What is Natural History? the study of the natural environment with an emphasis on identification, formation/origin of physical features, life-history, distribution, abundance, and inter-relationships. – It often and appropriately includes an aesthetic component. the study of the natural environment including the physical environment and living inhabitants with an emphasis on identification, formation/ori gin of physical features, life- history, distribution, abundance, and inter- relationships. – It often and appropriately includes an Aesthetic component.

The Natural Environment=Ecosystems An interacting unit of living and non-living components. – Living Things (biotic) Plants, animals, fungi, microbes All the living things of an area = community – Non-living things (abiotic)—the physical environment Water, temperature/heat, sunlight, wind/air, soil/minerals, nutrients (found in air, water, & soil) etc… – Created by geological (sometime astronomical) factors

Major Ecosystem Interactions Energy production, transfer, and loss – Photosynthesis makes food, then one organisms eats another Nutrient movement – uptake, transfer, and recycling of nutrients. Tolerance, competition, predation – What can organism handle, how well does it obtain resources, what eats it and to what extent Ecological Succession – Change in community over time Symbiosis: very/unusually close relationships among organism

Energy & Nutrients Usable energy created by photosynthesis from energy of sun. Energy and nutrients pass from one organism to the next through feeding Energy is lost, but nutrients cycle sun

Energy & Nutrients nutrients pass from one organism to the next through feeding and are then cycled back through the ecosystem

Major Ecosystem Interactions Ecological Succession – Change in community over time

Major Ecosystem Interactions Symbiosis: very/unusually close relationships among organism

Symbiosis Particularly close relationships between two or more organisms – Often (but not always) refers to situation when one organism lives in or on another organism Mutualism Commensalism Parasitism Host (bigger) Symbiot (smaller) x

Goal = biologically interpret/assess 1.Why is this place the way it is; why are the things that are here, here? 2.What can I tell about this place from what I see?

Major Concepts Tolerance: – The amount of a physical condition that an organism can tolerate/live with Competition: – How good is it at getting resources compared to other individuals or organisms/species Predation: – What eats/kills it and at what level Adaptation: – A characteristic that makes an organism better suited to its environement better able to tolerate, compete, be a predator or escape predation, and reproduce

Tolerance Ranges For every physical aspect of the environment and for every substance used by an organism : – (e.g., temperature, water, wind, minerals, nutrients, pH, etc): – There is a minimum amount needed and a maximum amount that can be tolerated. – Between the minimum needed and maximum tolerable is the “tolerance range)

Tolerance range a simple schematic water wetdry too wet for the grass to survive too dry for the grass to survive Tolerance range there is enough to meet the grasses needs, but not too much

Competition Same species Different species – Competitive exclusion Influences where organisms are located

Competitive Exclusion Two species that compete for the same resources in the same way cannot coexist long term – The species that is the better competitor (in a given environment) will exclude the other specie at that location  this is competitive exclusion

The brownbarnacle competitively excludes the gray barnacle from the lower area even though the gray barnacle could tolerate that area Tolerance ranges Area found

Distribution of Living Organisms across the landscape is determined by a combination of (things are where they are because): Physical factors – specifically tolerance to physical factors and availability of abiotic resources Competition Predation Dispersal – has the organism been able to get to an area from its existing range

Common Factors Determining Distribution (where things are found) Found in this range Intolerant (too much) Predation Out competed Intolerant (too little) Predation Out competed

The Rocky Shore

TIDAL ZONES Not generally covered by water; gets splashed and sprayed Covered and exposed twice daily Covered and exposed once daily Exposed only at negative tides Highest Lowest Intertidal Zone Subtidal Never exposed

PHYSICAL GRADIENTS OF TIDE ZONES Spl as h/ Sp ray Zo ne Up pe r int ert ida l Mi d- int ert ida l Lo we r int ert ida l Su b- tid al Dryer Wetter No wave surge/shock Significant wave shock Less wave shock subtidal 1. WAVE SURGE/SHOCK2. WATER

