Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? Lesson Overview 3.1 What Is Ecology? iology_basics/animations/ecosystems.swf iology_basics/animations/ecosystems.swf

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? Studying Our Living Planet Ecology is the scientific study of interactions among organisms and between organisms and their physical environment Organism – population – community – ecosystem – biome - biosphere

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? Biotic/Abiotic Factors A biotic factor is any living part of the environment (animals, plants, mushrooms and bacteria) An abiotic factor is any nonliving part of the environment (sunlight, heat, precipitation, humidity, wind or water currents, soil type, etc) Environment made up of biotic and abiotic factors

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? Lesson Overview 3.2 Energy, Producers, and Consumers mations/ecosystems.swf mations/ecosystems.swf

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? Primary Producers Autotrophs? photosynthesis and chemosynthesis Autotrophs are also called primary producers (1 st trophic level)

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? Consumers Heterotrophs also known as CONSUMERS primary consumer (2 nd trophic level) secondary consumer (3 rd trophic level) tertiary consumer (4 th trophic level) quatenary consumer (5 th trophic level)

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? Types of Consumers 1.Carnivores 2.Scavengers – (vulture) animals that consume the carcasses of other animals that have been killed by predators or have died of other causes 3.Decomposers – (bacteria/fungi) feed by chemically breaking down organic matter 4.Herbivores 5.Omnivores 6.Detritivores – (giant earthworms) feed on detritus particles

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? Lesson Overview 3.3 Energy Flow in Ecosystems

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? Food Chains A food chain is a series of steps in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? Food Chains Within Food Webs FOOD WEB – a network of feeding interactions Each path through a food web is a food chain. A food web links all of the food chains in an ecosystem together animations.asp

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? Food Webs and Disturbance When disturbances to food webs happen, their effects can be dramatic. Krill are an example of small, swimming animals called zooplankton HOW WOULD A DECREASE IN THE KRILL POPULATION AFFECT THIS WEB?

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? Trophic Levels and Ecological Pyramids Three types of ecological pyramids: 1. Pyramids of energy - relative amount of energy available at each trophic level 2. A pyramid of biomass - relative amount of living organic matter at each trophic level 3. A pyramid of numbers - number of individual organisms at each trophic level ** ALWAYS GO FROM LARGE TO SMALL (broad to narrow)

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? Trophic Levels and Ecological Pyramids

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? Lesson Overview 3.4 Cycles of Matter

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? The Water Cycle Water molecules typically enter the atmosphere from EVAPORATION and TRANSPIRATON Back to Earth’s surface by PRECIPATION On land, some precipitation flows along the surface in what scientists call runoff Precipitation can also be absorbed into the soil, and is then called groundwater hill.com/sites/ /student_view0/unit1/chapter2/concepts_in_ motion.html#

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology?

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology?

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? The Carbon Cycle Carbon is a major component of all organic compounds, including carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids animations.asp hill.com/sites/ /student_view0/unit1/chapter2/concepts_in_m otion.html#

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology?

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? The Nitrogen Cycle All organisms require nitrogen to make amino acids (proteins, DNA, RNA) animations.asp hill.com/sites/ /student_view0/unit1/chapter2/concepts_in_m otion.html#

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? The Nitrogen Cycle Bacteria in soil convert nitrogen gas (N 2 ) into ammonia, in a process known as nitrogen fixation Consumers eat the producers and reuse nitrogen to make their own nitrogen-containing compounds Decomposers release nitrogen from waste and dead organisms as ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites that producers may take up again Other soil bacteria obtain energy by converting nitrates into nitrogen gas, which is released into the atmosphere in a process called denitrification

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? The Nitrogen Cycle Humans add nitrogen to the biosphere through the manufacture and use of fertilizers

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology?

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology?

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? The Phosphorus Cycle Phosphorus forms a part of vital molecules such as DNA and RNA. Although phosphorus is of great biological importance, it is not abundant in the biosphere hill.com/sites/ /student_view0/unit1/chapter2/concepts_in_m otion.html#

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? Lesson Overview 4.2 Niches and Community Interactions

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? The Niche the range of physical and biological conditions in which a species lives and the way the species obtains what it needs to survive and reproduce (its ecological role)

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? Tolerance Every species has its own range of tolerance, the ability to survive and reproduce under a range of environmental circumstances.

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? Tolerance A species’ tolerance for environmental conditions, then, helps determine its habitat—the general place where an organism lives.

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? Competition How one organism interacts with other organisms is an important part of defining its niche Competition occurs when organisms attempt to use the same limited ecological resource in the same place at the same time (intraspecific or interspecific competition)

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? The Competitive Exclusion Principle The competitive exclusion principle states that no two species can occupy exactly the same niche in exactly the same habitat at exactly the same time stems.swf

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? Dividing Resources Instead of competing for similar resources, species usually divide them ege/biology/discoverbio3/core/ content/index/animations.asp ege/biology/discoverbio3/core/ content/index/animations.asp

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? Predator-Prey Relationships An interaction in which one animal (the predator) captures and feeds on another animal (the prey) is called predation. cosystems.swf

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? Predator-Prey Relationships This graph shows an idealized computer model of changes in predator and prey populations over time.

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? Herbivore-Plant Relationships An interaction in which one animal (the herbivore) feeds on producers (such as plants) is called herbivory

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? Keystone Species Sometimes changes in the population of a single species, often called a keystone species, can cause dramatic changes in the structure of a community

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? Symbioses What are the three primary ways that organisms depend on each other? Biologists recognize three main classes of symbiotic relationships in nature: mutualism, parasitism, and commensalism.

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? Symbioses Any relationship in which two species live closely together is called symbiosis: mutualism parasitism commensalism basics/animations/ecosystems.swf basics/animations/ecosystems.swf

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? Lesson Overview 4.3 Succession

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? Primary Succession Volcanic explosions can create new land or sterilize existing areas. Retreating glaciers can have the same effect, leaving only exposed bare rock behind them. Succession that begins in an area with no remnants of an older community is called primary succession.

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? Primary Succession The first species to colonize barren areas are called pioneer species. One ecological pioneer that grows on bare rock is lichen—a mutualistic symbiosis between a fungus and an alga.

Lesson Overview Lesson Overview What is Ecology? Secondary Succession Sometimes, existing communities are not completely destroyed by disturbances. In these situations, secondary succession occurs. Secondary succession proceeds faster than primary succession, in part because soil survives the disturbance Secondary succession often follows a wildfire, hurricane, or other natural disturbance