Download What is ecology?

What is
Ecology?
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Organisms
and Their
Environment
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What is Ecology??
• The study of interactions that
take place between organisms
and their environment.
• It explains how living
organisms affect each other
and the world they live in.
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Habitat & Niche
• Habitat is the
place a plant or
animal lives
• Niche is an
organism’s total
way of life
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The Nonliving Environment
• Abiotic factors- the
nonliving parts of an
organism’s environment.
• Examples include air
currents, temperature,
moisture, light, and soil.
• Abiotic factors affect an
organism’s life.
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The Living Environment
• Biotic factors- all the
living organisms that
inhabit an environment.
• All organisms depend on
others directly or
indirectly for food,
shelter, reproduction, or
protection.
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Abiotic or Biotic?
Biotic
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Abiotic or Biotic?
Abiotic
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Abiotic or Biotic?
Abiotic
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Abiotic or Biotic?
Biotic
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Levels of
Organization
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What are the Simplest Levels?
• Atom
• Molecule
• Organelle
• Cell
• Tissue
• Organ
• System
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Levels of Organization
• Ecologists have organized the
interactions an organism takes
part in into different levels
according to complexity.
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1st Level of Organization
• Organism:
An individual
living thing that
is made of cells,
uses energy,
reproduces,
responds, grows,
and develops
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2nd Level of Organization
• Population:
A group of
organisms, all
of the same
species, which
interbreed and
live in the
same place at
the same time.
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3rd Level of Organization
• Biological
Community:
All the
populations of
different
species that
live in the same
place at the
same time.
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4th Level of Organization
• Ecosystem:
Populations of plants
and animals that
interact with each
other in a given
area with the
abiotic components
of that area.
(terrestrial or
aquatic)
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5th Level of Organization
• Biosphere:
The
portion of
Earth that
supports
life.
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The Biosphere
• Life is found in air, on
land, and in fresh and salt
water.
• The BIOSPHERE is the
portion of Earth that
supports living things.
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What level of organization?
Organism
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What level of Organization?
Community
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What level of Organization?
Population
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ECOLOGY
The study of living organisms in the
natural environment
How they interact with one another
How the interact with their nonliving
environment
© 2008 Paul Billiet ODWS
Ecosystem
Community + Abiotic environment,
interacting
© 2008 Paul Billiet ODWS
Community
All the populations of the different species living and
inter-acting in the same ecosystem
7-spotted lady
bird
(Adephagia
septempunctata)
Bean aphids
(Aphis fabae)
Red ant
(Myrmica rubra)
and
Broom plant
(Cytisus
scoparius)
© 2008 Paul Billiet ODWS
Species
A group of organisms that can breed to
produce fully fertile offspring
© 2008 Paul Billiet ODWS
Great White Pelican Pelecanus onocrotalus
Population
A group of organism of
the same species which
live in the same habitat
at the same time where
they can freely
interbreed
The black-veined white butterfly
(Aporia crataegi) mating
© 2008 Paul Billiet ODWS
Biodiversity
The total number of
different species in an
ecosystem and their
relative abundance
© 2008 Paul Billiet ODWS
Worcester City Museums
Habitat
The characteristics of the type of environment
where an organism normally lives.
(e.g. a stoney stream, a deciduous temperate
woodland, Bavarian beer mats)
© 2008 Paul Billiet ODWS
Energy and organisms
Autotrophs
Organisms which can synthesise their own
complex, energy rich, organic molecules from
simple inorganic molecules (e.g. green plants
synthesis sugars from CO2 and H2O)
© 2008 Paul Billiet ODWS
Heterotrophs
Organisms who must obtain complex,
energy rich, organic compounds form the
bodies of other organisms (dead or alive)
© 2008 Paul Billiet ODWS
Detritivores
Heterotrophic organisms who ingest dead
organic matter. (e.g. earthworms,
woodlice, millipedes)
Earth worm
(Lumbricus terrestris)
© 2008 Paul Billiet ODWS
Saprotrophs
Heterotrophic organisms who secrete digestive
enzymes onto dead organism matter and absorb
the digested material. (e.g. fungi, bacteria)
Chanterelle
(Cantherellus
cibarius)
© 2008 Paul Billiet ODWS
Feeding relationships





Predators & prey
Herbivory
Parasite & host
Mutualism
Competition
Large blue
butterfly
(Maculinea arion)
© 2008 Paul Billiet ODWS
The place of an organism in its
environment
Niche
An organism’s habitat + role + tolerance
limits to all limiting factors
© 2008 Paul Billiet ODWS
THE COMPETITIVE
EXCLUSION PRINCIPLE
G.F. Gause (1934)
If two species, with the same niche, coexist
in the same ecosystem, then one will be
excluded from the community due to
intense competition
© 2008 Paul Billiet ODWS
Niche
The niche of a species consists of:
 Its role in the ecosystem (herbivore,
carnivore, producer etc)
 Its tolerance limits (e.g. soil pH, humidity)
 Its requirements for shelter, nesting sites
etc etc, all varying through time
© 2008 Paul Billiet ODWS