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ECOLOGY Biology What you will learn… 1. Ecology general overview. A. Definition B. Levels of Organization C. Abiotic vs. Biotic Factors 2.Populations 3.Communities 4.Ecosystems 1 A. Definition • Ecology is the study of how organisms interact with their environment and each other. This interaction of organisms is a two-way interaction. Organisms are affected by their environment, but by their activities they also change the environment. 1 B. Levels of Organization • Ecology is studied on several levels: – Organism • – Population • – Consists of all the populations of different species that inhabit a particular area. Ecosystem • – Group of individuals of the same species living in a particular geographic area. Community • – Ecologists may examine how one kind of organism meets the challenges of its environment, either through its physiology or behavior. Includes all forms of life in a certain area and all the nonliving factors as well. Biosphere • • • The global ecosystem; the sum of all the planet’s ecosystems. Most complex level in ecology, including the atmosphere to an altitude of several kilometers, the land down to and including water-bearing rocks under 3,000 m under Earth’s surface, lakes and streams, caves, and the oceans to a depth of several kilometers. It is self contained, or closed, except that its photosynthesizers derive energy from sunlight, and it loses heat to space. 1 B. Levels of Organization 1 C. Abiotic vs. Biotic Factors Abiotic components Physical and chemical factors (abiotic) affecting the organisms living in a particular ecosystem. Biotic components Organisms making up the community 1 C. Examples of Biotic Factors Anything that has the characteristics of life! Starfish Even bacteria! Polar bears Trees and grass 1 C. Examples of Abiotic Factors: Solar energy Water Temperature Wind Soil composition Unpredictable disturbances 2 . What is a population? Populationa group of individuals of a single species that occupy the same general area. Rely on the same resources, are influenced by the same environmental factors, and have a high likelihood of interacting and breeding with one another. 3. Communities A few terms you should know… Species – A group of organisms which can interbreed with each other and able to produce a fertile offspring. Habitat – the environment in which a species normally lives or the location of a living organism. 3. Communities A biological community is an assemblage of all the populations of organisms living close enough together for potential interaction. Key characteristics of a community: a.Species diversity b.Dominant species c.Response to disturbances d.Trophic structure e. Community interactions 3. Response to Disturbances Communities change drastically following a severe disturbance that strips away vegetation and even soil. The disturbed area may be colonized by a variety of species, which are gradually replaced by a succession of other species, in a process called ecological succession. 3. Response to Disturbances Primary succession When ecological succession begins in a virtually lifeless area with no soil. Usually takes hundreds or thousands of years. For example, new volcanic islands or rubble left by a retreating glacier. Often the only life-forms initially present are autotrophic bacteria. Lichens and mosses are commonly the first large photosynthesizers to colonize the area. Soil develops gradually as rocks weather and organic matter accumulates from the decomposed remains of the early colonizers. Lichens and mosses are gradually overgrown by grasses and shrubs that sprout from seeds blow in from nearby areas or carried in by animals. Eventually, the area is colonized by plants that become the community’s prevalent form of vegetations. 3. Response to Distrurbances Secondary Occurs succession when a disturbance has destroyed an existing community but left the soil intact. For example, forested areas that are cleared for farming, areas impacted by fire or floods. 3. Response to Disturbances Primary Succession Example: autotrophic prokaryoteslichens, mossesgrassesshrubstreesclimax communty Secondary Succession Example: herbaceous plants woody shrubs trees climax community 3. Response to Disturbances Early successional communities are characterized by a low species diversity, simple structure and broad niches The succession proceeds in stages until the formation of a climax community. The most stable community in the given environment until some disturbance occurs. 3. Response to Disturbances Are disturbances always a bad thing? When can they be beneficial? 3. Response to Disturbances Small-scale disturbance often have positive effects. For example, when a large tree falls in a windstorm, it disturbs the immediate surroundings, but it also creates new habitats. For instance, more light may now reach the forest floor, giving small seedlings the opportunity to grow; or the depression left by its roots may fill with water and be used as egg-laying sites by frogs, salamanders, and numerous insects. Small-scale disturbances may enhance environmental patchiness, which can contribute to species diversity in a community. 