1. Ecology
Chapter 19
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2. Ecology

3. Ecology
Ecology is the study of how an animal relates to its environment
Ecology includes studying what an animal eats, what eats the animal, where the animal lives, and what effect man has on the area where the animal lives
This includes the study of pollution
Pollution means man’s actions hurting the environment

4. How to use Ecology

5. How to use Ecology Ecology is important because:
We can study the relationships between organisms (living things) and their environment (where they live)
We can predict (guess) what will happen if something is changed
We can get ideas for how to change the situation to help the animals and the environment

6. Ecosystem

7. Ecosystem
An ecosystem is all of the living things and nonliving factors and how they all interact within a limited area
One pond, one forest, one ocean, etc
Ecosystems are made up of two interacting parts:
The Abiotic Environment – all of the things in the ecosystem that are not living
Pollution, man-made buildings, dead things, weather conditions (wind, snow, rain, sunlight, etc)
The Biotic Community – all of the living organisms in the ecosystem
Bacteria
Fungi
Plants
Animals

8. Abiotic Environment

9. Abiotic Environment Radiation Atmosphere Rotation of the Earth Wind
What season is it? How hot does it get? How cold does it get?
Wind
Topography
How deep is the water?
Soil and geological substrate
What minerals and rocks are in that place?
Gravity
Fire
Fire acts like a “reset” button for that ecosystem. When was the last fire?

10. Biotic Community

11. Biotic Community The biotic community can be divided into two groups:
Producers – they make things; autotrophic
Green plants
Algae
Consumers – they eat or take things; heterotrophic
Feeders – eat living things
Animals
Protists
Decomposers – eat dead things
Fungi
Bacteria

12. Populations

13. Populations
A population means all members of the same type of living thing (species)
Many individuals make up a population (one fly makes up a population of flies)
A community is made up of populations that interact (the grass is food for the rabbit that is food for the bird that is food for the human)
Communities interacting (in one place) make up an ecosystem
Ecosystems interacting make up the biosphere

14. The Food Chain

15. The Food Chain - levels

16. The Food Chain
The food chain means “what eats each thing inside an ecosystem”
If you eat a producer (plant or algae), you are a primary consumer. You are probably an herbivore (herbivorous)
If you are a carnivore that eats herbivores, you are a secondary consumer
If you are a carnivore or omnivore that eats other carnivores, you are a tertiary consumer. These are also called second-level carnivores
Grass – Rabbit – Bird - Human

17. Species Interactions
Two different species will interact in one of 7 ways
Neutralism – there is no direct relationship – a snake and a spider
Competition – these two species need the same thing in the environment, and there may not be enough of that thing for both species – rhinoceros and zebra both need to eat the grass in one place
Predation – one species kills and eats the other species – lions and zebras

18. Symbiotic Species Interactions
Symbiosis means any close, long-term relationship between two species – 4 of the 7 interactions are symbiotic
Amensalism – one species is harmed by the other species, but the second species is not harmed or helped by the first species
Parasitism – one species depends on the other species for food and is helped, while the second species is harmed by the first species

19. Symbiotic Species Interactions Continued
Commensalism – one species is helped by the other species, but the second species is not helped or harmed by the first species
Mutualism – both species are helped by the other species – they are helping (benefitting) each other

20. Habitat and Niche Habitat – the area where a kind of organism lives
The habitat of the bear is the forest
The habitat of the frog is the pond
Niche – the role that only that one species can play within its ecosystem
Only the grasshopper will eat certain kinds of plants in one ecosystem
Only the lion keeps the zebra population from getting too large

21. Biological Rhythms
Biological rhythms – things that cause organisms to change their location (place), activities, or both regularly
There are three kinds of rhythms
Diurnal Rhythms – they happen every 24 hours
You sleep at night and get up in the morning
Seasonal Rhythms – they happen over 1 year
Trees lose their leaves every year in the fall
Lunar Rhythms – they are related to the phases of the moon
Ocean tides are related to the moon

22. Man's Niche Man effects his environment in two ways:
Consumer – man takes things from the ecosystem to eat and to build things
We kill pigs to eat them
We cut down trees to make paper
If man consumes (uses) too much of one thing, he may hurt the ecosystem
Manager – man changes the environment to make the environment meet his needs
The farmer cuts down trees to make room his field
We blow up mountains to make highway
*We have dominion over the ecosystems, but with dominion comes responsibility to take care of the ecosystems*

23. Pollution
Pollution occurs when man puts things into the environment that hurt the environment in a big way
There are two kinds of pollutants (things that pollute)
Energy pollutants
Heat
Light
Sound
Substance pollutants
Biodegradable – breaks down in the environment – paper, wood
Nonbiodegradable – does not break down in the environment – plastic, glass