Download Ecology

Environmental
Science – Unit 4
Part 1 Ecology
Opening Assignment
• What is biodiversity and why is it so important
to ecosystem stability?
Copy the questions below to answer with “The Threats of
Overfishing: Consequences at the Commercial Level” article
1. What is overfishing?
2. What are 2 impacts overfishing can have on our
oceans?
3. How has fishing changed from a sustainable
practice to one that threatens life in the ocean?
4. What is bycatch? Give an example of 3 organisms
that are considered bycatch.
5. What is bottom trawling and how does it affect
marine ecosystems?
6. Give 3 examples of specific marine organisms that
are at risk of extinction due to overfishing.
7. How is the process of nutrient recycling affected by
overfishing?
8. What is sustainable fishing?
Crash Course Ecology
• http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Crash
+Course+Ecology+Levels+of+Organization&For
m=VQFRVP#view=detail&mid=EDC041B998EB
81E76906EDC041B998EB81E76906
•\
• Opening Assignment:
• Explain in your own words what
the term “ecology” means.
• You can google the term if you
do not remember it from
biology.
Unit 4 Part 1 Ecology Review
• Student Learning Goals:
• Students will be able to
• Identify the roles of organisms in an ecosystem
and explain how energy is transferred within it.
• Describe the cause and effect process of biological
magnification.
• Explain how human activity can negatively effect
healthy ecosystems.
Notes 
What is Ecology?
Ecology- the study
of how organisms
interact with each
other and with their
environment
Notes 
Abiotic Factors
Abiotic factors- the nonliving parts of the environment.
• They include:
• Sunlight
• Water
• Temperature
• Wind
• Soil type
• The atmosphere
• The types and amounts of
abiotic factors that are available
in an ecosystem help determine
which organisms can live there.
Notes 
Biotic Factors
biotic factors- all the living things or
once-living things in an environment.
• Ex:
•
•
•
•
Animals
Plants
Bacteria
Fungi
Notes 
Organization In The
Environment
The biosphere
consists of all life on
Earth and all parts of
the Earth in which life
exists, including land,
water, and the
atmosphere.
Notes 
Biome — a geographic area that contain groups of
ecosystems with similar biotic and abiotic features.
• Terrestrial (land)
Biomes include:
• Forests
• Deserts
• Tundra
• Grasslands
• Aquatic Biomes include:
• Marine
• Freshwater (rivers & lakes)
• Estuaries (mix of fresh and salt water)
Notes 
Ecosystem—all the organisms that live in a place, together
with their physical environment(abiotic factors)
• The types and
amounts of abiotic
factors that are
available in an
ecosystem help
determine which
organisms can live
there
Notes 
• A species’ tolerance for environmental
conditions, then, helps determine its habitat—
the general place where an organism lives.
Notes 
Community—All the populations of species that
live in the same area and interact
Notes 
Population-a group of
individuals that belong to the
same species and live in the
same area
Notes 
Organism- any unicellular or multicellular form
exhibiting all of the characteristics of life, an individual
Made of many smaller
habitats
Let’s review . . . .
1. The study of the interaction between
organisms and their environment is called
____________.
2. A pod of dolphins is called a
_________________.
3. The Indian River Lagoon is considered an
_______________________.
4. A single individual horseshoe crab is called an
___________________.
5. ALL living things are part of the
_____________ of Earth.
Ecology - Energy, Producers, and
Consumers
• All Life on Earth needs
energy for cell processes.
• For most life on Earth,
sunlight is the ultimate
energy source.
• Organisms get energy by
using light or chemical
energy to make food or by
eating other organisms
Notes 
PRODUCERS
• Producers change the energy available in their
environment into food energy.
•
They make their own food (autotrophs)
• Plants, algae, and some microorganisms use a chemical
process called photosynthesis to change light energy
into chemical energy (Glucose)
•
This process adds oxygen to the atmosphere and removes carbon
dioxide.
Producers That Use Sunlight
phytoplankton
Plants &
Trees
Algal colony
cyanobacteria
Notes 
Life Without Light
• Biologists have discovered thriving
ecosystems around volcanic vents in total
darkness on the deep ocean floor.
