Ecology and the

Biosphere
Chapter 52

Hercules scarab beetle-Panama

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 Definitions

Ecology
The study of interactions between
organisms and the environment
Ecosystem:
A community of organisms and its
physical environment
The biosphere:
The global ecosystem, the sum of all the
planets ecosystems

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Organisms and the
Environment
The environment of any
organism includes
Abiotic, or nonliving components
Biotic, or living components. (All
the organisms living in the
environment are the biota)

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Questions of organisms and
the
Whatenvironment
environmental components are affect the
frequent in
distribution and ecology
abundance of organisms?
Can you predict the distribution of Red Kangaroos
by looking at
Kangaroos/km
> 20
environmental components?
Climate in northern Australia
2

is hot and wet, with seasonal

drought.
1020
510
15
0.11
Red kangaroos
< 0.1
Limits of occur in most
distribution semiarid and arid
regions of the
interior, where
precipitation is
relatively low and
variable from
year to year.

Southeastern Australia
has a wet, cool climate.
Southern Australia has
cool, moist winters and
warm, dry summers.
Tasmania
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 Subfields of Ecology

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 Organismal ecology
Studies how an organisms
structure, physiology, and
behavior meet the challenges
posed by the environment

How do hammerhead
How do humpback
25/05/17 whales select biosfer sharks select a mate? 6

their calving areas?

Population ecology
Concentrates mainly on factors
that affect how many
individuals of a particular
(b) Population ecology.

species live in an area What environmental

factors affect the
reproductive rate of
deer mice?

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Community ecology
Deals with the whole array of
interacting species in a
community
(c) Community ecology.
What factors influence
the diversity of species
that make up a
particular forest?

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Ecosystem ecology
Emphasizes energy flow and
chemical cycling among the
various biotic and abiotic
components (d) Ecosystem ecology. What
factors control photosynthetic
productivity in a temperate
grassland ecosystem?

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Landscape ecology
Deals with arrays of ecosystems
and how they are arranged in a
geographic region

(e) Landscape ecology. To what extent do the trees lining the

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drainage channels in this landscape serve as corridors of 10
dispersal for forest animals?
Global
ecology

The
Big
Picture

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Ecology and Environmental
Issues

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Ecology and
Environmental Issues
Ecology provides the scientific
understanding underlying
environmental issues
Rachel Carson
Is credited
with starting
the modern
environmental
movement

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 Silent Spring 1962 warned that
widespread pesticide use (DDT etc.)
was causing widespread population
declines in nontarget species

Over increasingly large areas of the

United States, spring now comes
unheralded by the return of the birds, and
the early mornings are strangely silent
where once they were filled with the
beauty of bird song.

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Aldo Leopold: A Sand County Almanac
(1949)
There are some who can live without wild
things, and some who cannot. These essays
are the delights and dilemmas of one who
cannot.
Land ethic
That land is a community is the basic concept of ecology, but
that land is to be loved and respected is an extension of
ethics.
A land ethic, then, reflects the existence of an ecological
conscience, and this in turn reflects a conviction of individual
responsibility for the health of land.
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Precautionary Principle

Most ecologists follow the

precautionary principle regarding
environmental issues
The precautionary principle
Basically states that humans need
to be concerned with how their
actions affect the environment

To keep every cog and wheel is the first

precaution of intelligent tinkering.
Aldo Leopold
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 Distribution of
organisms

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Climate and the
distribution of organisms
Interactions between organisms and
the environment limit the distribution
of species
Ecologists recognize global and
regional patterns of distribution of
organisms within the biosphere
Biogeography: study of distribution
of organisms

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Biographic realms
Broad patterns of distribution

Palearctic

Nearctic
Tropic
of Cancer Oriental
(23.5N)
Ethiopian
Equator

Neotropical
(23.5S)
Tropic of Australian
Capricorn

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Dispersal and
Distribution
Dispersal
Is the movement of individuals
away from centers of high
population density or from their
area of origin
Contributes to the global
distribution of organisms

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Natural Range
Expansions
Natural range expansion show
the influence of dispersal on
distribution
Spread of great-
tailed grackle
1974-1996

New areas
occupied Year
1996
1989

1974
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Natural Range
Expansions

