Download Unit Five Ecology and Conservation Biology

Unit Five
Ecology and Conservation Biology
Communities and Ecosystems
Species Interactions
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Competition – the interactions that occur between
various individuals while attempting to obtain the same
resource (food, water, mates etc.)
Two types:
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Intraspecific - occurs between individuals of the same species
Interspecific – occurs between individuals of different
species; less common of the two types
Species Interactions cont’d
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A “niche” is the species role in its habitat
There are two types:
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Fundamental niche – theoretical niche of species
Realized niche – actual niche of species
If a species has a very specific niche it is called a
specialist
ex: Limpkin
If a species has a very broad niche it is a generalist
ex: Black Bear
Species Interactions cont’d
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Symbiotic Relationships – a relationship
between two individuals of different
species
Species One
Mutualism
+
Parasitism
+
Commensalism
+
Predator/Prey
+
Competition -
Species Two
+
0
-
Ecological Communities
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Organisms must have energy to survive
Many species synthesize food to then break
down that food into energy through a process
called Photosynthesis
Those organisms that generate their own energy
are called plants = producers, autotrophs, and
flora
Ecological Communities cont’d
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Organisms that cannot “make” their own food
and hence must eat other living things to get
energy are called consumers, heterotrophs,
fauna, and animals
Those species that must consume others to get
energy are divided into categories based on what
they eat
Ecological Communities cont’d
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The four categories of consumers are as follows:
Herbivores – eat plants
 Carnivores – eat meat
 Omnivores – eat both plants and meat
 Decomposers – eat dead animal matter/animal
byproducts
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Ecological Communities cont’d
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The food consumers digest is converted into
energy which is used by all cells in their bodies
A food chain shows how energy moves through
an ecosystem; each stage in the hierarchy of the
chain is called a trophic level
Producers are always at the bottom of a food
chain/ they always anchor the other trophic
levels
Ecological Communities cont’d
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A food web shows all the possible feeding
relationships in an ecosystem, and it also shows
how energy moves through the system
Ecological Communities cont’d
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Keystone Species – a species in an ecosystem
that other species benefit from and/or depend
on for survival
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Ex: Gopher Tortoise
Ecological Communities cont’d
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Ecosystems develop through a process called
succession
Ecosystems are not static, but rather are
dynamic i.e. they are always changing
There are three stages of succession
1. Primary succession
 2. Secondary succession
 3. Climax community
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Ecological Communities cont’d
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Pioneer species such as lichens are required in
order for primary succession to occur, and
hence get the process of succession started
Ecological Communities cont’d
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Ecosystems are adversely affected by a variety
of outside forces
There are four main reasons for species and
ecosystem decline:
1. habitat destruction/habitat fragmentation
 2. pollution
 3. overexploitation
 4. exotic/non-native species
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Ecological Communities cont’d
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Habitat restoration and species reintroduction
programs are ways to mitigate the negative impacts
humans have on ecosystems and their inhabitants
Ex:
Everglades Restoration
Wolf reintroduction into
Yellowstone Nat’l Park
Earth’s Biomes
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A biome is a large area with similar vegetative
associations as the result of similar climatic
characteristics; many ecosystems are contained within
one biome
The two most important climatic characteristics that
determine the various biomes are temperature and
precipitation
Florida is a part of the temperate deciduous forest
biome (your book states something different…. But
remember the previous)
Biomes of the World