1. Ecology

2. How is Earth a living planet?
How do we study it?

3. Ecology: Study of interconnectedness of living things.
How organisms interact and depend on each other for survival
How they interact with and affect their environments

4. What’s the Connection? Ex: Bee and Flower Ex: Squirrel and Oak tree
Ex: Mosquitoes and Frogs
Ex: Human driving a car and planet

5. Levels of Ecological Organization
Ecologists study different levels within the environment
Individual Organisms
Populations
Communities
Ecosystems
Biomes
Biosphere

6. What might we study about…
Organisms: Looks at behavior of individuals
Only part of the story because individuals depend on each other for food, shelter and protection
Ex:
movements,
feeding behavior,
offspring produced,
sleep cycles,
migration patterns
Ex: One white tailed deer

7. What might we study about…
Populations: group of individuals of same species
that live in same area and interbreed
Ex: Herd of white tailed deer
Look at how populations utilize resources.
How large is the population? Is it increasing, declining?
What diseases may be affecting it
What are affects of pollution on population

8. Why is it a good adaptation in many species for the juveniles to consume a different food source and live in a different part of the environment?
Adaptation to reduce competition for resources!

9. What might we study about…
Communities: populations of different species
that interact and inhabit the same environment.
A change in one population in a community will usually change and affect the other populations
Ex: Forest Community

10. How does an increase in hawk population affect the mouse population?
What other affects would that have on other plant and animal species in the community?

11. What might we study about…
Ecosystems: Communities of organisms interacting with each other and with their physical environment.
Can involve hundreds of different species

12. Terrestrial Ecosystems: on land
Ex: Forest, meadow, desert, taiga, tundra
Aquatic Ecosystems: in fresh or salt water
Ex: Freshwater: Ponds, lakes, rivers, streams
Ex: Marine (salt): oceans

13. What are some of the effects of deforestation on tropical rainforest ecosystems?

15. Characteristics of a Balanced Ecosystem
Constant source of energy (ex: sunlight)
Population of organisms that can store that energy in a usable form (autotrophic “producers”)
Flow of energy from one population to another
Way for materials and nutrients to be recycled

16. Biomes: group of ecosystems with similar climates & typical organisms
Tropical Grassland
Tropical Rain Forrest
Desert
Tundra
Temperate Deciduous Forest
Taiga: Coniferous Forest

17. Biosphere: portion of planet that supports life, (land, water, air)
A very thin layer of Earth’s total area, but it extends high into atmosphere and deep into oceans (ex: The peel of an apple)

18. Living and Nonliving Environment
The physical environment and living
environment are connected in many ways
Some abiotic factors
How might they affect life here?

19. Biotic and Abiotic Factors
Biotic Factors: living things in an environment
that affect other living things
Ex:
Predators, parasites, worms in soil, decomposers recycle materials
Abiotic Factors: nonliving parts of environment that
affect living things
Light: intensity and duration (depends on latitude)
Temp: varies with latitude and altitude
Water: amount of precipitation
Short Clips: Biotic and Abiotic Factors:

21. Resources that are available in the shortest supply
Limiting Factors
Resources that are available in the shortest supply
Ex:
Availability of food
Amount of moisture in the desert
Amount of usable nitrogen in soil

22. Energy Flow in Ecosystems
All organisms need energy to power life’s processes
Where does this energy come from?
How is it transferred from one organism to another?

23. Trophic Levels
Each step in a food chain or food web is called a trophic level.
Primary producers are always in the first trophic level

24. Primary Producers (First Trophic Level) Autotrophs
Utilize energy from either sunlight or chemical compounds to make their own food
Usually at the base of a “food chain”

25. Capturing Energy Photosynthesis Chemosynthesis
Captures light energy using special pigments
Converts carbon dioxide and water into sugars
Chemosynthesis
Harnesses chemical energy from inorganic molecules such as hydrogen sulfide
Ex: Bacteria in deep sea volcanic vents

26. (Second, Third, Forth Trophic Levels etc…) Heterotrophs
Consumers
(Second, Third, Forth Trophic Levels etc…)
Heterotrophs
Acquire energy and nutrients from eating other organisms
Can’t make own food

27. Types of Consumers
Herbivores:
(Primary Consumers)
eat plants

28. Carnivores: (Secondary Consumers)
usually kill and eat other animals (often eat herbivores)

29. Scavengers: (Secondary/Tertiary Consumers)
Eats dead animals (both herbivores and carnivores)

30. Omnivores: (Primary & Secondary consumers)
Eat both plants and animals

32. Decomposers: (Saprophytes)
Break down dead material at all levels of food chain

33. Food Chains and Food Webs
Short Clip:

34. Food Chains: series of steps in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten.

35. Food Webs: show more complex feeding relationships and how they are interrelated
Link together all the food chains in an ecosystem

36. Food Webs

37. Importance of Decomposers:
Eat both producers and consumers
Always the final consumer in any food chain or web
Help return nutrients from dead material back to environment
Without them nutrients would remain locked within dead organisms
Recyclers!
Decomposers:
Rabbit decomposition:

38. Pyramids of Energy
Show relative amount of energy available at each trophic level
On average only 10% of the energy is transferred to the next level.
Most energy available at bottom

39. 10% Rule
Part of the energy is lost as heat or is used by organism to carry out life functions.
Some food is not completely digested

40. Pyramids of Biomass
Shows the total amount (mass) of living organic matter available at each level.

41. Pyramid of Numbers
Shows relative numbers of organisms at each trophic level

43. How and Where Organisms Live
Niche: the role a species plays in it’s community
How it uses and affects its environment.
What it feeds on
Where it lives
What preys on it
Ex:
Grass = producer
Mushroom = decomposer
Centipede = predator
Worms = burrow through soil eating organic material

44. Habitat: where an organism lives it’s life
Ex: burrow, cave, lake, forest, soil
Although several species may share a habitat, the food, shelter and other resources are divided into separate niches
Distinct behaviors have developed to reduce competition for available resources

45. Ex: Decaying Log has Many Niches
Animals feed in different ways on different materials
Millipede: eats decaying leaves,
Worm: eats organic material in soil,
Centipede eats other insects

47. Competition: arises when niches overlap
More than one species has same requirements
Compete for same resources
Organisms have evolved to be specialized and adapted to exist in their specific niche in an ecosystem

48. Interspecific Competition:
between different species for same niche and resources
Intraspecific Competition:
between same species for same niche and resources

49. Niche Clips:

50. Food Chain Song:
Summary of Key Terms:
Ecosystems and biomes: