Ecology The study of the interactions that take place among organisms and their environment

Aspects of Ecological Study

Biosphere The part of Earth that supports life Top portion of Earth's crust All the waters that cover Earth's surface Atmosphere that surrounds Earth.

Are nonliving factors of an environment. Abiotic Factors Are nonliving factors of an environment. Abiotoic Factors include amount of water and oxygen, temperature, light, and soil.

Biotic Factors Are the living factors of an environment.

Levels of Organization in Ecology

Ecosystem All the organisms living in an area and the nonliving features of their environment Types: Terrestrial = land (forest, meadow, desert) Aquatic = water (pond, lake, stream, ocean)

However…….. An ecosystem can be as large as the Sahara Desert, or as small as a puddle, or one tree in the rainforest!!!

Ex. Pond Ecosystem

Population All the organisms in an ecosystem that belong to the same species

Community All the interacting populations in an ecosystem

The place in which an organism lives Habitat The place in which an organism lives provides the kinds of food and shelter, the temperature, and the amount of moisture the organism needs to survive

Niche Is the role and position a species has in its environment (how it meets its needs for survival) Example: see the soil ecosystem on pages 44-45 in text…note each organisms role and how it uses the resources in its own way to survive

Living Relationships Photo from: Dr. Todd Huspeni – Animal Parasitology UW-Stevens Point

Symbiosis Relationship in which there is a close and permanent association among organisms of different species Examples: Commensalism, Mutualism, Parasitism

Photo from: Dr. Todd Huspeni – Animal Parasitology UW-Stevens Point

Commensalism Symbiotic Relationship in which one species benefits and the other species is neither harmed nor benefited

Ex. Clownfish protected by anemone…anemone not harmed or helped Photo from: Dr. Todd Huspeni – Animal Parasitology UW-Stevens Point

Ex. Spider Crab hitches a ride from jellyfish Photo from: Dr. Todd Huspeni – Animal Parasitology UW-Stevens Point

Mutualism A symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit

Ex. Ants protect acacia tree by attacking any animal that tries to feed on it…tree provides nectar and home for ants Photo from: Dr. Todd Huspeni – Animal Parasitology UW-Stevens Point

Parasitism: A type of interspecific interaction where one species (the host) is harmed at least in some way by the other (the parasite).

Tapeworm Photo from: Dr. Todd Huspeni – Animal Parasitology UW-Stevens Point

Dog hookworm Photo from: Dr. Todd Huspeni – Animal Parasitology UW-Stevens Point

Filariasis (Elephantiasis) caused by parasitic worm Photo from: Dr. Todd Huspeni – Animal Parasitology UW-Stevens Point

Fleas Photo from: Dr. Todd Huspeni – Animal Parasitology UW-Stevens Point

Lice Photo from: Dr. Todd Huspeni – Animal Parasitology UW-Stevens Point

Ticks Photo from: Dr. Todd Huspeni – Animal Parasitology UW-Stevens Point

Learning Targets Students will be able to demonstrate how energy transfers through food webs Students will be able to define and give examples of producers and consumers

Box Jellyfish Live off of Northern Australia – in Great Barrier Reef and in Indo-Pacific Very powerful venom – among most deadly in world Can be fatal to humans – and survivors will have pain for months and permanent scars from tentacles Up to 15 tentacles grow from each corner, and tentacles can be up to 3 meters in length! Stinging not activated by touch, but by chemical contained on prey Have eye clusters, but lack a central nervous system, so scientists don’t yet understand how they see Sea turtles are unaffected by the sting of the jellyfish and regularly eat them Average lifespan less than 1 year

How Organisms Obtain Energy

The Producers: Autotrophs Organisms that use energy from the sun or chemical compounds to make their own nutrients (photosynthesis)

Water + carbon dioxide  glucose + oxygen 6H2O + 6CO2  C6H12O6 + 6O2

The Consumers: Heterotrophs Organisms that cannot make their own food and must feed on other organisms

Consumers- 5 Types Herbivores - primary consumer – eat plants only Carnivores - higher level consumers – eat other animals

Consumers – 5 Types Omnivores - can fit in at any consumer level – eat both plants and animals Decomposers - break down dead organisms Scavengers - eat dead animals

Food Chain A food chain is a simple model of the feeding relationship in an ecosystem.

Food Chain For example, shrubs are food for deer, and deer are food for mountain lions. The mountain lion is the second organism of the food chain. It eats the deer. It is the secondary consumer. Because shrubs make their own food through photosynthesis, they are called producers. The deer is the first organism of the food chain to eat the shrub. It is the primary consumer. Shrubs are the beginning of the food chain. They receive their energy from sunlight.

Food Chain Algae make their own food from sunlight. They are the basis for the food chain in this example.

Generalized Food Web of the Antarctic Fig. 4.18, p. 77 Humans Blue whale Sperm whale Crabeater seal Killer whale Elephant seal Leopard Adélie penguins Petrel Fish Squid Carnivorous plankton Krill Phytoplankton Herbivorous zooplankton Emperor penguin Note: Arrows Go in direction Of energy flow…

Food Webs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbWyrcY5i3s Food Webs are Food Chains that intersect each other. Food webs are what really happens in nature. Now…let’s do an activity!! Grab a textbook and turn to page 53 (1 book per table)…a little background music for you while you get books http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbWyrcY5i3s

Food Web Activity Each group gets a deck of food web cards, whiteboard, and marker Lay out the cards on the whiteboard, arrange them into a potential food web Add 5 organisms of your own to the web Connect the webs with the arrows Label the autotrophs and heterotrophs For each heterotroph ID: carnivore, herbivore, omnivore, decomposer, scavenger

Where do decomposers fit in food chains?

Trophic Level Each Organism in a food chain represents a feeding step in the passage of energy and materials

How does energy transfer in a food chain? 10% rule Each organism at a trophic level loses energy from its food through waste and metabolic processes. Only 10% of the energy is used for growth and passed on to the next level of the food chain

Max Number of Trophic Levels: 3 – 4 Why? Only 10% of energy gets passed on, so energy dwindles away quickly: Mouse eats grass – gets 10% energy Snake eats mouse – gets 10% of 10% = 1% Hawk eats snake – gets 10% of 1% = 0.1%

Energy Pyramid

Energy Pyramid The bars are drawn in proportion to the total energy utilized at each trophic

Pyramid of Numbers

Pyramid of Numbers A bar diagram that indicates the relative numbers of organisms at each trophic level in a food chain. The length of each bar gives a measure of the relative numbers.

Pyramid of Biomass

Pyramid of Biomass As pyramids of number but uses dry mass of all organisms at each trophic level. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TE6wqG4nb3M Music review

Does anything else transfer in a food chain? Toxins (heavy metals, DDT, PCB’s) = stored in the fat of organisms Bioaccumulation = accumulation of toxic chemicals in the tissue of an organism

Biomagnification = increase in concentration of a pollutant from the environment to the first organism and subsequent organisms in a food chain The higher the animal is on the food chain, the higher the concentration of toxins

DDT Problem Background of DDT DDT is a pesticide used for mosquito control and pest control in agricultural crops. DDT accumulation in some bird species resulted in death, nervous system damage, and reproductive failure. As a result DDT was banned in the United States in 1972.

DDT is broken down by organism and stored in fat = Damage = decrease population Reproductive failure (in birds/eagles- eggshell thinning) Immune system problems Nervous system damage Death

Bioaccumulation Factor The concentration of a chemical/toxin in tissue divided by its concentration in the diet