Ecology

1. Ecology Alan D. Morales, ATC/L, M.Ed.

2. Why Study Ecology? • It provide us with information that is necessary to understand and resolve many of the environmental & ecological issues that confront us. • Environmental Issues

3. List of Environmental Issues • Anoxic waters • Climate change • Energy • Environmental degradation • Environmental health • Intensive farming • Land degradation • Nuclear issues • Water pollution • Air pollution

4. Ecological Terms • Ecology-the study of interactions between different kinds of living things and between living things and the environment in which they live

5. Biotic and Abiotic Factors • Biotic-living things • Abiotic-non-living things • Abiotic and Biotic Factors Video

6. Level of Organization • Species: A group of organisms so similar to each other that they can breed and produce fertile offspring • Population: groups of individual that belong to the same species and live in the same area • Communities: a group of different populations that live together in a defined area.

7. Level of Organization • Ecosystem: a collection of organisms that live in a particular place together with their non-living environment. • Biome: a group of ecosystems that have the same climate and similar dominant communities • Biosphere-the entire living and non-living world • Difference between Level of Organization

8. Methods of Ecology Research • Observation-careful observations of the natural world • Experiments-hypotheses based on observations are tested by intelligently designed & carefully performed experiment. • Models-uses data gathered by observations & experimentation or both is manipulated by a computer.

9. Energy Flow

10. Producers • Producers • Organisms that captures sun’s or chemical energy • Autotrophs • Types of Producers • Photosynthesis- organisms that uses light to capture energy by producing a carbohydrate molecule • Chemosynthesis- organisms that uses light to capture energy by producing a carbohydrate molecule

11. Consumers • Organisms that acquire energy from other organisms • Also called Heterotroph

12. Consumers • Types of Consumers • Herbivores: obtain energy by eating autotrophs • Carnivores: obtain energy by eating other hetertrophs • Decomposers: break down organic matter • Detritivores: feed off dead bodies of animals & plants • Omnivores: obtain energy by eating other hetertrophs and autotrophs

13. Feeding Relationships • Energy Flow • Energy can not be recycled One-Way Flow • SunlightPrimaryproducersconsumersDecomposers • Food Chain: a series of steps in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten. • Food Web: Show the complex feeding relationships that results from interconnecting

14. Feeding Relationships • Food Web Video

15. Feeding Relationships • Tropic level-feeding • Rule of 10%: 10 % of the energy at 1 tropic level can be used by consumers at the next tropic level

16. Ecological Relationship • Types of relationships • Predator/prey relationship • Symbiotic relationship • Predator/prey relationship: predator organism consumes another organism, its prey.

17. Ecological Relationship • Symbiotic relationship is more complex than an animal simply consuming another • Mutual relationship – The rarest symbiotic relationship. In this relationship, two organisms both benefit from their interaction with each other • Communal relationship – One organism benefits from another, while the other organism is neither benefited nor harmed • Parasitic Relationship – One organism benefits from another organism, while the other organism is harmed

18. Ecological Pyramids • Energy Pyramid • Shows the amount of energy available at each trophic level • Biomass Pyramid • Represents the amount of living organic matter at each trophic level • Pyramid of Numbers • Shows the number of individual organisms at each trophic level

19. Intermission

20. Nutrients • Substances that organisms use to build living tissues & to grow • H2O, CO2, N, Ph, K, Iron, Mg, and etc • Nutrient Cycles • Nutrients are in fixed nutrients. • Nature recycles nutrients • A global process not limited to small areas of the biosphere Ecosystem • Ecosystem’s productivity depends on autotrophs • Effected by Nutrient Limitation

21. Nutrient Cycles • Water • Consist of evaporation, condensation, & precipitation • Nitrogen • 80% of the atmosphere • Unusable by most plants but converted by action of bacteria • Atmospheric Nitrogen is converted to Amonium & Nitrate

22. Nutrient Cycles • Phosphorus • Essential to living organisms because part of DNA & RNA • It is not very common in the biosphere. • Carbon • Food on earth in atmosphere, ocean, & underground

23. Water Cycle

24. Nitrogen Cycle

25. Carbon Cycle

26. Phosphorus Cycle

27. Intermission

28. Ecosystems and Communities

29. The Role of Climate • Weather: the day-to-day condition of Earth's atmosphere at a particular time and place • Climate: refers to the average conditions of temperature and precipitation in a region. • Factors: • the trapping of heat by the atmosphere • the latitude • the transport of heat by winds and ocean currents • the amount of precipitation • the shape and elevation of landmasses

30. The Role of Climate • The Greenhouse Effect • natural situation in which heat is retained in Earth's atmosphere by carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor, and other gases • Greenhouse Effect Animation

31. Climate Zones • Three main climate zones • Polar: cold areas located in around the North and South poles. • Temperate: sit between the polar zones and the tropics and the climate ranges from hot to cold • Tropical: near the equator receiving direct sunlight year round making the climate warm.

32. Earth Heat Movement • Unequal heating of the Earth surfaces drives the wind and ocean currents • Continents and other landmasses affected winds and ocean currents. • Air Current and Ocean Current

33. Global Air Current • Air or Wind Current: the upward movement of warm air and downward movement of cool air which moves heat throughout the atmosphere.

34. Global Ocean Current • Upwelling: Cold water near the poles sinks and then flows parallel to the ocean bottom, eventually rising again in warmer regions through a process. • Ocean Current: effect of wind on surface water and upwelling.

35. Intermission

36. What shapes an Ecosystem?

37. Biosphere • The part of Earth that supports life • Top portion of Earth's crust • All the waters that cover Earth's surface • Atmosphere that surrounds Earth.

39. Ecosystem • All the organisms living in an area and the nonliving features of their environment • What is an Ecosystem? Video

41. Biotic and Abiotic Factors • Biotic-living things • Abiotic-non-living things • Abiotic and Biotic Factors Video

42. Habitat • The place in which an organism lives • provides the kinds of food and shelter, the temperature, and the amount of moisture the organism needs to survive

43. The Niche • Niche: The full range of physical and biological conditions in which an organism lives and the way in which the organism uses the conditions.

44. Competition • Compete for food, water, shelter and space • Competition caused by population growth affects organisms • Competitive Exclusion Principle • No two species can occupy the same niche and same habitat at the same time

45. Limiting Factor • Anything that restricts the number of individuals in a population. • Includes living and nonliving features of the ecosystem

47. Succession • Natural, gradual changes in the types of species that live in an area; can be primary or secondary. • Primary – begins in a place without soil • Secondary – where soil already exists

50. Primary Succession