Ecology & Ecosystem

WHAT IS ECOLOGY?
Ecology: The scientific study of interactions between organisms and
their environments, focusing on energy transfer.

Ecosystem has two factors:

Biotic factors: All living organisms

inhabiting the Earth.

Abiotic factors: Nonliving parts of

the environment (i.e. temperature,
soil, light, moisture, air currents).
Components of Ecosystem
Organism-
• A group of unicellular or
multicellular form exhibiting all of
the characteristics of life.
• Produce fertile offspring.
• The lowest level of organization.

Population-
• A group of organisms of one
species living in the same place
at the same time.
• Interbreed.
• Compete with each other for
resources (food, mates, shelter,
etc.).
Community:
• Several interacting species in
a population that inhabit in a
common environment.
• They are interdependent.

Ecosystem:
• Interaction of populations in
a community (Biotic) with
abiotic factors (ex. marine,
terrestrial)
Biosphere:
• Life supporting portions of
Earth composed of air, land,
fresh water, and salt water.
• The highest level of
organization.
 Feeding Relationships
There are 3 main types of feeding Producer: All autotrophs (Plants).
relationships Photosynthesis
Producer - Consumer Use sun light energy to convert carbon
Predator – Prey dioxide and water into oxygen and
Host-Pathogen Carbohydrates
6CO2 + 6H2O Energy 6O2 + C6H12O6
Sun Light
Consumer- all heterotrophs: they
ingest food from producers.
Primary Secondary
Primary Consumer Consumer Consumer
Herbivores: Eat Plants
Secondary Consumer
Carnivores: Eat Meat
Tertiary Decomposer
Omnivores: Eat both Plants & Animals Consumer
Decomposers: Decaying plants & animals
Competition
Ecological Relationships
Interspecific competition occurs when individuals of different
species compete for same resource for their growth and
survival within an ecosystem system.
Competitive exclusion
Russian ecologist G. F. Gause (1934) grew two closely related species, Paramecium
Aurelia and Paramecium caudatum with limited amount of food.
When grew together, P. caudatum became extinct in the culture.
When two species were grown separately, each population grew rapidly.
He concluded that two species competing for the same limiting resources cannot
coexist.

Resource partitioning
American ecologist Eugene Odum observed that seven species of Anolis lizards live
in close proximity, and all feed on insects.
Competition for food is reduced because each lizard species has different perches
and preferred insect.
The differentiation of niches that enables similar species to coexist in a community
is called resource partitioning.
Predation
Ecological Relationships
Predation is the interaction between species in
which one species kills and eats, the predator.
The other which is killed by predator- Prey.
An animal that eat plant’s tissues: Predator.
A lion attacking and eating an antelope: Predator.
Adaptation of Predator: Many predators also have adaptations such as claws, teeth, fangs, stingers, or poison
that help them catch and subdue their food.

Eating and avoiding being eaten are prerequisite to reproductive success, thus the adaptations of both
predators and prey are refined through natural selection.
Adaption of Prey: Prey have adaptations that help them avoid being eaten.
Cryptic coloration: Aposematic coloration:
Makes animal difficult to Effective chemical defenses
see by predator exhibiting bright coloration.

Canyon tree frog Poison dart frog

 Ecological Relationships
Mimicry: Some prey species are protected by their resemblance to other species.

Batesian mimicry: Müllerian mimicry: Producer’s mimicry:

A palatable or harmless species Two or more unpalatable Plant leaf mimicking as
mimics an unpalatable or species resemble each other Pitcher to catch insect.
harmful one.

Mimicry
 Ecological Relationships
Symbiosis: When individuals of two or more species live in direct and intimate
contact with one another.
Mutualism: Commensalism: Parasitism:
Mutualistic symbiosis, or An interaction between An interaction in which one organism,
mutualism, is an species that benefits one of the parasite, derives its nourishment
interspecies interaction the species but neither from another organism, its host.,
that benefits both species harms nor helps the other which affects the survival of host.