3. Trophic Structure The feeding relationships among the various species making up the community. A community’s trophic structure determines the passage of energy and nutrients from plants and other photosynthetic organisms to herbivores and then to carnivores. 3. Trophic Structure The sequence of food transfer up the trophic levels is known as a food chain Trophic levels are arranged vertically, and the names of the levels appear in colored boxes. The arrows connecting the organisms point from the food to consumer. This transfer of food moves chemical nutrients and energy from the producers up though the trophic levels in a community. 3. Trophic Structure At the bottom, the trophic level that supports all others consists of autotrophs, called producers. Photosynthetic producers use light energy to power the synthesis of organic compounds. Plants are the main producers on land. In water, the producers are mainly photosynthetic protists and cyanobacteria, collectively called phytoplankton. Multicellular algae and aquatic plants are also important producers in shallow waters. 3. Trophic Structure All organisms in trophic levels about the producers are heterotrophs, or consumers, and all consumers are directly or indirectly dependent on the output of producers 3. Trophic Structure Trophic Levels: Primary producers Primary consumers Herbivores, which eat plants, algae, or phytoplankton. On land include grasshoppers and many insects, snails, and certain vertebrates like grazing mammals and birds that eat seeds and fruits aquatic environments include a variety of zooplankton (mainly protists and microscopic animals such as small shrimp) that eat phytoplankton. Secondary consumers Include many small mammals, such as a mouse, a great variety of small birds, frogs, and spiders, as well as lions and other large carnivores that eat grazers. In aquatic ecosystems, mainly small fishes that eat zooplankton Tertiary consumers Mostly photosynthetic plants or algae Snakes that eat mice and other secondary consumers. Quaternary consumers Include hawks in terrestrial environments and killer whales in marine environment. 3. Trophic Structure Another trophic level of consumers are called detritivores which derive their energy from detritus, the dead material produced at all the trophic levels. Detritus includes animal wastes, plant litter, and all sorts of dead organisms. Most organic matter eventually becomes detritus and is consumed by detritivores. A great variety of animals, often called scavengers, eat detritus. For instance, earthworms, many rodents, and insects eat fallen leaves and other detritus. Other scavengers include crayfish, catfish, crows, and vultures. 3. Trophic Structure A community’s main detritivores are the prokaryotes and fungi, also called decomposers, or saprotrophs, which secrete enzymes that digest organic material and then absorb the breakdown products. Enormous numbers of microscopic fungi and prokaryotes in the soil and in mud at the bottom of lakes and oceans convert (recycle) most of the community’s organic materials to inorganic compounds that plants or phytoplankton can use. The breakdown of organic materials to inorganic ones is called decomposition. 3. Trophic Structure 3. Trophic Structure A more realistic view of the trophic structure of a community is a food web, a network of interconnecting food chains. Food webs, like food chains, do not typically show detrivores, which consume dead organic material from all trophic levels. 3. Community Interactions Consider this… You’ve planted a garden in your backyard. You see that a squirrel population and a chipmunk population has begun to inhabit the area. There reproductive patterns are similar, they eat the same food, and have similar sleeping patterns. What do you expect to happen? Is it possible for them to cohabit the area? 3. Community Interactions Interspecific competition: If two different species are competing for the same resource. Causes the growth of one or both populations may be inhibited. May play a major role in structuring a community. Examples: Weeds growing in a garden compete with garden plants for nutrients and water. Lynx and foxes compete for prey such as snowshoe hares in northern forests. 3. Community Interactions Intraspecific Competition: Intense competition that exists within individuals of the same population because they compete for the exact same habitat and resources 3. Community Interactions The competitive exclusion principle applies to what is called a species’ niche. In ecology, a niche is a species’ role in its community, or the sum total of its use of the biotic and abiotic resources of its habitat. 3. Community Interactions A niche is the functional position of an organism in its environment, comprising its habitat, resources and the periods of time during which it is active. 3. Community Interactions Predation is an interaction between species in which one species, the predator, kills and eats another, the prey. Because eating and avoiding being eaten are prerequisites to reproductive success, the adaptations of both predators and prey tend to be refined through natural selection. 3. Community Interactions What are some ways predators can catch prey? What tools can they use? What are some essential characteristics? 