Cattle egret
Native to the Old
World. First
reported in South
America in 1877

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Species Transplants
Species transplants
Include organisms that are
intentionally or accidentally
relocated from their original
distribution
Can often disrupt the communities or
ecosystems to which they have been
introduced

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Purple loosestrife-Introduced from Europe

Behavior and Habitat
Selection
Some organisms do not occupy
all of their potential range
Species distribution may be
limited by habitat selection
behavior

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Biotic Factors
Biotic factors that affect the
distribution of organisms may
include
Interactions with other species
Predation
Competition

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 Abiotic Factors
Abiotic factors that affect the distribution
of organisms may include
Temperature
because of its effects on biological processes
Water
Sunlight
Light intensity and quality can affect photosynthesis.
Also important to the development and behavior of
organisms sensitive to the photoperiod
Wind
Rocks and soil

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Wind
Wind
Amplifies the effects of
temperature on organisms by
increasing heat loss due to
evaporation and convection
Can change the morphology of
plants

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Rocks and Soil
Many characteristics of soil
limit the distribution of plants
and thus the animals that feed
upon them
Physical structure
pH
Mineral composition

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 Climate

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Climate
Climate is the prevailing
weather conditions in a
particular area
Four major abiotic components
make up climate
Temperature, water, sunlight,
and wind

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Climate scale

Climate patterns can be

described on two scales
Macroclimate, patterns on the
global, regional, and local level
Microclimate, very fine patterns,
such as those encountered by the
community of organisms
underneath a fallen log

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Sunlight Intensity
Sunlight intensity plays a major
part in determining the Earths
climate patterns LALITUDINAL VARIATION IN SUNLIGHT INTENSITY

North Pole
60N
Low angle of incoming sunlight

30N
Tropic of
Cancer

Sunlight directly overhead 0 (equator)

Tropic of
Capricorn
30S

Low angle of incoming sunlight

60S
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32

Atmosphere
 Sunlight Intensity
SEASONAL VARIATION IN SUNLIGHT INTENSITY

March equinox: Equator faces sun directly;

neither pole tilts toward sun; all regions on Earth
60N experience 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of
June solstice: Northern 30N darkness.
Hemisphere tilts toward 0 (equator)
sun; summer begins in
Northern Hemisphere;
30S
winter begins in
Southern Hemisphere.

December solstice: Northern

Hemisphere tilts away from sun;
Constant tilt winter begins in Northern
of 23.5 Hemisphere; summer begins
September equinox: Equator faces sun in Southern Hemisphere.
directly; neither pole tilts toward sun; all
regions on Earth experience 12 hours of
daylight and 12 hours of darkness.

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 Air circulation and wind
patterns

GLOBAL AIR CIRCULATION AND PRECIPITATION PATTERNS

60N

30N

Descending Descending
0 (equator) dry air dry air
absorbs Ascending
moist air absorbs
moisture moisture
releases
30S moisture

0 23.5
60S
30 23.5 30
Arid Arid
zone Tropics zone

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 GLOBAL WIND PATTERNS

Arctic
Circle
60N
Westerlies

30N
Northeast trades
Doldrums
0
(equator)
Southeast trades
30S

Westerlies
60S
Antarctic
Circle

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Landscape features
contribute to local
variations in climate

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Bodies of Water
Oceans and their currents, and large lakes
moderate the climate of nearby terrestrial
environments
2 Air cools at 1 Warm air
high elevation. over land rises.

3 Cooler
air sinks
over water.

4 Cool air over water

moves inland, replacing
rising warm air over land.

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Mountains
Mountains have a significant effect on
The amount of sunlight reaching an area
Local temperature
Rainfall
1 As moist air moves in
2 Farther inland, precipitation
off the Pacific Ocean and
increases again as the air
encounters the westernmost
moves up and over higher
mountains, it flows upward, 3 On the eastern side of the
mountains. Some of the worlds
cools at higher altitudes, Sierra Nevada, there is little
deepest snow packs occur here.
and drops a large amount precipitation. As a result of
of water. The worlds tallest this rain shadow, much of
trees, the coastal redwoods, central Nevada is desert.
thrive here.

