Unit%208:%20Ecology

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Unit 8 Ecology

• Do Now
• What is ecology?
• Draw a food chain that includes ravens,
  squirrels, and oak trees (acorns).
• Now, turn your food chain into a food web by
  adding voles (a small mouse-like mammal) and
  red-tailed hawks.

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Earth at Night

• Drill This year (2007), a United Nations report
  completed by 2,000 scientists from over 100
  countries made the following statement
• changes in climate are now affecting physical
  and biological systems on every continent.
• How can this be proven scientifically?

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New Era of Earths History?
Ecology is the study of organisms and how
they interact with the environment in which they
exist. Humans are global organisms that are
having a serious effect on ecosystems around the
world.
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Humanitys Impact
The human population has grown EXTREMELY
large over past several hundred years. It only
makes sense that as The number of
people increases, so does the effect we have on
Earths environments.
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Arctic Marine Ecosystem
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Question break

• 1. List at least 3 of the abiotic processes or
  factors that affect this ecosystem.
• 2. Would you consider the phytoplankton a
  population or a community? Why?
• 3. Predict what might happen to the polar bear
  population if the fish population left the
  ecosystem to find colder water. This would be a
  disturbance to the ecosystem.

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Major Effects Humans Have Had

• 1 Changing the atmosphere

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Major Effects Humans Have Had

• 2 Changing weather patterns, and destroying
  ecosystems

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• WARNING THE PLANET YOU ARE LIVING ON IS
  EXPERIENCING MASS EXTINCTIONS

www.RedList.org
Species are becoming extinct at a rate faster now
than any time In the last 65,000,000 years, when
the dinosaurs died off.
Definition considered to be facing a very high
risk of extinction in the wild.
In 2006, 162 species of mammals are CRITICALLY
ENDANGERED. Redlist 2006
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4 Global Warming
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4 Global Warming
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Effects of Global Warming
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Ecology Example
Walrus Odobenus rosmarus
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The Abiotic parts
Global Warming is changing the environment of
the walrus by reducing the amount of arctic
sea ice it lives on.
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Measurement
Most of the Bering Sea is experiencing
rapid warming, and walrus, polar bear, and
seal populations are just a few of the
many species in decline or forced further north
to try to find food.
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Its Up to You.
Will your children inherit a world without
polar bears and many other species? Knowledge is
power, and fixing these problems will be
tough. What can you do?