Download Intro to Ecology

Introduction to Ecology
Ecology is the study of the interactions between
organisms and the living (BIOTIC) and nonliving
(ABIOTIC) components of their environment.
BIOTIC FACTORS
ABIOTIC FACTORS
predators
weather (ie. wind)
prey
climate (ie. temp.)
available mates
available water
available food
Levels of Organization
• Just like there is a hierarchy of organization among
different organisms, there is a hierarchy within the
environment as well.
The Biosphere
– The biosphere includes all places life exists, including three
main parts:
• land
• water
• air (atmosphere)
– The biosphere is a thin film of life covering an otherwise
lifeless planet
• If the Earth were an apple, the biosphere would be the
skin of the apple.
Biomes & Ecosystems
• A biome is a grouping of related ecosystems with similar
climates.
Ecosystems includes all of the organisms and the nonliving
environment found in a particular place.
The environmental factors that interact in an ecosystem are
divided into two classes: biotic and abiotic factors.
Biotic factor (living components of the environment)
Abiotic factors (nonliving factors of the environment)
The biotic and abiotic factors are dependent on each other.
Communities, Populations, & Organisms
• A community is a group of different populations that live
together in a defined area.
– ie. a pond ecosystem, the community would be all the fishes,
turtles, algae, bacteria and plants w/in the ecosystem
• A population includes groups of individuals that belong to the
same species and live in the same area.
ie. all the mud turtles in the pond
• An organism is an individual within a population
ie. ONE, single mud turtle in the pond
• A species survival in a given habitat is dependent on the
environmental conditions and the availability of resources
(limiting factors – food, energy, habitat, water, sunlight).
• Resources (limiting factors) are the energy and materials that a
species needs.
• A niche is a species way of life. A niche is the role that the
species plays in the environment that it lives in.
• Niche includes:
1. range of conditions that the species can tolerate
2. methods by which the species can obtain the needed
resources
3. number of offspring
4. time of reproduction
5. all of the species other interactions with its environment
• The fundamental niche is the
range of conditions that a
species can potentially
tolerate and the range of
resources it can potentially
use.
• The realized niche of a
species is the range of
resource it actually uses.
• The fundamental niche will
usually contain a broader set
of conditions that the
realized niche.
• A species niche can change
within a single generation.
– ie. caterpillar to butterfly
• Generalists are species with
broad niches:
– The species can tolerate a
range of conditions and use
a variety of resources.
• Specialists are species that
have narrow niches.