Ecology

Malaria once infected 9 out of 10 people in the part of N.

Borneo now known as Brunei Darussalem. In 1955, the
World Health Organization (WHO) began spraying the
insecticide dieldrin to kill the malaria-carrying mosquitoes.
The program was so successful that the dreaded disease
was almost eliminated from the island.

Then strange things started to happen.

The dieldrin killed other insects, including flies and

cockroaches, living in the houses. Great! The people
were delighted. Then the small lizards which lived in the
houses dies after eating the dead insects. Then e cats
began dying after eating lizards. Without cats, the rats
flourished and the villages were overrun by a plague of
rats. With the rats came the plague, carried by fleas on
the rats. The situation was only brought under control
when WHO parachuted healthy cats into the country!

Questions Ecologists Ask

What animals & plants live in this
desert or lake?
How do they interact with each
other & their environment?
What changes will this desert or
lake undergo over time? (alami
dari waktu ke waktu)

Ecologists study both the

Non-living (abiotic) environment,
& the Living (biotic) environment.

Abiotic/Physical
Environment
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Presence & distribution of animals &

plants are determined by factors like
Light
Temperature
Water availability
Oxygen availability
Salinity
pH

Light
Green plants found only where
there is enough light.
Some show adaptations to reach
for light eg. Climbers.
Most animals need light too, but
some show adaptations to live in
the dark

Bats emit high frequency sound waves

to help them navigate & also locate prey
in the dark.
(Kelelawar memancarkan gelombang
suara frekwensi tinggi untuk membantu
mereka memandu & menempatkan
mangsa berada di dalam kegelapan)

Temperature
Affects physiological activities of
plants & animals eg. Metabolic
rate.
Fall in temperature reduced
metabolic activities.
Most organisms cant tolerate
extreme temperatures.

Temperature
Some flowering plants adapt &
survive hot, dry summer or cold,
bitter winter by (musim dingin)

Having
underground
storage organs.

Shedding
(melepas) leaves to
reduce
transpiration.

Formation of seeds
(resistant to drought,
heat/cold), tahan musim
kering, panas/dingin

Thick fat layer and fur

to keep warm.
(tebalnya lapisan dan
bulu binatang untuk
menyimpan/ memelihara
kehangatan)

Can lend me your

shoulder? Dapatkah
meminjamkan aku
bahu mu?

Water Availability
No organism can survive long
without water. (tidak ada
organisme yang dapat survive
lama tanpa air)
Some can survive under limited
supply of water eg. Camels,
xerophytes.

Water Availability Xerophytes

Plants which can live in prolonged
drought conditions (kondisi kering).
Some adaptations

Fleshy stems store as much water as they can.

(Buritan-buritan gemuk menyimpan air sebanyak
mungkin semampu mereka)

Absence of leaves to reduce transpiration.

Stems are green & take over role of photosynthesis from
leaves.
Tidak adanya daun untuk mengurangi transpirasi.
Buritan-buritan bersifat hijau & peran pengambil-alihan
dari fotosintesis dari daun.

Casuarina
Note the long green stems
(batang).
Can you see the leaves?

stem

Leaves are reduced to tiny sheaths at regular intervals

on the stem (nodes) to cut down water loss.
Daun-daun dikurangi sbg pelindung pada waktu
tertentu di tangkai pohon untuk menghindari
kehilangan air)

stem
Tiny leaves

Rolled-Up
Leaf of
Marram
Grass

Hairs trap water vapour as they diffuse out from

stomata, increasing the humidity in the grooves,
therefore reducing transpiration rate.
Rambut-rambut mengikat uap air ketika mereka
menghamburkan di luar mulut daun, meningkatkan
kelembaban lancar, oleh karena itu mengurangi
tingkat transpirasi.

Highhumidity
region

Sunken stomata lie in grooves which bears

many hairs to trap water vapour coming
out of stomata.
Mulut daun sunken terdapat alur-alur yang
membawa banyak rambut untuk menjerat
uap air segera keluar mulut daun.

Sunkenstomata
(seearrows).

Typicalstomata
(seearrows).

Water Availability Hydrophytes

Plants which live in water or very
wet places.

Large air spaces in leaf

to help plant float.
Rongga udara yang
besar pada daun untuk
membantu aliran dlm
tumbuhan.

Water lily with stomata on upper

epidermis so it can breathe (see arrows).
Bunga teratai dengan mulut daun di
kulit luar bagian atas, agar dapat
bernafas (lihat panah).

Water Availability
Aquatic animals have special
breathing adaptations eg. gills, or
webbed toes & fins for swimming
eg. frogs, fish.

Oxygen Availability
Most organisms we study are
aerobes which need oxygen, &
cant tolerate environments with
low oxygen content.
Those that can survive such
conditions have special
adaptations to obtain enough
oxygen for respiration

Mangroveplants
haverootsburiedin
oxygen-poormud.
Buttheyhave
specialbreathing
rootscalled
pneumatophoresthat
projectabovethe
mudsurface.

