Ecosystems & Communities: Organisms and their Environments

1. Ecosystems & Communities:Organisms and their Environments Chapter 15

2. Ecosystems have living and non-living components 15.1 What are ecosystems?

3. 15.1 What is an Ecosystem? • A community of biological organisms plus the non-living components with which the organisms interact. • Living organisms are not self-sufficient. They need energy and raw materials.

6. 15.1Communities • The biotic environment consists of all the living organisms within an area and is often referred to as a community. • Communities can be any size and diversity – bacteria • - single celled organisms • - insects • - other larger sized creatures

7. Habitat • The abiotic (aka non-living or physical) environment, often referred to as the organisms’ habitat, consists of: • the chemical resources of the soil, water, and air, such as carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus • the physical conditions, such as the temperature, salinity (salt level), moisture, humidity, and energy sources

8. Examples of ecosystems • Different species interacting together at the same place and time • Different species interacting with each other at the same time in a desert • A smaller species living on a larger species in a mutually beneficial relationship

9. Ecosystem • An ecosystem is all of the living organisms in a habitat as well as the physical environment. Ecosystems are found not just in obvious places such as ponds, deserts, and tropical rainforests but also in some unexpected places, like the digestive tracts of organisms or the shell of a beetle.

10. Ecosystem • An ecosystem is made of two components: • the biotic environment, or community, consisting of the living organisms within an area, • the physical environment, or the habitat in which these organisms live. A habitat consists of its chemical resources of the soil, water, and air as well as its physical conditions.

11. Ecosystems have living and non-living components 15.2 A variety of biomes occur around the world, each determined by temperature and rainfall.

12. 15.2 A variety of biomes occur around the world, each determined by temperature and rainfall. • What is the average temperature? • What is the average rainfall (or other precipitation)? • Is the temperature constant or does it vary seasonally? • Is the rainfall constant or does it vary seasonally?

15. Tropical Rain Forest • forest of tall trees in a region of year-round warmth • ~ 125 to 660 cm yearly rainfall • temperature ranges from 20 °C - 34 °C • average humidity 77 - 88% • rainfall > 250 cm/year (may be a brief dry season) • almost all rain forests lie near the equator

16. Tropical Rain Forest • 6% of Earth's land surface • 50% of all the world's plant and animal species live in tropical rain forests • Produce 40% of Earth's oxygen • 70% of the plants in the rainforest are trees • 25% of all the medicines we use come from rainforest plants

17. Tropical Rain Forest

18. Indicator Species • any biological species that defines a trait or characteristic of the environment • may delineate an ecoregion  • could indicate an environmental condition such as a disease outbreak, pollution, species competition or climate change • can be among most sensitive species in a region; sometimes act as early warning to monitoring biologists

19. Tropical Rain Forest – Indicator Plant Species

20. Tropical Rain Forest – Indicator Animal Species Gorilla  Gorilla gorilla Orangutan (Pongopygmaeus) Spider Monkey Atelesgeoffreyi

21. Tropical Rain Forest – Indicator Animal Species 2-toed sloth Cholepushoffmanni Three-toed Sloth (Bradypusvariegatus) with baby - Costa Rica

22. Tropical Rain Forest – Indicator Animal Species Collared Aracari Pteroglossustorquatus

23. Grasslands (Prairie) • Wide-open spaces without trees • found in middle latitudes in the interiors of continents • short-grass: dry; hotter summers and colder winters • Argentina - grasslands are known as pampas • N. America – prairie • Russia - steppes • grasslands in southern hemisphere tend to get more precipitation than those in the northern hemisphere • different types • tall-grass: humid & very wet

24. Grasslands (Prairie)

25. Grasslands (Prairie)

26. Grasslands (Prairie) • temperatures range from -40° C  22° C • growing season and a dormant season • growing season is when there is no frost and plants can grow (which lasts from 100 to 175 days) • the length of the growing season is determined by temperature (≥ 12° C) • dormant (not growing) season: nothing can grow because its too cold

27. Grasslands (Prairie) • average rainfall per year ranges from 25 – 95 cm • amount of rainfall is very important in determining which areas are grasslands • hard for trees to compete with grasses in places where the uppers layers of soil are moist during part of the year but where deeper layer of soil are always dry. • tropical and sub-tropical grasslands: average rainfall per year ranges from 60 – 190 cm

28. Grasslands– Indicator Plant Species Old Field Habitat, Ohio Ironweed (Vernoniasp.)with Hedge Bindweed Vine  (Calystegiasepium) Grassland, North Dakota

29. Grasslands– Indicator Plant Species Ironweed (Vernoniasp.) Joe Pye Weed Eupatorium purpureum

30. Grasslands – Indicator Plant Species Common Teasel Dipsacusfullonum Queen Anne's Lace (Daucuscarota)

31. Grasslands – Indicator Animal Species Bison (Bison bison) on the range, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota

32. Grasslands – Indicator Animal Species Przewalski's horse (Equuscaballusprzewalskii), The Wilds, Ohio

33. Grasslands – Indicator Animal Species

34. Taiga • Cold forests of many coniferous trees and short brush • Russian word for forest • largest biome in the world • Eurasia, North America • located just below the tundra biome • many coniferous trees • Known in N. America as Boreal Forest

35. Taiga • winter temperature range is -54 to -1° C (-65 to 30° F) • summer: -7° C to 21° C ((20° F - 70° F) • summers are very short (50 - 100 frost free days) • average yearly precipitation: 30 - 85 cm (12 - 33 in) • main seasons are winter and summer • spring and autumn are very short • weather is either hot and humid or very cold

36. Taiga

37. Taiga – Indicator Plant Species Balsam Fir Abiesbalsamea Black Spruce Piceamariana

38. Taiga – Indicator Plant Species White Poplar Populus alba Paper Birch Betulapapyrifera Jack Pine Pinusbanksiana

39. Taiga – Indicator Animal Species American Black Bear Ursusamericanus Bald Eagle Haliaeetusleucocephalus

40. Taiga – Indicator Animal Species Snowshoe Rabbit Lepusamericanus Long-eared Owl Aisootus

41. Desert – Evaporation Exceeds Precipitation • hot and dry with little vegetation: near Tropic of Cancer/Tropic of Capricorn • cold: near the Arctic • cover about one fifth of Earth's land surface • temperature • hot & dry: ~ 25° C to ~ 49° C • cold: -2 to 4° C (winter) 21 to 26° C (summer) • precipitation • hot & dry: very little rainfall and/or concentrated rainfall in short periods between long rainless periods (< 15 cm/year) • cold: 15 - 26 cm/year

42. Desert

43. Desert – Indicator Plant Species

44. Desert – Indicator Plant Species Fishhook Cactus Mammillariamicrocarpa Saguaro Cactus Carnegieagigantea

45. Desert – Indicator Plant Species Trichomes

46. Desert – Indicator Animal Species Zebratail Lizard - Callisaurusdraconides

47. Desert – Indicator Animal Species Rock hyrax (Procaviacapensis)

48. Desert – Indicator Animal Species Bactrian Camel, Camelusbactrianus

49. Temperate Deciduous Forest • Medium temperature with trees that lose their leaves • temperature: 0 - 20 C Winter/summer seasonal variation • precipitation: ~ 50 – 200 cm/year – constant at all times of the year • Winter – dormant • Summer – productive • Biome of this region

50. Temperate Deciduous Forest