Middle School Life Science: Introduction to Ecology - What is Ecology? — Flashcards

Ecology is the study of the relationships among living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level.
Organisms are individual living things. They range from microscopic bacteria to gigantic blue whales. Despite their great diversity, all organisms have the same basic needs: energy and matter. Energy and matter must be obtained from the environment.    
Because organisms depend on their environment to meet their needs, they are greatly influenced by it. There are many factors in the environment that affect organisms. The factors can be classified as either biotic or abiotic. Biotic factors are all of the living or once-living aspects of the environment. They include all the organisms that live there as well as the remains of dead organisms. Abiotic factors are all of the aspects of the environment that have never been alive. They include factors such as sunlight, soil minerals, temperature, and moisture.