What is Ecology?

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What is Ecology?
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The study of organisms and their environment
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Biotic vs. Abiotic
See if you know the difference between the two!
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Abiotic or Biotic?
Biotic
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Abiotic or Biotic?
Abiotic
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Abiotic or Biotic?
Abiotic
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Abiotic or Biotic?
Biotic
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Biotic Factors Review
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Biotic Factors

• Are the living things or their materials that
  directly or indirectly affect an organism In its
  environment.
• Some biotic factors include
• Parasitism
• disease
• predation

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Biotic Factors

• Producers
• Organisms that make their own food.
• Ex- Plants some bacteria

Consumers Organisms that eat (consume) other
organisms for energy (animals)
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Biotic Factors

• Decomposers Consumers that eat waste products
  for energy. Waste products are feces, urine,
  fallen leaves, dead animals. (Fungi, some
  bacteria)

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Scavengers

• Organism that eats other dead organisms

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Abiotic Factors

• Are those non-living physical and chemical
  factors which affect the ability of organisms to
  survive and reproduce
• Includes things such as
• sunlight
• temperature
• type of soil or rock
• water availability

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Feeding Relationships

• Autotrophs Organisms that make their own food
  (plants and some bacteria)

Heterotrophs Organisms that eat other organisms
(they cannot make their own food)
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Feeding Relationships
Herbivores eat plants (cows)
Carnivores eat meat (wolves)
Omnivores eat plants and meat (humans)
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Levels of Organization
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Review What are the Simplest Levels?

• Atom
• Molecule
• Organelle
• Cell
• Tissue
• Organ
• Organ
• System

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Which Level of Ecological Organization?Take this
quiz to see if you can tell the difference
between the two!
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Which Level?

• Organism An Individual with all characteristics
  of life

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Which Level of Organization?

• Population groups of organisms of the same
  species

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Which Level of Organization?

• Biological Community group of populations
  living together

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Which Level of Organization?

• Ecosystem the living and nonliving parts that
  are interacting together

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Which Level of Organization?

• BiosphereThe earth that supports life.

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What level of organization?
Organism
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What level of Organization?
Community
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What level of Organization?
Population
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Habitat Niche

• Habitat is where something lives
• Niche is an organisms total way of life (how it
  eats, competes with others)

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FYI- Niche

• Includes all its interactions with the biotic and
  abiotic parts of the environment
• Each type of organism occupies its own niche to
  avoid competition with other types of organisms
• Two species can share the same habitat but not
  the same niche

• Example Ants and bacteria both live in the dirt
  (habitat) but have different niches. Ants eat
  dead insects and bacteria eat dead leaves, dead
  logs, and animal waste. So ants and bacteria
  dont compete for resources.

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Survival Relationships

• Predator-prey predators are consumers that hunt
  and eat other organisms called prey.

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Survival Relationships

• Symbiosis relationship in which one species
  lives on, in, or near another species and affects
  its survival.
• 3 Types
• Mutualism
• Commensalisms
• Parasitism

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Mutualism

• type of symbiosis in which both species benefit.
• Ex. Clownfish living in the sea anemones. It
  provides protection for the fish, and attracts
  potential food for the anemones.

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Commensalism

• type of symbiosis in which one species benefits
  and the other species is neither harmed nor
  benefited
• Example Spanish moss grows on the branches of
  trees. The moss gets a habitat and the tree gets
  nothing.

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Parasitism

• one species benefits and the other species is
  harmed.
• Parasite organism that harms but does not
  usually kill another organism
• Host organism that is harmed by a parasite
• Ex. Ticks feed on dogs, people, etc. The ticks
  get food (blood) and the hosts lose blood and can
  be infected with disease.

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Abiotic Factors- Non-living parts of the
environment.
Ecology- Study of interactions between organisms
and their environment.
Consumer-organisms eat others for energy
heterotrophs
Producer- Uses the sun to make food autotroph
Scavenger-eats dead organisms
Decomposer- break down dead organisms and cause
decay
1. Organism- individual with all characteristics
of life.
Biotic Factors- All the living parts of the
environment
2. Populations- groups of organisms of the same
species.
The 5 Levels of Ecological Organization
3. Community- group of populations living
together.
4. Ecosystem- living nonliving parts interact
together.
5. Biosphere- part of the earth that supports
life
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End of Day One Notes
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Trophic levels and food chains

• Trophic level A feeding level in an ecosystem.

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Trophic Levels
1st trophic level producers (make their own food)
Eaten by
2nd trophic level primary consumer (eats plants)
Bacteria
3rd trophic level secondary consumer (small
carnivore)
4th trophic level tertiary consumer (large
carnivore)
Last trophic level decomposer (eats dead
animals)
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Energy Pyramid

• Every time an organism eats, it obtains energy
  from its food.
• So energy is transferred from the 1st trophic
  level to the 2nd trophic level to the 3rd trophic
  level and so on.
• Some of this energy is lost along the way during
  an organisms metabolism and as heat.
• This energy can be measured in kilocalories
  (kcal).

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Energy Pyramid

• Picture that shows how much energy is transferred
  among the different trophic levels in a food
  chain energy is lost as you move up the pyramid.
• Food chain lineup of organisms that shows who
  eats who.
• Shows how matter and energy move through an
  ecosystem.