OTHER VARIABLES Temperature – increases with exposure and time Salinity – Increases with exposure and time – Can decrease during exposure with rain Oxygen – decreases with exposure time Restricted Feeding – Ability to feed and availability of nutrients decreases with exposure. Limited Space – Wet places and other refuges are in limited when tide is out

ZONATION Physical Zonation  Biological Zonation The existence of characteristic communities at the different tide zones Based on: – Tolerance to physical factors (usually sets upper limit) – Competition (competitive exclusion) and Predation (usually sets lower limit)

Biological Zonation

Terrestrial Environments: it all begins with plants

THE CENTRAL IMPORTANCE OF PLANTS (and many producers) They form the base of the food chain – Biologically available energy and nutrients originate from plants Plants cannot move (animals can). – Thus they are reflective of the physical conditions at a particular area. The type of plants in a location influences the type of animals at that same location – Via habitat structure and food availability (type and amount) Terrestrial ecosystems/communities are usually identified by the plants groups they posses.

HOW PLANTS WORK Use Water, CO2, and sunlight energy to make food (photosynthesis) This happens mostly in leaves (which collect sunlight and CO2) – WATER + CO2  SUGARS

HOW PLANTS WORK Plants loose water through leaves Some of this is necessary to get water to leaves for photosynthesis – But too much water loss is bad

Abiotic (non-living) factors affecting the distribution of organisms Temperature Water Sunlight Wind Soil Conditions – pH – salt content/salinity – sandy – tightly packed – organic content Large Scale Small Scale

HOW PLANTS WORK Reproduction: plants do it with animals or the wind…or water

How Plants Work Seeds (with embryo) are dispersed

Asexual Reproduction in Plants

How plants obtain resources Obtaining water: – from soil (except aquatic plants) by roots. – lose water through leaves, but some water loss is required to move it. – roots get it, leaves lose it. Obtaining Sun: – Leaves Obtaining carbon dioxide: – from leaves pores called stomata, but letting CO2 in allows water to exit.

PLANT REPRODUCTION Sexual Reproduction (flowers, cones, spores, etc) Since plants can’t move: – their sperm needs to disperse to eggs animal pollinators, wind, or water) – offspring (seeds and spores) need to disperse away from parents by animals, wind, water, or “explosive propulsion ” Asexual (roots, stem base, runners, fragments) – Alternative reproduction includes self-fertilizing and vegetative propagation (cloning).

Extra or Reference Slides

Niche The role an organism plays in its environment How an organism “makes its living”. All the ways a species uses its physical environment/resources and all its interactions with other living things. Examples of what a niche contains: – What it eats – When it eats – How it gets food – What eats it – When is it active – What wastes does it put back into the environment – What resources it needs (nutrients, space, shelter, etc)

ADAPTATIONS to Rocky Shore Env. To Exposure/Drying – “run and hide” – “clam up” – Tolerant of drying – aggregation To Temperature Increases – Physiology/morphology – color – “run and hide” To Salinity Changes – Physiology – “clam up” To Wave Shock – “run and hide” – Low profile – Aggregation – “hold on tight” – Shells – “go with the flow”--bending

FORAGING MODES Photosynthesis--make their own food with sunlight energy – Algae (free living and endosymbiots) Filter-feeders – filter/strain food out of water – Made possible by movement of nutrient rich water—currents and tide – shell fish/mollusks, barnacles, sponges, tunicates, tube worms Sessile predators – immobile, but actively capture prey – Made possible by movement of nutrient rich water—currents and tide – e.g., anemones, Grazers – mobile algae eating organisms – snails, chitons, urchins, Sea hairs, some crabs Active/Mobile predators – move and eat other animals – Sea Stars, some snails/molluscs, some crabs/lobsters, some fish, Scavengers/Detrivores—eat non-living things and stuff that settles on bottom – Lobsters, Crabs, rock lice/sea roaches

MARINE FOOD CHAINS Photosynthetic Producers – Mostly phytoplankton, but some multicellular algae Zooplankton Primary Consumers Secondary Consumers Scavengers/decomposers

Algae/Kelp Photosynthetic, but not plants Different groups based on colors Because they are in the inaccessible subtidal zone, often they are best examined when washed up on shore Blade Stipe Holdfast