People and the

Earth’s Ecosystem
 Learning Content

Lesson 1: Basic principles and concepts of Ecology

Earth’s Concepts, types, and basic structures of ecosystem

ecosystem Biotic and abiotic factors of the ecosystem

Species richness and biodiversity in the Philippines

 Ecologists classify matter into levels of
organization ranging from the atomic level
to the level of the biosphere.

They study interactions within and among

five of these levels— organisms,
populations, communities, ecosystems, and
the biosphere
The four major components of the earth’s life-support system

atmosphere (air) - thin spherical envelope of gases

surrounding the earth’s surface.

hydrosphere (water) - consists of all of the water on

or near the earth’s surface.

geosphere (rock, soil, sediment) - consists of the

earth’s intensely hot core, a thick mantle composed
mostly of rock, and a thin outer crust.

biosphere (living things) - consists of the parts of the

atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere where life is
found.

The goal of ecology is to understand the interactions that occur within this
thin layer of air, water, soil, and organisms.
Environment Ecology Ecosystem Organism

Biotic and
Species
Abiotic Species Biodiversity
richness
factors
 Environment is everything around us, or as the famous physicist Albert
Einstein put it, “The environment is everything that isn’t me.”

Ecology is the science that focuses on how organisms interact with one
another and with their non living environment of matter and energy.

An ecosystem is a unit of nature and the focus of study in ecology. It

consists of all the biotic and abiotic factors in an area and their interactions.
Basic structures of ecosystem

Retrieved from: Admin. (2023, May 4). Ecosystem- Structure, functions, units
and types of ecosystem. BYJUS. https://byjus.com/biology/ecosystem/
What are some of the biotic and abiotic factors in this ecosystem?
What are some of the biotic and abiotic factors in this ecosystem?
secondary
consumer
primary secondary
consumer consumer
secondary
consumer

secondary
consumer
 Organisms Biotic factors Abiotic factors
the living aspects of the
the nonliving aspects of the
environment. They consist of
environment. They include
individual living things other organisms, including
factors such as sunlight, soil,
members of the same and
temperature, and water.
different species.
Retrieved from: Márquez, A. (2023, June 1). What are biotic factors? thedailyeco.com.
https://www.thedailyeco.com/what-are-biotic-factors-230.html
Retrieved from: Mukherjee, S. (2023, May 11). Types of ecosystems. Science Facts.
https://www.sciencefacts.net/types-of-ecosystems.html
 FOUR LAWS of Ecology
from the book “The Closing Circle, Nature, Man & Technology”, written by the ecologist Barry Commoner.

Everything is
connected to Nature Every resource we
take from the
everything Waste doesn’t simply
knows best environment has a
else disappear. cost attached.

Life relies on other Everything is always There’s no

life. Everything changing.
such thing
must go
as a free
somewhere
meal
 a group of organisms with the ability to interbreed and produce fertile
Species offspring. This means two organisms are the same species when they can
have offspring who are capable of reproducing.

Species Number of different species contained in a community

richness

is all the different kinds of life you'll find in one area—the variety of animals,
Biodiversity plants, fungi, and even microorganisms like bacteria that make up our
natural world. -WWF