Ch. 3

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Ch. 3 4Ecology Notes
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I. What is Ecology?

• A. Ecology study of interactions between
  organisms and their environment

Everything is connected to everything else
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I. What is Ecology?

• 1. Out of ALL of natures houses, the largest
  one is the biosphere.
• a. Biosphere all the portions of Earth where
  life exists (including land, water, and
  air/atmosphere)
• 2. The study of ecology ranges from studying an
  individual organism up until the entire
  biosphere.

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I. What is Ecology?

• B. Lets break it down . . .
• 1. Organism any individual living thing
• a. Species organisms that breed and
  produce fertile offspring

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I. What is Ecology?

• b. Habitat where an organism lives
• Example A zebra lives in the African
  Savanna.
• c. Niche an organisms role in the
  environment
• Example Zebras eat grass.

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I. What is Ecology?

• 2. Population group of same species living
  in the same area
• a. Example Elephants in the Savanna.

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I. What is Ecology?

• 3. Community populations of different
  species living in the same area
• a. Example Elephants, lions, and zebras in
  the Savanna.

• Community

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I. What is Ecology?

• 4. Ecosystem all the biotic (living) and
  abiotic (nonliving) parts of an environment
• a. Example Soil, water, air, rock, lions,
  zebras in the Savanna.

• Ecosystem

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I. What is Ecology?

• 5. Biome group of ecosystems that have the
  same climate and dominant vegetation
• a. Example Savanna

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I. What is Ecology?

• b. What major biomes are found throughout
  the world?

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Rainforest

• high biodiversity

• lots of rain, lots of sunlight, always warm
• many plants animals

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Savanna

• mid biodiversity

• dry season/wet season, always warm
• frequent fires in dry season
• many herbivores

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Desert

• low biodiversity

• very dry, hot in day cold at night
• very few plants only small animalsreptiles,
  insects, rodents, birds

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Temperate Grassland (Midwest U.S.)

• mid biodiversity

• dry season/wet season, cold winters/hot summers
• frequent fires in dry season
• many herbivores

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Temperate Deciduous Forest

• high biodiversity

• 4 seasons warm summer with rains, cold winter
  with snow
• deciduous trees, many mammals, insects, birds,
  etc.

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Coniferous Forest (Taiga)

• mid biodiversity

• northern forest, drier, cooler
• evergreens, mammals, birds, insects, etc.

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Tundra

• low biodiversity

• cold year round, dry, permafrost
• only lichens mosses mostly migrating animals

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II. How does an ecosystem work?

• A. For life to continue within the ecosystem,
  three things must take place.
• 1. The sun is the main source of energy for all
  life on Earth.
• 2. The cycling of matter and
• nutrients.
• 3. Gravity helps to hold
• everything in place, including the atmosphere
  and helps to
• move nutrients through their
• cycles.

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II. How does an ecosystem work?

• B. All things in an ecosystem can be classified
  as biotic or abiotic.
• 1. Biotic anything living (or once living)
• Example
• 2. Abiotic anything nonliving (never alive)
• Example

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II. How does an ecosystem work?

• C. Classification of Organisms
• 1. Producers/Autotrophs organisms who make
  their own food, usually through photosynthesis
• a. Example Plants, algae, some bacteria

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II. How does an ecosystem work?

• b. Chemosynthesis method used by bacteria
  to create food in the absence of light using
  hydrogen sulfide gas
• Example Bacteria that live in deep sea
  vents.

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II. How does an ecosystem work?

• 2. Consumers/Heterotrophs organisms who
  cannot make their own food, and must consume
  food to survive
• a. Herbivores - feed on plants/producers
• - Also called
• primary
• consumers.
• - Example

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II. How does an ecosystem work?

• b. Carnivores feed on other
  animals/consumers
• - Secondary Consumers feed nly
  on primary consumers
• - Example
• - Tertiary Consumers feed
  only on secondary consumers
• - Example

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II. How does an ecosystem work?

• c. Omnivores feed on both producers and
  consumers
• - Example Raccoons, bears, rats

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II. How does an ecosystem work?

• d. Detrivore Consumers feed only on
  detritus
• - Detritus parts of dead organisms, wastes
  of organisms
• - Example Earthworms, crabs, ants

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II. How does an ecosystem work?

• e. Decomposers break down organic matter so
  that it can be recycled
• - Example Bacteria, Fungi

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III. How does energy move through ecosystems??

• A. Remember, energy can only flow in one
  direction.
• 1. Energy flows from sun ? producers ?
  consumers.

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III. How does energy move through ecosystems??

• 2. Methods to examine energy flow through an
  ecosystem
• a. Food Chain a series of steps where
  organisms transfer energy by eating and being
  eaten shows one feeding relationship
• - Example

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III. How does energy move through ecosystems??

• b. Food Web multiple linked food chains
  demonstrating the complex interactions in a
  community shows many feeding relationships
• - Example

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III. How does energy move through ecosystems??
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III. How does energy move through ecosystems??

• c. Each step in a food chain or food web is
  called a trophic level.
• - Producers 1st trophic level
• - Consumers 2nd, 3rd, 4th trophic levels

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III. How does energy move through ecosystems??

• d. Trophic levels
• - Each consumer depends upon the trophic level
  below it for energy!
• - Only 10 of the energy is transferred from
  level to level.
• - The other 90 is used by the organism for
  metabolism, respiration, movement,
  reproduction, growth, and given off as body
  heat.

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III. How does energy move through ecosystems??

