Download Ecology Ecology Ecology

Ecology
Ecology
Biosphere
Ecosystem
Florida coast
• Ecology: The scientific
study of the interactions
of organisms with their
environments
Community
All organisms on
the Florida coast
SJCHS
Population
Group of brown
pelicans
Organism
Brown pelican
Ecology
• Biotic: All organisms (living components) in an area
•Abiotic: Nonliving components in an area
• Temperature, forms of energy, water, nutrients, light
• Climate: Weather in an area
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Population
Population: A group of individuals of a single species that occupy the
same general area
Population
• Why study?
•Determine current size of population
• Track changes of population size, predict changes in population
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Population Density
• Population Density can be used to estimate total numbers of population
in an area
Dispersion Patterns
• Uniform- mainly predatory species
• Random- Rare
Dispersion Patterns
• Dispersion Patter: How populations are spaced within a given area
• Determine behavior, social interactions
• Clumped- Most common
Capture Recapture
• Capture/Recapture or Mark and Recapture Method: Way to estimate
population size without doing a direct census
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Keystone Species
Keystone Species
• A species whose impact on a
community is much larger than
its abundance indicates
Keystone Species
How to determine a
keystone species
• Manually remove
species
• Natural disease
• Loss results in loss of
diversity
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Invasive Species
Invasive Species
• A non-native species to a
community that has been
introduced by humans that
causes environmental and
economic damages
Ecosystem
Ecosystem: An assembly of all populations of organisms and abiotic features
living close enough to interact
Ecosystem
• Study of ecosystems
• Energy Flow
• Chemical Cycling
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Energy
• Energy flow
• Enters: Sunlight
• Lost: Heat
• Categories of organisms
• Producers
• Consumers
• Trophic levels:
hierarchy of
consumers
• Decomposers
Energy
• Humans are consumers
• Meat is a environmental and economic luxury
Energy
• Food Chain: Simplistic view of
flow of energy
• Food Web: Complex but more
realistic view of flow of energy
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Chemicals
• Chemical Cycling
• Chemicals are recycled in ecosystem; no external source
Chemicals
1.
2.
3.
4.
Producers use chemicals
Consumers feed on
producers
Producers, consumers
create wastes or die
Decomposers break down
organic molecules to
chemicals, replenish
abiotic reservoir
Disturbances
Disturbances
• Natural disasters or
human activity that
damage or alter a
community
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Disturbances
Advantages of Disturbances
• More resources
• Increase diversity
Succession
Primary Succession: Rebuilding community in a virtually lifeless
area with no soil (volcanoes, retreating glaciers)
• Can take hundreds or thousands of years
Disturbances
Disadvantages
• Alter amount of resources
• Loss of diversity
Succession
Secondary Succession: Rebuilding community begins in a virtually
lifeless area with the soil intact (humans, floods, fires)
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