Ecology Review Ecology is the study of Ecosystems

Ecology Review

Ecology is the study of. . • • • Ecosystems include both. . . Biotic and Abiotic Factors Biotic factors are the living components of ecosystems like. . Plants, animals, bacteria, fungi

• • • Abiotic factors are the nonliving components like. . . 1. climate/weather patterns 2. soil, water, minerals, 3. land forms and features 4. amount of sunlight

Define population. • a population is a group of one species living in a specific area. • What is a community? • a community is groups of different species living in one habitat • a habitat is the place where a community of organisms lives

Name the types of organisms in a food chain • 1. Producers: (where do they get energy? ) • from the sun—these are organisms tht use photosynthesis to convert the sun’s energy • 2. Consumers: • eat or use other organisms to obtain energy • 3. Decomposers: • Organisms that breakdown other organisms

Types of Consumers: • 1. Herbivores-- eat plants • 2. Carnivores-- eat meat (other animals) • 3. Omnivores-- eat both plants and animals • 4. Detrivores-- eat dead organisms, ie. scavengers

Biogeochemical Cycles: The Water Cycle • • 1. liquid water becomes vapor= EVAPORATION 2. water vapor becomes clouds= CONDENSATION 3. rain, sleet, snow, hail= PRECIPITATION 4. water comes out of leaves of plants= TRANSPIRATION

Water Cycle continued. . • 5. water drains into streams, rivers, oceans= • RUN-OFF • 6. water filters into the soil and goes through to the ground water= • PERCOLATION • 7. water vapor exhaled by animals= • RESPIRATION • 8. water taken in by roots= • ABSORPTION

THE CARBON CYCLE • What are the only organisms that use CO 2? • Plants. . They take in Carbon (CO 2) during PHOTOSYNTHESIS • What gives off Carbon Dioxide? People, we exhale. . . during RESPIRATION We do, when we burn fuel. . COMBUSTION

The Nitrogen Cycle • • How much atmospheric nitrogen is not usable? 78% Why do living things need nitrogen? To make amino acids and nucleic acids to build. . Proteins, RNA, DNA How can we and other living things get nitrogen? by eating plants, or animals who ate plants

Other sources of carbon in the air, water, or soil • Geologic activity like. . volcanoes • EROSION --water/wind dissolves limestone releasing CO 2 • Remember --plants are the only things that can remove CO 2

What is the Greenhouse Effect? • The heat trapping ability of some gases in the atmosphere • This can be compared to the way glass traps heat in a greenhouse, or an insulating blanket • this is a good thing for us, because it keeps the earth’s surface temperature liveable • What is happening while the greenhouse gas, CO 2, is increasing?

Global Warming • This refers to the increase of the average temperature of the earth. • The earth's temperature has been rising for the last 50 yrs.

Film: One Degree Factor • How did one degree rise in temperature affect the caribou? • more mosquitos, longer mosquito season • drove caribou higher up where there was not as much food • more rain, freezing on top the snow • made finding food difficult, made crust on the snow that cut their legs

Film (cont): It is a Global Problem (affects everyone): • How can a drought in Africa affect children and ocean in Trinidad? • The drought caused the lake in Africa to dry up. Dust from the lake was blown by the winds to the Caribbean Sea. • Caused increase in Asthma and Sea Fan disease.

Is the hole in the ozone layer part of global warming? • NOPE. • It is another example of a man-made impact on the environment, though. • What caused the hole in the ozone layer? • Use of CFC's (chlorofluorocarbons) in spray cans, refrigerators, air conditioners • These chemicals caused the hole • What is so bad about a hole in the ozone layer? • Ozone layer protects us from UV radiation so because of the hole, skin cancer rates went up.

Here's the good news: • We changed what we were doing by finding alternatives to CFC's, • and the hole in the ozone layer is becoming smaller!

