List the Levels of Organization studied in Ecology.

Question

I have to use the words:

• organism
• population
• community
• ecosystem
• biosphere 

Answer 1

Think of ecology as the study of how living things interrelate. These terms all refer to particular groups that are nested within one another. So you have the most specific thing: the organism. For example, let's use you.

Next you have a population, which would be all of the same SPECIES of organism in a community (we'll get to that later). So that would be your fellow university students (assuming you're at a university).

 

Then the community is an even larger group, containing all of the living organisms (many different species) in an ecosystem. So that's you and your fellow university students (the population of humans) plus all of the squirrels, chipmunks, insects, flowers, trees, birds, and grass on your campus.

 

And this community is part of your campus ecosystem, which is all living things AND nonliving things/factors in your biosphere. So that's you and all the other living species, plus the campus buildings, infrastructure, large rocks, weather patterns....

 

And the biosphere is the biggest part yet, encompassing all the ecosystems, with their living and nonliving components.

So just think of these terms as nested in this order, and that can help you describe how organisms and nonliving factors are organized within the biosphere!

Hope that helps.