Ecosystems and Communities

Climate

• Weather is the condition of the atmosphere at that time for a particular area. Unequal heating of our atmosphere

• Climate is the yearly average atmospheric condition in a specific area over a long period of time.

Greenhouse Effect

• Atmosphere is a thin shell where conditions are presently suitable for life.

• Greenhouse Effect• Greenhouse gases are water vapor, carbon

dioxide(CO2), methane and a few other gases.

Latitude on Climate

• Latitude• Equator• Tropics• Temperate• Polar

Heat Transport in the Biosphere

• Unequal heating and cooling rates drives winds and ocean currents

• Winds– Jet stream– Westerlies– Trade winds

• Ocean currents– Gulf Stream– Southern Oscillation

• Altitude-rain shadow

Factors in an Ecosystem

• Biotic factors are the living factors in an ecosystem.

• Abiotic factors are the nonliving factors in an ecosystem.

• Habitat

Niche

• Niche is what an organism does or its occupation

Community Interactions

• Competition• Predation• Symbiosis

– Mutualism+,+– Commensalism+,0– Parasitism+,-

Succession

• Ecological Succession• Primary Succession

– Pioneer species– Climax community

• Secondary Succession• Natural disasters, climate change, human

activitiesM

Aquatic Succession

• Death of large organism, scavengers, decomposers

• Nutrients that are broken down from tissues, bones are left. Marine worms

• Skeleton is dissolved by chemosynthetic organism and the nutrients and energy is used by mollusks and arthropods.

Biomes

• Biome• Tolerance• Stress• Optimum

Biomes and Climate

• Microclimate• Climate diagram, climatograph

Major Terrestrial Biomes

• Each of the terrestrial biomes is defined by a unique set of abiotic and biotic factors

Biome Characteristi Climate Soil/Seas

Tundra Dry, very cold

0, Dry, Very Cold

Permafrost, 60 days

Taiga, Boreal

Coniferous Cold winters, hotsummer

0-5 degrees, 50-100cm

Spodosol60-100 days

Temperate Decideous

Cold hotTrees

N12-27S15-3075-150cm

Mollisol180 days

Grassland, Steppe, veldt, pampas

Variable, Sometime droughGrassest

Wide Ranges25-75cm

Mollisol180 days

Tropical rain forest

Warm and Wet

25 constantOver 150cm

UdisolYear round

Desert Very dry Hot +20Cold 10Below 25cm

Aridisols, depends

Other Land Areas

• Mountain Ranges– Factors vary with elevation

• Polar Ice Caps– North, mosses, lichens, Polar bears, seals,

insects, mites– South, mosses, lichens, Penguins, aquatic

marine animals

Aquatic

• Aquatic ecosystems are determined by the depth, flow, temperature and water chemistry of the water.

Freshwater

• Flowing-River, streams, creeks, brooks• Standing-Lakes, pond

– Plankton-free floating organisms– Phytoplankton-unicellular plants– Zooplankton-organism that feed off of the

phytoplankton• Wetlands-bogs, marsh, swamps

Wetlands

• Wetland– Bog(sphagnum)– marsh cattails, rushes, wetlands along rivers, – swamp flooded forest

Estuaries

• Estuaries-are areas where rivers meet the ocean. Detritus, shallow characteristics. Valuable as nursaries, migration stop

• Salt marsh- temperate-zone estuaries where grasses are the dominant vegetation

• Mangrove swamps-coastal wetlands, along tropical regions. Mangroves, seagrasses dominant vegetation. Valuable as nursery for fish and shellfish.

Marine Ecosystems

• Phototic Zone-light penetrates, photosynthetic

• Aphotic Zone-below 200 m, chemosynthetic

• Benthic Zone-covers the ocean floor• Divisions also with distance from shore and

depth.

Intertidal Zone

• Areas where organisms are exposed to extreme conditions, daily.

• Many different types of communities• Zonation- prominent horizontal banding of

organisms that live in a certain area High tide, low tide

Coastal Ocean

• Coastal Ocean from low tide mark to the edge of the continetial shelf.

• Kelp forest temperate, shallow regions, very productive. Usually supports a complex food web.

Coral Reef

• Corals are small marine animals that are found warm, shallow coastal areas.

• Corals are sack like with tenticles • Symbiotic algae and corals, coral wastes are

nutrients for the algae, the algae supply Carbon for the corals.

Open Ocean

• Open ocean is anywhere from continental shelf, 500 -11,000 meters

• Low nutrients, high pressure, low temperatures and total darkness.

Benthic Zone

• Benthic zone the ocean floor.• Benthos-organisms that live on the bottom

of the ocean• Depend on other organisms for food,

detritus • Vents, nutrients • chemosynthetic