Ecology

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Ecology
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Ecology

• Ecology is the scientific study of the
  interactions among organisms and between
  organisms and their environments.

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Habitats

• The place where an organism lives and that
  provides the things the organism needs is called
  its habitat!
• Food, water, and shelter.
• Biotic Factors The living parts of an
  ecosystem.
• Animals, plants, fungi, bacteria.
• Abiotic Factors The nonliving parts of an
  ecosystem.
• Water, Sunlight, Oxygen, Temperature, and soil.

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Organism

• The smallest unit of ecological study.
• Wildebeest

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Populations

• A population is a group of individual organisms
  of the same species living in a particular area.
  
• Herd of Wildebeest

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Exponential Growth

• Occurs when the population multiplies by a
  constant factor at constant time intervals.

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Limiting Factors

• A factor that restricts the growth of a
  population.
• Space
• Food availability
• Disease

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Community

• All of the organisms inhabiting a particular area
  make up a community.

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Ecosystem and Biosphere

• An ecosystem includes the abiotic and biotic
  factors in an area.
• The biosphere is the sum of all Earths
  ecosystems.

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How do organisms get energy?

• Every organism requires energy to carry out life
  processes such as growing, moving, and
  reproducing.
• Producers (autotroph) synthesize their own food
  through the process of photosynthesis.
• Consumers (heterotrophs) obtain their energy by
  eating other organisms.
• Decomposers -

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Types of Consumers

• Herbivore eats plants.
• Omnivore eats plants and animals.
• Carnivore eats animals.

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Food Chains

• The pathway of energy transfer form one organism
  to another is called a food chain.
• What would happen if one organism is overhunted
  and removed from the food chain?
• What is the source of all energy?

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Food Web

• A pattern of feeding represented by
  interconnected and branching food
• chains is called a food web.

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Energy Pyramid

• Emphasizes the energy loss from one organism to
  the next in a food chain. Only 10 is passed on
  to the next level, the rest is lost to the
  ecosystem in the form of heat.

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Types of Relationships among species!

• Predation an interaction in which one organism
  eats another. There are two individuals that
  participate.
• Predator and Prey
• Fox is a predator and the rabbit is the prey.

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Symbiotic Relationships

• A symbiotic relationship is a close interaction
  between species in which one of the species lives
  in or on the other.
• Parasitism one benefits and the other is
  harmed.
• Mutualism both species benefit
• Commensalism one benefits and the other is
  neither helped or harmed

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Ecological Succession

• The process of community change is called
  ecological succession.
• What would happen if you left the field behind
  Heritage uncut for a couple of years?

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Primary Succession

• When a community arises in a lifeless area that
  has no soil.
• Pioneer species are the first to colonize barren
  rock.
• Climax community takes hold several hundred or
  thousand years later. The forest has grown to
  its full capacity.

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Secondary Succession

• When a disturbance damages an existing community
  but leaves the soil intact, the change that
  follows is called secondary succession.
• Fires
• Land cleared for farming, then abandoned.

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The Carbon and Oxygen Cycle

• Carbon starts its cycle in the atmosphere as
  Carbon Dioxide.
• Plants take in the carbon dioxide and make
  organic compounds known as glucose.
• That glucose gets passed on to consumers through
  the food chain.
• They then release carbon dioxide back into the
  atmosphere through the process of cellular
  respiration.

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Human Activities can alter ecosystems!
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Population Growth

• As the human population continues to grow, the
  environment will be negatively impacted by the
  following.
• Habitat destruction
• Deforestation
• Air Pollution
• Acid Rain
• Water pollution
• Global Warming
• Introduced Species
• Reduced Biodiversity
• Overexploitation

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Deforestation

• The clearing of forest for agriculture, lumber,
  and other uses also affects the carbon cycle by
  eliminating plants that absorb CO2 for
  photosynthesis.

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Alternatives to Clear cutting

• Dont cut down every single tree!!!!!!
• Selective Cutting

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Greenhouse Effect

• They process by which atmospheric gases trap
  heat.
• Greenhouses trap heat.

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Global Warming

• Effects of Global warming
• Rising sea levels
• Large effects on weather
• Loss of Species

• The overall rise in Earths average temperature.
• Caused by increasing carbon levels in the
  atmosphere.
• What causes increased carbon levels in the
  atmosphere?
• Deforestation
• Burning of Fossil Fuels

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Acid Rain

• Precipitation that carries acid to the Earths
  surface.
• Smokestacks and automobile exhaust pipes release
  nitrogen and sulfur compounds into the
  atmosphere. They then combine with water and
  form acid rain.
• Can lower pH of soil and aquatic ecosystems
  causing species to become extinct.

• Acid Rain

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Water and Air Pollution

• Burning Fossil Fuels Releases chemicals into
  the atmosphere.
• Fertilizers end up in water supplies.

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Introduced Species

• Starlings and house sparrows are introduced
  species from Europe. They competed with the
  bluebird population drastically reducing its
  population.

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Snakeheads

• Snakeheads are very aggressive and are
  outcompeting all native fish populations.
  Examples include Bass, Pickerel,

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Overexploitation

• The practice of overhunting.
• Elephants were hunted for their tusks

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What can Humans do to reduce our negative impact
on the environment?

• Selective cutting
• Make our homes more energy efficient
• Use cars get higher gas mileage
• Tougher regulations