Where do plants get their nitrogen? • from the soil (they absorb it through roots) • What are the bacteria that breakdown Nitrogen so that plants can absorb it? • In soil, it’s… • Rhizobium bacteria • In water, it’s… • Cyanobacteria

Some Nitrogen Cycle Terms: • Nitrogen Fixation= bacteria turns N 2 gas into ammonia • Ammonification= bacteria in soil convert organic material to NH 3 • Nitrification= ammonia into nitrites/nitrates • Assimilation=plant roots take in nitrates • Denitrification=bacteria turns nitrates into nitrogen gas

Trophic Levels

How much energy moves from one trophic level to the next? • only 10% of the energy from one trophic level moves up to the next • 90% of the energy is lost -- given off as heat or wasted energy

Weather Patterns • Explain the Coriolis Effect: • because of the rotation of the earth, winds and weather seem to curve to the right; this is the reason our storms come from the Southwest and move in a Northeast direction • Explain the Mountain Effect: • all the precipitation is dumped on the windward side of the mountain, so the leeward side is dry; for example. . Denver, CO has very little snow. It is on the east side of the Rockies. Most of the ski resorts in Colorado are on the west side of the Rockies.

How does the Gulf Stream

Some Terrestrial Biomes: • Tundra: cold, permafrost, little rainfall, caribou, foxes that have thick fur- white in winter • Taiga: cold, two seasons- summer and winter, moose, bear, lynx, hibernate in winter • Temperate, deciduous forest: moderate rain, deer, rabbits, squirrels, birds, • Rainforest: high amount of rainfall, great diversity of plants, animals • Desert: hot, dry, little rain, animals and plants adapted to heat and little water

Which biome has the greatest amount of biodiversity (different plants and animals)? • The Tropical Rainforest due to its high amount of rainfall, and the amount of sunlight it gets year round.

Symbiosis- relationships between organisms in habitats • • 1. Parasitism(+, -) parasite benefits, host is harmed 2. Mutualism(+, +) both benefit 3. Commensalism(+, 0) one benefits, the other is neither harmed nor benefitted 4. Competition(- , - ) both are harmed

Which is it? • A sucker fish that lives on a shark. The fish removes fungus from the shark by feeding on it. . . • That is Mutualism because both benefit • A tick sucks the blood from a deer. . . • That is Parasitism because the deer is harmed • A bird that lives in a hole in a tree is. . . • Commensalism (the tree is neither harmed nor helped, but the bird gets shelter) • Squirrels and Cardinals both eat sunflower seeds. . • is an example of Competition for the same food source.

Competitive Exclusion Two species cannot exist in the same space so they must each find their own “niche”. If one of the species is more successful and eliminates the other, it is called. . Competitive exclusion Two species can avoid competition by finding different niches in an ecosystem.

What is a niche? • The job an organism has in its habitat, its pattern of living— • the resources it uses, where it feeds, finds shelter, temperature requirements, etc. • fundamental niche: • the part of the habitat the organism could occupy if there were no competition • realized niche: • the part of the habitat it actually occupies (in reality)

Population Growth • Populations that grow unchecked will grow. . • Exponentially • They don't because they are limited by various factors like. . • Amount of resources, diseases, predators • The size that a population is limited to by the environment is called its: • CARRYING CAPACITY

POPULATION LIMITING FACTORS: • When factors are affected by the size of the population they are: • DENSITY DEPENDENT • When factors are not affected by the size of the population, they are: • DENSITY INDEPENDENT

What is SUCCESSION? • The changes in an ecosystem over time. • What is Primary (1 st) succession? • living things coming into an area where there was no life before • ex. a glacier melts exposing soil after 100's of 1000's of years • Secondary (2 nd) succession is. . • new life in an area that had life before • ex. forest after a forest fire

What are Pioneer Species? • organisms that are the first to live in an area; for example. . • Small, fast growing plants • Mosses and lichen are the first plants that grow in an area.

THE END-- Best of luck!