Ecology and Biodiversity

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Ecology and Biodiversity
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Ecology

• Ecology is the study of relationships between all
  organisms and their environment.

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Biosphere

• The largest environment we focus on at one time
  is the biosphere.
• The biosphere consists of the thin layer of the
  earths surface where all organisms live.

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Biomes

• The biosphere can be divided into various biomes
  which are the world's major communities,
  classified according to the predominant
  vegetation and characterized by adaptations of
  organisms to that particular environment.

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Biomes

• Each biome supports certain varieties of
  organisms that are adapted to that environment
  such that they are getting their needs met and
  are successfully reproducing offspring.

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Examples of Biomes

• Terrestrial Biomes (Land Biomes)
• Forests Coniferous, Deciduous, Rain
• Grasslands
• Desert
• Taiga
• Tundra
• Aquatic Biomes (Water Biomes)
• Freshwater Lakes, Ponds or Rivers
• Saltwater Oceans
• Brackish Water Wetlands

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Levels of Organization

• Ecosystem a self-sustaining collection of
  organisms and their environment.
• Community all organisms that live in a
  particular place
• Population all members of a particular species
  that live in a particular place.
• Organism one member of a particular species
  that lives in a particular place.

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Habitat vs. Niche

• A habitat is the place in which an organism lives
  (this can be big like the desert or small like
  your backyard)
• for example a frog lives near a pond-like
  habitat.
• A niche is the job or function of an organism
  within its ecosystem
• for example the frog eats insects and is eaten
  by small animals and birds.

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Components of an Ecosystem

• Nonliving components of an ecosystem are called
  abiotic factors.
• Examples sunlight, rocks, slope of the land,
  temperature
• Living components of an ecosystem are called
  biotic factors.
• Examples all living organisms plants,
  animals, protists, bacteria, etc.

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Describing Biotic Factors

• There are many ways to describe living things.
  Be sure you are familiar with the following
  terms
• Producer
• Consumer
• Herbivore
• Carnivore
• Autotroph
• Heterotroph

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Interactions of Biotic Factors

• One example of interactions of biotic factors is
  predation. An organism that consumes others is
  called a predator and the organism that it
  consumes is called its prey.

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Interactions of Biotic Factors

• Another example of interactions of biotic factors
  is symbiosis which is a close, often long-term,
  interaction between two different biological
  species. This includes
• Mutualism both organisms benefit
• Commensalism one benefits and the other derives
  neither benefit nor harm
• Parasitism one benefits at the expense of the
  other.

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Biodiversity refers to the number and variety
of species in a given area and it is always
changing! The number of known species on Earth,
for instance, is about 1.6 million, most of which
are insects. (This differs from the actual
number of species on Earth, which may be closer
to 13 million!)
Biodiversity
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Biodiversity Sustainability

• The greater the biodiversity (both in different
  types of species and species numbers), the more
  sustainable the ecosystem.

Diverse, thus Sustainable
NOT Diverse, thus Difficult to Sustain
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Biodiversity Sustainability

• Each species has a role or niche to play in its
  ecosystem so when an ecosystem changes, hopefully
  there will be some organisms that possess
  adaptations or genetic variations (from sexual
  reproduction) enabling their species, or at least
  some of their species, to survive. Otherwise,
  the ecosystem may be in jeopardy!

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Sexual vs. Asexual Reproduction

• Variety within a species is the result of sexual
  reproduction.
• Having species richness and species numbers is a
  good thing for sustainability.
• Asexual reproduction does NOT promote
  biodiversity.

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Example of Biodiversity

• Mt. St. Helens Gopher. When Mt. St. Helens
  volcano erupted in 1980, it devastated an entire
  mountain of life however, there was one mammal
  that survived. A small furry gopher species had
  tunneled underground and eventually found its way
  to the surface, after the lava cooled. Because
  this small gopher has adaptations such as fast
  burrowing claws, and did not require much food,
  it was able to survive. Hundreds of other
  gophers died in the devastation, but this
  particular type survived.

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Danger of Limited Biodiversity

• The tundra is a very fragile environment. It can
  only support a limited number of consumers
  because its cold climate limits the growing and
  reproduction cycles of plants (the producers)
  therefore, there is very LIMITED biodiversity.
  Should a disaster arise (like melting of
  glaciers, etc.), it could damage this fragile
  ecosystem forever!