1. Homework due Tuesday
Complete assignment, The Mystery of Easter Island (requires textbook)
Read essay, Endless Interactions, pp. 658
After School help sessions Tues (6/6) and Weds (6/7) for:
Nitrogen and Carbon Cycles
Test Rescore work

2. Happy Monday! Submit The Wolves of Yellowstone
Title a new page “Ecology in a Nutshell”
Reminders:
Start a Test Rescore this week and submit by Friday (6/9) in case you require a few submissions before reaching 100%
Pasture Profits is due Tuesday

3. Ecology

4. Ecology, defined BBECPO
Ecology is the study of how organisms interact with each other and their environment.
BBECPO

5. Biomes
“The world's major regions, classified according to the predominant vegetation and characterized by adaptations of organisms to that particular environment" 

6. Biodiversity
A term given to the variety of life on Earth –between all species of plants, animals and micro-organisms.

7. Ecosystem
All the organisms in a given area (“biotic” factors) as well as the abiotic factors with which they interact. 
Abiotic Examples:
Biotic Examples:

8. Biogeochemical/Nutrient Cycles
Nitrogen Cycle
Cycling of N2 gas, NO3 (nitrates), Netc (protein), NH3 (ammonia)
Biotic and abiotic reservoirs
Nitrogen fixation via bacteria
Carbon Cycle
Cycling of CO2 , C6H12O6 (glucose) and Corganic molecules
Carbon fixation via plants
Water Cycle
Cycling of H2O (water) in biotic and abiotic reservoirs

9. Communities
One “community” refers to all populations (i.e., various species) living together, interacting with each other, in a shared space.

11. Competes for space with Wrinkled Whelk (Snail)
Great Blue Heron
Supplies energy to
Lives in
Becomes
Chinook Salmon Smolts
Competes for space with
Isopods
California Mussel
Wrinkled Whelk (Snail)
Snails
Dungeness Crab
Acorn Barnacle
Eelgrass
Polychaete Worms
Zooplankton
Phyto-plankton
Detritus
Diatoms
Review interactions.
How many trophic levels?
Primary producer(s)?

12. The Effect of the Introduction of:
The Japanese Mudsnail, a non-native, invasive species
An introduced species thought to cause damage to an existing ecosystem
Shoreline Development (humans!)

13. Competes for space with Wrinkled Whelk (Snail)
Great Blue Heron
Japanese Mudsnail - Eat diatoms
- Stir mud into water
Supplies energy to
Lives in
Becomes
Chinook Salmon Smolts
Competes for space with
Isopods
California Mussel
Wrinkled Whelk (Snail)
Snails
Dungeness Crab
Acorn Barnacle
Eelgrass
Polychaete Worms
Zooplankton
Phyto-plankton
Detritus
Diatoms

14. Shoreline Development Competes for space with Wrinkled Whelk (Snail)
Great Blue Heron
Supplies energy to
Shoreline Development
- Force of water due to sea wall rips up eelgrass beds
Lives in
Becomes
Chinook Salmon Smolts
Competes for space with
Isopods
California Mussel
Wrinkled Whelk (Snail)
Snails
Dungeness Crab
Acorn Barnacle
Eelgrass
Polychaete Worms
Zooplankton
Phyto-plankton
Detritus
Diatoms

15. Food Webs

16. Food Chains vs. Food Webs
Compare and Contrast

17. Food Chains and Trophic Levels
The word trophic derives from the Greek trophē referring to “food” or “feeding”.
The trophic level of an organism is the position it occupies in a food chain.
A food chain represents a succession of organisms that eat another organism and are, in turn, eaten themselves.

18. Happy Tuesday! Submit Open to notes from yesterday Pasture Profits
The Mystery of Easter Island
Open to notes from yesterday

19. Write a statement to explain why food chains are limited to only a few trophic levels. Extra Challenge: Incorporate heat, organic, and biomass in your response.

20. Ecological communities with higher biodiversity form more complex trophic paths. The greater the biodiversity, the more stable the ecosystem. Why do you think this is the case?

21. Food Web: Yellowstone National Park
What could happen if the elk population was removed?
What do King Bolete and Soil Bacteria represent?
If the Idaho fescue was removed, what organisms may be directly affected? Indirectly affected? Why?

22. Reintroduction of the Wolves in Yellowstone National Park Discuss:
Why were wolves removed from Yellowstone National Park beginning in 1914 and ending with the last wolf killed in 1944?
What started occurring in the 1980s to 1990s to resume the balance back to the park?
It has now been 2-3 decades since wolves were reintroduced back into Yellowstone. What changes have biologists observed in the park? Are these healthy or unhealthy?

