First of all, thanks to my Biology teacher, Mrs Azlinda for being such good

us while we were doing this task. She had given us appropriate example and
knowledge in order to make us understand more about this ecological study. We
take some idea from the past years students work. She spends her time to carry
out each and every experiment related to this ecological study. She also makes
sure that we understand everything she told and gives some explanation before we
begin to work on these practical assessments.
I also appreciate the school authority for giving us permission to carry
outexperiment in school laboratory and going our quadrates and transect sampling
technique in school ground. School also provided all the apparatus and
materialsthat we used in the ecological study task.
I also want to thank to my classmates who are willing to share their
information about this ecological study. They give me a lot of ideas about the tasks
and I use all their information especially in transect sampling technique which
required us to work together in order to complete the ecological study folio.
Also, a great thanks to my family who tried their best to give their support
either by giving me a lot of encouragement for keep us with this task or by
supporting the financial for use topay all the cost required to complete this
ecological study.




8.1 THE ABIOTIC AND BIOTIC
COMPONENTS OF THE
ENVIRONMENT



Ecology is the scientific study of the interactions among organisms
and the interaction between the organisms and their environment.
An environment consists of living component and non-living
component.
The living component in an environment are called the biotic
components.
The non living component in an environment are called abiotic
components.






The abiotic factors of an ecosystem


pH VALUE
The pH value of the soil or water has a significant effect on the distribution of
organisms which live in a habitat.
Most organisms survive well in neutral or nearly neutral environments.
Aquatic organisms are sensitive to the effects of the pH of water and may be killed if
the pH changes considerably.

HUMIDITY
Humidity refers to the amount of water vapour in the air.
Humidity affects the rate of water loss from plants and animals.
Humidity is usually higher during the night and lower during the day.

LIGHT INTENSITY
The intensity of light affects the distribution and growth of plants, and the distribution
of animals.
The sun is the source of energy for photosynthesis in plants.

TEMPERATURE
Temperature affects the physiological activities of plants and animals.
Temperature higher than 45 C usually lead to the denaturation of enzymes within the
organisms.

TOPOGRAPHY
Topography refers to physical land features such as the altitude, gradient, and aspect of
a region.
The main topographic factor is altitude.
Higher altitudes are associated with lower atmospheric pressures and temperatures.

MICROCLIMATE
Microclimate refers to the climate in a microhabitat.
Microclimate also affects the population and distribution of organisms.


CONSUMERS
Organisms that cannot photosynthesise must acquire energy and most of their
nutrients by feeding on other organisms. Therefore, they are called consumers.

DECOMPOSERS
The important group of heterasotrophs is the decomposers such bacteria and fungi.




The biotic components of an ecosystem

The biotic components of an ecosystem are the living organisms such as humans, plants
and animals living within that environment. There are interactions between the biotic
components. These interactions are mainly for light, food and shelter. The number of
organisms and their distribution are greatly affected by the interactions between the biotic
components.







Food chains, food webs and trophic levels

One of the important relationships among the biotic components of an environment
is the feeding relationship.
To understand the feeding relationship, it is useful to divide the biotic components
into the following three trophic levels based on the nutritional groups:



A food chain can be arranged in the form of pyramid of numbers.
A pyramid of numbers is a diagram showing the number of organisms at each trophic
level in a food chain in ascending order.






ENERGY FLOW WITHIN A FOOD WEB

In an ecosystem, several food chains interact to form a network called a food web.
In a food chain, energy is transferred from one trophic level to another trophic level.
When energy is transferred from one trophic level to another trophic level as much as 90% of
the chemical energy in the food consumed is used for its metabolic activities and lost as heat,
excretory products and undigested matter.
Only 10% of the energy in an organism is passed on to the organism at the next trophic level.


Interactions between biotic components
The interaction between biotic components is divided into three main types which are
symbiosis, saprophytism, prey-predator interaction and competition.


SAPROPHYTISM
Saprophytism is an interaction whereby an organism lives and feeds on decaying organic
matter.
Saprophytes refer to plants which obtain food from decayed organis matter.
Examples of saprophtes are the various types of fungi such as mushrooms, bread mould
and bracket fungus.
Saprozoites are microscopic animals that feed on decayed organic matter.
Some examples are paramecium sp. And amoeba sp. Which feed on organic matter from
dead organisms.

INTERACTIONS BETWEEN ORGANISMS
SAPROPHYTISM
SYMBIOSIS
COMMENSALISM MUTUALISM PARASITISM
PREY-PREDATOR COMPETITION
SYMBIOSIS
Symbiosis is an interaction between two organisms of different species that live together.
In symbiosis, one organism will live in or with another organism called the host.
The organism that interacts with the host will benefit from the interaction.
Symbiosis is further classified into three types:
Commensalisms
Paratism
Mutualism
Commensalism
Commensalisms is an interaction between two organisms where only one organism
benefits from the relationship. The other is neither benefit nor harmed.
The organism that benefits is called the commensal while the other organism is called the
host.
Examples of commensal are epiphytes and epizoites.
Epiphytes are green plants which grow on other plants to obtain more sunlight and for
support.
Examples of epiphytes are:
a) Pigeon orchid
b) Staghorn fern
c) Birds nest fern
Epizoites are animals that live in external surface of another animal.
The benefits that epizoites get from their hosts are transport, protection and leftover foods
from the mouth of the hosts.
Examples of epizoites are
a) remora fish and a shark
b) clown fish and sea anemones