Ecosystems & Communities: Organisms and their Environments

1. Ecosystems & Communities:Organisms and their Environments

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

3. 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. What is an Ecosystem? • The biotic environment consists of all the living organisms within an area and is often referred to as a community. • 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

7. Which scenario below exemplifies an ecosystem? • A group of organisms of the same species living in the same place at the same time • 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

8. Take-Home Message • 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.

9. Challenge Question • An ecosystem is made of two components: the biotic environment, or community, consisting of the living organisms within an area, and 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. • List some of the aspects that make up the physical conditions of a habitat.

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

11. 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 relatively constant or does it vary seasonally? • Is the rainfall relatively constant or does it vary seasonally?

14. 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

15. 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

16. Tropical Rain Forest

17. 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

18. Tropical Rain Forest – Indicator Plant Species

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

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

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

22. Grasslands (Prairie) • 2 different types • tall-grass: humid & very wet • short-grass: dry; hotter summers and colder winters than the tall-grass prairie • found in middle latitudes in the interiors of continents • either moist continental climates or dry subtropical climates • Argentina - grasslands are known as pampas • grasslands in southern hemisphere tend to get more precipitation than those in the northern hemisphere

23. Grasslands (Prairie)

24. Grasslands (Prairie) • temperatures range from -40° F  70° F • 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) • tropical and subtropical grasslands the length of the growing season is determined by how long the rainy season lasts • temperate grasslands the length of the growing season is determined by temperature (≥ 50° F) • dormant (not growing) season: nothing can grow because its too cold

25. Grasslands (Prairie) • average rainfall per year ranges from 10 - 30 inches • tropical and sub-tropical grasslands: average rainfall per year ranges from 25 - 60 inches • 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.

26. Grasslands (Prairie)

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

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

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

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

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

32. Grasslands – Indicator Animal Species

33. Taiga • Russian word for forest • largest biome in the world • Eurasia, North America • located just below the tundra biome • many coniferous trees • aka boreal forest; Boreal was the Greek goddess of the North Wind

34. Taiga • winter temperature range is -54 to -1° C (-65 to 30° F) • summer: -7° C (20° F) to 21° C (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

35. Taiga

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

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

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

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

40. Desert • cover about one fifth of Earth's land surface • hot and dry: near Tropic of Cancer/Tropic of Capricorn • cold: near the Arctic • 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

41. Desert

42. Desert – Indicator Plant Species

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

44. Desert – Indicator Plant Species Trichomes

45. Desert – Indicator Animal Species Zebratail Lizard - Callisaurusdraconides

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

47. Desert – Indicator Animal Species Bactrian Camel, Camelusbactrianus

48. Temperate Deciduous Forest • temperature: 0 - 20 C • precipitation: ~ 50 – 200 cm/year

49. Temperate Deciduous Forest

50. Temperate Deciduous ForestIndicator Plant Species Oaks (Quercus sp.) Dutchman's-Breeches Dicentracucullaria