Ecology

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Ecology

• the study of how organisms interact with each
  other and their environments

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Like a set of nesting dolls

• We can think about the interactions and types of
  living things by organizing them into groups,
  smallest to largest.
• A individual (species) includes only one type of
  organism.
• Example pigeon
• A population includes all members of one species
  that live in the same area.
• Example all the pigeons in Denton

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bigger and bigger groups!

• A community includes all of the different species
  that live in the same area.
• Example all the pigeons, ants, maple trees,
  dogs, etc. that live in Denton
• An ecosystem includes both the community and the
  abiotic factors.
• Example the Denton community plus the cars,
  buildings, rocks, air

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Levels of Organization
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Levels of Organization

• Individual
• Population
• Community
• Ecosystem
• Biome
• Biosphere

Biome- is a major regional or global community of
organisms
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Abiotic Vs. Biotic Factors

• Abiotic Factors
• The nonliving environment
• Ex. air currents, temperature, light, moisture,
  and soil
• Determine which species survive in a particular
  environment

• Biotic Factors
• The living organisms that inhabit an environment
• Ecologists study how biotic factors affect
  different species

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Habitats

• A habitat is the place where an organism lives
  out its life
• It can change or disappear from an area through
  both natural and human causes

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Niches

• How an organism meets its needs for food and
  shelter, how it survives, and how it reproduces.
  It includes abiotic and biotic factors.

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Niches

• In the coastal habitat in Florida there are a
  number of species of wading birds, each with a
  unique niche

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Symbiotic Relationships

• Definition Relationship where 2 species live
  closely together.
• The word symbiosis can be broken down into two
  parts to determine its meaning.
• sym means together (like in the words sympathy
  and symphony)
• bio mean life (like in the words biology and
  biome)

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Types of Symbiosis
Relationship Type Species A Species B
Mutualism
Commensalism 0
Parasitism -
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Mutualism

• Relationship where BOTH species BENEFIT!
• A / relationship.
• Bee and a Flower (flower provides food for the
  bee and the bee helps pollinate the flower.

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Commensalism

• Commensalism is where one species benefits while
  the second species remains unaffected.
• A / 0 relationship
• A bird nesting in a tree. (the nest is up away
  from predators and it doesnt benefit or harm the
  tree)

Barnacles adhering to the skin of a whale
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Parasitism

• Parasitism is the situation where one organism
  benefits while the other is harmed.
• A / - relationship.
• Tick on a human (tick feeds off the blood of the
  human, and the human can catch diseases from the
  tick)

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• Predation- an interaction in which one organism
  captures and feeds on another organism.

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• Competition- occurs when organisms attempt to use
  an ecological resource in the same place.

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Food Wed and Food Chains

• 1. Producer (autotroph)
• can make its own food
• forms the base of the food web

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Food Webs and Food Chains

• 2. Consumer (heterotroph)
• cannot make its own food
• There are several words that describe consumers
• Prey the hunted
• Predator the hunter
• Scavenger eats dead things
• Herbivore eats plants
• Carnivore eats animals
• Omnivore eats both plants and animals

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• 3. Decomposer
• Breaks down dead organisms
• Examples bacteria, maggots, fungi, worms
• They complete the circle of life by returning
  nutrients to the soil
• 4. Detritivore
• Feeds on dead organic material

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Food Chain

• Food Chain- is a sequence that links species by
  their feeding relationships.
• ARROWS represent ENERGY FLOW!

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• Primary producers (organisms that make their own
  food from sunlight and/or chemical energy from
  deep sea vents) are the base of every food chain
  - these organisms are called autotrophs.
• Primary consumers are animals that eat primary
  producers they are also called herbivores
  (plant-eaters).
• Secondary consumers eat primary consumers. They
  are carnivores (meat-eaters) and omnivores
  (animals that eat both animals and plants).
• Tertiary consumers eat secondary consumers.
• Quaternary consumers eat tertiary consumers.
• Food chains "end" with top predators, animals
  that have little or no natural enemies

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Food webs

• Sequence of who eats whom in a biological
  community (an ecosystem) to obtain nutrition
• Again.ARROWS represent ENERGY FLOW!!!

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Trophic Levels

• Levels of nourishment in a food chain.
• Energy glows UP the levels from the lowest to the
  highest.

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RULE OF 10

• Only 10 of energy
• is transferred from one trophic level to the
  next.
• Example
• It takes 100 kgs of plant materials (producers)
  to support 10 kgs of herbivores
• It takes 10 kgs of herbivores to support 1 kg of
  1st level predator

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Biomass

• - Dry weight of tissue and other organic matter
  found in a specific ecosystem
• - When trophic levels are shown in an energy
  pyramid, each higher level on the pyramid
  contains only 10 of the biomass found in the
  level below it.

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Cycles

• Matter can cycle through the biosphere because
  biological systems do not use up matter, they
  recycle it!
• Matter is Recycled within and between the
  ecosystems.
• Matter is assembles into living tissues or passed
  out of the body as waste.
• Just think, with every breath you take, you
  inhale hundreds of oxygen atoms that might have
  been inhaled by dinosaurs millions of years
  ago!!

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The Water Cycle

• Plants and animals need water to live
• Natural processes constantly recycle water
  throughout the environment
• Animals breathe out water vapor, return water to
  the environment through urination
• Plants pull water from the ground and lose water
  from their leaves through transpiration

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The Carbon Cycle

• All life on earth is based on carbon. Carbon is a
  key ingredient of living tissue.
• Begins during photosynthesis in which CO2 gas is
  converted to carbon molecules
• Carbon molecules are then used for energy and
  growth
• As heterotrophs eat plants, they also gain this
  energy from carbon
• When the carbon is used, CO2 is released and
  returned to the atmosphere

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Nitrogen Cycle

• Lightening and bacteria in the ground fix
  Nitrogen into a form usable by plants.
• It is absorbed by plants, through their roots as
  nitrates, so they can be used to build amino
  acids essential for building proteins, enzymes
  and the nitrogen bases of DNA.

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Phosphorus Cycle

• All organisms require phosphorus for growth
• Phosphorus cycles in two ways
• In the short term cycle, phosphorus is found in
  plants, animals eat plants, they die, and the
  phosphorus returns to the soil
• In the long term cycle, phosphorus is washed into
  the sea and is incorporated into rock