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Unit 1: Basic Ecological Concepts and Principles Related to Agricultural Systems

As basic as this information is, it is worth pondering, especially in relation to how agricultural ecosystems are organized. This same kind of hierarchy can be applied to a farm or ranch, where the different components include:

• Individuals: individual crop plants and/or animals; individual insects or other organisms

• Populations: all the individual plants and animals of a particular species; all individuals of the same species considered as a group

• Community: all crop plants and animals, plus weeds, insects, organisms and microorganisms in a particular place

• Ecosystem: farms and ranches in the context of their local region

Continue to the next page for an explanation of why this concept is so important.