1. Ecology

2. What is Ecology?
Ecology is the study of the interactions among organisms and the interactions between organisms and their environment.
It breaks down our environment into individual components and analyzes what effect these components have on the larger system.

3. Levels of Ecological Organization
Six levels
Individual
Population
Community
Ecosystem
Biome
Biosphere

4. Individual
One organism
Example: 1 elk or 1 apple tree

5. Population
A group of the same species living in a given area at the same time
Example: 300 Elk in the Upper Dolores River Valley

6. Community
Groups of different populations living in the same area at the same time
Example: All of the plants and animals in the Upper Dolores River Valley

7. Ecosystem
A collection of all the organisms in a given area AND the nonliving material in an environment.
Example: All of the living organisms (communities) and nonliving material in the Upper Dolores River Valley

8. Biome
A particular physical environment that contains a characteristic collection of plants and animals.
Examples: Desert, Tundra, Tropical Rain Forest

9. Biosphere
All the living organisms and non living material on planet Earth.

11. Where does energy come from?
Sunlight is the major source for life on Earth.
Without sunlight, almost all life on Earth would not exist.

12. Producers
Producers, or Autotrophs, produce their own energy from either the sun or nonliving material in the environment.
There are 2 processes which producers can make energy:
Photosynthesis
Chemosynthesis

13. Producers
Photosynthesis is where an organism uses sunlight to combine Carbon Dioxide + Water which creates Sugar (energy) + Oxygen.
creates the oxygen we breathe.
The green color in plants is chlorophyll.

14. Producers
Chemosynthesis is where an organism takes non-living material and carbon dioxide and transform it into sugars.
This is very rare.
Only happens in unique environments like hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor and hot springs

15. Bacteria in Yellowstone Hot Springs

16. Tube Worms on Hydrothermal Vents

17. Consumers
Consumers, or Heterotrophs, are organisms that rely on other organisms for energy.
Consumers are subdivided into:
Herbivores
Carnivores
Omnivores
Detritivores

18. Consumers
Herbivores
Herbivores are organisms that eat only plants to survive.
Examples: cows, caterpillars, deer

19. Consumers Carnivores Carnivores eat other animals to survive.
Examples: snakes, dogs, owls

20. Consumers Omnivores Organisms that eat both plants and meats.
Examples: chickens, humans, bears

21. Consumers Detritivores Eats dead organisms to survive.
Examples: earthworms, snails, crabs

22. Decomposers
Decomposers consume dead material to survive, include bacteria and fungi.

23. Ecosystems Aspects of Ecosystems:
Habitat – the place where an organism lives
♦ the organisms address (Cortez, CO)
Niche – the role of an organism in it’s ecosystem including the unique ways it survives, interactions with others, obtains food, finds shelter, etc
♦ the organisms occupation
♦ what it does (student)

24. Keystone Species
a species on which other species in an ecosystem largely depend, such that if it were removed the ecosystem would change drastically

25. Invasive species
An invasive species is a plant, fungus, or animal species that is not native to a specific location (an introduced species), and which has a tendency to spread to a degree believed to cause damage to the environment, human economy or human health.

26. Feeding Relationships in Ecosystems
Energy flows through an ecosystem in one direction:
sun (or inorganic compounds) to autotrophs (producers) to heterotrophs (consumers)

27. Feeding Relationships in Ecosystems
Different classifications of feeding relationships include: Food Chains Food Webs Trophic Levels

28. Feeding Relationships in Ecosystems
Food Chain
A series of steps where energy is transferred by eating and being eaten.
One specific path of energy.

29. Example of a Food Chain

30. Feeding Relationships in Ecosystems
Food Web
The complex interactions of energy transfer of various organisms.
All the food chains of an area combined into the “big picture”

31. Example of a Food Web

33. Feeding Relationships in Ecosystems
Trophic Levels
Different levels of a food web/chain
Roman Numerals indicate the different trophic levels within a food web/chain
Also referred to as
Producers
Primary consumers
Secondary consumers
Tertiary consumers

34. Example of Trophic Levels

36. Ecological Pyramids
An Ecological Pyramid is a diagram that shows the relative amount of energy, matter, or numbers within each trophic level.
Three ecological pyramids are:
Energy Pyramid
Biomass Pyramid
Pyramid of Numbers

37. Ecological Pyramids Energy Pyramid
Diagram that displays how much energy is transferred to/from each trophic level
Only about 10% of energy from each trophic level is transferred to organisms in the next trophic level

38. Ecological Pyramids
Energy Pyramid

39. Ecological Pyramids
Energy Pyramid

40. Ecological Pyramids Biomass Pyramid
Diagram displaying how much biomass there is at each trophic level
Biomass = amount of organic stuff

41. Ecological Pyramids
Biomass Pyramid

42. Ecological Pyramids Pyramid of Numbers
Diagram showing the number of organisms at each trophic level

43. Ecological Pyramids
Pyramid of Numbers

44. Ecosystems Ecosystems are influenced by: Biotic Factors
Abiotic Factors

45. Ecosystems
Biotic Factors – biological influences on organisms within an ecosystem
- all organisms: plants, animals, bacteria,...
- affected by how many organisms are present

46. Ecosystems
Abiotic Factors – physical, or non-living, factors that shape an ecosystem
- climate (temperature, precipitation)
- wind
- soil type
- sunlight

48. Ecosystems Biotic and Abiotic factors determine:
* the survival and growth of an organism
* the productivity of the ecosystem in which the organism lives

49. Ecosystems
Community Interactions:
Competition
Predation
Symbiosis

50. Ecosystems Community Interactions:
Competition – when organisms attempt to use the same ecological resource in the same place at the same time
♦ food, water, light, space

51. Ecosystems Community Interactions:
Predation – when one organism feeds on another organism
♦ predators vs. prey

52. Ecosystems Community Interactions:
Symbiosis – when two species live closely together
♦ Mutualism – both species benefit
♦ Commensalism – one organism benefits while the other organism is neither helped or harmed
♦ Parasitism – one lives in or on another organism and harms it

53. Populations Three important characteristics that affect populations:
Geographic Distribution
Density (Population Density)
Growth Rate

54. Populations
Three important characteristics that affect populations: Geographic Distribution – the area inhabited by a population
♦ the range of the population

55. Populations
Three important characteristics that affect populations: Density (Population Density) – number of individuals per unit area

56. Populations
Three important characteristics that affect populations: Growth Rate – how the numbers within a population change
♦ number of births
♦ number of deaths
♦ number of individuals that enter or leave the population (immigration and emigration)

57. Populations Growth Rate Types of Growth
♦ Exponential Growth – will happen under ideal conditions

58. Populations Growth Rate Types of Growth
♦ Logistic Growth – population’s growth slows or stops after exponential growth
■ known as S-curve

59. Populations
Carrying Capacity – largest number of individuals that a given environment can support
Creates a logistic growth

60. Populations
Limiting Factor – something that causes populations growth to decrease
● competition ● weather ● predation
● national disasters ● parasitism ● disease ● seasonal cycles ● human activities