Ecology Notes

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Ecology Notes

• Cant we all just get along?

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Chapter 2

•  
• Biosphere-All areas that sustain life
•  
• Biotic Factors-living factors
•  
• Abiotic Factors-non living factors

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Organization Revisited

1. Population (interbreeding species)
2. Biological Community (all species in a given area
   that depend on each other)
3. Ecosystem All biotic and abiotic factors in the
   community
4. Biome Areas of similar climatic conditions
5. Biosphere All areas that sustain life

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Communities
Ex Pond Community
Habitat The place where a plant or animal lives.

Example Squirrel lives in several different
trees in the forest, skunk lives in a single
hollow log.
Niche An organisms role in the community.
Example Most green plants convert sunlight into
energy and release oxygen. Other animals are
dependent on the plants for survival. VERY
important.
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Community Interactions

• Competition refers two organisms or species
  competing for some limiting resource.
• be food or nutrients, space, mates, nesting sites

A lion fending off a hyena for food.
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Predation

• A predator is an animal or other organism that
  hunts and kills other organisms, called prey, for
  food in an act called predation.

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OUCH!!!!
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Symbiosis

• The living together of two different organisms

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Neutral

• Not taking part or giving assistance when it
  comes to organisms living together.
• Gets along with other organisms, but do not give
  assistance to life in any way

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Commensalisms

• A symbiotic relationship between two organisms of
  different species one benefits the other is
  unaffected.
• Remoras attaching to a shark

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Barnacles on a whale
Birds on a cow
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Mutualism

• An interaction between two or more species in
  which both species benefit from the other.

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Acacia Tree Ants live in the horns and bring
nutrients to the tree while the tree gives them
protection off the ground.
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Parasitism

• A symbiotic relationship in which one organism
  lives off of the other organism, but does not
  kill it.
• Parasites (mosquitoes Head Lice)

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Energy in an Ecosystem

• Autotroph-
• Organisms that can make their own food for energy
  from the sun (Plants and some protists and
  bacteria)
• Heterotroph
• obtain energy from other sources

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Energy in an Ecosystem

• Herbivore
• organisms that eat plants almost exclusively
• Carnivore
• organisms that eat other organisms almost
  exclusively
• Detritivore

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Energy in an Ecosystem

• Omnivore
• can utilize both plants, animals and other
  organisms as energy sources

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Energy in an Ecosystem

• Detritivores
• break down dead and decaying materials for energy

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• The figure below shows a simple food chain for
  land production.
• 1) How much solar energy does a vegetarian
  utilize when eating 1,000 calories of plant
  material?  Use the information from the figure to
  calculate this.
• 2) How much solar energy (in calories) does a
  meat eating person utilize when eating 1000
  calories of meat?  Use the diagram above to make
  your determination.  The numbers below each
  figure are the number of calories stored at each
  trophic level.

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Food Web The path that energy moves along from
one trophic level to the next and back again in a
complex fashion.
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Grassland Food Web
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Ecological Pyramids
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Primary Producers Plants, Algae,
Protists Consumers Anything that uses producers
for energy Decomposer Break down dead material
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Biochemical Cycles

• The physical parts of the ecosystems cycle
  constantly.
• water, carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus pass from
  nonliving environments to living organisms, and
  back to nonliving environments.
• These paths form closed circles, or cycles,
  called biogeochemical cycles.
• biogeochemical cycle, a pathway forms when a
  substance enters living organisms such as trees
  from the atmosphere, water, or soil stays for a
  time in the living organism then returns to the
  nonliving environment.

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The Water Cycle, Draw This
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The Water Cycle,

• Water Shed an area where rainwater, snow, and
  ice converge on a single point.
• Condensation when water vapor is cooled it
  becomes a liquid
• Precipitation When enough liquid accumulates in
  the atmosphere, it falls back to earth. As
  precipitation or rain

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The Water Cycle,

• In the living portion of the water cycle, much
  water is taken up by the roots of plants.
• Transpiration After passing through a plant, the
  water moves into the atmosphere by evaporating
  from the leaves

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The Phosphorus Cycle

• Phosphorus is an essential part of both ATP and
  DNA.
• Phosphorus is usually present in soil and rock as
  well as animal wastes
• We use this waste as fertilizer

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The Phosphorus Cycle
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The Phosphorus Cycle
Eutrophication the accumulation of biomass like
phosphorous in water sheds and basins causing
algae growth and killing native plants and
organisms Can be caused by humans or occur
naturally.
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The Carbon Cycle

• In the carbon cycle, carbon atoms may return to
  the pool of carbon dioxide in the air and water
  in three ways
• 1. Photosynthesis CO2 goes into plants while O2
  comes out of plants
• 2. Respiration Carbon dioxide produced because
  of cellular respiration.
• 3. Combustion Carbon also returns to the
  atmosphere through combustion, or burning.

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Carbon Cycle
Section 3 Cycling of Materials in Ecosystems
Chapter 41
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The Nitrogen Cycle

• Organisms need nitrogen to build proteins and
  nucleic acids.

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The Nitrogen Cycle, continued

• The nitrogen cycle is a complex process with four
  important stages
• 1. Nitrogen Fixation. When bacteria help
  provide plants with usable nitrogen
• 2. Ammonification ammonia is produced by
  bacteria during the decay of nitrogen-containing
  urea.
• 3. Nitrification is the production of nitrates
  from ammonia.
• 4. Denitrification is the conversion of nitrate
  to nitrogen gas.

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Population Density

• The total number of individuals living in a
  specific area
• Example person/km2

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Population Distribution

• A. Randomly ex. Deer in the woods
• B. Clumps ex. Elk on Highway 52 (Before CWD)
• C. Uniformly ex. Birds on a wire

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Gains and Losses in Population Size

• Immigration- Organisms that move into a
  population
• Emigration- Organisms that move out of a
  population
• Mortality-similar to death rate the number of
  organisms that have died
• Natality- birth of organisms

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• Exponential Growth growth that occurs very
  rapidly
• Doubling Time Amount of time it takes for a
  population to double its size
• r-selected life strategy curve
• Examples (insects

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Biotic Potential

• The rate at which a population could grow if
  nothing was holding it back, no limits
• Limiting factors
• Space
• Water
• Nutrients
• Shelter

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What will happen in the future?

• Density Dependent Factors
• Food
• Water
• Disease
• Waste
• Density Independent
• Light
• Temperature
• Weather

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Carrying Capacity and K-Selected Life Strategies

• When populations birth rate equals the death rate
• K-selected life strategy
• K stands for carrying capacity
• Examples humans, whales