1. Part 2- Terr. Ecol

2. Ecological Communities

3. Ecosystem
A community of different species interacting together & with the chemical & physical factors making up its non-living environment.

4. Nonliving and Living Components of Ecosystems
Ecosystems consist of nonliving (abiotic) and living (biotic) components.
Figure 3-10

5. Biosphere Ecosystems Realm of ecology Communities Populations
Universe
Galaxies
Biosphere
Solar systems
Planets
Earth
Biosphere
Ecosystems
Ecosystems
Communities
Populations
Realm of ecology
Organisms
Communities
Organ systems
Organs
Figure 3.2
Natural capital: levels of organization of matter in nature. Ecology focuses on five of these levels.
Tissues
Cells
Populations
Protoplasm
Molecules
Atoms
Organisms
Subatomic Particles
Fig. 3-2, p. 51

6. Population
A group of individual organisms of the same species living w/in a particular area.

7. Community
                                                
The population of all species living & interacting in an area.

8. Habitat
The place where an organism or a population lives.

9. Habitat Needs
Cover – shelter; trees, shrubs, etc.
Water
Nutrients

10. Niche The total way of life or role of a species in an ecosystem.
All the physical, chemical, and biological conditions a species needs to live & reproduce in an ecosystem.

11. Niche: an individual’s ecological role
Fundamental niche = when an individual fulfills its entire role by using all the available resources
Realized niche = the portion of the fundamental niche that is actually filled
Due to competition or other species’ interactions

12. Consumers: Eating and Recycling to Survive
Consumers (heterotrophs) get their food by eating or breaking down all or parts of other organisms or their remains.
Herbivores
Primary consumers that eat producers
Carnivores
Primary consumers eat primary consumers
Third and higher level consumers: carnivores that eat carnivores.
Omnivores
Feed on both plant and animals.

13. Energy passes through trophic levels
One of the most important species interactions is who eats whom
Matter and energy move through the community
Trophic levels = rank in the feeding hierarchy
Producers
Consumers
Detritivores and Decomposers 13

14. Producers
An organism that uses solar energy (green plant) or chemical energy (some bacteria) to manufacture its food.
                                  

15. Producers: Basic Source of All Food
Photosynthesis
Producers: Basic Source of All Food
The process in which glucose is synthesized by plants.
Most producers capture sunlight to produce carbohydrates by photosynthesis:

16. Productivity
                                                                                 
The amount of increase in organic matter per unit of time.

17. Primary Consumer (herbivore)
An organism that feeds directly on all or parts of plants.

18. Secondary Consumer (carnivore)
An organisms that feeds only on primary consumers. Most are animals, but some are plants (Venus fly-trap).

19. Tertiary Consumer (carnivore)
Animals that feed on animal-eating animals. Ex. hawks, lions, bass, and sharks.

20. Quaternary Consumer (carnivore)
An animal that feeds on tertiary consumers. Ex. humans.

21. Decomposer (scavenger, detritivore)
An organism that digests parts of dead organisms, cast-off fragments, and wastes of living organisms. Ex. bacteria and fungi.

22. Decomposition
As plant or animal matter dies it will break down and return the chemicals back to the soil.
This happens very quickly in tropical rainforest which results in low-nutrient soils.
Grasslands have the deepest and most nutrient rich of all soils

23. Decomposers and Detrivores
Decomposers: Recycle nutrients in ecosystems.
Detrivores: Insects or other scavengers that feed on wastes or dead bodies.
Figure 3-13

24. What Eats What?

25. Abiotic chemicals (carbon dioxide, Heat oxygen, nitrogen, Solar Heat
minerals)
Heat
Solar
energy
Heat
Heat
Producers
(plants)
Decomposers
(bacteria, fungi)
Figure 3.14
Natural capital: the main structural components of an ecosystem (energy, chemicals, and organisms). Matter recycling and the flow of energy—first from the sun, then through organisms, and finally into the environment as low-quality heat—links these components.
Consumers
(herbivores,
carnivores)
Heat
Heat
Fig. 3-14, p. 61

26. Pyramids of energy, biomass, and numbers

27. Biomass The organic matter produced by plants; dry weight.
Energy from wood, garbage & agricultural waste.
Can be used for electrical energy!

28. Structure
Shows the decrease in usable energy available at each succeeding trophic level in a food chain or web.

29. Relationship Between Biomass and Energy
Biomass is dry weight & represents the chemical energy stored at each energy level.
Water is neither a source of energy, nor has any nutritional value.

30. 10% Rule
We assume that 90% of the energy at each energy level is lost because the organism uses the energy. (heat)
It is more efficient to eat lower on the energy pyramid. You get more out of it!
This is why top predators are few in number & vulnerable to extinction.

31. Food webs show relationships and energy flow
Food chain = the relationship of how energy is transferred up the trophic levels
Food web = a visual map of feeding relationships and energy flow
Includes many different organisms at all the various levels
Greatly simplified; leaves out the majority of species 31

32. Food Webs/Chains
Purpose – determines how energy & nutrients move from one organism to another through the ecosystem
Arrows – point from the producer to the consumer

33. Food Chains

34. (decomposers and detritus feeders)
First Trophic
Level
Second Trophic
Level
Third Trophic
Level
Fourth Trophic
Level
Producers
(plants)
Primary consumers
(herbivores)
Secondary consumers
(carnivores)
Tertiary consumers
(top carnivores)
Heat
Heat
Heat
Solar energy
Heat
Heat
Figure 3.17
Natural capital: a food chain. The arrows show how chemical energy in food flows through various trophic levels in energy transfers; most of the energy is degraded to heat, in accordance with the second law of thermodynamics.
Heat
Heat
Detritivores
(decomposers and detritus feeders)
Heat
Fig. 3-17, p. 64

35. Food Webs

36. Trophic Levels
Each step in the transfer of energy through a food chain or food web is known as a trophic level.
A trophic level is one of the steps in a food chain or food pyramid; examples include producers and primary, secondary, and tertiary consumers.

37. Trophic Levels

38. Energy Flow in a Ecosystem

39. Energy Flow in an Ecosystem: Losing Energy in Food Chains and Webs
In accordance with the 2nd law of thermodynamics, there is a decrease in the amount of energy available to each succeeding organism in a food chain or web.

40. Energy Flow in an Ecosystem: Losing Energy in Food Chains and Webs
Ecological efficiency: percentage of useable energy transferred as biomass from one trophic level to the next.
Figure 3-19

41. Question of the Day Explain why ecological efficiency only 10%?
90% of available energy is lost at heat or other waste energy as it passes through each trophic level. As a result the amount of energy decreases as it moves up and food web/chain.