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Ecosystems
Living Things in Ecosystems
Chapter 2
Case Study
• Borneo – 1955
– World Health Organization used DDT to kill
malaria-carrying mosquitoes
– Also killed wasps
– Wasps eat local caterpillars
– Caterpillars ate thatch roofs
– DDT infected roaches were eaten by geckos
– Gave the geckos nerve damage  slow
reflexes
–
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2636426/
Case Study
– Geckos eaten by house cats
– Cats ingested DDT and began to die
– Rats moved from forests to town
– Fleas live on rats
– The fleas carried the bacteria that cause the
plague
– Healthy cats had to be parachuted into
Borneo to deal with rat population
What is an Ecosystem?
• The dynamic and interrelating complex of
plant and animal communities and their
associated non-living environment
• Communities and their abiotic environment
• Examples?
• Have no distinct boundaries
– Ecotone
• Area where two ecosystems overlap
• Movement between ecosystems
– Examples?
What is an Ecosystem?
• Has both Biotic and Abiotic factors
– Biotic
• Living parts of an ecosystem
–Plants, animals, microorganisms
–Complex interactions between them
– Abiotic
• Non-living parts of an ecosystem
–Temperature, sunlight, humidity, water
supply, soil type, mineral nutrients
Organization
• Organism
– One individual living thing
• Animal or plant
• Species
– A group of organisms that are able to
reproduce together
• Individuals resemble one another
• Population
– Individuals of the same species living together
in a particular place at a given time
Organization
• Community
– A group of interacting populations
– All populations make up communities
– Land communities are dominated by plants
• Ecosystem
• Biosphere
– Areas of planet where life exists
– Composed of many ecosystems
Niche and Habitat
• Niche
– All of an organism’s relationships with its
environment, both living and non-living
• Its “profession”
• Reproductive habits
• Active time of day
• Habitat
– The actual place that an organism lives
• Its “address”
Niches by Location
Coastal Niches
How Species Interact
• Symbiosis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSmL2F1t81Q
• Predation
– One organism kills and eats another
• Predator
• Prey
• Tends to have little effect on prey
populations
–Predators eat whatever is abundant
How Species Interact
• Competition
– When species attempt to use the same limited
resource
• Animal or plant
• Competing species don’t necessarily have
to come in contact with one another
• Not always competing for food
How Species Interact
• Parasitism
– One organism benefits while the other is
harmed
• Parasite
–Lives on or in another organism (the
host) and feeds on it without
immediately killing it
–Tends to weaken the host
»Vulnerable to predators
Parasites
How Species Interact
• Mutualism
– A cooperative partnership
between two species
• Both benefit, neither is
harmed
• Commensalism
– One species benefits while the
other is neither helped or
harmed
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBR_w20LiQ
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkzUziLiiDM