I.

Basic Concepts
A. Ecology: the study of the relationships between organisms and their environments
B. Biosphere: the portion of the earth that is capable of supporting life
C. Ecosystem: the portion of the biosphere where living and non-living things interact
1. Biotic: living part (plants and animals)
2. Abiotic: non-living part (environment)
D. Community: all of the organisms living together in a particular area
E. Population: all of the organisms of one species which are in the community
F. Habitat: the place within the community where the population lives
G. Niche: the function an organism has in its environment
II. Dynamics of the Ecosystem
A. Energy relationships
1. Producers: make food (autotroph)
a. Photosynthesis is used to make food
b. Plants are producers
2. Consumers: eat food (heterotroph)
a. Respiration is used to obtain energy from food
b. Types of consumers
1. Primary consumer: eats a producer (herbivore)
2. Secondary consumer: eats a primary consumer (carnivore)
3. Tertiary consumer: eats a secondary consumer

c. Decomposers: break down dead things into basic nutrients (reducer)

1. Provide basic nutrients which the producers turn into food
2. Remove the waste from the ecosystem (detritivores/scavengers)
3. Food chain
a. Def: A series of producers and consumers
b. Food web: A complex feeding system with many food chains
4. Energy pyramid
a. Diagram showing how energy is transferred through a food chain
b. Each level represents either a producer a consumer
c. When energy is transferred from one level to another about
d. 90% of the energy is lost
B. Ecological succession
1. The tendency for ecosystems to change from simple to complex
2. Primary: occurs on bare, lifeless substrates
3. Secondary: occurs in areas which previously had life, but were disturbed by
some event
4. Climax community: the community that is established when the succession has
stabilized
5. Fugitive species: species which occur early in the successional stages and later
disappear
III. Population Dynamics
A. Population growth
1. Biotic potential: the rate at which a population will increase with no limits

a. Affected by several factors

1. Emigration: movement out of the area
2. Immigration: movement into an area
b. Populations generally follow an exponential growth rate curve
2. Carrying capacity: the size at which a population stabilizes in a particular
location
a. Population stabilizing factors:
1. Space (for habitats)
2. Light & water
3. Nutrients
b. These result in a sigmoid growth rate curve
B. Ecological relationships that affect population size
1. Competition: when two organisms are both using a resource that is in short
supply
a. Competitive exclusion
1. If two species are competing for the same limited resource in the
same place, one of them will be able to use that resource more
efficiently than the other and eventually will drive that second
species to extinction locally
2. The excluded species can emigrate to another location in order to
survive
b. Niches
1. Fundamental: the niche that an organism occupies in the absence
of competitors
2. Realized: the niche that it occupies under natural conditions

2. Predator-Prey interaction
a. Predator: organism that captures other organisms for food
b. Prey: organism that is eaten by the predator
c. Populations generally follow slightly offset oscillations in their growth
curves
3. Defenses to predation
a. Plants: plants will release chemicals to inhibit digestion by animals
b. Animals
1. Chemical defenses
a. Some herbivores retain the plants toxins and become
poisonous themselves
b. Some animals secrete chemicals in response to attack from
predators
c. Many animals with chemical defenses
have aposematic coloration
2. Non-chemical defenses
a. Cryptic (camouflage) coloring: to blend in with background
b. Mimicry: non-poisonous species displaying warning colors
C. Symbiosis
1. Def: when two organisms live together
2. Mutualism: symbiosis where both organisms benefit
3. Commensalism: where one organism benefits and the other is not affected
4. Parasitism: symbiosis where one organism lives off of another organism (host)
IV. Biomes