3. Community Interactions Examples Most of prey capturing strategies: predators have acute senses enable them to locate prey. In addition, adaptations such as claws, teeth, fangs, stingers, or poisons help catch and subdue prey. Predators are generally fast and agile, whereas those that lie in ambush are often camouflaged in their environments. Predators may also use mimicry; some snapping turtles have a tongue that resembles a wriggling worm, thus luring small fish. Camouflage Chemical Defense 3. Community Interactions What are some ways prey can avoid predators? What tools can they use? What are some essential characteristics? 3. Community Interactions Predator defenses: Mechanical defenses: such as the porcupine’s sharp quills or the hard shells of clams and oysters. Chemical defenses: animals are often bright colored, a warning to predators; like a poison arrow-frog or a skunk. Batesian mimicry: a palatable or harmless species mimics an unpalatable or harmful one; like the king snake mimics the poisonous coral snake Mullerian mimicry: two unpalatable species that inhabit the same community mimic each other; like bees and wasps Batesian Mimicry Mullerian Mimicry 3. Community Interactions Herbivory Animals that eat plants or algae Aquatic herbivores include sea urchins, snails, and some fishes. Terrestrial herbivores include cattle, sheep, and deer, and small insects. Herbivorous insects may locate food by using chemical sensors on their feet, and their mouthparts are adapted for shredding tough vegetation or sucking plant juices. Herbivorous vertebrates may have specialized teeth or digestive systems adapted for processing vegetation. They may also use their sense of smell to identify food plants. Because plants cannot run away from herbivores, chemical toxins, often in combination with various kinds of anti-predator spines and thorns, are their main weapons against being eaten. 3. Community Interactions Herbivory Some herbivore-plant interactions illustrate the concept of coevolution, a series of reciprocal evolutionary adaptations in two species. Coevolution occurs when a change in one species acts as a new selective force on another species, and counteradaptation of the second species in turn affects the selection of individuals in the first species. 3. Community Interactions Herbivory Coevolution Example: an herbivorous insect (the caterpillar of the butterfly Heliconius, top left) and a plant (the passionflower Passiflora, a tropical vine). 3. Community Interactions Herbivory Coevolution Explanation: Passiflora produces toxic chemicals that protect its leaves from most insects, but Heliconius caterpillars have digestive enzymes that break down the toxins. As a result, Heliconius gains access to a food source that few other insects can eat. The Passiflora plants have evolved defenses against the Heliconius insect. The leaves of the plant produce yellow sugar deposits that look like Heliconius eggs. Therefore, female butterflies avoid laying their eggs on the leaves to ensure that only a few caterpillars will hatch and feed on any one leaf. Because of this, the Passiflora species with the yellow deposits are less likely to be eaten. 3. Community Interactions Symbiotic Relationships are interactions between two or more species that live together in direct contact. Three main types: Parasitism Commensalism Mutualism *Parasitism and mutualism can be key factors in community structure. 3. Community Interactions Parasitism A parasite lives on or in its host and obtains its nourishment from the host. For example: A tapeworm is an internal parasite that lives inside the intestines of a larger animal and absorbs nutrients from its hosts. Another example: Ticks, which suck blood from animals, and aphids, which tap into the sap of plants, are examples of external parasites. Natural selection favors the parasites that are best able to find and feed on hosts, and also favors the evolution of host defenses. Tapeworm in Small Intestine Tick on a dog 3. Community Interactions Commensalism One partner benefits without significantly affecting the other. Few cases of absolute commensalism have been documented, because it is unlikely that one partner will be completely unaffected. For example: algae that grow on the shells of sea turtles, barnacles that attach to whales, and birds that feed on insects flushed out of the grass by grazing cattle. Algae on Sea Turtle Barnacles on Whale 3. Community Interactions Mutualism Benefits both partners in the relationship. For example: the association of legume plants and nitrogenfixing bacteria. Bacteria turn nitrogen in the air to nitrates that the plants can use Another example: Acacia trees and the predaceous ants they attract. Tree provides room and board for ants Ants benefit the tree by attacking virtually anything that touches it. Acacia Trees and Ants 4. Ecosystems An ecosystem consists of all the organisms in a community as well as the abiotic environment with which the organisms interact. Ecosystems can range from a microcosm such as a terrarium to a large area such as a forest. 