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4.7 Ecology

This topic area studies how organisms interact with each other and with their environment. It brings together adaptation, cycling, biodiversity and food production.

Core Role

  • Explain ecological systems from organism level up to whole ecosystems.
  • Connect energy transfer, decay and biodiversity to real environmental change.
  • Show how human activity can both damage ecosystems and be managed more sustainably.

Learning Objective Map

Each topic page in this module now opens with a specification-aligned Learning Objectives section. Use these links to jump straight to the objective map for each topic, then into the teaching sections linked from that map.

Topic Objective map focus
4.7.1 Adaptations, Interdependence and Competition ecosystem organisation; interdependence and stability; abiotic and biotic factors; adaptation and extremophiles
4.7.2 Organisation of an Ecosystem food chains and sampling; carbon and water cycles; decomposition; environmental change and species distribution
4.7.3 Biodiversity and the Effect of Human Interaction on Ecosystems value of biodiversity; pollution, land use and deforestation; global warming effects; conservation and restoration
4.7.4 Trophic Levels in an Ecosystem trophic levels and feeding relationships; biomass pyramids; transfer efficiency; ecological sampling
4.7.5 Food Production food-security pressures; farming efficiency; sustainable fisheries; biotechnology and GM solutions

Topic Pages