1. Ecology Interactions between organisms and their environment

2. Ecology What is Ecology? Ecology is the scientific study of interactions among organisms and between organisms and their physical environment. Physical Environment- Biosphere The biosphere consists of all life on Earth and all parts of the Earth in which life exists, including land, water, and the atmosphere.

3. Interdependence in the Biosphere

4. Organisms respond to their environments and can change their environments, producing an ever-changing biosphere.

5. Levels of Organization Individual organism Population—a group of individuals that belong to the same species and live in the same area Community—an assemblage of different populations that live together in a defined area Ecosystem—all the organisms that live in a place, together with their physical environment Biome—a group of ecosystems that share similar climates and typical organisms Biosphere—our entire planet, with all its organisms and physical environments

6. Biotic and Abiotic Factors What are biotic and abiotic factors? The living influences on organisms are called biotic factors. Non-living components of an ecosystem are called abiotic factors.

7. Biotic Factors A biotic factor is any living part of the environment with which an organism might interact, including animals, plants, mushrooms and bacteria. Biotic factors relating to a bullfrog might include algae it eats as a tadpole, the herons that eat bullfrogs, and other species competing for food or space.

8. Abiotic Factors An abiotic factor is any nonliving part of the environment, such as sunlight, heat, precipitation, humidity, wind or water currents, soil type, etc. For example, a bullfrog could be affected by abiotic factors such as water availability, temperature, and humidity.

9. Biotic and Abiotic Factors Together Trees and shrubs affect the amount of sunlight the shoreline receives, the range of temperatures it experiences, the humidity of the air, and even the chemical conditions of the soil. A dynamic mix of biotic and abiotic factors shapes every environment.

10. Exit Ticket Give one example of a biotic and abiotic relationship in the ecosystem below.

11. Ecology Interactions between organisms and their environment

12. Notes: Energy Producers and Consumers Where does energy in living systems come from? How is it transferred from one organism to another?

13. Primary Producers Primary producers are the first producers of energy-rich compounds that are later used by other organisms.

14. Primary Producers No organism can create energy—organisms can only use energy from other sources. For most life on Earth, sunlight is the ultimate energy source.

15. Primary Producers Plants, algae, and certain bacteria can capture energy from sunlight or chemicals and convert it into food or forms that living cells can use. These organisms are called autotrophs.

16. Primary Producers Primary producers store energy in forms that make it available to other organisms that eat them.

17. Energy From the Sun Most primary producers use solar energy through the process of photosynthesis. Photosynthesis captures light energy and uses it to power chemical reactions that convert carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and energy-rich carbohydrates.

18. Energy From the Sun- Examples Plants are the main photosynthetic producers on land. Algae fill that role in freshwater ecosystems and the sunlit upper ocean. Photosynthetic bacteria, most commonly cyanobacteria, are important primary producers in tidal flats and salt marshes.

19. Consumers Organisms that rely on other organisms for energy and nutrients are called consumers. Organisms that must acquire energy from other organisms by ingesting in some way are known as heterotrophs.

20. Types of Consumers Herbivores, such as a military macaw, obtain energy and nutrients by eating plant leaves, roots, seeds, or fruits Carnivores kill and eat other animals, and include snakes, dogs, cats, and this giant river otter. Omnivores are animals whose diets naturally include a variety of different foods that usually include both plants and animals. Decomposers, such as bacteria and fungi, feed by chemically breaking down organic matter.

21. Types of Consumers

22. Exit Ticket Is the organism a Primary Producer or a Consumer? Where does each organism get their energy from? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=- oVavgmveyY&list=PLwL0Myd7Dk1GGOPNLiAod6tzrN_1An-4thttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=- oVavgmveyY&list=PLwL0Myd7Dk1GGOPNLiAod6tzrN_1An-4t

23. Ecology Interactions between species and their environment

24. Notes: Food Webs and Food Chains What happens to energy stored in body tissues when one organism eats another? Energy moves from the “eaten” to the “eater.” Where it goes from there depends on who eats whom!