Pneumatophores

Pneumatophoreshaveopenings
foroxygentopassdownintothe
wholerootsystem.

Oxygen Availability
Fishes living in water with low
oxygen levels are usually airbreathers which can come to the
surface to gulp air eg. Mudskipper.

Salinity (salt
concentration)
Important for aquatic organisms.
Water Body

Freshwater

Seawater

Organisms face
problem of excess
water entering
their bodies.

Organisms face
problem of losing
water from their
bodies.

Freshwater Adaptations
Plant cells have rigid cell walls to
prevent from bursting.
Protozoa (Amoeba) have contractile
vacuoles to remove excess water.
Fishes have waterproof coating or
close-fitting scales covered by
slimy mucus.

Saltwater Adaptations
Fishes has slimy scaly skin to
reduce water loss.
Their gills & kidneys remove
excess salts from their bodies.

pH
Aquatic organisms are sensitive to
pH changes in water.
Seawater is alkaline (pH~8); little
fluctuations in pH.
pH of freshwater, on the other
hand, varies according to regions &
day/night time.

pH
The pH of freshwater depends on
amount of bicarbonate ions in it.
Strong daylight high
photosynthesis rate CO2 in water
used up water more alkaline.
Night time photosynthesis stops
CO2 released by respiration water
more acidic.

Biotic Environment
Deals with interactions between living
organisms.
Read up on the following terms on your
own:
Habitat
Ecological niche
Population
Community
Ecosystem

TB P270 & P275

The Ecosystem
Interaction between Abiotic &
Biotic Environments

uses

ENERGY

MATERIALS

From the Sun;

From the physical

environment;

Has to be supplied
constantly (non-cyclical).

Can be recycled

Food Chain
Energy is
transferred
through a
series of
organism in a
food chain.

Each stage in
the food chain
is known as a
trophic level.
In this diagram,
how many
trophic levels
do you see?

Food Web

Food Web

Energy Transfer in a Food

Chain
Only 5-10% of energy is transferred
from 1 trophic level to the next
trophic level because of energy loss
due to:
Egestion of indigestible matter.
Excreted matter.
Heat loss during respiration.

As such, the shorter the food chain,

the more energy would be available
to the final consumer

Ecological Pyramids
Food chains are useful to show the
type of organisms involved in the
transfer of energy.
But they cant provide quantitative
information.
As such, we need pyramids of
numbers, pyramids of biomass &
pyramids of energy.

Pyramid of Numbers
Allow us to compare the number
of organisms present in each
trophic level.
Hawks

Snakes

Rabbits
Grass

Pyramid of Numbers
Most are pyramid-shaped with 2
exceptions:
1. a lot of small animals feeding on a
large plant,
2. an animal has a large number of small
parasites feeding on it.
Such pyramids will be upside down or
inverted.

Pyramid of Biomass
Although pyramids of number tell us how many
organisms are involved at each level, they take
no account of the size of the organisms.
Biomass is a measure of the total amount of
living material present.
Pyramids of biomass allow us to compare the
mass of organisms present in each trophic level.

Pyramid of Biomass
Most are pyramid-shaped, but it
will again be inverted:
when the producer is a small
organism which multiplies very
rapidly.

Pyramid of Energy
Pyramids of energy tell us how
much energy is contained in the
tissue of organisms at each trophic
level in a food chain.
Takes into account the inedible part
of organisms, which is not reflected
in the pyramid of biomass.

Pyramid of Energy
Always pyramid-shaped, with no
exceptions to this rule.

Pyramid of Energy
Looking at the this progressive loss of
energy explains why food chains are
generally short.
E.g. more energy is available to Man
if he feeds directly on crop plants,
rather than eat the cattle that feed
on his crop plants.

Have you understood so

far?
Test yourself on P284 18.1 &
18.2

Non-cyclic Energy Flow in the

Ecosystem
In any ecosystem, the ultimate
source of energy is the Sun.
Energy lost as heat to the
environment does not return to the
same system or the organisms that
produced it.

Materials in the Ecosystem

Energy flow
through the
ecosystem
cant be
recycled, but
materials
(nutrients)
can.

Nutrient Cycling in Nature

Carbon, oxygen, nitrogen & water are main
nutrients necessary for life.
These nutrients are cycled and their
amounts are delicately balanced in nature.
Human activities that upset these cycles
cause many ecological problems.
[Ref Ch 19]

Carbon Cycle
CO2 concentration in atmosphere
remains relatively constant.
This is because carbon, in the form
of CO2, is removed & restored to
the atmosphere in the carbon
cycle.

Decomposition

decomposers

Death

Importance of Carbon
Cycle
Ensures a continuous supply of
inorganic CO2 for plants to
photosynthesis a important process
that converts solar energy chemical
energy.
Enables one-way flow of energy through
ecosystem in the form of food along
food chains.