveness of theorganisms | 4. More complex food webs improves theadaptability and competitiveness of theorganisms |
Food chain
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Grass →cow→human being
Phytoplankton→fish→bird
Food web
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Food
chains and webs help in the flow of energy from producers to consumers
andfrom one trophic level to another, without which energy flow would be
impossible.
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Food chain studies have had an important role in
ecotoxicology studies tracingpathways and biomagnifications of
environmental contaminants.
Learning how the food chain works
enable us to understand the importance livingorganisms that make up the
food chain and how the ecology is balanced.
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This iscrucial since any
interruption in food chain could lead to ecosystem imbalance.
Food chains and webs show the flow of energy through an ecosystem.
Understanding
the effect of polluting the natural environment enable us to avoid
orcontrol environmental pollution so as to maintain natural ecosystems.
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