1. Symbioses - Mutualism

2. Mutualism
Definition - the individuals in a population of each mutualist species grow and/or survive and/or reproduce at a higher rate when in the presence of individuals of the other. Each benefits (+,+)

3. Mutualisms involving Culture of Crops or Livestock

4. Leaf-cutter Ants – genus Atta

5. Diagram of Leaf-cutter ant colony nest

6. Human Agriculture
Sustainable Dairy Industrial Wheat

7. Digestive Mutualisms Involving Gut Inhabitants

8. Ruminant with multiple stomachs

9. Ruminant by-products

10. Termite Mound Western Australia

11. Termites

12. Mycorrhizae

13. Ectomycorrhizae

14. Ectomycorrhizae

15. Mycorrhizae – world’s largest organisms?
The mycelium of some forest fungi can extend enormous distances. In 1992 a single individual of Armillaria bulbosa was discovered that permeates more than 30 acres of forest soil in northern Michigan and was thought to be one of the world's largest living organisms. It may have been spawned by a single spore thousands of years ago. In 1998 another species Armillaria solidipes in the Blue Mountains of Oregon was found to consist of a subterranean mycelial network extending across 2400 acres. It must weigh thousands of metric tons. Its age could be from 2500 to 8400 years old.

16. Armillaria solidipes

17. VAM – Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizae

18. Nitrogen Fixing Mutualisms

19. Red Clover – A Classic Legume

20. Normal Nitrogen Fixation

21. Legume Root Nodules

22. Rhizobium root nodules on a bean plant

23. Animal-Algae Mutualisms

24. Healthy Coral Reef - Indonesia

25. Coral polyp with zooxanthellae
- a dinoflagellate, Symbiodinium

26. Coral polyp – coral animal is green,
Zooxanthellae is red

27. Endosymbiotic Origin of Eukaryotes
Lynn Margulis

28. Endosymbiotic Origin of Eukaryotes

29. Endosymbiotic Origin of Eukaryotes
The earliest eukaryotes acquired mitochondria by engulfing alpha proteobacteria.
The early origin of mitochondria is supported by the fact that all eukaryotes studied so far either have mitochondria or had them in the past. Mitochondria have their own DNA and replicate themselves during cell division.
Later in eukaryotic history, some lineages of heterotrophic eukaryotes acquired an additional endosymbiont—a photosynthetic cyanobacterium—that evolved into plastids.
This hypothesis is supported by the observation that the DNA of plastids in red and green algae closely resembles the DNA of cyanobacteria.
Plastids in these algae are surrounded by two membranes, presumably derived from the cell membranes of host and endosymbiont.

30. Stromatolites on coast of Western Australia

31. The Nature of Communities and Ecosystems

32. Sourdough bread – ingredients and final product

33. Redwood
Forest

34. Scale of Ecosystem – Lake Superior

35. Scale of Ecosystem – Isle Royale

36. Scale of Ecosystem – Isle Royale – Forest and Pond

37. Scale of Ecosystem – Isle Royale Wetland

38. Scale of Ecosystem – Isle Royale Pitcher Plants

39. Ecotone – region where two communities/ecosystems grade into each other
Forest-Marsh Ecotone

40. Stability
A stable community or ecosystem is one that has the ability to replace itself – exist in place for more than one generation

41. Douglas-Fir

42. Pea Aphids

43. Life cycle of the Pea Aphid

44. Components of Stability
2 major components:
1) resistance - the ability of a community or ecosystem to avoid disturbance
2) resilience - the speed with which a community or ecosystem returns to its former state following a disturbance that has displaced it from its initial condition

45. Ecosystems and Stability
Grassland – South Africa Rainforest – Puerto Rico

46. Additional Components of Stability
Local stability describes the tendency of a community to return to its original state following a small disturbance
Global stability describes the tendency of a community to return to its original state following a large disturbance

47. Adaptive Capacity of an Ecosystem

48. Adaptive Capacity of an Ecosystem

49. Adaptive Capacity of an Ecosystem - Chesapeake Bay

50. Adaptive Capacity in 3D

51. Current Adaptive Capacity

52. From Local vs. Global Stability
dynamically fragile - a community which is stable only within a narrow range of environmental conditions
dynamically robust - a community which is stable within a wide range of environmental conditions