ECOLOGY

•Greek origin
• OIKOS = household
• LOGOS = study of…
•Study of the “house/environment” in
which we live.
ECOLOGY
• scientific study of interactions between
organisms and the environment
 ECOLOGISTS
•Use observations and
experiments to test
explanations of species
distribution and
abundance.
 IMPORTANCE
Aceros waldeni
Visayan Writhed
Hornbill

Anthracoceros
montani
Sulu Hornbill
ECOSYSTEM
• A self-
regulating,
dynamic unit
composed of
interacting
biotic and PHYSICAL ELEMENTS + BIOTIC
abiotic =
components dynamic system called ecosystem
ABIOTIC FACTORS

•“non-living components”

- light - nutrients in soil

- water - solar radiation
- wind - atmosphere
- heat
 BIOTIC FACTORS
•“living components”
- plants - protists
- animals - fungi
- microorganisms
BIOTIC COMPONENTS
•Autotrophs
- “Producers”
 BIOTIC COMPONENTS
•Heterotrophs
• “Consumers”

• Herbivores
• Carnivores
• Omnivores
• Decomposers
 NATURE OF ECOSYSTEM
two phenomena:

1) Energy flows in one direction

from the sun to producers
through several levels of
consumers, and
2) Materials (nutrients) cycle
when inorganic nutrients pass
from producers through
consumers and returned to
the atmosphere or soil.
FOOD CHAIN

• A trophic level is all the organisms that feed at a particular link in a

food chain.
• A diagram that link organisms together by who eats whom is called a
food chain.
A grazing food chain:
Leaves → caterpillars → tree birds → hawks
A detrital food chain:
Dead organic matter → soil microbes → worms
FOOD WEB
Generally, the
upper portion of a
food web is a
Interconnected grazing food web,
feeding based on living
plants, and the
relationships in an
ecosystem.
lower portion is a
detrital food web,
based on detritus
and the organisms
of decay.
ECOLOGICAL PYRAMID

depicts the flow and amount

of energy as well as biomass
between successive trophic
levels
ENERGY USE
SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIPS
• Mutualism: When both
organisms benefit
– Lichens
• Commensalism: One organism
benefits, while the other is
neither helped nor harmed.
– Epiphytes (i.e., Bromeliads)
• Parasitism: One organism
benefits at the expense of the
other.
– Parasitoid wasp eggs on a
tomato hornworm
SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIPS
• Competition: More than one
organism uses a resource at the
same time.
• Predation: The act of one
organism consuming another
organism for food.

• Symbiosis: The close

relationship that exists when two
or more species live together.
Niche and Habitat
• Niche – role of an organism in the environment
• Habitat – physical location of community; very
complex; can contain 100 to 1000 of interacting
species.
All birds have similar
characteristics.
But many water birds have
features that are different
from those birds live on land. Long legs are good for wading

Webbed feet for

swimming

These wings act as flippers

 Some animals are camouflaged to This lion blends in well
with the grassy
blend in with their surroundings. background.
This keeps them safe as it is more
difficult for other animals to see
them or catch them for food.

These zebra could

easily be mistaken
for bushes from This lizard’s skin is so
a distance. similar to the rock colour.
 Aquatic animals have
streamlined bodies to move
more easily in the water.
Camels store water in their
humps.
These animals have adapted
to live in the hot climate of
the desert.

Snakes glide across the hot Ostriches have long eyelashes

sands and can shed their skin to keep out the sand.
These animals have adapted to be Layers of fat keep the
seals body warm, and small
more suited to cold temperatures. ears stop heat loss.
Polar bears are kept warm by their body fat.

Deer have a warm

layer of fur.
 Even plants have adapted to
their habitats.

The cactus has fleshy stems

that store water.

Dandelions seeds are easily

dispersed.

The water provides support for this lily as it has less

developed roots to hold it in place.
Animals and plants help each other
Food

Protection
Nests to reproduce

Plants and animals

depend on each
other for a wide
Gas exchange
Shelter variety of things.
 coping

ECOLOGICAL limiting factors

LEVELS OF interspecific interactions

and diversity

ORGANIZATION energy flow and chemical

cycling – somewhat
theoretical

interactions of lower
ecological levels in a region
you observe
global effects
ORGANISMAL ECOLOGY
• Studies how an
organism’s structure,
physiology, and (for
animals) behavior
meet the challenges
posed by the
environment
POPULATION ECOLOGY
• Concentrates mainly
on factors that affect
how many
individuals of a
particular species
live in an area
COMMUNITY ECOLOGY
• Deals with the
whole array of
interacting species
in a community
ECOSYSTEM ECOLOGY
• Emphasizes energy
flow and chemical
cycling among the
various biotic and
abiotic components
LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY
• Deals with arrays of
ecosystems and how
they are arranged in a
geographic region
BIOSPHERE
• Is the global
ecosystem, the sum
of all the planet’s
ecosystems
BIOMES
• Major types of
ecological
community
• Large
geographic
areas with
similar climates
and
ecosystems
 AQUATIC BIOMES
may occur in open water, or they may be associated with the
bottom of the body of water
• Lakes
• Rivers
• Estuaries
• Intertidal zone
• Marine pelagic zone
• Coral reefs
• Marine benthic zone
 LAKES

Lentic
(standing
water)
 RIVERS
 Lotic (running water)
 Rivers and streams
 ESTUARIES
Where freshwater and
saltwater meet
 INTERTIDAL ZONE

Littoral zone
MARINE PELAGIC ZONE
Open ocean far from land
MARINE BENTHIC ZONE
MARINE BENTHIC ZONE
an aquatic
biome
consisting of
the ocean
bottom below
the pelagic
and coastal
zones
A deep-sea hydrothermal vent community
CORAL REEF
TERRESTRIAL BIOMES
• Desert
• Temperate Grassland
• Savanna
• Temperate broadleaf forest
• Coniferous forest (Taiga)
• Tundra
• Tropical forest
 DESERT

DESERT
- driest biome on Earth with
less than 25 cm of rain each The Sonoran Desert in southern Arizona

year;
- has dunes or thin soil with
little organic matter and
plants and animals
especially adapted to
survive extreme conditions
 TEMPERATE GRASSLAND
TEMPERATE GRASSLAND

Sheyenne National Grassland in North Dakota

- grassland with 25 to 75 cm of precipitation each year;

- dominated by climax communities of grasses;
- ideal for growing crops and raising cattle and sheep.
 SAVANNA
SAVANNA

A typical savanna in Kenya

A grassland with scattered trees or

scattered clumps of trees, a type of
community intermediate between
grassland and forest.
 TEMPERATE FOREST
TEMPERATE BROADLEAF FOREST

Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina

usually having 4 distinct seasons,

annual precipitation between 75
cm and 150 cm, and climax
communities of deciduous trees
 CONIFEROUS FOREST (TAIGA)
CONIFEROUS FOREST

Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado

- world's largest terrestrial biome

- located south of the tundra between 50° N and 60° N
latitude;
- has long, cold winters, precipitation (35 - 100 cm each year)
- cone-bearing evergreen trees, and dense forests
 TUNDRA
TUNDRA

- cold, dry, treeless biome with less than 25 cm of precipitation

each year, a short growing season, permafrost, and winters
that can be six to nine months long
 - most biologically
TROPICAL FOREST
TROPICAL FOREST diverse biome;
- has an average
temperature of 25°C
and receives between
200 cm and 600 cm of
A tropical rain forest in Borneo precipitation each year
 THANK YOU!
DGHANG SALAMAT!