ECOLOGY
“No man is an island entire of itself. Every man is a piece of a continent, a part of the main”-John Donne
What is Ecology? The study of the interactions of organisms
with one another and with their physical environment.
Biotic Factors Organisms that are living (or WERE living at one
time….paper, steak)
ex- animals, plants, bacteria, fungus
Abiotic Factors Physical Environment (non-living)
ex- water, air, dirt, rocks
Ch 52
Can we go smaller ?
2
3
5
4
6
1IndividualCommunityBiome EcosystemPopulationBiosphere
AllCategory
A + BB only
1 Species1
BIOSPHERE
Major Biological communities that occur over wide areas on land are called Biomes.
Distribution Climate Life/Organisms Human Impact
Ch 55
FYI…
Latitude (shown as a horizontal line) is the angular distance, in degrees, minutes, and seconds of a point north or south of the Equator. Lines of latitude are often referred to as parallels. Longitude (shown as a vertical line) is the angular distance, in degrees, minutes, and seconds, of a point east or west of the Prime (Greenwich) Meridian. Lines of longitude are often referred to as meridians.
Climate Patterns determine an area’s water and energy
Ch 55 Fig 55-1
CLIMATE:The average course or condition of the weather at a place usually over a period of years as exhibited by...?
• Temperature• Precipitation• Wind velocity
CLIMATE
TUNDRA
Distribution Climate Life/Organisms Human Impact
Boreal/TaigaConiferous
Distribution Climate Life/Organisms Human Impact
Deciduous
Forest
Distribution Climate Life/Organisms Human Impact
Grasslands
Distribution Climate Life/Organisms Human Impact Savannas, pampas, prairies, steppes
Tropical Rain Forest
Distribution Climate Life/Organisms Human Impact
Desert
Distribution Climate Life/Organisms Human Impact
BIOMES Ch 54
Distribution Climate Life/Organisms Human Impact
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
?
Salinity, Water depth, Temperature, pH, presence/absence of waves/currents
Key Points of a Flowing Freshwater Ecosystem: (Streams, Rivers)• Greatly different conditions from source to mouth• Headwater streams –shallow, clear, fast….high or low O2?
• 99% of energy from?• Adaptions for living?
• Downstream- wider, slower, deeper, cloudy.• More producers for energy
Human Impact?
*Less than 2% of Earth’s surface is freshwater
p. 1200
FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMSource
Key Points of a Standing Freshwater Ecosystem: (Ponds, Lakes)• Zonation: Littoral, Limnetic, Profundal• Most Productive?• Depth of the Limnetic zone?• Zone with primarily Phytoplankton and Zooplankton?• Mineral Richest Zone? Why? O2 Levels?
p. 1201
FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEM
Thermal Stratification
Thermocline
Enrichment: Human Impact?
[O2] in the deepest part of a lake- higher in an enriched or an unenriched lake?
p. 1201-1202
ESTUARIES: Salt Marshes, Mangroves Where fresh water and
salt water meet
Among the most fertile of ecosystems- why?
Tides/circulation Land minerals Shallow/light Many Plants/detritus
Subject to changes in: Salinity Water Levels (Tides) Temperature*Stressful to live
Human Impact?
MARINE ECOSYSTEMS
Three Primary Zones:
Intertidal Adaptions to Living in the intertidal Zone?
Benthic Sea Grasses, Kelp beds Coral Reefs
Pelagic
p1204
Species Richness:The number of different species in a community.
Species Diversity: a measure of both species richness and the relative abundance of each species. A community with the same species richness can be less diverse if, on average, there is much greater abundance of some species over others.
Ch 53#11: How is species richness of a community related to (1) geographic isolation; (2) the structural complexity of the habitats?
p1208 Fig 55-25