Ecology

1. Ecology The study of interactions among organisms & between organisms and their environment Ms. Pelullo 2012

2. Levels of Organization Any one individual living thing Group of similar organisms that can breed & produce fertile offspring Group of individuals that belong to the same species & live in the same area Assemblage of different populations that live together in a defined area All the organisms that live in a place together with their physical environment Group of ecosystems that share similar climates & typical organisms Entire Planet – All organisms and physical environments

3. Organism / Species Population Biosphere Community Ecosystem

4. What’s the Broadest Level?? • Biosphere • Where is it located and what does it include? • Portion of Earth where life exists • Consists of all the organisms plus their physical environment • Organisms + Land + Water + Atmosphere • Extends from about 8km about Earth’s surface to as far as 11km below the surface of the ocean.

5. How is economics linked with ecology? Humans live within the biosphere and DEPEND on ecological processes to provide such essentials as food and drinks that can be bought/sold/traded.

7. Word Bank Biome Population Ecosystem Community Biosphere Organism

8. Which ecological categories in the hierarchy include both biotic and abiotic factors? Ecosystem, Biome, Biosphere

9. What is the difference between a population and a community? A population is made up of individuals of one species living in the same area, while a community includes a variety of different species in a particular area.

10. What are the simplestlevels??? Additional: • Organelle • Tissue

11. Distinguish between factors Abiotic Biotic

12. Classify the following factors as biotic, abiotic, or both: • Rocks: • Pine trees: • Waterfalls: • Clouds: • A mushroom in the soil: • A fish swimming in a lake:

14. Energy, Producers, Consumers • As mentioned in our previous unit, materials and energy move between the living (biotic) and nonliving (abiotic) parts of ecosystems. • Materials (atoms, molecules) must be recycled but energy is NOT! • So, a constant supply of energy must enter every ecosystem. • On Earth, what supplies our energy???

15. Remember, organisms must be able to: • produce or obtain nutrients • convert the nutrients into usable forms of chemical energy (cellular respiration – producing ATP!!) • use these forms of energy to power their life processes.

16. 2 Categories based on how living things produce/obtain nutrients…. Heterotrophs Autotrophs • Obtains food by consuming other living things AKA Consumer • Ex: Animals, fungi, bacteria, some microorganisms Categories: Herbivores, Omnivores Decomposers • Capture energy from sunlight or chemicals and use it to produce its own food from inorganic compounds AKA Primary Producer • Ex: All Plants, bacteria, some microorganisms

17. Don’t forget – Different types of Autotrophy

18. What would happen to the amount of oxygen in our atmosphere without the presence of photosynthetic producers? The amount of oxygen would decrease to such a low level that we could not breathe.

19. Their feeding strategy can vary depending on what they are eating, and what is eating them! Consumers: Quatenary (fourth order) Tertiary (third order) Secondary (second order) Primary (first order) - herbivores

20. Examples of Consumers • Carnivores • Snakes, cat, dog, otter • Scavengers • Vulture • Decomposers • Bacteria, Fungi • Detritivores • Earthworms, snails, crabs, shrimp • Omnivores • Humans, bears, pigs, coati (badger) • Herbivores • Cows, deer, caterpillars

21. Compare your school to an Ecosystem. • Provide levels of organization found within the school. • List Abiotic and Biotic Factors found in and around the school.

22. Compare your school to an Ecosystem • Provide levels of organization found within the school. • List Abiotic and Biotic Factors found in and around the school. • Species  One Student or One Teacher • Population  9th Graders, or All Teaching Staff • Community  LHS, Heritage, Collins • Ecosystem  All the schools + non living factors – desks, chairs, water, etc.

23. How can we show feeding relationships in an ecosystem??? Food Chains Food Webs Pyramids of Energy Pyramids of Biomass Pyramids of Numbers

24. Food Chains • Energy passing through an ecosystem in a series of steps. • Organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten • Vary in Length • Example – how many steps in the food chain below? Food Chains & Food Webs Energy Flow in Ecosystems

25. Food Webs • Interconnected food chains • Shows networks of feeding interactions • Due to the fact that many animals eat more than 1 type of food • Each step in a food chain/web is called a trophic level Food Chains & Food Webs Energy Flow in Ecosystems

26. What do you think would happen to the ecosystem above if the algae were killed off? Since algae are the primary producers in this ecosystem, providing the energy necessary for life processes in this ecosystem, life in this ecosystem would not continue if algae were killed off

27. Other Questions to Think About… • Food chains and food webs cannot go on forever; in other words they cannot have an unlimited number of trophic levels. Why do you think this is true? • Some might make an analogy of decomposers being like earth's "recycling center". Summarize the importance of decomposers and detritivores in food webs Only a small portion of the energy available at each level of the food web or chain is transferred to the next level (on average, 10 %). Eventually, as we move up the energy pyramid, the amount of energy transferred will not be enough to support the life processes of another trophic level. Decomposers break down any dead organisms that have not been consumed into detritus. Detritivores breakdown both decomposers and the detritus that they produce to obtain energy. Without decomposers, nutrients would be locked forever in dead organisms. Instead, these nutrients re-enter the food web through primary producers; they are recycled.