• secondary consumers
• (carnivores)

• loss of energy

• sun

• loss of energy

• primary consumers
• (herbivores)

• loss of energy

• producers (plants)

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III. How does energy move through ecosystems??

• e. Ecological Pyramids illustrate the
  relative amounts of energy or matter contained
  within each trophic level

• Numbers

• 1

• 100

• 100,000

• 1,000,000,000

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III. How does energy move through ecosystems??

• - Energy Pyramid illustrates the amount of
  energy usually in kCals or Joules (J),
  available

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III. How does energy move through ecosystems??

• - Biomass Pyramid illustrates the total
  amount of living tissue in a trophic level,
  usually in g/unit area

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III. How does energy move through ecosystems??

• - Numbers Pyramid illustrates the actual
  number of individual organisms in each
  trophic level

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III. How does energy move through ecosystems??
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IV. Community Interactions

• IV. Community Interactions
• A. Symbiosis relationship in which two species
  live closely together
• 1. Mutualism a relationship where both
  species benefit
• a. Example Flowers depend on bees to pollinate
  them.
• - Flowers ? Reproduce
• - Bees ? Get food
• b. Example Birds on back of buffalo.
• - Birds ? Food
• - Buffalo ? Get cleaned/protections from
  parasites

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IV. Community Interactions

• 2. Commensalism a relationship where one
  species benefits and the other is unaffected
• a. Example Barnacles attaching to a whale.
• - Barnacle ? Filters water to get food
• - Whale ? Unaffected
• b. Example Orchids growing up trees in
  Rainforest.
• - Orchids ? More sunlight
• - Tree ? Unaffected

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IV. Community Interactions

• 3. Parasitism a relationship where one
  species benefits and the other is harmed
• a. Example Tick (parasite) on a deer (host).
• b. Example Tapeworms (parasite) in animal
  intestines (host).

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IV. Community Interactions

• B. Other interactions
• 1. Competition Organisms attempt to use a
  resource at the same time in the same place

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IV. Community Interactions

• 2. Predation one organism (predator) captures
  and kills another organism (prey)
• a. Example Lion hunts and kills wildebeest.

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V. How is matter cycled?

• A. Remember, there is only one way energy can
  flow through an ecosystem, but matter must be
  recycled throughout the ecosystem.
• 1. Energy is moved through parts of an
  ecosystem through biogeochemical cycles.
• a. Example Water, Sulfur, Phosphorous,
  Carbon,
• Nitrogen Cycles

• decomposers

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V. How is matter cycled?

• B. Nutrients molecules that an organism needs
  to sustain life
• 1. Used to build tissues and carry out
  metabolism.
• a. Example CHONPS

• decomposers

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V. How is matter cycled?

• C. Important Cycles
• 1. Hydrologic Cycle
• a. Importance Every living thing requires
  water.

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V. How is matter cycled?

• b. Key Processes
• - Evaporation liquid ? gas
• - Transpiration evaporation from plant
  leaves
• - Condensation gas ? liquid

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V. How is matter cycled?

• - Precipitation rain, sleet, snow, hail
• - Runoff water moving downhill into
  streams/rivers
• - Infiltration water soaking into the soil

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• Condensation

• Precipitation

• Transpiration

• Evaporation

• Runoff

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V. How is matter cycled?

• 2. Carbon Cycle
• a. Importance
• - Carbon is used in making living tissues
  and animal skeletons.

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V. How is matter cycled?

• - Carbon regulates temperature in the
  atmosphere (carbon dioxide).
• - Plants ? Photosynthesis ? pass along
  glucose in food webs.

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V. How is matter cycled?

• b. Key Processes
• - Photosynthesis how autotrophs produce
  glucose (food) while removing carbon dioxide
  from the air
• - CO2 H2O Light ? C6H12O6 O2
• - Cellular Respiration how all organisms
  break down food to get ATP energy and
  release carbon dioxide in the air
• - C6H12O6 O2 ? CO2 H2O ATP

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V. How is matter cycled?

• - Decomposition bacteria and fungi break
  down dead organisms and release their
  nutrients in the soil and carbon dioxide in
  the air
• - Creates fossil fuels with extreme
  pressure
• - Combustion burning of fossil fuels
  (coal, oil, natural gas) and trees releases
  carbon dioxide into the air this can lead
  to global warming

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• CO2

• Burning FF

• PS

• Burning plants

• CR by plants/animals

• Fossil Fuel formation

• Decomposition

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V. How is matter cycled?

• 3. Nitrogen Cycle
• a. 78 of the atmosphere is nitrogen.
  However, this is mostly not usable by
  animals and plants.

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V. How is matter cycled?

• b. Importance
• - Plants and animals could not live without
  nitrogen.
• - Nitrogen makes up the cell parts of living
  things, as well as amino acids, proteins, and
  DNA.
• - Nitrogen is needed to make chlorophyll in
  plants, which is needed for plants to go
  through photosynthesis.

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V. How is matter cycled?

• c. Key Processes
• - Fixation Bacteria changes nitrogen into
  ammonia.

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V. How is matter cycled?

• - Nitrification Ammonia changes into
  nitrates by bacteria. Nitrates are what
  plants can absorb.

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V. How is matter cycled?

• - Assimilation Plants absorb nitrates from
  soil. Nitrogen gets used in amino acids,
  nucleic acids, and chlorophyll.

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V. How is matter cycled?

• - Ammonification When a plant/animal dies,
  decomposers break nitrogen down into ammonia,
  so nitrogen can re-enter the cycle.

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V. How is matter cycled?

• - Denitrification Bacteria transfer any
  extra nitrogen in the soil back out into the
  air.