A. A region with a distinct climate and the organisms that live there
B. Biomes generally blend into one another at their border
C. Biomes are determined based on the amount of annual rainfall
D. Tropical rain forest
1. High rainfall and high temperature
2. High productivity despite infertile soil
3. Nutrients are stored in plants and rapidly recycled
4. Almost half of all terrestrial organisms live here
E. Savanna
1. Reduced rainfall and temperature
2. Typically covered with grass and scattered trees
3. Transitional between tropical rain forest and desert
F. Desert
1. Low rainfall and high temperatures
2. Desert plants store water (succulents) and have extensive roots
3. Most animals are nocturnal (active at night) to avoid the heat
4. Critical factor is water (behavior and physiology adapted to conserve water)
G. Grasslands (prairie)
1. Abundant rainfall and seasonal temperature changes
2. Grasses are the most common plant (few trees)
3. Grazing animals very common: horses, rabbits, cows
H. Temperate deciduous forest

1. Distinct seasons (winter, spring, summer, fall)

2. Rainfall varies
3. Many varieties of plants (perennial) and animals
4. Chaparral: evergreen scrub-type plants common in Mediterranean-type climates
I. Taiga (northern coniferous forests)
1. Long, cold winters with little precipitation
2. Most of the precipitation occurs in the summer
3. Extensive coniferous forests (pine, hemlock, fir)
4. Many large animals (moose, elk, bear, deer, etc)
J. Tundra (40% of the earth's land surface)
1. Low temperatures and low rainfall
2. Very short growing season
3. Found at high latitudes and very cold places
4. Most of the water is trapped in the permafrost located a few feet below the
surface
K. Aquatic Environments (75% of the earth's surface)
1. Neritic zone (shallow waters along coasts)
a. Littoral (intertidal) zone: exposed at low tide
b. Estuaries: areas where fresh and salt water mix
1. Highest productivity of any aquatic area
2. Important areas for fish hatcheries
2. Surface zone (open sea)

a. Plankton: organisms that drift freely in the illuminated water

b. Nekton: larger organisms that swim in the same water
c. Rapid turnover of nutrients
3. Abyssal zone (deep water - dominated by decomposer organisms
and scavengers)
4. Freshwater environments
a. Limnetic (photic) zone: area of light penetration
b. Profundal (aphotic) zone: area without light penetration
c. Thermal stratification: water layering based on temperature
1. Epilimnion: warmer surface waters
2. Hypolimnion: cooler deeper waters
3. Thermocline: the abrupt change in temperature at the border
between the epilimnion and the hypolimnion
d. Seasonal overturn
1. Water achieves its maximum density at 4 C
2. During winter, surface waters cool and sink removing the thermal
stratification
3. This allows nutrient-rich deep water to rise to the surface
4. Nutrients are now available in the spring for productivity
V. Human Influence in Ecology
A. Pollution: contaminating the environment
1. Air (smog, CFC's, etc)
a. Commercial and industrial: factories, businesses

b. Personal: cars, aerosal sprays, BBQ's

c. Acid rain: rain with a pH less than 5.6 (caused by air pollutants)
2. Water
a. Chemical (industrial wastes, personal wastes)
b. Thermal (heat): from power plants
3. Other types of pollution (noise, visual, light)
4. Types of pollutants
a. Biodegradable: can be being broken down naturally
b. Non-biodegradable: cannot be broken down naturally
B. Conservation: wise and careful use of the resources
1. Renewable: capable of being replaced within a lifetime
2. Non-renewable: not capable of being replaced
a. Soil
b. Water
c. Non-renewable energy sources
1. Fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas)
2. Nuclear fission reactors
VI. Global Issues in Ecology
A. Ozone depletion
1. CFC's released into the atmosphere will break down the ozone layer
2. Destruction of ozone will increase the UV light reaching the earth
B. Destruction of tropical rainforest

1. Reduction in the number of species

2. Soil is not very fertile and becomes unusable in a short time
C. Global warming (Greenhouse Effect)
1. Global surface temperature is thought to be increasing
2. If this continues, one of the following will occur:
a. Melting of polar ice caps raising global sea level
b. Increased evaporation producing more clouds
thereby reducing temperatures
c. No scientific consensus