Ecology is a branch of study that deals with the study of plants and animals and the way they

interact
between themselves and the environment.
Species is a set of organisms with similar gentic characteristics which can interbreed to produce fertile
offspring.
Population refers to the number of organisms of the same species that lives within a given area.
Habitat is the geographical where an individual organisms or population live. This can be as large as a
forest or as small as the intestinal guts of a human.
Community is an assemblage of all organisms of various species that live together in a habitat.
Ecosystem is an interacting community of organisms and the environment in which they live in and
which they rely on. No ecosystem is isolated and self contained. Organisms, energy and matter can and
do interact with those from other ecosystems
Biome refers to a specific ecosystem that experiences distinctive climatic patterns and soil condition.

Ecotone is a transitioal zone between biomes where the climate changes from one type to another creating
a change in plant communities. Eg Tropical Savannah.
Niche of an organism refers to its role in an ecosystem.

The environment
In a generic sense the environment refers to an organism surroundings. It includes all of the conditions
which an organism lives in.
Abiotic - this is the non living part of the environment (temperature, water, light, wind, gases, pH and
available nutrients).
Biotic - this is the living part of the environment. It includes producers or autotrophs which are
photosynthetic organims (green plants or green algae).
Producers use energy water and carbon dioxide to produce carbohydrates through photosynthesis
(glucose).
Consumers or heterotrophs are organisms that obtain their food by eating other plants and animals.
Decomposers such as bacteria and fungi are organisms which break down plant and animal waste.
Limiting factors - the geographical range of a species is not always limited by the presence of physical
barriers which can prevent its spread. It is often inhabited by a particular factor in its environment that
limits its inablity to survive grow or reproduce.

These are called limiting factors.

what may be limiting factor for one organism may not inhibit another limiting factors include abiotic and
biotic factors.
Abiotic factors light availability
moisture or water availability
temperature
elevation or depths (pressure)
turbidity (clarity of water)
Range
Salinity
Wind
ph of the soil and water
Gases (Oxygen)
Availbility of nutrients such as nitorgen, phosphorus, potassium and others
Weather and climate
Biotic factors Competition
Predation
Lack of prey
Parasitism
Disease
The availability of suitable pollinators and dispersal agents
Food availability.
Limiting factors may not be lethal but they are important enough to affect an organism or behaviorelly.
This may hinder the organism from reproducing, dispersing or to adequately compete with other species
for scarce resources. Limiting factors do not operate in isolation but they interact with each other. A
further distinction can be made with density dependence and density independent factors.

Density dependence
These are factors which lower the birth rate or increase the death rate as a population grows in size. These
factors include...
Competition - more specifically intraspecific competition - the more members ther are in a population,
the more resources become limited. Water food space and even shelter must be shared among all of them.
Predation - if the predators population is low, then the preys population will increase. On the other hand if
the predator population increases then the number of the prey decreases. This will result in in increased
competition among the predators
Disease - As the population increases, the incidence of disease also increases. The more members there

are the greater transmission rate from one to the other.

Parasitism - Parasites both internal and external can spread through a population as its numbers increase.
Parasites can cause great damage to the host.
Overcrowding - Can contribute to waste build up which increases the risk of disease.
The availability of mates - When the population is small, it may become difficult to find suitable mates.
This can hinder the survival of the population.

Density Independent factors - are those which affect the population size irrespective of population desity.
These factors are usually abiotic in nature..
Natural disasters, climate change, droughts, floods and fires.
Temperature variation
Variations in light intensity or sunlight
Human activities such as pollution.

Stress - refers to any environmental factor that limits life's processes. These are always present in the
environment . E.g low lights and low nutrients.

Tolerance Ranges - all species have a tolerance range within which they can cope. Essentially it is the
ability of organism to with stand extremes of different limiting factors.
Some species have wide tolerance ranges these are called eurytopic. They are found over a wide range of
habitats and locations therefore they have a large geographical range

Some species have very narrow tolerance ranges, these are called stenotopic or ecologically intolerant
species - they are not widespread and are limited in their range.
Ecological Niche - refers to the total requirements that a species need in order for it to survive. That is all
resources and physical conditions that determines where it can live and how abundant it can be within its
range.
Fundamental niche - this refers to the total range of environmental conditions that are suitable for an
organisms existence without the influence of interspecific competition or predation from oher species.
Realized niche - in reality, competition and predation does occur. Therefore, the realized niche is part of
the fundamental niche that is actually occupied by the species - the actual part used in a real ecosystem,
this can be much smaller than the fundamental niche.