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Ecology
Introductions to Ecology
Concepts and Terminology
Welcome to Ecology
• Ecology is the study of living organisms
and how they interact with their
environment
– Sub science of environmental science
Environmental science is the study of how
human’s affect the environment with the
goals of solving environmental problems.
Ecology is the science we use to
understand and assess what’s going on in
a particular problem.
Interdisciplinary Science
• Ecologist need to have a background in
many sciences including, but not limited
to:
– Biology-study of living organisms
– Chemistry- study of matter and
transformations
– Geology-study of the lithosphere
– Hydrology-study of water
– Meteorology-study of climate and weather
– Engineering-how structure effects function
In order to assess problems
scientist must also look at
other influences such as:
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Population growth
Economics
Culture
Law
Politics
Observations
• Making observations and inferences is
crucial in Ecology
• Observation  attaining information about
a situation with any/all of your senses,
sometimes using instruments to gather data
• Inference  the act or process of reaching
a conclusion about something from known
facts or evidence
Making Observations Activity
1. Go to a lab bench with one
partner of your choosing. No
more than 4 people to a table
please!
2. All you need with you is a
pen/pencil
Ecology is a System Science
• System- A group of interacting, interrelated
or interdependent components that form a
complex and unified whole.
• You cannot change one part of a system
without affecting the other parts.
Ecosystem All the organisms living in an area
together within their physical environment
What exactly is a System?
• A system is a group of interacting parts
that are dependent on each other.
• A system can be simple as in the water
cycle or a system can be complex as
in the entire earth system
• System science is the “wave” of the
future, realizing that everything on
Earth is connected
How do Ecologists use System
Science?
• Ecologists study
cause and effect
loops.
• Study how a
changing variable
affects another
variable.
• Examples
– Water changes
– Population changes
– Nutrient changes
Simple Climate Change Cause
and Effect
Steps in System Science
1. Identify the components of your
system
2. Identify how they relate to each other
3. Identify the consequences of
changes
4. Identify if positive or negative
consequence
5. Adjust system to keep natural
More on Ecosystems
• Scale:
– Can be large scale such as regional or global
– Can be small scale such as a puddle, backyard,
pond, lake , etc.
Biotic Factors  All living/once living parts in
a system
Abiotic Factors Non living components of a
system
In an Ecosystem, interactions include
how energy is cycled in the system
Biotic Factors include:
• Predator /prey
• Decomposers
• Population
• Biodiversity
• Human impact
• Reproduction
Abiotic Factors include:
• Pollution
• Water
– Temp, rainfall, amount
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Nutrient cycles
Air
Sunlight
Temperature
Initial problem
• Industrial Revolution
– Large scale
production of goods
– Use of artificial
substances to replace
natural choices.
– Increase use of energy
– Increase waste
– Increase
transportation.
– Increase population
– Increase in growth
Biggest Problems
1. Resource depletion:
Natural resource  any natural resource
used by humans
Renewable Resource  a source that can
be replaced relatively quickly
Example: water, soil and air
Non-renewable Resource forms at a very
slow rate compared to consumption, can
be millions of years
Example: fossil fuels, metals, uranium, salt,
sand, clay
2. Pollution  an undesired change in
air, water, or soil that adversely affects
the health, survival or activities of
humans or other organisms.
Examples: Oil spill, sewage, smoke, toxic spills,
agricultural waste, landfills, chemical spills, industrial
runoff etc.
3.Loss of Biodiversity
• Biodiversity is the number and variety
of species that live in an area.
• Species are lost by extinction
– Extinction is when the species no longer
exists.
– Reasons for extinction include, but are not
limited to:
– Loss or degradation of habitat: food,
water, shelter and space
– Loss of genetic diversity
– Loss of reproductive population
What is causing these
problems?
1. Human population growth  as
population increases, demands are
placed on the natural ecosystem for
homes, food and space.
2. Consumption of resources  People
are using up, wasting, or polluting
many natural resources faster than
they can be replaced or cleaned up
 But how did it all start?
World’s Population
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1750......790 million
1800......980 million
1850...1.3 billion
1900...1.65 billion
1950...2.6 billion
2000...6.08 billion
2013…7.06 billion
Today…7.2 billion
Industrial revolution
begins around the
mid-1700s
Countries With Greatest
Population
Overpopulation
Sustainability
Sustainability is the process where by resources are
used in a way
that future generations are not
compromised or impacted
Tragedy of the Commons Lab
1. Once you are assigned your group, go get a blank piece of paper
and draw a bird’s eye view of a pond/water body (name it if you
want)
2. Listen CAREFULLY to Mrs. Pozzetti’s instruction (if you don’t you will not
understand what to do)
3. I will put a certain amount of gold fish in your pond. Once I do, count
the amount and write it under “Number of fish in the ocean to start” in
the data table. DO NOT EAT ANYTHING YET!