25. Food Chains A food chain is a series of steps in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten. Food chains can vary in length. An example from the Everglades is shown.

26. Food Webs In most ecosystems, feeding relationships are much more complicated than the relationships described in a single, simple chain because many animals eat more than one kind of food. Ecologists call this network of feeding interactions a food web.

27. Decomposers and Detritivores in Food Webs Most producers die without being eaten. In the detritus pathway, decomposers convert that dead material to detritus, which is eaten by detritivores, such as crayfish, grass shrimp, and worms. Pig frogs, killifish, and other fishes eat the detritivores.

28. Food Webs and Disturbance When disturbances to food webs happen, their effects can be change entire ecosystem. For example, all of the animals in this food web depend directly or indirectly on shrimplike animals called krill. What would happen if the Krill was removed from the ecosystem?

29. Trophic Levels and Ecological Pyramids An organisms position in the food chain or web is known as the trophic level. Primary producers always make up the first trophic level. Various consumers occupy every other level. Some examples are shown.

30. Trophic Levels and Ecological Pyramids Ecological pyramids show the relative amount of energy or matter contained within each trophic level in a given food chain or food web. Energy that passes through any given trophic level is ultimately stored in the bodies of organisms at the next level.

31. Pyramids of Energy Organisms expend much of the energy they acquire on life processes, such as respiration, movement, growth, and reproduction. Most of the remaining energy is released into the environment as heat—a byproduct of these activities.

32. Pyramids of Energy On average, about 10 percent of the energy available within one trophic level is transferred to the next trophic level.

33. Exit Ticket The grass has 500 calories. Going up the food chain, how many calories will the snake receive?

34. Ecology Interactions between species and their environment

35. Notes: Symbiosis Symbiosis is the way that organisms depend on each other in an ecosystem. The three main classes of symbiotic relationships in nature are mutualism, parasitism, and commensalism.

36. Mutualism If an anemone-eating species tries to attack the anemone, the clownfish dart out and chase away the predators. This kind of relationship between species in which both benefit is known as mutualism.

37. Parasitism Tapeworms live in the intestines of mammals, where they absorb large amounts of their hosts’ food. These are examples of parasitism, relationships in which one organism lives inside or on another organism and harms it. The parasite obtains all or part of its nutritional needs from the host organism. Parasites weaken but do not kill their host, which is usually larger than the parasite.

38. Commensalism Barnacles often attach themselves to a whale’s skin. They perform no known service to the whale, nor do they harm it. Yet the barnacles benefit from the constant movement of water—that is full of food particles—past the swimming whale. This is an example of commensalism, a relationship in which one organism benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed.

39. Predator-Prey Relationships An interaction in which one animal (the predator) captures and feeds on another animal (the prey) is called predation. Predators can affect the size of prey populations in a community and determine the places prey can live and feed.

40. Herbivore-Plant Relationships An interaction in which one animal (the herbivore) feeds on producers (such as plants) is called herbivory. Herbivores, like a ring-tailed lemur, can affect both the size and distribution of plant populations in a community and determine the places that certain plants can survive and grow.

41. Keystone Species Sometimes changes in the population of a single species, often called a keystone species, can cause dramatic changes in the structure of a community.

42. Exit Ticket Is the organism in a Parasitism, Mutualism, or Commensalism Symbiotic Relationship? Bees get nectar (food) from Sunflowers and the sunflower get pollinated by the bees Mosquitoes get blood (food) from a host and the host loses blood, itches, and sometimes get infections. Mites attach to beetles for transportation

43. Ecology Interactions between species and their environment

44. Notes: Ecological Succession https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqEUzgVAF6g

45. THINK ABOUT IT In 1883, the volcanic island of Krakatau in the Indian Ocean was blown to pieces by an eruption. The tiny island that remained was completely barren. Within two years, grasses were growing. Fourteen years later, there were 49 plant species, along with lizards, birds, bats, and insects. By 1929, a forest containing 300 plant species had grown. Today, the island is blanketed by mature rain forest.

