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ECOLOGYECOLOGY
The Study of Interactions between The Study of Interactions between Organisms and their EnvironmentOrganisms and their Environment
Ecology VocabularyEcology Vocabulary
• Population: a particular species in an area• Community: a group of populations in an area• Ecosystem: a community plus its non-living (abiotic)
environment• Biosphere: all regions of the planet inhabited by
populations• Habitat: The place a population lives• Niche: the role of the population in the environment
(what you eat, what you do)
ECOSYSTEM FACTORSECOSYSTEM FACTORS
• BIOTIC: Living (animals, plant, microbes)• AUTOTROPHS (produce food) plants
• HETEROTROPHS-(need to get food)
consumers- (eat ) Decomposers-(breakdown organics)Bacteria, fungi
• A scavenger (vulture) is not a decomposer because they are not returning nutrients to the soil
• ABIOTIC:Non-livingtemperature, sunlight, water, minerals
Trophic LevelsTrophic Levels
• Primary Producers: The autotrophs that capture energy to make food (Plants)
• Primary Consumers: heterotrophs that eat autotrophs (herbivores)
• Secondary Consumers: heterotrophs that eat other heterotrophs (carnivores)
• Higher Level Consumers: carnivores that eat other carnivores
• Decomposers: consumers of dead organic material ( Bacteria, Fungi)
ENERGY FLOWENERGY FLOW
• Food chains: a specific energy pathway
• Food webs: complex energy interactions found in an ecosystem.
Energy pyramids: representation of the total energy available to a trophic level.
Growth of PopulationsGrowth of Populations
• Exponential Growth :occurs when individuals in a population reproduce at a constant rate. (in natural populations this does not occur for very long)
• Carrying Capacity of the Environment: The maximum population that a particular environment can support
• Limiting Factors : those environmental factors that keep a population at the carrying capacity, like food, predators, amount of water, how much land there is
In 1944, 20 reindeer were brought to St. Matthew Island for an emergency food source.The Island is off the coast of Alaska in the Bering Sea. Initially there were abundant food sources, and the reindeer population increased dramatically.There were no predators to cull the population.However, about 20 years later, the reindeer had overshot the food carrying capacity of the island, and there was a sudden, massive die-off. About 99% of the reindeer died of starvation.
Exponential growth can lead to massive die-off
• Competition- when populations require use of limited resources
• Predator/prey- when one population depends upon another for food
• Symbiosis- when two populations Niche– Coincide with each other
Predator-Prey InteractionsPredator-Prey Interactions
Predators : Organisms that catch and consume other organisms
Prey : organisms that get consumed.
Top Predator : the organism within a food chain or web that is not eaten by any other organism.
SymbiosisSymbiosis
• When TWO or more species interact so closely that one or more of them is NECESSARY for the other’s survival.
• Examples: Coral and zooxanthellae algaeFig trees and fig wasps(only way fig tree is pollinated. Fig enters fig
and deposits eggs and pollen she brought along from another fig)
Tape worms and humans (from undercooked meat, mostly pork.Live inside your intestines.Can grow 50ft long and live up to 20 years inside you)
Fleas and hairy mammalsBed Bugs-Feed at night on unsuspecting Humans
MutualismMutualism
• Both organisms BENEFIT
from the interactionRed billed oxpecker feeds on the ticksOff the Impalas coat (Africa) Clownfish and Sea Anemone
Coral and Zooxanthellae
Crocodile and plover mutualistic Crocodile and plover mutualistic relationship. Plover cleans relationship. Plover cleans
crocodiles teeth. crocodiles teeth.
Commensalism – Commensalism –
• one IS HELPED but the other is NOT harmed
• Ex. Birds nest in trees
Hermit crab withSea Anemone living on it
Predator Prey Co-evolutionPredator Prey Co-evolution
• Protection from Predation (for prey)– Poison : the production of toxins– Camouflage : protective coloration– Mimicry: look alikes
• Adaptations to overcome protections (for predators)– Intolerance to poisons : immunity– Use of senses other than sight: hearing, smell
Co-EvolutionCo-Evolution
• Predator /prey interactions
POISON IVY – protected from herbivores
WARNING coloration says, “Don’t mess with me !!”
MimicryMimicry
• Similar colors
• Similar DEFENSES
Wasp/yellow jacket- no hair-keep stinging you
Bee-hair on-some don’t sting others do.