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Ecology Review
Ecology is the study of..
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Ecosystems.
Ecosystems include both...
Biotic and Abiotic Factors
Biotic factors are the
living components of ecosystems like..
Plants, animals, bacteria, fungi
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Abiotic factors are the
nonliving components like...
1.climate/weather patterns
2. soil, water, minerals,
3. land forms and features
4. amount of sunlight
Define population.
• a population is a group of one
species living in a specific area.
• What is a community?
• a community is groups of different
species living in one habitat
• a habitat is the place where a
community of organisms lives
Name the types of organisms
in a food chain
• 1. Producers: (where do they get energy?)
• from the sun—these are organisms tht use
photosynthesis to convert the sun’s energy
• 2. Consumers:
• eat or use other organisms to obtain energy
• 3. Decomposers:
• Organisms that breakdown other organisms
Types of Consumers:
• 1. Herbivores-- eat plants
• 2. Carnivores-- eat meat (other animals)
• 3. Omnivores-- eat both plants and
animals
• 4. Detrivores-- eat dead organisms, ie.
scavengers
Biogeochemical Cycles:
The Water Cycle
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1. liquid water becomes vapor=
EVAPORATION
2. water vapor becomes clouds=
CONDENSATION
3. rain, sleet, snow, hail=
PRECIPITATION
4. water comes out of leaves of plants=
TRANSPIRATION
Water Cycle continued..
• 5. water drains into streams, rivers,
oceans=
• RUN-OFF
• 6. water filters into the soil and goes
through to the ground water=
• PERCOLATION
• 7. water vapor exhaled by animals=
• RESPIRATION
• 8. water taken in by roots=
• ABSORPTION
THE CARBON CYCLE
• What are the only organisms that use
CO2?
• Plants ..They take in Carbon (CO2) during
PHOTOSYNTHESIS
• What gives off Carbon Dioxide?
People, we exhale...during RESPIRATION
We do, when we burn fuel.... COMBUSTION
The Nitrogen Cycle
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How much atmospheric nitrogen is not usable?
78%
Why do living things need nitrogen?
To make amino acids and nucleic acids to build..
Proteins, RNA, DNA
How can we and other living things get nitrogen?
by eating plants, or animals who ate plants
Other sources of carbon in the
air, water, or soil
• Geologic activity like.. volcanoes
• EROSION --water/wind dissolves
limestone releasing CO2
• Remember --plants are the only things that
can remove CO2
What is the Greenhouse Effect?
• The heat trapping ability of some gases in
the atmosphere
• This can be compared to the way glass
traps heat in a greenhouse, or an
insulating blanket
• this is a good thing for us, because it keeps
the earth’s surface temperature liveable
• What is happening while the greenhouse
gas, CO2, is increasing?
Global Warming
• This refers to the
increase of the
average
temperature of the
earth.
• The earth's
temperature has
been rising for the
last 50 yrs.
Film: One Degree Factor
• How did one degree rise in temperature
affect the caribou?
• more mosquitos, longer mosquito season
• drove caribou higher up where there was
not as much food
• more rain, freezing on top the snow
• made finding food difficult, made crust on
the snow that cut their legs
Film (cont):
It is a Global Problem
(affects everyone):
• How can a drought in Africa affect children
and ocean in Trinidad?
• The drought caused the lake in Africa to dry
up. Dust from the lake was blown by the
winds to the Caribbean Sea.
• Caused increase in Asthma and Sea Fan
disease.
Is the hole in the ozone layer
part of global warming?
• NOPE.
• It is another example of a man-made impact on the
environment, though.
• What caused the hole in the ozone layer?
• Use of CFC's (chlorofluorocarbons) in spray cans,
refrigerators, air conditioners
• These chemicals caused the hole
• What is so bad about a hole in the ozone layer?
• Ozone layer protects us from UV radiation so
because of the hole, skin cancer rates went up.
Here's the good news:
• We changed what
we were doing by
finding alternatives
to CFC's,
• and the hole in the
ozone layer is
becoming smaller!
Where do plants get their
nitrogen?