28. Decomposers & Detritivores in Food Webs • Convert dead material into detritus • Detritus  • Eaten by detritivores • Ex: Grass Shrimp, Crayfish, Worms • Decomposition process releases nutrients that can be used by primary producers • Nature’s Recyclers • Without them – nutrients would remain locked in dead organisms

29. How does energy flow through an ecosystem ? In a one-way stream from PRIMARY PRODUCERS to various CONSUMERS

30. Ecological Pyramids • Show relative amounts of energy, biomass, or numbers of organisms in each trophic level of a given food chain or web

31. Pyramids of ENERGY • Shows: • Relative amount of energy available at each trophic level of a food chain/food web • What happens to the amount of energy available at each trophic level? • DECREASES!! • Only 10% of available energy gets passed up • What is this energy being used for??

32. Pyramids of BIOMASS • What’s Biomass??? • Total amount of living tissue within a given trophic level • Pyramid of biomass • The amount of biomass a given trophic level can support is determined by the amount of available energy. • Relative amount of living organic matter • Greatest biomass is at base – see image

33. Pyramids of NUMBERS • Shows the relative number of individual organisms at each trophic level in an ecosystem. • In most ecosystems, the shape of the pyramid of numbers is similar to the shape of the pyramid of biomass for the same ecosystem, with the numbers of individuals on each level decreasing from the level before it. • This is the only pyramid that can be inverted!!

34. ON YOUR OWN … • Why is a food web a more accurate representation of the feeding relationships in an ecosystem than a food chain? • All of the organisms in one area and their physical environment is known as a(n) a. Habitat b. Population c. ecosystem • _______ always make up the first trophic level in a food web. • About ___ percent of the energy available within one trophic level is transferred to the next trophic level. a. 90% b. 10% c. 100% d. 0%

35. ON YOUR OWN … • Why is a food web a more accurate representation of the feeding relationships in an ecosystem than a food chain? • An organism is rarely food for or feeds on just one other organism; a food web shows the many different feeding relationships that exist between organisms in an ecosystem. • All of the organisms in one area and their physical environment is known as a(n) a. Habitat b. Population c. ecosystem • Primary Producers always make up the first trophic level in a food web. • About ___ percent of the energy available within one trophic level is transferred to the next trophic level. a. 90% b. 10% c. 100% d. 0%

36. NICHES AND COMMUNITY INTERACTIONS • What is a Niche?? • Range of physical and biological conditions in which a species lives, and the way in which a species obtains food/energy to survive and reproduce • Niche describes the following: • Where an organism lives • What it does • How it interacts with the biotic and abiotic factors in an environment Niche refers to an organism’s total way of life!

37. NICHES AND COMMUNITY INTERACTIONS • Organisms occupy different places in a community because each species has a range of conditions under which it can grow and reproduce • These conditions help define where and how an organism lives

38. Tolerance: • Every species has its own range of tolerance • What’s Tolerance? • the ability to survive and reproduce under a range of environmental circumstances Example – temperature, sunlight, rainfall Each organism has an optimum range for best survival and reproduction

39. habitat • Habitat – general place where an organism lives ; its “address”

40. Resources and the niche • Resource – • any necessity of life: water, nutrients, light, food, space • For plants: sunlight, water, soil nutrients • For animals: nesting space, shelter, types of food, places to feed

41. Aspects of the niche • Physical aspects of the niche: • Abiotic factors – sunlight, water, soil, rocks, temperature • Biological aspects of the niche: • Biotic factors – when and how it reproduces, the food it eats, the way it obtains the food

42. RELATIONSHIPS • COMPETITION • How does competition shape communities? • If you look at any community, you will probably find more than one kind of organism attempting to use various essential resources.

43. When organisms attempt to use the same limited ecological resource in the same place at the same time, competition occurs. • For example – In a forest – plant roots compete for water and nutrients in the soil. • Competition can occur both among members of the same species (known as intraspecific competition) and • Between members of different species (known as interspecific competition)