• Deep-sea ecosystems depend on primary
producers that harness chemical energy
from inorganic molecules such as
hydrogen sulfide.
• The use of chemical energy to produce
carbohydrates is called chemosynthesis.
giant tube worms
live in symbiosis
with the
chemosynthetic
bacteria
Consumers
• Consumers- organisms that cannot make their own food and
get their energy from eating other organisms. (heterotrophs)
• Producers and Consumers use the chemical process of
Cellular Respiration to break down food in the presence of
oxygen to produce energy.
Notes 
Types of
Consumers
• Consumers are classified by
the ways in which they
acquire energy and nutrients.
• Herbivores-obtain energy
and nutrients by eating plant
leaves, roots, seeds, or fruits.
Notes 
Types of Consumers
Carnivores- kill and eat other consumers (animals)
Notes 
Types of Consumers
• Omnivores: use both plants and animals
as food to create energy
Notes 
Types of Consumers
• Decomposers -such as bacteria
and fungi, feed by chemically
breaking down organic matter.
• The decay caused by
decomposers is part of the
process that produces detritus—
small pieces of dead and decaying
plant and animal remains.
•
Decomposers that live on, and in,
detritus particles are called
Detrivores.
• They feed on detritus particles,
often chewing or grinding them into
smaller pieces. Ex: giant
earthworms
Population Ecology
• http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=cras
h%20course%20ecology&qs=n&form=QBVR&
pq=crash%20course%20ecology&sc=820&sp=1&sk=#view=detail&mid=E1060597F1EB6653
2CA5E1060597F1EB66532CA5
Opening Assignment
1. List the levels of organization of life
from organism to biosphere.
2. Look at the Everglades ecosystem
food web on the right and list the
following:
2 producers:______________________
2 primary consumers:______________
2 secondary consumers:____________
List 1 herbivore:___________________
List 2 carnivores:__________________
List 1 omnivore:___________________
Notes 
Energy Flow in Ecosystems
• Each time one organism eats another organism, a
transfer of energy occurs
• Food chain- models how energy flows in an
ecosystem through a linear feeding relationship.
Notes 
Food Webs
Food web- links all of
the food chains in an
ecosystem together.
• It shows many
feeding relationships
that are possible in
an ecosystem
An example of a food web
in the Everglades is shown.
Notes 
Trophic Levels and Energy Pyramids
Energy pyramids- show
the amount of food
energy (biomass)
available at each trophic
level
• Each time energy is
transferred from one
organism to another,
lost and less energy is
available at the next
trophic level.
Notes 
Biomass
Biomass is the total
amount of organic
matter available in a
trophic level.
Three hundred trout are
needed to support one
man for a year.
The trout, in turn, must
consume 90,000 frogs,
that must consume 27
million
grasshoppers that live
off of 1,000 tons of
grass.
-- G. Tyler Miller, Jr.,
American Chemist (1971)
Notes 
Trophic Levels and Energy Pyramids
• Each step in a food chain
or food web is called a
trophic level.
• Primary producers always
make up the first trophic
level.
• Various consumers
occupy every other level
Notes 
Trophic Levels and Energy
Pyramids
• Energy is lost:
 as heat
 through cellular respiration.
o this energy is used to carry out functions of living
things such as producing new cells, regulation of
body temperature, and moving around
Notes 
Trophic Levels and Energy
Pyramids
• The remaining 10% of the energy becomes part of the
organism’s body and is stored in its molecules.
• This 10% is available to the next trophic level when one
organism consumes another organism
Notes 
What is Biomagnification?
• Biological magnification is the increasing concentration of a
pollutant in organisms at higher levels because the
pollutants are ingested but not secreted.
• In the example the eagle eats the fish that have eaten the
insects that have been exposed. The fish will eat many
insects that may have been exposed and the eagle will eat
many fish that have eaten the insects. This will cause the
amount of toxins in the larger animals to be significantly
higher in percentage than the percentage in the smaller
ones.
