ECOLOGY

1
ECOLOGY

• Read the article Silent Spring with a partner.
  Make some notes on significant topics in your lab
  notebook as you go along.

2
Questions

• 1. What do you think the title of Carsons book,
  Silent Spring, represents?

3
Questions

• 1. What do you think the title of Carsons book,
  Silent Spring, represents?
• 2. Why do you think the American Medical
  Association, USDA, and chemical companies had
  such a strong reaction against the book?

4
Questions

• 1. What do you think the title of Carsons book,
  Silent Spring, represents?
• 2. Why do you think the American Medical
  Association, USDA, and chemical companies had
  such a strong reaction against the book?
• 3. Do you think that Carson would be pleased or
  not pleased with the progress we have made
  environmentally since she died in 1964? What
  would she say if she could see the world now?

5
Ecology

• Ecology is the study of the relationships between
  organisms and their abiotic (nonliving) and
  biotic (living) environment

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Ecosystem
Physical environment
Community
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Biological Complexity

• Living organisms can be studied at different
  levels of complexity.
• From least to most complex
• Individual
• Population
• Community
• Ecosystem
• Biome
• Biosphere

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The Biosphere

• The biosphere is the region within which all
  living things are found on Earth.

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Ecological Succession

• Ecological succession process by which
  communities in a particular area change over
  time.

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Early Successional Communities

• A succession proceeds in stages.
• Pioneer species are the first species in the new
  environment.

Pioneer community, Hawaii
Broad niches
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Climax Communities

• The end result of succession
• Complex structure, with a large number of species
  interactions.
• High species diversity.

Climax community, Hawaii
Large number of species interactions
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Primary Succession

• Primary succession no pre-existing community.
  Examples
• volcanic islands
• Retraction of glaciers

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Secondary Succession

• Secondary succession an existing community has
  been cleared by a disturbance.
• Examples tornados, forest fires.
• Because there is still soil present, the
  ecosystem recovery is faster than primary
  succession.

Forest fire
14
Succession Project

• Choose a real region to research following either
  primary or secondary succession.
• Create a succession map. Your map should
  include
• A timeline of succession (rate of succession)
• Species changes, including pioneer species
• Illustrations or pictures of stages of succession
• Reaching a climax community
• Abiotic changes