Introduction to Ecology

1
Introduction to Ecology

• Section 3-1 (pp. 63-64)
• Section 4-2 (pp. 90-91)

2
What is Ecology?

• Ecology is the study of the interactions between
  organisms and the living and nonliving components
  of their environment.

3
Levels of Organization

• Just like there is a hierarchy of organization
  among different organisms, there is a hierarchy
  within the environment as well

4
The Biosphere

• The biosphere includes everywhere life exists,
  including 3 main parts
• Land
• Water
• Air (atmosphere).
• The biosphere is a thin film of life covering an
  otherwise lifeless planet
• If the Earth were an apple, the biosphere would
  be the skin of the apple

5
Biomes Ecosystems

• A Biome is a grouping of related ecosystems with
  similar climates
• Ecosystems includes all of the organisms and the
  nonliving environment found in a particular place
• The environmental factors that interact in an
  ecosystem are divided into two classes
• Biotic factors
• The living components of the environment
• Abiotic factors
• The nonliving factors of the environment

Biotic and abiotic factors are dependent on each
other.
6
Communities, Populations, Organisms

• A community is a group of different populations
  that live together in a defined area.
• Such as in the example of the pond ecosystem, the
  community would be the fish, turtles, algae and
  bacteria
• A population includes groups of individuals that
  belong to the same species and live in the same
  area.
• An organism is an individual within a population

7
Ecology of Organisms

• A species survival in a given habitat is
  dependent on the environmental conditions and the
  availability of resources.
• Resources are the energy and materials that a
  species needs.
• Ex food, energy, nesting sites, water, sunlight

8
The Niche

• A niche is a species way of life. A niche is the
  role that the species plays in the environment
  that it lives in.
• Niche includes
• Range of conditions that the species can tolerate
• Methods by which the species can obtain the
  needed resources
• The number of offspring it has
• Time of reproduction
• All of the species other interactions with its
  environment

9
Realized vs. Fundamental Niche

• The fundamental niche is the range of conditions
  that a species can potentially tolerate and the
  range of resources it can potentially use.
• The realized niche of a species is the range of
  resource it actually uses.
• The fundamental niche will usually contain a
  broader set of conditions that the realized niche

10
Niche Differences

• A species niche can change within a single
  generation
• Ex caterpillar to butterfly
• Generalists are species with broad niches
• The species can tolerate a range of conditions
  and use a variety of resources
• Specialists are species that have narrow niches