Biomagnification in action
Notes 
Diversity and Stability
• The more diverse a food web (ecosystem) is
the more stable it is.
•
Notes 
Biodiversity and stability
• The more diverse a population is,
the less susceptible it is to risk of
extinction.
• For example: The fact that
there are three types of
warbler species enable the
population to not be as
affected if a natural event or
disease hits the population
because each sub-species has
a small genetic variation
(adaptation) that may enable
it to survive over the others.
(natural selection)
Notes 
Niche
A niche is the range of physical and biological
conditions in which a species lives and the way
the species obtains what it needs to survive and
reproduce.
Every species has its own range of tolerance, the
ability to survive and reproduce under a range of
environmental circumstances.
Resources and the Niche
• The term resource can refer to any necessity
of life, such as water, nutrients, light, food, or
space.
Notes 
Predator – Prey Relationships
• An interaction in which one animal (the
predator) captures and feeds on another
animal (the prey) is called predation.
Predators can affect the size of prey
populations in a community and determine the
places prey can live and feed.
Birds of prey, for example, can play an
important role in regulating the population sizes
of mice, voles, and other small mammals.
Competition
• When two organisms compete for limited
resources (food, water, light, space) and one
wins and the other loses it is called
competition.
Notes 
Symbiotic Relationships
• Biologists recognize three main
classes of symbiotic
relationships in nature:
mutualism, parasitism, and
commensalism.
• Any relationship in which two
species live closely together is
called symbiosis, which
means “living together.”
Notes 
3 Types of Symbiosis
• Mutualism: When both organisms benefit
+
Parasitism: when one benefits and the other is
harmed
+
Commensalism: When one organism benefits
and the other is not effected  + :/
Practice - Symbiotic relationships
The sea anemone’s sting has two functions: to
capture prey and to protect the anemone from
predators. Even so, certain fish manage to snack
on anemone tentacles.
The clownfish, however, is immune to anemone
stings. When threatened by a predator, clownfish
seek shelter by snuggling deep into an anemone’s
tentacles.
If an anemone-eating species tries to attack the
anemone, the clownfish dart out and chase away
the predators. What kind of relationship is this?
Practice - Symbiotic relationships
• Tapeworms live in the intestines of mammals,
where they absorb large amounts of their
hosts’ food.
• Fleas, ticks, lice, and the leech shown, live on
the bodies of mammals and feed on their
blood and skin.
• Both of these scenarios involve one organism
benefiting and the other being harmed. What
type of relationship is this?
Practice - Symbiotic relationships
• Barnacles often attach themselves to a whale’s
skin. They perform no known service to the
whale, nor do they harm it. Yet the barnacles
benefit from the constant movement of water—
that is full of food particles—past the swimming
whale.
• What type of relationship is this?
Notes 
Carrying Capacity
• Carrying capacity is the maximum number
of individuals of a particular species that a
particular environment can support.
• Once a population reaches the carrying
capacity of its environment, a variety of
factors act to stabilize it at that size.
Notes 
Limiting Factors
• A limiting factor is a
factor that controls
the growth of a
population.
• There are two types of
limiting factors that
control the growth of a
population – density
dependent factors and
density independent
factors.
Density-Dependent Limiting
Factors
• Density-dependent limiting factors operate
strongly only when population density—the
number of organisms per unit area—
reaches a certain level. These factors do
not affect small, scattered populations as
much.
• Density-dependent limiting factors include
competition, predation, herbivory, parasitism,
disease, and stress from overcrowding.
Density-Independent
Limiting Factors
• Density-independent limiting factors
affect all populations in similar ways,
regardless of population size and
density.
• Unusual weather such as hurricanes,
droughts, or floods, and natural
disasters such as wildfires, can act as
density-independent limiting factors.
Notes 
Limiting Factors Chart
Density Dependent
Density Independent
• The amount it affects a
population is dependent on
the size of the population.
• Affects all populations the
same way.
• Examples: competition,
predation, herbivory,
parasitism, disease, and
stress from overcrowding.
