Ecology

1. Ecology Eco = house-ology = study of The study of how organisms interact with each other and with their environment. Ecologists study biodiversity, population size, ecosystems, climate change, changes in habitats, cycles of matter, food webs, energy pyramids, and human activity.

3. Levels of Organization

4. Levels of Organization Part of Earth that contains living things Biosphere Biosphere Hawk, snake, bison, prairie dog, grass, stream, rocks, air Community and its nonliving surroundings Ecosystem Populations that live together in a defined area Community Hawk, snake, bison, prairie dog, grass Group of organisms of one type that live in the same area Population Bison herd

5. Ecosystems contain: Abiotic Factors (nonliving things) Biotic Factors (living things) ECOSYSTEM

6. Ecosystems contain: Abiotic Factors (nonliving things) Biotic Factors (living things) ECOSYSTEM

7. Ecosystems contain: Abiotic Factors (nonliving things) Biotic Factors (living things) ECOSYSTEM

9. What is biodiversity? bio = living diversity = variety of forms Biodiversity– the entire variety of organisms in an ecosystem; i.e., the different species which are members of a particular ecologicalcommunity.

10. Species Diversity Insects 54.4% Protists Other Animals 4.2% 19.7% Plants 18% Bacteria 0.3% Fungi 3.4%

15. Water cycle terms: • Precipitation (n.), precipitate (v.) Falling of snow, rain, sleet, and hail from clouds. • Evaporation (n.), evaporate (v.) Physical change of water from liquid to gas. • Transpiration (n.), transpire (v.) Release of water from the leaves of plants as vapor.

16. Water cycle terms • Infiltration: the movement of water through pores or small openings into the soil and porous rock. • Runoff: the part of the precipitation appearing in surface streams. • Groundwater: water contained in pore spaces in sediments and rocks beneath the Earth’s surface.

17. The Water Cycle

19. Carbon (C) • It is the fourth most abundant element in the universe by mass • It is present in all known lifeforms, and in the human body it is the second most abundant element. • Its different forms include diamond and graphite. • When united with hydrogen, it forms various flammable compounds such as petrochemicals and fossil fuels.

20. 6H2O + 6CO2 ----------> C6H12O6+ 6O2 six molecules of water plus six molecules of carbon dioxide produce one molecule of sugar plus six molecules of oxygen Photosynthesis

21. C6H12O6 (glucose) +O2 (oxygen)  CO2 (carbon dioxide) + Energy Energy to move, digest food, excrete wastes, heat. Cellular Respiration

22. About 90% of the energy available to an animal is lost as heat!

23. The Carbon Cycle CO2 in Atmosphere CO2 in Ocean

28. Nitrogen (N) • Nitrogen is needed to make protein and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) • DNA is the heredity material found in all living things. • Atmosphere is made up of 78% nitrogen In order to be useful to organism, nitrogen must be supplied in the nitrate ion form (NO3 –) to organisms.

29. How can atmospheric nitrogen be converted into nitrates? 1- Lightning • The energy from lighting causes nitrogen gas to react with oxygen in the air, producing nitrates (NO3- ) that can then be used by the plants. Lightning provides only about 5% nitrogen fixation

30. 2- by bacteria in the soil Provides majority of nitrogen fixation 3-Synthetic Fertilizers. • The process of converting nitrogen into nitrates is called nitrogen fixation

31. The Nitrogen Cycle N2 in Atmosphere NO3- and NO2- NH3

32. Differential (uneven) heating of the earth’s surface and latitude affectclimate. Different Latitudes: 90°N North Pole Sunlight Arctic circle 66.5°N Sunlight 23.5°N Tropic of Cancer Most direct sunlight Equator 0° Tropic of Capricorn 23.5°S Sunlight 66.5°S Arctic circle Sunlight 90°S South Pole

33. Climate - average temperature and weather conditions of a place. Ex.Hot and rainy climate. Biome – large area of the world with a specificclimate and with specific dominantspecies of organisms. Ex.Desert biome.

34. Land Biomes Temperate grassland Temperate forest Tropical rain forest Tundra Northwestern coniferous forest Mountains and ice caps Tropical dry forest Desert Temperate woodland and shrubland Tropical savanna Boreal forest (Taiga)

35. Zones of a Marine Ecosystem land 200m Photic (lighted) zone Coastal ocean 1000m Aphotic (dark) zone Open ocean 4000m 6000m 10,000m Continental slope and continental rise Ocean trench Abyssal plain Continental shelf

36. Earth’s Biomes – part 1

37. Earth’s Biomes – part 2

38. A simple food chain

40. Bio words • Autotrophs or producers: Organism that “make” food Example: vegetables, trees, grass. • Heterotrophs or consumer: They obtain energy from autotrophs or other heterotrophs. Example: animals, humans.

41. Bio words • Herbivores or first order (primary) consumers: they feed directly on the plants. Example: mice, rabbits, deer. • Carnivores or second order consumers: They feed on the animals that eat other plants Example: owl, mountain lion • Omnivores: eat both plants and animals Example: humans

42. A Salt Marsh Food Web

43. In food webs, arrows always point to the consumer.

46. Food ChainsandFood Webs There are moreenergypathways available in complex food webs than in food chains. Therefore food webs provide greaterstabilitytoecosystems than foodchains do.

50. Ecological Pyramids Energy Pyramid Shows the relative amount of energy available at each trophic level. Organisms use about 10 percent of this energy for life processes. The rest is lost as heat. Pyramid of Numbers Shows the relative number of individual organisms at each trophic level. Biomass Pyramid Represents the amount of living organic matter at each trophic level. Typically, the greatest biomass is at the base of the pyramid.