4. When I say “GO”, each person reaches into the pond ONCE and
grabs as many fish as he/she wants. YOU CAN ONLY REACH IN ONCE!
5. Once everyone has grabbed what they want, record in the data
table what each person took. Then record the total caught.
6. There will be 4 “seasons”. I will come around after each seasonto
repopulate your pond if conditions allow it.
7. After round one, you will answer the questions right after the data
table.
8. We will do a 2nd round after
Ecological Footprint
• Ecological footprint
shows the productive
area of the Earth
needed to support
one person in a
particular country
• It estimates the land
used for crops,
grazing, forest
products and housing
The Earth’s
Systems/Spheres
System Science
Earth Systems
What are The Earth’s Systems?
• Geosphere  All rocky part of Earth
– Includes lithosphere (crust)
• Hydrosphere  All water
– Includes Cryosphere (ice sheets)
• Biosphere  All life
• Atmosphere  All gaseous part of Earth
• The Earth is a closed system due to the fact
that only the sun gives incoming energy.
• All existing elements are cycled continuously.
Geosphere
• Geosphere Solid
portion of Earth
includes the
lithosphere or
Earth’s crust where
nutrients, elements
an gasses are
exchanged.
How Matter is Cycled in the
Geosphere
• Volcanoes eject
gasses and water into
the atmosphere.
• Cause succession
• Erosion- releases
elements and
nutrients.
• Rocks store elements
• Plate tectonics
change environment
Atmosphere
• All the gasses
surrounding our planet.
• Exchanges gasses with
water, rocks, plants and
animals.
• Responsible for climate
• Extends to about 550 km
above Earth
• Major layer is the
troposphere where all
weather occurs and
stratosphere (50km)
where ozone layer exists
Major Components of the
Atmosphere
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Nitrogen (78%)
Oxygen (21%)
Carbon dioxide
Argon
Methane
Water vapor
Nitrogen oxide
Sulfur oxide
Atmospheric dust
How the Atmosphere Influences
Climate
• The atmosphere acts as a protective
bubble surrounding our planet
• Protects against gamma rays and UV rays
• Protects us from large temperature
changes with the green house gasses.
• Also causes our sky to be blue by
refracting sunlight
• Causes the water cycle.
Green House Effect
Hydrosphere
• Includes all the
water on the Earth
73%
– Oceans
– Lakes
– Ice caps
(cryosphere)
– Soils
– Rock layers
– Clouds
– Water vapor
– Rivers
– wetlands
The Earth’s Water Supply
Water is cycled from Atmosphere to
Geosphere to Biosphere
Water Cycle Terminology
• Evaporation: process of
liquid water is heated
and rises into
atmosphere
• Condensation: process
of which water vapor
condenses and yields
precipitation
• Precipitation: large
droplets of water,
snow, sleet or hail.
Water Moves Through
Everything
Cryosphere
• Cryosphere
describes the
portion of the
Earth where water
is in its solid form
• Includes Sea Ice,
glaciers, lake ice,
snow etc.
• Wide overlap with
the hydrosphere.
Biosphere
• All of the living
components of the earth
• Goes from below sea level
to 9 km above earth.
• Energy flows in the
biosphere from the sun to
all organisms.
• Energy from the
hydrosphere, atmosphere
and geosphere are all
exchanged within the
biosphere
How the Biosphere Cycles
Materials Naturally
• Energy: through food chains
• Nutrients through consumption and
decomposition.
• Gasses through respiration and
photosynthesis.
• Population levels by predator / prey
relationships.
• Succession through special fire resistance
and perpetuating species.
Every Sphere is Connected
Humans are Part of the
Biosphere
• Humans have shaped all aspects of the
cycle including
– Altering nutrients by causing erosion
– Over consumption of resources
– Altering energy by disrupting food chains and
predator prey relationships.
– Altering climate by altering gasses in atmosphere
– Altering water by over using and polluting
– Altering landforms through dam, levy , dredging,
road construction and housing.
– Destruction of ozone layer using CFCs
Deforestation
Earth’s Sphere’s Collage
• With one other person, use the magazines to
make a collage of the Earth’s Spheres
• Find 3 – 4 pictures and describe for each
picture which spheres are represented.
• Also, describe how each sphere is connected
to the other in each picture