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APES

APES. Unit 03. Chapter 6. Ecosystems and Ecosystem Management. Basic Characteristics of Ecosystems. Sustained life on Earth is a characteristic of ecosystems, not of individual organisms or populations Structure (two major parts) Living (Ecological Communities) Non-living

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  1. APES Unit 03

  2. Chapter 6 Ecosystems and Ecosystem Management

  3. Basic Characteristics of Ecosystems • Sustained life on Earth is a characteristic of ecosystems, not of individual organisms or populations • Structure (two major parts) • Living (Ecological Communities) • Non-living • Processes (two basic kinds) • Cycling of chemical elements • Flow of energy • Change • Predictable – succession • Unpredictable change

  4. Ecological Communities and Food Chains • Ecological Communities are defined in two ways: • 1. A set of interacting species that occur in the same place defined by the way they derive energy: Food chains, food webs, trophic levels (autotrophs) • 2. A set of all species found in one area. EG. Zoo animals

  5. Food Chains and Food Webs • A Terrestrial Food Chain • Four trophic levels: • Example: • Autotrophs • Herbivores • Carnivores • Decomposers • People are omnivores

  6. Food Chains and Food Webs Continued… • An Oceanic Food Chain • Involve more species and tend to have more tropic levels. See figure 6.6 • The Food Web of the Harp Seal • Shows how complex a real-life food web truly is.

  7. The Community Effect • Species interact directly (symbiosis & competition) and indirectly • Community-level interactions • Indirect interactions. • Keystone species • Have large effects on it’s community or ecosystem • Its removal changes the basic nature of the community • See Sea Otter example figure 6.8. Sea otters influence the abundance of sea urchins • Holistic View • An ecological community is more than the sum of its parts.

  8. How Do You Know When You Have Found an Ecosystem? • Vary greatly in structural complexity. • The watershed is a common, practical delineation. • What is a watershed? • Common to all ecosystems is energy flow and cycling of chemical elements.

  9. Ecosystem Management • Ecosystem management is the key to conservation of life on Earth, but it is difficult to know the exact limits of the system and is equally difficult to know all of the interactions that take place within it. • If ecosystems cease to function we must supplement with our own actions. • Must consider chemical cycling, energy flow, community-level interactions, and natural changes.

  10. Chapter 7 Biological Diversity

  11. Biological Diversity and Biological Evolution • Biological Diversity (biodiversity) • The variety of life-forms commonly expressed as the number of species in an area • Biological Evolution • The change in inherited characteristics of a population from generation to generation • One of the features that distinguishes life from everything else in the universe

  12. Four Processes that Lead to Evolution • Mutation • Natural Selection • Migration • Genetic Shift

  13. Mutation • A chemical change in a DNA molecule • Affects the expressed characteristics when cells or individual organisms reproduce

  14. Natural Selection • 4 Characteristics: • Genetic Variability • Environmental Variability • Differential Reproduction • Environmental Influence • Species: • a group of individuals that reproduce with each other and produce fertile offspring

  15. Peppered Moth Example • Originally White • Now more black than white • Causes • Industrial Pollution • Soot covered trees • Industrial Melanism http://www.echalk.co.uk/Science/science.htm

  16. Migration • Two new species evolve from an original species due to isolation • Ex: land bridge

  17. Genetic Drift • Changes in the frequency of a gene in a population due to chance • Can be a problem for rare or endangered species

  18. Basic Concepts of Biological Diversity • Genetic Diversity • Habitat Diversity • Species Diversity • Species Richness • Species Evenness • Species Dominance

  19. Species • A group of organisms that can reproduce and produce fertile offspring. • Ubiquitous species • Worldwide distribution • Overly common in an area • Endemic species • Organisms unique to one place only. • Indicator species • The first native organisms in an ecosystem, to show the effects of environmental problems.

  20. The Number of Species of Life on Earth • No one knows the exact number • About 1.4 million species have been identified and named • Insects and plants make up moth of these species • Number will increase

  21. The Competitive Exclusion Principles • 2 species that have exactly the same requirements cannot coexist in exactly the same habitat • Ex) introduction of the gray squirrel into Great Britain

  22. Professions and Places: The Ecological Niche and the Habitat • Habitat: where a species lives • Ecological Niche: a species profession • The reason more species do not die out from competition is that they have developed a niche, and thus avoid competition

  23. What is the effect of each species on the other?

  24. Species Engage in 3 Basic Interactions • 1. Competition • 2. Symbiosis • 3. Predation-Parasitism • Each affect evolution, persistence of a species and the overall diversity of life • Organisms have evolved together and therefore adjusted to one another • Human interventions upset these adjustments

  25. Symbiosis • The relationship between two organisms that is beneficial to both and enhances each organisms chances of persisting • Mutualism, parasitism, commensalism • Obligate symbionts: • a symbiotic relationship between two organisms in which neither by themselves can exist without the other • Ex) stomach of a reindeer

  26. Chapter 8 BiogeographyPart I

  27. Why Were Introductions of New Species into Europe So Popular Long Ago? • Biogeography: • The large scale geographic pattern in the distribution of species, and the causes and history of this distribution

  28. Wallace’s Realms: Biotic Provinces • Realm: • Major biogeographic regions of Earth that are based upon fundamental features of the plants and animals found in those regions • Taxa: • Categories that identify groups of living organisms based upon evolutionary relationships or similarity of characteristics (ex: species, families, orders) • Biotic Provinces: • A geographical region (realm) inhabited by a characteristic set of taxa, bounded by barriers that prevent the spread of those distinctive kinds of life to other regions.

  29. The main biogeographic realms for animals are based on genetic factors .

  30. The major vegetation realms are also based on genetic factors

  31. Biomes • A biome is a kind of ecosystem. Similar environments provide similar opportunities for life and similar constraints. • Rainforest • Grasslands • Desserts

  32. Climate is the most important factor in determining the type of biome that will be found in an area

  33. Convergent Evolution • The process by which species evolve in different places of times and, although they have different genetic heritages, develop similar external forms and structures as a result of adaptation to similar environments • Ex) shapes of sharks

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