Ecology

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Ecology

• Ch. 3-4

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What is Ecology?

• Ecos, or oikos
• logos
• So ecology is the study of living organisms in
  their homes, or environments.

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Remember, there are levels of homes!
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What does an ecologist study?

• Ecologists study the role of organisms in their
  environment
• their interactions with biotic and abiotic
  factors
• the organisms NICHE!

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The Niche

• The ecological niche of an organism is the role
  that it plays in the big scheme of the ecosystem.
• Do mosquitoes have a niche? I know I hate them!

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What Organisms Want

• To Eat!
• To Avoid Being Eaten!
• To Reproduce!

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The First Law of Thermodynamics states.

• that neither matter, nor energy can be created or
  destroyed.
• It can, however change form.

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The Flow of Energy in the Biosphere

• The sun is the source of all energy in the
  biosphere.

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• In the biosphere, energy is passed from organism
  to organismby food

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Producers

• The foundation of all ecosystems
• Harvest solar energy and convert it to chemical
  energy.
• Called producers because
• These are the autotrophs ____- ________
• Green plants and the algae make up the largest
  portion of individuals in any ecosystemwhy?

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Consumers

• Heterotrophs
• _____ -________
• Any organism which feeds off of another organism
  is a heterotroph.
• There are many levels of consumers

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Different levels of consumers
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Different Types of Consumers

• Herbivores consumers that eat ________.
• Are, by definition________ consumers
• Carnivores consumers that eat ______.
• Are, by definitionat least ________consumers
• Omnivores consumers that eat ______.
• Detritovores consumers that eat ______.
• Are, by definition________ consumers!
• Worms, beetles, termites
• Decomposers consumers that eat everyone!
• Bacteria, fungi

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Trophic Levels

• Trophos ___
• Feeding levels
• Each step in a food chain is one trophic level

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Why?

• One of these food webs is fundamentally
  incorrect

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The Ten Percent Ruleand Ecological Pyramids

• Only 10 of the energy at each trophic level is
  available to the nextthe rest is lost largely as
  _________ energy

Numbers pyramid
Energy pyramid
Biomass pyramid
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The Ten Percent Rule in Action
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So, How Many Calories Are Available at Each Level?
18,500 Cal.
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So, How Many Kilograms Are Needed to Support the
Next Level?
25,140 kg
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Carrying Capacity

• Every ecosystem has a carrying capacity for the
  populations that live there.

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Competition in the Ecosystem

• Competition is ALWAYS based upon some resource
• Examples
• The Competitive Exclusion Principle states that
  no two species can occupy exactly the same niche
  at the same time in the same place!

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Symbiotic Relationships

• sym
• bio
• Relationships in which two organisms live
  together

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• Three different types of symbiotic relationships
• Mutualism both species benefit from the
  relationship EX
• Commensalism One species benefits and the other
  is unaffected EX
• Parasitism One species benefits and the other
  is harmed EX

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Succession
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Ole Mose and his lunch date!
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Ocean Food Web
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• Cycles video

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Predation

• There are predators
• And there is prey!

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Environmental Factors

• Biotic factors
• Examples
• Abiotic factors
• Examples///