Wind
direction
East
Pacific
Ocean
Sierra
Nevada

Coast
Range

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Microclimate
Microclimate is determined by
fine-scale differences in abiotic
factors.
Shade from a tree
Wind blockage by a boulder
Low-lying area that collects
moisture

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Biomes
Biomes: Are the major types
of ecological associations
that occupy broad
geographic regions of land
or water

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Aquatic Biomes-
distribution

30N

Tropic of
Cancer
Equator
Continental
Tropic of shelf
Capricorn
30S

Key

Lakes Rivers Estuaries Abyssal zone

Intertidal zone (below oceanic
Coral reefs Oceanic pelagic
pelagic zone)
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Aquatic Biomes

Aquatic biomes
Account for the largest part of the
biosphere in terms of area
Can contain fresh or salt water
Oceans
Cover about 75% of Earths
surface
Have an enormous impact on the
biosphere
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 Stratification of aquatic
biomes
Stratified into zones or layers
defined by light penetration, Intertidal zone

temperature, and depth Littoral

Neritic zone Oceanic zone

zone Limnetic 0
zone Photic zone
200 m
Continental Pelagic
shelf zone

Benthic Aphotic
Photic zone zone
zone

Pelagic
Benthic
zone
zone
Aphotic
zone
2,5006,000 m
Abyssal zone
(deepest regions of ocean floor)

(a) Zonation in a lake. The lake environment is generally classified on the
basis of three physical criteria: light penetration (photic and aphotic zones),
distance from shore and water depth (littoral and limnetic zones), and
whether it is open water (pelagic zone) or bottom (benthic zone).
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(b) Marine zonation. Like lakes, the marine environment is generally
classified on the basis of light penetration (photic and aphotic zones),
distance from shore and water depth (intertidal, neritic, and oceanic
zones), and whether it is open water (pelagic zone) or bottom (benthic
biosfer and abyssal zones). 43
 Lakes
LAKES

A eutrophic lake in Okavango

An oligotrophic lake in
Grand Teton, Wyoming
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delta, Botswana Nutrient rich / oxygen poor
Nutrient poor / oxygen rich
Wetlands

WETLANDS

Okefenokee National Wetland Reserve in Georgia

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Streams and Rivers
STREAMS AND RIVERS

A headwater stream in the The Mississippi River far

Great Smoky Mountains form its headwaters
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 Estuaries A transition area
between rivers
and the ocean

An estuary in a low coastal plain of

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Georgia biosfer 47
Intertidal Zones
INTERTIDAL ZONES

Rocky intertidal zone on the Oregon coast

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Oceanic pelagic biome

OCEANIC PELAGIC BIOME

Open ocean off the island of Hawaii

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 Coral Reefs

CORAL REEFS

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A coral reef in the Red Sea
Marine benthic zone

MARINE BENTHIC ZONE

A deep-sea hydrothermal vent community

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 Terrestrial Biomes
Climate
largely determines the
distribution and structure of
terrestrial biomes
important in determining why
particular terrestrial biomes are
found in certain areas

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Climate and Terrestrial
Biomes
climograph

Desert Temperate grassland Tropical forest

30
Annual mean temperature (C)

Temperate
broadleaf
15
forest

Coniferous
forest
0

Arctic and
alpine
tundra

15
100 200 300 400

Annual mean precipitation (cm)

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Terrestrial biomes-
distribution
30N

Tropic of
Cancer

Equator

Tropic of
Capricorn

30S

Key Chaparral Tundra

Temperate grassland High mountains
Tropical forest
Temperate broadleaf forest Polar ice
Savanna
Coniferous forest
Desert
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Terrestrial Biomes
Terrestrial biomes
Are often named for major
physical or climatic factors and for
their predominant vegetation

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Tropical Forest
TROPICAL FOREST

A tropical rain forest in Borneo

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Desert

DESERT

The Sonoran Desert in southern Arizona

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 Savanna

SAVANNA

A typical savanna in Kenya

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Chaparral

CHAPARRAL

An area of chaparral in California

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Temperate grassland

TEMPERATE GRASSLAND

Sheyenne National Grassland in North Dakota

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 Coniferous forest

CONIFEROUS FOREST

Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado

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Temperate broadleaf
forest
TEMPERATE BROADLEAF FOREST

Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina

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Tundra

TUNDRA

Denali National Park, Alaska, in autumn

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