4a. Ecosystems- Energy Flow Regardless of an ecosystem’s size, its dynamics involve two processesenergy flow and chemical cycling. Energy flow: the passage of energy through the components of the ecosystem. For most ecosystems, the sun is the energy source, but exceptions include several unusual kinds of ecosystems powered by chemical energy obtained from inorganic compounds. 4a. Ecosystems- Energy Flow 4a. Ecosystems- Energy Flow For example, an a terrarium, energy enters in the form of sunlight. Plants (producers) convert the light energy to chemical energy. Animals (consumers) take in some of this chemical energy in the form of organic compounds when they eat the plants. Detrivores, such as bacteria and fungi in the soil, obtain chemical energy when they decompose the dead remains of plants and animals. Every use of chemical energy by organisms involves a loss of some energy to the surroundings in the form of heat. Eventually, therefore, the ecosystem would run out of energy if it were not powered by a continuous inflow of energy from an outside source. 4a. Ecosystems- Energy Flow Ecological Pyramids Pyramid of Biomass Pyramid of Productivity Pyramid of Numbers 4a. Ecosystems- Energy Flow Pyramid of Biomass: shows the relationship between biomass and trophic level by quantifying the amount of biomass present at each trophic level of a community at a particular moment in time. 4a. Ecosystems- Energy Flow Pyramid of Biomass Typical units are grams per meter 4a. Ecosystems- Energy Flow Pyramid of Production Illustrates the cumulative loss of energy with each transfer in a food chain. Each tier of the pyramid represents one trophic level, and the width of each tier indicates how much of the chemical energy of the tier below is actually incorported into the organic matter of that trophic level. Note that producers convert only about 1% of the energy in the sunlight available to them to primary production. In this idealized pyramid, 10% of the energy available at each trophic level becomes incorporated into the next higher level. The efficiencies of energy transfer usually range from 5 to 20%. In other words, 80 to 95% of the energy at one trophic level never transfers to the next. 4a. Ecosystems-Energy Flow Pyramid of Production: Units can be Joules or calories 4a. Ecosystems- Energy Flow Pyramid of Numbers shows graphically the population of each level in a food chain. 4b. Ecosystems- Chemical Cycling Chemical cycling: involves the transfer of materials within the ecosystem. An ecosystem is more or less self-contained in terms of matter. Chemical elements such as carbon and nitrogen are cycled between abiotic components (air, water, and soil) and biotic components of the ecosystem. The plants acquire these elements in inorganic form from the air and soil and fix them into organic molecules, some of which animals consume. Detrivores return most of the elements in inorganic form to the soil and air. Some elements are also returned as the by-products of plant and animal metabolism. 4b. Ecosystems- Chemical Cycling 4b. Ecosystems- Chemical Cycling Biogeochemical cycles: Water cycle Carbon cycle Nitrogen cycle Phosphorous cycle 4b. Ecosystems- Chemical Cycling General Model of Nutrient Cycling: 1. Producers incorporate chemicals from the abiotic reservoir (where a chemical accumulates or is stockpiled outside of living organisms) into organic compounds. 2.Consumers feed on the producers, incorporating some of the chemicals into their own bodies. 3. Both producers and consumers release some chemicals back to the environment in waste products (CO2 and nitrogen wastes of animals) 4. Detritivores play a central role by decomposing dead organisms and returning chemicals in inorganic form to the soil, water, and air. 5. The producers gain a renewed supply of raw materials, and the cycle continues. 4b. Ecosystems- Chemical Cycling General Model of Nutrient Cycling: Water Cycle 1.Precipitation 2.Condensation (conversion of gaseous water vapor into liquid water) 3. Rain Clouds 4. and 5. Evaporation (conversion of water to gaseous water vapor) from ocean 6. and 7. precipitation over ocean 8. evaporation from land 9. Transpiration 10. Transpiration 11. evaporation from lakes, rivers 12. surface runof 13. infiltration (movement of water into soil) 14. Water locked in snow 15. Precipitation to land **refer to diagrams in handout Water Cycle Carbon Cycle 1. Carbon in plant and animal tissues 2. fossilization (preserved remains or traces of animals, plants, and other organisms) 3. Death and excretion 4. Decomposers (breakdown organic materials to inorganic ones) 5. coal 6. photosynthesis 7. atmospheric CO2 8. Dissolving 9. combustion (burning of wood and fossil fuels) 10. diatoms (major group of algae, and are one of the most common types of phytoplankton) 11. drilling for oil and gas 12. fossilization 13. oil and gas 14. limestone **refer to diagrams in handout Carbon Cycle Nitrogen Cycle 1. Nitrogen in plant and animal tissue 2. Excretion 3. Ammonia (NH3) 4.Dead organisms 5. decomposers 6. Nitrifying bacteria (convert ammonia to nitrate) 7. nitrogen fixing bacteria (convert N2 to ammonia) 8. nitrate (NO3-) 9. nitrate (NO3-) available to plants 10. swampy ground 11. denitrifying bacteria (return fixed nitrogen to the atmosphere) 12. lightning (atmospheric nitrogen fixation) 13. atmospheric nitrogen (N2 gas) **refer to diagrams in handout Nitrogen Cycle