• Examples: Unusual weather
such as hurricanes,
droughts, or floods, and
natural disasters such as
wildfires.
Let’s review
• A symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits which
the other one is not affected is called
_____________________.
• ________________________ is the maximum number of
individuals of a particular species that a particular
environment can support.
• Where are primary consumers located on the trophic level
pyramid?
• How much energy is available from one trophic level to the
next?
One more . . .
• If producers
have 10,000kcal
of available
energy. How
much would
primary
consumers have
to use?
____________
• Tertiary
consumers?
• ____________
Opening Assignment
1. What is biomagnification?
Biomagnification Activity
• In this activity you will be simulating the
process of Biological Magnification in an
ecosystem. When a pollutant or toxin enters
the environment it affects all living things. It
especially affects the larger animals such as
panthers, eagles, alligators, and HUMANS!
• Problem question: Which animal in a food
chain has the most amount of pollution or
toxins in their system?
Hypothesis
• If toxins . . . .
#4 has already been done for you so you will use
the numbers below to fill in the chart under
“maximum amount of pieces each animal (cup)
can hold”
• Shrimp (small cup): 132
• Fish (medium cup): 298
• Eagle (large cup): 688
Ecology Vocabulary review Part 1
1.
An ________________________ is a single individual that is capable of performing all
of life processes.
2. A ____________________________ is a group of more than 2 types of species living
together in an area.
3. ____________________________ is the study of living things and how they interact
with their environment.
4. A ______________________ factor is living, like plants, animals, and bacteria.
5. A_________________________ is a smaller general area within a larger ecosystem.
6. A __________________________ is a large area with many smaller habitats within it.
7. A __________________________ factor is a nonliving part of an ecosystem like water,
soil, air.
8. A group of a single type of species living in the same area is called a
___________________________. (Example: you)
9. All the life on Earth is part of this system __________________________________.
10. A geographic area that is made of many ecosystems is called a
___________________________. (Example: Grasslands)
Ecology Vocabulary review Part 2
1. An organism that cannot make its own food and must consume other organisms is
called a __________________.
2. The total amount of organic matter available in a trophic level is called
_________________________.
3. The maximum number of organisms that an ecosystem can support is called
____________________________.
4. A factor that limits population growth and is based on the population size is called
a ______________________
5. ________________________________________________________________.
6. A factor that limits population growth but affects all populations in the same way
regardless of the size of the population is called a
___________________________________________________________________
_____.
7. An organism that can make its own food by changing energy in their environment
into chemical energy is called a ______________________.
8. Bacteria that survive by breaking down living organism are called
_________________________.
9. The increasing concentration of a pollutant in organisms at higher trophic levels is
called _____________________________________
Ecology Vocabulary review Part 3
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
A relationship where organisms live together __________________________________.
A feeding relationship where one organism hunts and eats another
________________________________.
A relationship where organisms compete for limited resources is called
______________________________.
A relationship between organisms where one benefits and the other is not affected is called
_______________________
A relationship between organisms where one benefits and the other is harmed is called
____________________________.
A relationship between organisms where both organisms benefit is called
_____________________________.
The range of physical and biological conditions in which a species lives and the way the
species obtains what it needs to survive and reproduce is a
_________________________________.
Organisms that can make their own food are called ____________________________.
Organisms that cannot make their own food and must get energy from eating other
organisms are called ___________________________
Biomagnification
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK
0LS6oySHc
Crash Course in Ecology
• Ecosystem Ecology:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6ubvEJ3
KGM&index=7&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtNdTKZkV_GiI
YXpV9w4WxbX
Opening Assignment
• Study for your Ecology vocabulary quiz today
• After the quiz we will be starting an
Endangered Species project
Opening Assignment
• A common area is any resource which is
shared by a group of people, cities, states, or
countries. Such things as the air we breathe
and the water we drink come from the
commons.
• List 2 common areas here at IRCHS. How are
these areas overused by some leaving less for
others?
Tragedy of the Commons
Activity
• Easter Island Overview
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v40kCIpg
EWw