The red lionfish, Pterois volitans, has beautiful red stripes, streaming fins, and a fearless disposition, and it is deadly. Native to the Pacific Ocean, the red lionfish was first discovered on coral reefs in the Bahamas in 1985. The species has spread to over 3 million square kilometers of the western Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. Lionfish have a voracious appetite for native fish, are armed with venomous spines, and have no natural predators in their new range. List the five main levels of ecological study, and write a question about the ecology of lionfish that you could research at each level.

Video transcript

Hello, everyone. Here's our next question, ecology is a study of interactions of living organisms with the environment. Which one is the basic level of ecology? Well, let's look at our answer choices here. Choice A says Organiz Mc ecology. Um This would obviously be the study of an individual single organism studying the adaptations that allow it to survive in its specific environment. So obviously if we're thinking about what the if we say that ecology is the study of the interactions of living organisms with the environment and organisms, ecology is at the level of the individual organism and its adaptations and how that allows it to survive in its environment. That is going to be pretty much the lowest level that we can study it at. So we're going to highlight that as our answer. But let's just look through our other answers. Um Choice B says population ecology. Population would obviously be a group of the same organism and how that group of individuals interacts with its environment and each other. So obviously a higher level than the single organism. So not our answer. Our next choice is choice C community ecology. A community would be um two or more populations of different organisms in the same geographical area. So how again how these different populations interact with each other and their environment and are adapted to their same environment but obviously higher level than the organism. So not our answer. And finally we have choice d biosphere ecology will the biosphere spirit is going to be the entire strata of earth's surface that supports life. So the highest level here at least until we discover life on other planets. So not the most basic level, obviously. And if you think of it, there would be another level that's not represented in our answer choices. But ecosystem ecology would come between community ecology and biosphere ecology because an ecosystem would not just be the community populations of living organisms but the entire ecosystem. So um also the non living elements of that ecosystem and how they interact with the living organisms. So which one is the most basic level of ecology choice? A organism ecology. See you in the next video.