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Transcript
Ecosystem Organization Chapters 18, 19, and 20 Bio 100 Tri-County Tech. College Pendleton, S. C. 29670 Ecology • The study of the interactions that living things have with each other and with the environment around them • Biotic components are “living” • Abiotic components are “nonliving” Levels of Classification • Ecology is studied by first looking at populations; – – – – Then communities Then ecosystems Then biomes Then the biosphere Hierarchy of Interactions • Organism (adaptations that enable individual organisms to meet challenges posed by their abiotic environments • Organismpopulationcommunity ecosystem Populations • the smallest unit of group organization • all the members of a single species that live together in a specified geographic region • Examples – all the frogs of one species in a specific pond – all the bacteria of one type in a test tube – all the deer in Pickens county Communities • More inclusive than the population. • All the populations of all the species living in a single region. • Examples – all the deer and all the mountain lions in Oconee County – all the species of fish in a farm pond The Ecosystem • All the living and nonliving elements in a specific geographic area • May be large or may be small • Example – A farm pond ecosystem includes all the communities of living things as well as the rainfall, chemical nutrients, inflow and outflow of water. Biomes • Very large ecosystems • May be the size of a continent • Some examples of biomes – – – – tundra temperate forest desert tropical rain forest Community Interactions • At the base of all communities are the producers. – green plants and other photosynthetic organisms • The next level up are the primary consumers – they feed on the producers – also called herbivores More Interactions • Secondary consumers – feed on the herbivores – also called carnivores or omnivores • Tertiary consumers – feed on the secondary consumers • One way to summarize these relationships is the food chain. – who eats who Food chains • Food chain is straight line or sequence of who eats what – No branching and fairly simplistic • Seldom show the detritivores (the decomposers; bacterial or fungal) • Producerprimary (herbivore), secondary, tertiary, and quaternary consumers Food Webs • Natural communities rarely contain well-defined groups of primary, secondary, and tertiary consumers. (see text) • What actually exists is a “food web”. – the many interconnecting food chains in an ecosystem – describes the actual feeding relationships within a given community more accurately than does a food chain Energy Flow • From one level to the next the energy flow is inefficient. • Studies have shown that energy flow between trophic levels is approx. 10% efficient. • Energy pyramid – great amount of energy at the base and steadily decreasing amounts at higher levels Human Eating • Humans eat on several trophic levels. • Possible Meal – – – – – Steak -Baked Potato Tossed Salad Bread Iced Tea Biomes • • • • • Large land areas Similar environmental conditions Characteristic plant communities Light is usually not limited Water is usually limited and unevenly distributed Temperate Deciduous Forest • land based • large trees that shed leaves in fall (deciduous) • considerable amount of rainfall • worldwide distribution • South Carolina, NC, Ga, etc • Sometimes referred to as Temperate Deciduous Forest Deciduous Forest Temperate Deciduous Forest Grassland (prairie) • west of temperate deciduous forest • Eurasia, Africa, Australia, South America • various spp. of grasses are dominant vegetation • not enough rainfall for tree growth • prairie dog, pronghorn antelope, prairie chicken, grasshopper, rattle snake Savanna • • • • • similar to grassland grasses and scattered trees wet and dry seasons fires during dry part of year South America, Africa, Australia Savanna Savanna Locations Desert • • • • low and irregular rainfall some are hot and some are cold air cools very rapidly at night scattered, thorny plants either w/o leaves or with reduced leaves • water storage in fleshy stems --- cacti • burrowing animals, insects, and reptiles Desert Desert Areas Taiga (Coniferous forest) • Southern Canada • dominated by evergreen trees • long, cold winters with abundant snowfall • mice, bears, wolves, squirrels, moose and flies Taiga Taiga Locations Temperate Rainforest • as opposed to tropical rainforest • Northern California Coast, Oregon, Washington, British Col., Southern Alaska • 80+ inches of precipitation per year • lush growth of plants • Northern Spotted Owl Tropical Rain Forest • • • • • near equator Central and South America, Africa high temperatures, rains nearly every day thousands of plant species tree frogs, bats, lizards, birds, monkeys, insects • forest floor is very dark Tropical Rain Forest Rainforest Locations Chaparral • Coastal areas with mild, rainy winters and long, hot, dry summers • Dense, spiny evergreen shrubs dominant • Adapted to and dependent on periodic fire • Southern California best example Tundra • • • • north of the taiga biome extremely long, severe winters short, cool summers deeper soil layer is permanently frozen – permafrost • no trees • very few animals • easy to injure and slow to heal Tundra Tundra Locations Community Interactions • A community is all organisms interacting with each other in a defined area. • Therefore, the idea of interaction is inherent in the concept of the community. • Kinds of interactions-– predation, parasitism, commensalism, mutualism, and symbiosis Predation • One animal, the predator, captures, kills, and eats another animal, the prey. • Example – hawks preying on mice Parasitism • One organism, the parasite, lives on another organism, the host, and obtains nourishment from the host. – the host is often damaged • The tapeworm is a parasite – a human is the host Commensalism • One organism benefits and the other is not affected • Many bacteria live on the skin and survive on skin secretions but the human is not harmed Mutualism • two species live with each other and both benefit • termites can’t digest cellulose • they have gut protozoa that digest the wood Symbiosis • general term for “living together” • parasitism, commensalism, and mutualism can be thought of as types of symbiosis