46. Primary and Secondary Succession Ecological succession is a series of more-or-less predictable changes that occur in a community over time. Ecosystems change over time, especially after disturbances, as some species die out and new species move in. Over the course of succession, the number of different species present typically increases.

47. Primary Succession Volcanic explosions can create new land or sterilize existing areas. Retreating glaciers can have the same effect, leaving only exposed bare rock behind them. Succession that begins in an area with no remnants of an older community is called primary succession.

48. Primary Succession The first species to colonize barren areas are called pioneer species. One ecological pioneer that grows on bare rock is lichen—a mutualistic symbiosis between a fungus and an alga.

49. Primary Succession Over time, lichens convert, or fix, atmospheric nitrogen into useful forms for other organisms, break down rock, and add organic material to form soil. Certain grasses, like those that colonized Krakatau early on, are also pioneer species.

50. Primary Succession- Example For example, in Glacier Bay, Alaska, a retreating glacier exposed barren rock. Over the course of more than 100 years, a series of changes has led to the hemlock and spruce forest currently found in the area. Changes in this community will continue for centuries.

51. Secondary Succession Sometimes, existing communities are not completely destroyed by disturbances. In these situations, secondary succession occurs. Secondary succession happens faster than primary succession, in part because soil survives the disturbance. As a result, new and surviving vegetation can regrow rapidly.

52. Why Succession Occurs Species can alters its environment, other species find it easier to compete for resources and survive. For example, as lichens add organic matter and form soil, mosses and other plants can colonize and grow. As organic matter continues to accumulate, other species move in and change the environment further. Over time, more and more species can find suitable habitats and survive.

53. Exit Ticket A wild fire destroys an existing forest. Eventually, vegetation begins to form again. Is this an example of primary or secondary succession? Is this succession a fast or slow process? Explain your reasoning.

54. Ecology Interactions between species and their environment

55. Notes: How Populations Grow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcSX4ytEfcE

56. Describing Population Researchers study populations’ geographic range, density and distribution, growth rate, and age structure.

57. Geographic Range The area inhabited by a population is called its geographic range. A population’s range can vary enormously in size, depending on the species.

58. Geographic Range- Example A bacterial population in a rotting pumpkin may have a range smaller than a cubic meter, whereas the population of cod in the western Atlantic covers a range that stretches from Greenland down to North Carolina.

59. Density and Distribution Population density refers to the number of individuals per unit area. Populations of different species often have very different densities, even in the same environment. Distribution refers to how individuals in a population are spaced out across the range of the population—randomly, uniformly, or mostly concentrated in clumps. random uniform clumped

60. Age Structure To fully understand a plant or animal population, researchers need to know the population’s age structure—the number of males and females of each age a population contains. Most plants and animals cannot reproduce until they reach a certain age. Also, among animals, only females can produce offspring.

61. Population Growth Determines if the population is increasing, decreasing or remains the same. Factors that can affect population size are the birthrate, death rate, and the rate at which individuals enter or leave the population.

62. Birthrate and Death Rate A population can grow when its birthrate is higher than its death rate. If the birthrate equals the death rate, the population may stay the same size. If the death rate is greater than the birthrate, the population is likely to shrink.

63. Immigration and Emigration A population may grow if individuals move into its range from elsewhere, a process called immigration. A population may decrease in size if individuals move out of the population’s range, a process called emigration.

64. Exponential Growth If you provide a population with all the food and space it needs, protect it from predators and disease, and remove its waste products, the population will grow exponentially. The size of each generation of offspring will be larger than the generation before it.

65. Exponential Growth- Example Fast Reproduction  Slow Reproduction  Draw example of curve in you’re your notes!

66. Logistic Growth Logistic growth occurs when a population’s growth slows and then stops, following a period of exponential growth. Draw example of curve in you’re your notes!

67. Exit Ticket Describe each population as Random, Uniform, or Clumped