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

*self-sustaining

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

Biomes

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