• from the soil (they absorb it through roots)
• What are the bacteria that breakdown
Nitrogen so that plants can absorb it?
• In soil, it’s…
• Rhizobium bacteria
• In water, it’s…
• Cyanobacteria
Some Nitrogen Cycle Terms:
• Nitrogen Fixation= bacteria turns N2 gas
into ammonia
• Ammonification= bacteria in soil convert
organic material to NH3
• Nitrification= ammonia into nitrites/nitrates
• Assimilation=plant roots take in nitrates
• Denitrification=bacteria turns nitrates into
nitrogen gas
Trophic Levels
How much energy moves from
one trophic level to the next?
• only 10% of the energy from one trophic
level moves up to the next
• 90% of the energy is lost -- given off as
heat or wasted energy
Weather Patterns
• Explain the Coriolis Effect:
• because of the rotation of the earth, winds and
weather seem to curve to the right; this is the reason
our storms come from the Southwest and move in a
Northeast direction
• Explain the Mountain Effect:
• all the precipitation is dumped on the windward side
of the mountain, so the leeward side is dry; for
example.. Denver, CO has very little snow. It is on the
east side of the Rockies. Most of the ski resorts in
Colorado are on the west side of the Rockies.
How does the Gulf Stream
Some Terrestrial Biomes:
• Tundra: cold, permafrost, little rainfall, caribou,
foxes that have thick fur- white in winter
• Taiga: cold, two seasons- summer and winter,
moose, bear, lynx, hibernate in winter
• Temperate, deciduous forest: moderate rain,
deer, rabbits, squirrels, birds,
• Rainforest: high amount of rainfall, great
diversity of plants, animals
• Desert: hot, dry, little rain, animals and plants
adapted to heat and little water
Which biome has the greatest
amount of biodiversity (different
plants and animals)?
• The Tropical Rainforest due to its high
amount of rainfall, and the amount of
sunlight it gets year round.
Symbiosis- relationships
between organisms in habitats
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1. Parasitism(+,-) parasite benefits, host is harmed
2. Mutualism(+,+) both benefit
3. Commensalism(+, 0) one benefits, the other is neither harmed nor benefitted
4. Competition(- ,- ) both are harmed
Which is it?
• A sucker fish that lives on a shark. The fish removes
fungus from the shark by feeding on it.....
• That is Mutualism because both benefit
• A tick sucks the blood from a deer...
• That is Parasitism because the deer is harmed
• A bird that lives in a hole in a tree is...
• Commensalism (the tree is neither harmed nor
helped, but the bird gets shelter)
• Squirrels and Cardinals both eat sunflower seeds..
• is an example of Competition for the same food
source.
Competitive Exclusion
Two species cannot exist in the same space
so they must each find their own “niche”.
If one of the species is more successful and
eliminates the other, it is called..
Competitive exclusion
Two species can avoid competition by
finding different niches in an ecosystem.
What is a niche?
• The job an organism has in its habitat, its pattern
of living—
• the resources it uses, where it feeds, finds
shelter, temperature requirements, etc.
• fundamental niche:
• the part of the habitat the organism could occupy
if there were no competition
• realized niche:
• the part of the habitat it actually occupies (in
reality)
Population Growth
• Populations that grow unchecked will grow..
• Exponentially
• They don't because they are limited by
various factors like..
• Amount of resources, diseases, predators
• The size that a population is limited to by
the environment is called its:
• CARRYING CAPACITY
POPULATION
LIMITING FACTORS:
• When factors are affected by the size of the
population they are:
• DENSITY DEPENDENT
• When factors are not affected by the size of
the population, they are:
• DENSITY INDEPENDENT
What is SUCCESSION?
• The changes in an ecosystem over time.
• What is Primary (1st) succession?
• living things coming into an area where
there was no life before
• ex. a glacier melts exposing soil after 100's
of 1000's of years
• Secondary (2nd) succession is..
• new life in an area that had life before
• ex. forest after a forest fire
What are Pioneer Species?
• organisms that are the first to live in an
area; for example..
• Small, fast growing plants
• Mosses and lichen are the first plants that
grow in an area.
THE END-- Best of luck!