1. Ecology Introduction
The Biosphere

2. Define Ecology.
The study of interactions between organisms and their environment

3. Select one thing in the picture and remove it. What would change?

4. Biosphere Combined portions of the planet in which all life exists
Includes land, water, air, atmosphere
From 8 km above Earth  11 km below ocean surface

5. Compare biotic and abiotic factors.
Biotic factors: all organisms inhabiting the environment, adapted to its particular part of the world
Abiotic factors: nonliving parts of the environment, can determine which species survive
Biotic
Abiotic

9. Species
Group of organisms that can breed and produce fertile offspring

10. Most mules are sterile. Sterile hybrids are not species in their own right. A mule is the offspring of a male donkey (jack) and a female horse (mare). Horses and donkeys are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes.

11. Liger hybrid cross between a male lion and a female tiger
Males = sterile; some females have reproduced

12. Population
Groups of individuals/same species that live in the same area

13. Community
Assemblages of different populations living in a defined area

14. Ecosystem
Collection of all living organisms that live in a particular place together with their non-living (AKA physical) environment

15. Biome
Group of Ecosystems that have the same climate and similar dominant communities

16. Biosphere Combined portions of the planet in which all life exists
Includes land, water, air, atmosphere (biotic and abiotic)
From 8 km above Earth  11 km below ocean surface

19. Pop Quiz Think of the wooded area behind the school parking lot…
List several biotic factors
Now list several abiotic factors

20. How is Ecology Studied?
Observation
Experimentation
Modeling

21. Energy Flow

22. Sunlight
The main source of Energy for life on earth

23. Autotroph Aka Producer
Use E from environment to fuel assembly of simple inorganic compounds into complex organic molecules
Plants, some algae, certain bacteria
Photosynthesis or Chemosynthesis

24. Photosynthesis
Harness solar E to power chem reax that converts CO2 and H2O  O2 and sugars
This process removes CO2 and add O2 to Earth’s atmosphere
Plants: main autotrophs on land
Algae: main autotrophs upper layer of ocean and in fresh water
Photosynthetic bacteria: (most common = cyanobacteria) important in tidal flats and salt marshes (wet ecosystems)

25. Chemosynthesis Uses chemical E to produce carbs
Usually done in the absence of light (e.g.: volcanic vents ocean floor)
Performed by different types of bacteria

26. Heterotrophs Aka consumers Rely on other organisms fro E & food supply
Animals, fungi, many bacteria

27. Compare the types of feeding relationships.
Autotrophs (producers): self-feeders; produce own food; example: plants
Heterotrophs (consumers): depend on others for food
Herbivore: eat only plants
Carnivore: eat only meat
Omnivore: eat both plants and meat
herbivore
What are you?
omnivore
carnivore

28. Decomposers: break down and absorbs nutrients from dead organisms (Ex: fungi)
Detritivores: feed on dead material called detritus (scavengers)

29. Herbivore: cows, deer, caterpillars
Carnivore: snakes, dogs, owls
Omnivore: humans, bears, crows
Detritivore: (eat dead matter, plant & animal remains) mites, earthworms, snails, crabs
Decomposers: (aka saprophytes) bacteria & fungi

30. Energy flows through ecosystems in a ONE WAY direction
SunAutotrophHeterotroph
Food Chain: series of steps in which organisms transfer E by eating OR by being eaten
Producersprimary consumerssecondary consumerstertiary consumers
Decomposers (aka saprotrophs), detritivores & parasites can occupy any level of food chain

31. Food Chain
Series of steps in which organisms transfer E by eating OR by being eaten
Direct line sequence

32. Food Web overlapping food chains
Network of complex interactions

33. Trophic Levels
Each consumer depends on trophic level below it for E

34. Pop Quiz

35. Ecology Pyramids
Shows the relative amounts of E or matter within each tropic level in a food chain (or food web)

36. Energy Pyramid Shows relative E available at each trophic level
Only approx !0% of E available within one level is transferred

37. Pyramid of Biomass
Amount of living organic matter at each trophic level
Biomass = total amount of living tissue within a trophic level

38. Pyramid of Numbers
Relative number of individual organisms at each trophic level

41. Food web: more complicated than chains, shows more than one food source for each organism
Energy pyramids: show decreasing amounts of energy, biomass, and number of individuals as you move up the pyramid

42. The Flow of Energy: Higher Trophic Levels
Three hundred trout are needed to support one man for a year.  The trout, in turn, must consume 90,000 frogs, that must consume 27 million grasshoppers that live off of 1,000 tons of grass.
-- G. Tyler Miller, Jr., American Chemist (1971)

43. Compare Food chains, food webs and energy pyramids
Food Chains: model showing movement of energy through ecosystem using arrows to show “what eats what”
Trophic levels:
Primary consumer: eat plants
Secondary: eats primary
Tertiary (3rd): eats secondary
Label the parts of the food chain on your notes!