Intro to Ecology

1. Intro to Ecology Study of how organisms INTERACT with each other and their environment

2. TEKS 8.6 (C) Describe interactions within ecosystems.

3. Levels of Organization (Review First 8 SLIDES)Red – things you have learnedBlue – things we are covering now • Biosphere • Biomes • Ecosystem • Community • Population • Organism • Organ System (Muscular, Skeletal, Reproductive) • Organ (Heart, Lungs) • Tissue (Blood, etc…) • Cell (Prokaryotes/Eukaryotes) • Organelles (Ribosomes, ER, Etc…) • Compound/Molecule (Macromolecules) • Element (O,H, N, C) • Atom Large Small http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/begin/cells/scale/

4. Explain:Life Levels and Organization

5. Biosphere The biosphere is the outermost part of the planet’s shell — including air, land, suface rocks, and water — within which life occurs, and which biotic processes in turn alter or transform.

6. Biome a biome is a major regional group of distinctive plant and animal communities best adapted to the region's physical natural environment, latitude, elevation, and terrain. Examples of biomes include the desert, rain forest, artic tundra, grassland, coniferous forest, decidious forest, and oceans.

7. Ecosystems All the biotic (living) and abiotic (nonliving) factors that will INTERACT with each other in some subset of the biosphere. Abiotic factors: soil, water, temperature, elevation, and location on the earth.

8. Coral Reef Ecosystems

9. Yellowstone National Park Ecosystem

10. Community • Groups of many different species of organisms interacting in a particular area (predator prey relationships) • Only the biotic factors that interact between different species of organisms http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=255soRFgyZk

11. Population • A group of organisms of ONE species that interbreed and live in the same place at the same time. A population of fish http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnZI23EsgiI

12. How Organisms Live (Begin Writing) Every organism has a function in its community. Autotrophs, heterotrophs, carnivores, scavengers, omnivores, decomposers Niche – the role a species plays in its community Habitat – place where an organism lives out its life

13. Cape May Warbler Feeds at the tips of branches near the top of the tree Bay-Breasted Warbler Feeds in the middle part of the tree Yellow-Rumped Warbler Feeds in the lower part of the tree and at the bases of the middle branches Spruce tree Three Species of Warbler and Their Niche

14. Symbiosis Relationships between organisms. Commensalisms: One organism is benefited and the other is not harmed. Mutualism: Both organisms benefit from the relationship. Parasitism: One benefits and the other is harmed.

15. Commensalism • Examples: • Clown fish and sea anemones • Shark and remora

16. The clown fish is immune to the stings of the sea anemones tentacles. The clown fish makes its home in the tentacles for protection. The clown fish gets shelter, but the sea anemone gets nothing.

17. The remora hangs around the shark picking up any scraps it may leave. The remora gets food while the shark gets nothing.

18. Mutualism • Examples: • Cowbirds and Large Animals • Termites and Trichonympha • Bees and Flowers

19. The cowbird benefits by eating the ticks and mites off the large animal. The large animal benefits from have the parasites removed from them. The birds can also warn them of danger.

20. Termites and Trichonympha You probably think termites eat wood; they do – in a way. Termites can’t digest cellulose, which is the main component of wood. Therefore, they get help from a protozoan called trichonympha. This protozoan lives in the gut of the termite. It breaks down the cellulose for the termite. The trichonympha gets a free meal and shelter; the termite is able to eat and receive nutrients from the wood.

21. Termites in wood

25. Trichonympha

26. Bees receive nectar from the flowers in order to make honey. As the bees collect nectar, they collect pollen on their body. As they fly to another flower, they pollinate it by dusting the pollen on the flowers stamen.

27. Parasitism Examples: Tapeworm and Humans Cuckoo bird and warbler Ticks

28. Tapeworms and humans

31. Life cycle of tapeworm

32. Cuckoo and Warbler

34. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbvDQjhO9nY

35. Ticks

36. Wasp and caterpillar http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMG-LWyNcAs

37. Producer (autotroph) • Producers (autotrophs) are always at the base of the chain. Producers are organisms that make their own food. Plants are producers.

38. Herbivore Herbivores are animals that only eat plants. A cow and a deer are herbivores.

39. Herbivores Zebras eat grass. They are herbivores. Cows are herbivores.

40. Omnivore An omnivore eats both plants and animals. Humans and bears are omnivores.

41. Carnivore Animals that eat meat are carnivores. A lion and a wolf are carnivores. What is the most vicious carnivore?

42. The Shrew! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNowlueg4H4

43. Decomposer A decomposer eats dead or dying organisms.

44. Producers and Consumers So…producers make their own food (e.g., photosynthesis) and consumers don’t. Is a dog a producer or a consumer? Is a termite a producer or a consumer?

45. Food Chain The simplest feeding arrangement in an ecosystem.

46. Food Chain A food chain is the flow of energy from one organism to the next.

47. Describe the Food Chain

48. Describe the Food Chain

49. Describe the Food Chain

50. An organism’s niche includes how it avoids being eaten and how it finds or captures its food. Predators are consumers that capture and eat other consumers. The prey is the organism that is captured by the predator.