In lichens (blue-green algae)
the algae provide food to the
fungus through photosynthesis
and the fungal partner in return
provides protection.
The buffalo is getting his back Ectoparasite: Endoparasite:
cleaned from insects as bird is Ticks feast on blood of Ring stage of malarial
eating the insects living on dogs and cats. parasite in human blood
causing Malaria.
 Ecological succession
• Ecological succession is the process by which an ecosystem recovers from some abiotic
disaster like volcanic eruption, glaciere, fire, earthquake.
• There are stages, and at each stage there are distinct species

• Two types of succession:

Primary succession- The ecosystem suffered
a total loss. Species from the outside are
recolonizing to begins in a virtually lifeless
area.
Glacier Bay, Alaska

Secondary succession: An existing

community has been cleared by some
disturbance that leaves the soil intact. After
sometimes the area begins to return to
something like its original state.
Yellowstone following the 1988 fires
 Species Diversity in Community
Species diversity: Example:
Variety of different kinds of organisms that Two small forest communities, each with 100
make up the community. It has two individuals distributed among four tree
species (A, B, C, and D)
components.
A B C D
Species richness: the number of different species in
the community.
Relative abundance: Proportion each species
represents of all individuals in the community.
Community 1: 25A, 25B, 25C, 25D Community 2: 80A, 5B, 5C, 10D
Diversity index is calculated based on species
Community 1, p 0.25 for each species.
richness and relative abundance by H = - 4(0.25 ln 0.25) = 1.39.
Shannon diversity (H):
Community 2,
H= - (PA In PA + PB In PB + PC In PC + ……) H = - [0.8 ln 0.8 + 2(0.05 ln 0.05) + 0.1 ln 0.1] = 0.71.
P is relative abundance
A, B, C are species in the community Calculations suggests that community
In is Natural log 1 is more diverse.
 Nutrient Cycles
Cycling maintains homeostasis (balance) in
the environment.
•3 cycles to investigate:
1. Water cycle
2. Carbon cycle
3. Nitrogen cycle
Water cycle-
•Evaporation, transpiration, condensation, precipitation
Carbon cycle- •Photosynthesis and respiration cycle carbon and
oxygen through the environment.
Nitrogen cycle-
Atmospheric nitrogen (N2) makes up nearly 78%-80% of air.
Organisms can not use it in that form.
Lightning and bacteria convert nitrogen into usable forms.

Nitrogen fixation-convert atmospheric nitrogen (N2) into

ammonium (NH4+) which can be used to make organic compounds
like amino acids.
N2 NH4+
Only in certain bacteria and industrial technologies can fix
nitrogen.
 Global warming: Threat to Ecosystem
The ozone layer is a region of Earth's stratosphere Green House Gases: Human activities release a
that absorbs most of the Sun's ultraviolet variety of gaseous waste products like Carbon
radiation. It contains high concentration of ozone dioxide, Nitrous oxide etc due to the fossil fuels
(O3) in relation to other parts. burning, industrialization and deforestation.
Due to rising concentrations of long-lived greenhouse
gases, much of the solar radiation that strikes the
planet is reflected back toward Earth.

Global warming

Destruction of ozone layer primarily caused by

chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), widely used in
refrigeration. In the stratosphere, chlorine atoms
released from CFCs react with ozone, reducing it
to molecular O2. Subsequent chemical reactions Global models predict that by the end of the 21st
liberate the chlorine, allowing it to react with century, the atmospheric CO2 concentration will
other ozone molecules in a catalytic chain more than double, increasing average global
temperature by about 3°C (5°F).
reaction.
 Effect of Global Warming
Relative sea level increased Variation of Earth surface temperature
 Environmental Engineering
Need many approaches to slow global warming:
• Replacing fossil fuels with renewable solar and wind
Power.
• More controversially, with nuclear power.
• Stabilizing CO2 emissions.
• Development of Biodegradable materials.
• Air pollution control & industrial hygiene improvement.
• Radiation protection, & hazardous waste management.
• Reduce deforestation around the world.

Science Copies Nature's Secrets - Biomimicry

References
1. CAMPBELL B I O L O G Y (9th Edition)
Section; Unit 8, Chapter 54-56
Jane B. ReeceLisa A. Urry
Michael L. Cain
Steven A. Wasserman
Peter V. Minorsky
Robert B. Jackson