23. Do you think it would have been better for the ecosystem if more wolves had been introduced in 1995? Why or why not?
Explain why the wolf population declined after 2000.
In which year was elk starvation greatest? Explain why so many elk died that year.
Predict what might have happened if hunters had been allowed to kill half of the wolf population in 2005.
How does the size of the elk population influence the number of wolves in the park?
If no hunting is allowed, what natural mechanisms would control the size of the wolf population?

24. Describe the relationship you see between the predator and its prey.
Why do prey species fluctuate so much more?

25. Removing the keystone of an arch causes it to collapse.
Keystone Species:
A species in an ecosystem which has tremendous importance in stabilizing an ecosystem in spite of the fact that the species is not very abundant.
- Its removal has a cascade effect on countless other species in the ecosystem.
- Not to be confused with dominant species, which describes the most common (abundant) species in an ecosystem.
Removing the keystone of an arch causes it to collapse.

26. Community Interactions
Predator-Prey
Competition
Symbiosis sym = together bio = life/living
Mutualism
Commensalism
Parasitism

27. Predator-Prey
Predation: an interaction between species in which one species, the predator, uses the other, the prey, for energy.
Predation is not to be confused with parasitism, in which one organism feeds on the cell contents, tissues, or body fluid of another species (the host). Parasites harm but usually do not kill their host.

28. Competition
An interaction in which 2 or more species compete for resources due to inhabiting a shared space. Think siblings! Both species tend to experience some disadvantage.
Whether it be for food, living space, shelter, or attention at college parties.

29. Symbiosis Symbiotic Types “sym” = together “biotic” = life related
Mutualism
Commensalism + 0
Parasitism + -
Predation

30. Mutualism
An interaction where both symbiotic organisms benefit.
+ / +

31. Commensalism
An interaction where one organism benefits and the other is unaffected.
+ / 0

32. Parasitism
+ / -
An interaction where one organism benefits (the parasite) and the other is at a disadvantage (the host).

33. Shifting Gears…
If you traced a radioactive carbon atom from the primary producer level, could it end up in the eagle? Why or why not?

34. Observe both diagrams. What do they have in common?

35. The concepts of bioaccumulation and/or toxic magnification is shown in the images. Write a statement that explains this phenomenon.
How might the cycle of this matter affect the health of an ecosystem?

36. Happy Wednesday! Finish lecture! Need a calculator
Practice EOC Scenario
Try one
See how you did against scoring rubric
Tips
Repeat, if time, using the other practice scenario

37. Populations
A group of members of a certain species (i.e., can interbreed and reproduce fertile offspring) that live in the same area.

38. Populations Things we examine in populations:
Population Growth (graphs)
Population Density
Limiting Factors
Carrying Capacity

39. Pasture Profits
The carrying capacity of a biological species in an environment is the maximum population size of the species that the environment can sustain indefinitely, given the food, habitat, water, and other necessities available in the environment.
Thanks and nicely said, Wikipedia! 
What was the carrying capacity in Pasture Profits?
What is the relationship between resources and carrying capacity in a particular ecosystem?

40. Population Density
How many organisms of one population occupy an area.
“Whoa, I think that the population density of Homo sapiens in Mill Creek is far less than that of the population density of Homo sapiens in China”
Population = # of individuals in a population Density Area (square miles)

41. # of individuals in a population / Area (square miles)
Try these…
Population Density =
# of individuals in a population / Area (square miles)
Calculate the human population density of:
A town that is 25 square miles and has a population of 8,341.
The United States, which has an area of 3,539,225 square miles and a population of 298,444,215.
China, which has an area of 3,705,000 square miles and a population of 1,357,000,000.
A town that is 3.6 square miles and has a population of 18,828.

42. The Mystery of Easter Island
What happened to the population of humans on the island over time?
What factors limited the growth of the human population?

43. Observe the 2 graphs showing different populations carrying capacity
Observe the 2 graphs showing different populations carrying capacity. What is the difference? What does this tell you about carrying capacities?
S - Shaped Growth Curve
J - Shaped Growth Curve

44. Limiting Factors

46. Discuss: What conditions are necessary for populations to increase rapidly?

47. Tips When writing a Procedure, always include:
“Record data”
“Repeat steps __ through __ two more times”
“Measure the [initial] value”
“Measure the [final] value”
For Field Studies, when designing a new study, you CAN use their original steps and modify as needed, to reflect your new study
EOC Packet Key and all Scoring Guides will be posted tonight at 4-5pm