Ecology

Levels of Organization in Living Things

! Ecology - study of interactions between biotic and abiotic factors of organisms in environmental systems
!Biotic factors -living things (plants, animals, and decomposers) !Abiotic factors - nonliving things (air, water, sunlight, and land)

A Look at Ecology as a science

Levels of Organization
! Living things are part of a whole. The parts in levels of organization are:
! 9. ! 8. ! 7. ! 6. ! 5. ! 4. ! 3. ! 2. The Biosphere Ecosystems = Biomes Communities Populations Organism Organ Systems Organs Tissues

The Biosphere
! Biosphere - the living world and all Biotic and Abiotic Factors that affect life within it.

! 1. Cells

Ecosystems = Biomes
! Ecosystem several types of living things live in environment and interact between themselves and nonliving surroundings ! Biome - global ecosystem located in a specific portion of the world.
! Deserts, oceans, and forests are examples of ecosystems and Biomes. ! Biomes are characterized by the quantity of rainfall per year.

Ecosystems in Biomes
! A deer, rabbit, and all the plant populations that live in a grasslands area and the lake, air, and rocks are part of an ecosystem.

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Communities
! Community - made up of populations that interact with each other
!Rabbits and hawks may be part of a community. !There are many communities in a Biome. !Communities may be separated by living or non-living matter (mountain or other boundaries are common).

Populations
! Population - a group of organisms that mate with one another and live in the same place at the same time.
!A deer or several deer may belong to a population as long as it can interact with other deer in the same area.

Organisms
! Organism - a specific species of plant, animal, bacteria, fungus or other living thing that lives in a specific area
!You and I are both organisms. So too can be said for my pet cat.

Smaller Than Organisms

! There are two types of organisms
! single cellular or multi-cellular organisms ! multi-cellular organisms have may be broken down into the following components:

! Organ systems - a set of organs inside an organism that carry out a specific function (digestion, circulation, respiration, etc.) ! Organ - a set of tissues connected tthat carry out a specific function for a living thing (an example of an organ may include the heart, the lung, the brain, etc.)

Smaller Components Yet

! Tissues - 2 or more cells carry out a specific function for an organism. ! Cell - the smallest unit of life that has all the characteristics of living things.
! In multi-cellular organisms there are several types of cells located in different parts of the living organism that carry out specific functions.

Organisms in Ecosystems
! Habitat - the place where an organism lives. ! Niche - the role a species has in its environment. ! Cooperation and competition for biotic and abiotic parts of the environment is what ecology is about ! Habitat and niche are a function of both.

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Relationships ! Symbiosis - a relationship where two or more organisms depend on each other for resources.
!Resources serve an organism (such as food, shelter, etc.).

Symbiosis
! A relationship between two organisms where one organism benefits while the other is harmed - parasitism. ! A relationship between two or more organisms in which both organisms benefit - mutualism. ! A relationship in which one organism benefits but the other is neither harmed nor helped - commensalism .

Food and the Trophic Levels

! Trophic level - steps in the passage of energy and matter through an biotic and abiotic aspects of an ecosystem. ! Matter and energy are passed from pieces of the living system through the feeder levels.
! Autotroph - uses energy from the sun or energy stored in chemical compounds to make its food (carbohydrates). ! Hetertroph - an organism feeds on other organisms.

More About Feeding

! Levels of heterotrophs
! Primary consumers (herbivores) ! Secondary consumers (eat herbivores) ! Tertiary consumers (eat the organisms that eat herbivores) ! Scavanger - a heterotroph that eats dead organisms. ! Decomposer - a heterotroph that breaks down and absorbs nutrients from dead organisms.

Primary, Secondary, Tertiary

! Carnivores eat meat and include secondary and tertiary consumers. ! Herbivores eat plants and include primary consumers. ! Omnivores eat everything and anything and include primary, secondary and tertiary consumers.

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Energy Flow
! Food chain - linear flow of matter through an ecosystem. ! Food web non-linear flow of matter and food through an ecosystem.
!Expresses all possible feeding relationships in each trophic level !Expressed at the community level within an ecosystem.

Energy Flows, Matter Cycles

! Why does energy flow and matter cycle? ! Matter Cycles are part of the abiotic materials flow in an ecosystems:
!Matter moves through ecosystems. !How matter moves will determine how life can be supported within the system.

Water Cycle

The Water Cycle

! Water cycles between the atmosphere, ocean and land. ! All living things require water to maintain homeostasis ! The Cycle
! Evaporation - vapors rise
! Transpiration plants evaporate water through their leaves

! Condense particles come together into clouds ! Precipitation water particles drop out, and ! Percolation water drains into and through the dirt

The Water Cycle Continued

! Water's state (solid, liquid or gas) is determined mostly by temperature.
! The water cycle is determined then by the kinetic energy of the particles and thus is also determined by temperature

The Water Cycle Continued

! Surface Runoff
! Much of the water that returns to Earth as precipitation runs off the surface of the land, and flows down hill into streams, rivers, ponds and lakes. ! Small streams flow into larger streams, then into rivers, and eventually the water flows into the ocean. ! Surface runoff is an important part of the water cycle because, through surface runoff, much of the water returns again to the oceans, where a great deal of evaporation occurs.

! The amount of water on Earth remains constant.

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The Carbon Cycle

! Carbon exists in the nonliving environment as:
!carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and dissolved in water !in rocks like limestone an coral !deposits of coal, petroleum, and natural gas derived from onceliving things !dead organic matter, e.g., humus in the soil

The Carbon Cycle

! Carbon enters the biotic world through the action of autotrophs: ! photoautotrophs
! plants, bacteria and algae ! Use energy of light to convert carbon dioxide to organic matter

!photoautotrophs
! Bacteria ! Use chemical energy to convert substances into organic matter

The Carbon Cycle

! The Carbon cycle takes in carbon dioxide and water and produces oxygen and carbohydrates (sugar)
! This process is called primary productivity

The Carbon Cycle ! Carbon returns to the atmosphere and water by respiration
!All living things respire

! Since there is so much water on the earth, organisms in the ocean produce more oxygen and that ANY OTHER organism in the world.

! Carbon dioxide, burning, decay all produce carbon dioxide (if oxygen is present)
! Complete versus incomplete combustion

The Nitrogen Cycle

! All life requires nitrogen-compounds for protein and nucleic acid production. ! ! Air is made of 78% nitrogen (N2). !
! Most organisms cant use nitrogen in this form. !

! Plants get nitrogen by taking it and incorporating it into compounds such as: !
! nitrate ions (NO3)ammonia (NH3), urea (NH2)2CO.!

! Animals get nitrogen compounds from plants (or animals that have fed on plants).! ! Four processes participate in the cycling of nitrogen through the biosphere: !
! nitrogen xation, decay, nitrication, denitrication !

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