Ecosystems and Communities

1
Chapter 4

• Ecosystems and Communities

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The Role of the Climate

• What is climate?
• The average, year after year conditions of
  temperature and precipitation in a particular
  region
• What is weather?
• The day to day condition of the earths
  atmosphere at a particular time and place

3
What Causes Climate?

• The trapping of heat by the atmosphere
• The latitude
• Winds and ocean current (carry heat)
• Amount of precipitation

4
The Greenhouse Effect

• What is the greenhouse effect?
• The natural situation in which heat is retained
  by the layer of greenhouse gases
• What are greenhouse gases?
• Carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor, and a few
  other atmospheric gases that trap heat energy and
  maintain the Earths temperature

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The Greenhouse Effect
Sunlight
Some heat escapes into space
Greenhouse gases trap some heat
Atmosphere
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Latitudes Effect on the Climate

• Earth is tilted on its axis so different areas
  get a a different amount of solar radiation at
  different times of the year
• Differences of latitude and this angle result in
  3 main climate zones Polar, Temperate, and
  Tropical

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The Three Main Climate Zones

• Polar Zones
• Cold
• Located at the North and South Poles
• Temperate Zones
• Temperature ranges from cold to hot
• Located between the polar zones
• Tropical Zone
• Climate almost always warm
• Near equator

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Heat Transport in the Biosphere

• The Earth is heated unevenly, so this drives
  winds and ocean currents
• The wind and ocean currents help balance this
  unequal heating

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Quiz 4-1

• What are the 3 main climate zones?
• What are the main factors that determine climate?
• What is the greenhouse effect?
• Bonus
• What is the difference between weather and
  climate?

10
Biotic and Abiotic Factors

• Remember an ecosystem includes all living and
  nonliving factors
• Biotic factors are the living factors in the
  community example birds, mushrooms, trees,
  grass.
• Abiotic Factors are the nonliving factors that
  shape an ecosystem example soil, water,
  sunlight, space, wind.

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Name the Biotic and Abiotic Factors
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Shaping an Ecosystem

• The biotic and abiotic factors determine the
  survival and growth of an organism and the
  productivity of the ecosystem in which the
  organism lives
• Together these factors determine if an ecosystem
  is a suitable habitat for an organism

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Habitats and Niches

• What is a habitat?
• The area in which the organism lives which
  includes the biotic and abiotic factors
• Address
• What is a niche?
• The full range of physical and biological
  conditions in which an organism lives and the way
  the organism uses those conditions
• Job

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Habitat Versus Niche

• Habitat
• A gopher tortoise needs pine flatwoods with sandy
  soil

• Niche
• A gopher tortoise eats herbaceous plants and
  creates homes in which other organisms live in

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Habitat Versus Niche

• A niche will include all aspects of how that
  organism interacts and effects the ecosystem in
  which it lives in
• Examples Its place in the food web, when it
  reproduces, what biotic and abiotic factors it
  needs to survive, etc

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Niches and Competition

• No two species can share the same niche in the
  same habitat (can have similar niches but not the
  same)
• When this occurs there will be competition

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Competition

• Competition occurs when organisms (same or
  different species) attempt to use the same
  resource at the same time and same place
• What is a resource?
• Any necessity of life

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Competition

• The lion is competing with the vulture for the
  carcass

• The plants are all competing for space, water,
  sunlight, and nutrients

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The Competitive Exclusive Principle

• No two species can occupy the same niche at the
  same time and the same place
• If this occurs they will compete until there is a
  winner and a loser

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Types of Relationships in Ecosystems

• Predation
• Symbiosis
• Mutualism
• Commensalism
• Parasitism

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What is Predation?

• An interaction in which an organism captures and
  feeds on another organism
• Example Bear eating a fish

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What is Symbiosis?

• Any relationship in two species live closely
  together
• 3 main types
• Mutualism
• Commensalism
• Parasitism

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Symbiosis

• Mutualism- Both Benefit
• Example Bees flowers, ants and aphids
• Commensalism- One Benefits and the other does
  not benefit
• Example Moss growing on trees
• Parasitism- One benefits while the other species
  is harmed
• Example tapeworm, mosquitoes, fleas

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Quiz 4-2 A

• What is the difference between an abiotic factor
  and a biotic factor?
• What is a niche?
• What happens if two species have the same niche
  in the same place? (Hint The Competitive
  Exclusive Principle)
• What are 3 types of symbiosis?
• Bonus
• Give an example of mutualism

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Ecological Succession

• The gradual change in living communities that
  follows a disturbance
• The only thing that is constant is change!

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Ecological Succession

• A community will gradually change over time
  through a predictable series of changes until it
  reaches a stable point called the climax
  community

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Ecological Succesion

• Two types
• Primary Succession
• Secondary Succession

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Primary Succession

• The development of a community that occurs on
  bare rock or where no soil exists (Volcanic
  eruptions)
• When you start there is no soil
• The first species to populate the area are called
  pioneer species
• These are usually lichen

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Primary Succession
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Secondary Succession

• The sequential replacement of species that
  follows a disturbance
• Disturbances can include fires, floods, logging,
  a fallen tree
• Disturbance can be good!
• Disturbances open up resources for other plants
  or organisms to use

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Importance of Fire in Florida

• The majority of Florida is made up of pine
  forests
• Pine trees need lots of light
• Disturbances will kill off competing vegetation
  and allow pine trees to reproduce

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Importance of Fire in Florida

• Prescribed fires help prevent wildfires
• Promotes biodiversity
• Kills pests (ticks, etc)
• REMEMBER Fire a natural part of our ecosystem

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Biomes

• What is a biome?
• A group of ecosystems that have the same climate
  and dominant communities
• Organisms are adapted to live in certain biomes

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What Creates a Biome?

• The climate
• The soil
• The communities that inhabit it

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Organisms Tolerance

• Many organisms are adapted to the conditions of
  the biome
• They have tolerance
• Ability to survive and reproduce under conditions
  that differ from their optimal conditions

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The Major Biomes

• Tropical rain forest
• Tropical dry forest
• Tropical savanna
• Desert
• Temperate grassland
• Temperate woodland and shrubland
• Temperate forest
• Northwestern coniferous forest
• Boreal forest
• Tundra

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Questions?

• No problem can be solved by the same
  consciousness that created it. We need to see the
  world anew.
• Albert Einstein

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Quiz 4.2B

• What is the difference between primary and
  secondary succession?
• What is a pioneer species?
• What is tolerance?
• Bonus
• Why is fire important to Florida?