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Food Webs

• A food web is a network of connected food
  chains.More realistic than a food chain
  because most organisms feed on more than one
  species for food.

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Trophic Level
Energy Available
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Some energy is lost as heat and the rest is
consumed or excreted as waste.
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Practice with Food Chains Food Webs
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Identify the food chains inside the food web.
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End of Day 2 Notes
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Cycles in Nature

• There is only a limited amount of resources
  (water, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon) on the earth.
• In order to keep these resources available to
  organisms, they must be recycled after they are
  used.
• Cycle a process that recycles a resource so
  that you end up with what you started with.

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Nitrogen Cycle
1. Nitrogen fixation Bacteria in the ground
change nitrogen from the atmosphere (N2) to
different nitrogen compounds
2. These bacteria live in plants and transfer the
nitrogen compounds to the plants
5. Denitrification Bacteria change the nitrogen
compounds back to N2 and release it to the
atmosphere
4. Bacteria eat the dead animals and animal waste
and take in the nitrogen compounds
3. Animals eat the plants and take in the
nitrogen compounds
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Nitrogen Cycle
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Water Cycle
3. Transpiration Plants give off water to the
atmosphere
2. Seepage Water seeps into the ground and
plants use it
1. Precipitation Rain and snow fall from the
atmosphere to the earth
3. Evaporation of water from the bodies of water
back into the atmosphere
2. Runoff Extra water runs off the land to
lower-lying bodies of water
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Water Cycle
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Carbon Cycle
1. Carbon dioxide (CO2) and oxygen (O2) are
found in the atmosphere
2. Plants use CO2 to make their own food
(photosynthesis)
2. Animals and plants use the O2 to make energy
(respiration)
3. During respiration, animals and plants
release CO2 back into the atomosphere
3. During photosynthesis, plants release O2 back
into the atomosphere
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Carbon Cycle
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PopulationSize
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Populations

• What is a population?
• What are some factors that can contribute to the
  size of a population?

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Organism Interactions Limit Population Size

• Organisms depend on each other for
• So what happens when these factors
  change?

Protection
Food
Reproduction
Shelter
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Organism Interactions Limit Population Size

• Predation
• What could happen if a predator is introduced to
  a population and there are no organisms to eat
  it?

Unchecked for many years, the snakes caused the
extinction of nearly every native bird species on
the Pacific island of Guam
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Organism Interactions Limit Population Size

• 2. Competition
• - What can happen if resources become limited?

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Organism Interactions Limit Population Size

• 3. Crowding Stress
• As pop. Increase in size and start straining
  their resources, they may become stressed. What
  are some examples of stress symptoms?
• Aggression
• Decrease in parental care
• Decreased fertility
• Decreased resistance to disease

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How do you determine population size?

• Growth rateamount that a populations size
  changes over time
• Birth ratenumber of births occurring during a
  period of time (ADD)
• -- Death rate (or mortality rate)number of
  deaths in a period of time (SUBTRACTS)

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How do you determine population size?

• Birth rate death rate growth rate
• - Positive number means the pop. is growing
• - Negative number means the pop. is shrinking

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Human population size

• Other things that affect a populations numbers
• Life expectancyhow long on average an individual
  is expected to live
• US men 72 yrs, US women 79 yrs
• Immigrationindividuals moving into a population
  (ADDS)
• Emigrationindividuals moving out of a population
  (SUBTRACTS)

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What can affect population size?

• When you figure out the number of individuals
  living in a certain area, this is called the
  population density.
• There are two limiting factors (biotic and
  abiotic) that can affect the pop. density
• Limiting factorany biotic or abiotic factor that
  restrains the growth of a population

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What are limiting factors?

• Density-independent factorsfactors that affect
  the population regardless of the populations
  size
• Ex fires, climate
• Density-dependent factorsfactors whose effects
  on the population depend on the populations size
• Ex. food shortages, disease

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Density- dependent or Density- independent? Take
the following quiz to find out!
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• Predation
• Density-dependent
• Volcanic eruption
• Density-independent
• Chemical pesticides
• Density-independent

• Parasitism
• Density-dependent
• Forest fire
• Density-independent
• Migration
• Density-dependent

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Communities
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FYI How are communities formed?

• Communities are made of several populations
  living together
• Think back to population size. What are some
  limiting factors that can affect a community?

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FYI Forming Communities

• What would happen if people stopped cutting the
  grass in their yards?
• 1. The grass would get taller weeds would
  grow
• 2. Later, bushes would grow trees would appear,
  and different animals would enter the area
• 3. After 30 years, it would eventually become a
  forestBUT WHY?

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Forming Communities

• Successionorderly, natural changes and
  species replacements that take place in the
  communities of an ecosystem

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Communitites

• Primary successiondevelopment of a community in
  an area that did not previously exist
• Ex new volcanic island, bare rock, sand dune
• Happens slowly

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Communities

• Pioneer speciesusually small, fast growing, and
  fast reproducing organisms that are first to
  colonize land after a disturbance
• Example of primary succession lichens

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Communities

• Secondary successionsequential replacement of
  species that follows a disruption of an existing
  community
• Example of secondary succession grasses, weeds

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Communities

• Climax communitystable end point of a community
  after succession
• takes place

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End of Day 3 Notes