Unit 12

Ecological Interactions

This interactions include: Competition- two or more populations try to use the same resources

Predation- one population uses

another as food source

FOOD CHAINS

carnivores carnivores herbivores plants

Producers

Primary consumers

Secondary consumers

Tertiary consumers

Feeding Relationships

A food chain shows a simple feeding relationship.

Sun

All food chains start with the sun

Feeding Relationships

A food chain shows a simple feeding relationship.

Sun grass

Feeding Relationships

A food chain shows a simple feeding relationship.

Sun grass rabbit

Feeding Relationships

A food chain shows a simple feeding relationship.

Sun grass rabbit fox

Photosynthesis
carbon dioxide from the air

water from the roots

energy from sunlight (or light)

food transported to the rest of the plant

Because plants produce their own food, they are called Producers

The energy is then passed on to animals when they eat the plant.

Animals of all shapes

and sizes!

Because these animals are the first to take the food energy from the plants,

They are called primary consumers

Some of these primary consumers have predators. Other animals that feed on them

Aphids are eaten by.

Ladybugs

Animals that eat primary consumers are called secondary consumers

So far this is a straightforward food chain

Sun aphid ladybug

But in reality it is more complicated than that

This bird eats ladybugs and aphids

This bird eats smaller birds, mice, and rabbits

Mice and rabbits have other predators

Sometimes its not entirely clear who eats who!

Even simple food webs can be VERY complicated

Food webs in real ecosystems can be VERY complicated.

Ecological Interactions

Trophic Level
where a species is situated in the food web of an environment

relative to other species

Trophic structure controls the passage of energy and nutrients from one organism to another in an ecosystem

Trophic Structure in Ecosystems

Plants: producers

Animals: consumers (herbivores or carnivores)

Fungi: decomposers (detritivores)

Protista: producers or consumers

Monera (bacteria): producers or consumers

1. Below is food web for a group of marine and terrestrial organisms. Phytoplankton is an autotrophic organism that lives underwater. Name the following items:

One primary consumer __________________ Answe r: clam Trophic level(s) of the Grackle ______________________ Answe r: tertiary One organism that is both a secondary and tertiary consumer ____________________ Answe r: Sande rling

Tertiary

Competition for limited resources

Two or more populations in the same habitat may compete for similar resources Especially when resources are in limited supply

Interspecific Competition

a) Paramecium caudatum, b) P. aurelia Grown in separate culture tubes and they established stable populations The S-shaped curves indicate logistic growth and stability

Interspecific Competition

Populations grown together, P. aurelia (red curve) drove the other species, P. caudatum, toward extinction (blue curve)

Effects of competition on population growth

One population is better at securing resources

and reduces the size of the other population One population survives and the other goes extinct Both populations go extinct

Competitive Exclusion Principle

It states that two species that compete for the exact same resources cannot stably coexist

Niche overlap

Ecological Niche

The role played by a particular species in its environment or ecosystem

Ecological Niche

An organism's niche is defined by Biotic and Abiotic factors

Some Abiotic Factors light intensity temperature type of soil or rock pH level water availability dissolved gases level of pollutant Some Biotic Factors Parasitism Food disease predation

Predation

A predator hunts and kills other organism (prey), for food

Effects of predation on prey population growth

Deer Wolf

2 3 4

When prey are numerous their predators increase in numbers, reducing the prey population, which in turn causes predator number to decline. The prey population eventually recovers, starting a new cycle.
PREY IS USUALLY MORE ABUNDANT THAN PREDATORS

Effects of predation on prey population growth

What would happen if we remove the wolf population?

Both, the deer and the grass go extinct

Why?
Since the deer population is not held in check, it

increases enormously The deer feed on the grass and drive it to extinction Without food, the deer population also crashes

We can show what goes on with the help of a Food Web

What would happen if a disease killed off many of the hawks?

There will be nothing to eat the snakes, so their numbers will increase.

All the frogs get eaten

No frogs.

More crickets

Most of the cattail gets eaten by the crickets

Now the crickets dont have enough food so their numbers go down

..and so on. Numbers of each species have an effect on the numbers of the other species in the web.

Ecological Ecosystems need many, many producers (plants) to support fewer Pyramids primary consumers (herbivores) to support even fewer secondary
consumers (carnivores)

Owl: top predator (carnivore)

Weasels: secondary consumers

(carnivores) Mice: primary (herbivores) consumers Plants: producers

Ecological Pyramids

What happens to all the energy an organism consumes?

Ecological Pyramids and Biomass

2 consumer 1 consumer

WOLF (1362) DEER (3534)

producer

GRASS (5663)

BIOMASS DECREASES AS YOU MOVE UP TROPHIC LEVELS

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