Ecosystem Dynamics

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Ecosystem DynamicsSarah Jones

rgallagherphoto.com

Biosphere

en.wikipedia.org

Atmosphere

www.amaliachimera.com

Biogeochemical Cycles - Abiotic

www.anselm.edu/

www.anselm.edu

www.anselm.edu

Phosphorus Cycle

www.shmoop.com

www.anselm.edu

The Water Cycle

www.state.nj.us

Food Webs

www.uic.edu

sites.google.com

www.anselm.edu

Trophic Levels

http://upload.wikimedia.org

www.ck12.org

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sciencelearn.org.nz

Biomass Pyramid

galleryhip.com

www.anselm.edu

www.anselm.edu

Ecological Niche

http://naturedocumentaries.org/

voices.nationalgeographic.com

Keystone Species

urbanrabbits.eu

galleryhip.com

• Removal of predator (sea star – keystone species) lead to a population explosion of mussels.

• Mussels outcompeted other organisms for space on the rocks - Barnacles, snails, algae.

sites.google.com

Influences on Climate

people.eng.unimelb.edu.au

Surface of the Earth

ds-lands.com

Global Warming

glacierchange.wordpress.com

Evidence for Climate Change

Glaciers

Ice Cores

Pollen Analysis

Sea Level Change

Shrinking Antarctica

icebridge.gsfc.nasa.gov

www.anselm.edu

Introduced Species

Ecosystem Measurements

Population

A group of living organisms of the same kind living in the same place at the same time.

en.wikipedia.org

Population EstimatesYou make population estimates in the field because it is difficult to describe in detail any large area.

It is impractical to count every living thing (we also try to minimise possible damage to the environment).

kingfisherbayresort.wordpress.com

Measuring DistributionDrawing Transects

biological-diversity.info

Measuring Abundance

tumblrbackground.com

Plant AbundanceA good method is to estimate the percentage cover or randomly choose areas of vegetation in quadrants and count or estimate the percentage cover.

en.wikipedia.org

Animal AbundanceCapture-recapture is a good way of studying animals that are constantly on the move. You capture and tag samples (e.g. 5 animals), then release them. After they have had time to mix, you recapture a sample (e.g. 10 animals) and count the number of tagged animals. If only one of the recaptured animals is tagged you can expect that the original 5 animals represents 10% of the total population. Therefore, the population is about 50 animals.

Abundance = number captured x number recaptured

number marked in recapture

www.pomaceaproject.org

www.capturerecapture.co.uk

cdip17fws.wordpress.com

southernsharkecologygroup.com

www.marinecsi.org

Measuring Abiotic Factors

www.businessinsider.com

• Climate - light duration, intensity, cloudiness, humidity, temperature, wind direction and speed.

• Temperature of habitats

• Slope - LWM (lowest water mark) to HWM (highest water mark)

• Salinity

• Soil - profile

www.arizona-leisure.com

Ecological Succession

en.wikipedia.org

en.wikipedia.org

galleryhip.com

How Ecosystems Respond to Change

• Wildfires are a relatively common event inAustralia. Many Australian plants have the ability to survive regular burning.

• Banksias – this plants ripe seeds can stay on the tree for years waiting for a fire to release them.

http://anpsa.org.au

• Over time as Australia became warmer and drier - both plants and animals evolved with adaptations to enable them to survive this increasing aridity.

• Australia’s vegetation is dominated by two groups of flowering plants which have successfully evolved to colonise a wide variety of habitats – acacias (wattles) and eucalypts.

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