Ecology

ϖ Ecology: It is the study of the interactions of organisms with their physical

environment and with each other
ϖ Population: is a group of individuals of one species living in one area who can
interbreed and interact with each other
ϖ Community: it consists of all organisms living in one area
ϖ An ecosystem: it includes all the organisms in a given area as well as the abiotic
(nonliving) factors with which they interact
ϖ Abiotic factors: they are nonliving and include temperature, water, sunlight, wind,
rocks, and soil
ϖ Biotic factors: they include all the organisms with which an organism might react,
such as birds, insects, predator, prey, and parasite
ϖ The biosphere: it is the global ecosystem
ϖ A niche: it includes what an organism eats and what it needs to survive
Properties of population:
ϖ Populations are defined by their size, density, and dispersion
1. Size:
 it is total number of individual in a population
 Four variables limit the size of a population: the number of birth, the number of
deaths, immigration, and emigration
2. Density:
 it is the number of individuals per unit area or volume
 It is often very difficult to count the number of organisms inhabiting a certain area
(as trying to count ants in 1 acre of land)
 Scientists use sampling techniques to estimate the number of organisms living in
one area. One sampling technique commonly used is called " mark and recapture"
3. Dispersion:
 It is the pattern of spacing of individuals within the area the population inhabits
 There are three patterns of dispersion:
a) Clumped:
 The most common pattern of dispersion is "clumped"
 Example: fish travel in this way to ensure safety
b) Uniform pattern:
 Example: some plants may secrete toxins that keep away other plants that
would compete for limited resources
c) Random spacing:
 Occurs in the absence of any special attractions or repulsions
 Example: trees can be randomly spaced in a forest
Population Growth:
ϖ Every population has characteristic biotic potential
ϖ Biotic potential: the maximum rate at which a population could increase under ideal
conditions
ϖ Different populations have different biotic potentials that are influenced by several
factors
ϖ These factors include:
1. Age at which reproduction begins
2. Life span during which the organisms are capable of reproducing
3. Number of reproductive periods in the life span
4. Number of offspring the organism is capable of having at one time
ϖ There are certain characteristics about growth common to all organisms:
1. Classical population growth:
 After an initial period of slow growth when the organism becomes accustomed to
the new environment, the population explodes and grows exponentially
 The population grows until it reaches the maximum that the environment can
support "carrying capacity"
 After some undetermined amount of time, the population may crash
 Many factors can cause a population to crash:
Predation, parasitism, severe competition, an end to resources, and too much
waste that poisons the environment
2. Exponential Growth:
 The simplest model for population growth is one with unrestrained growth
 A population with no predation, parasitism, or competition, no immigration or
emigration, and in an environment with unlimited resources
 This is characteristic of a population that has been recently introduced into an area,
such as a sample of bacteria newly inoculated onto a petri dish
 Although exponential growth is usually short-lived in nature, the human population has
been in the exponential growth phase for over 300 years
3. Carrying Capacity:
 There is a limit to the number of individuals that can occupy one area at a particular time
 Each particular environment has its own carrying capacity (K) around which the
population size oscillates
 The carrying capacity can change as the environmental conditions change
Reproductive Strategies:
Reproductive Strategies
R-Strategists K-Strategists
 Some organisms are  (K for carrying capacity),
opportunistic.  they tend to maximize population
 They reproduce rapidly when the size near the carrying capacity for
environment is uncrowded and an environment
resources are vast.
Many, small young Few, large young
Little or no parenting Intensive parenting
Rapid maturation Slow maturation
Reproduce once Reproduce many times
Example: insects Example: mammals
Limiting factors:
ϖ They are factors that limit population growth
ϖ They are divided into two groups:
1. Density dependent factors:
 They are those factors that increase directly as the population density increases
 They include: competition for food, buildup wastes, predation, and disease
2. Density independent factors:
 They are those factors whose occurrence is unrelated to the population density
 They include: earthquakes, storms, naturally occurring fires, and floods
A case study of two populations: Hare and Lynx:

Populations Interactions:
1. Competition:
ϖ Two very similar species compete on the limited resources
ϖ In nature, there are three possible outcomes of competition if two species inhabit
the same area and occupy the same niche:
a) Extinction of one species
b) One will evolve through natural selection to exploit different resources. This
process is called: "resource partitioning"
c) Divergence in adaptation which is called "character displacement": as what
happened in Galapagos Islands, where finches evolved different beak sizes and
were able to eat different kinds of seeds and avoid competition
2. Predation:
ϖ It refer to one animal eating another animal, or it can also refer to animal eating plants
ϖ For protection plans and animals develop defense mechanisms to protect them:
a) Plants have evolved spines and chemical poisons such as strychnine, morphine,
mescaline, nicotine to fend off attack by animals
b) Animals have evolved active defenses as hiding, fleeing (very costly in term of
energy)
 c) Animals also evolved passive defenses that rely on mimicry or camouflage
 Mimicry is where an animal is trying to look like something else that is obvious
but uninteresting or undesirable,
 camouflage is an animal trying to blend in with its surroundings and not appear
obvious

3. Feeding:
ϖ Herbivores: feed on plants
ϖ Omnivores: feed on plant or animals
ϖ Carnivores: feed on animals
ϖ Detritivores: (Scavengers) feed on dead animal or plants that have decomposed
into organic matter called "Detritus". Examples: Haynes and vultures
ϖ Relationship based on feeding:
 Mutualism (+/+). Example: E.coli in human intestine
 Commensalism (+/0). Example: barnacles and whale
 Parasitism (+/-). Example: tapeworm in human intestine

The Food Chain:

ϖ It is the pathway along which energy is transferred from one trophic (feeding) level
to another
ϖ Energy, in the form of food, moves from the producers to the herbivores to the
carnivores
ϖ Only about 10% of the energy stored in any trophic level is converted to organic
matter at the next trophic level
ϖ Example: if you begin with 1,000 g of plant matter, the food chain can support 100
g of herbivores (primary consumer), 10 g of secondary consumer (carnivore), and
only 1 g of tertiary consumer (carnivore)
1. Producer:
ϖ They convert light energy to chemical bond energy and have the greatest biomass of
any trophic level
ϖ They include green plants, diatoms (photosynthetic protists that drift in the oceans),
and phytoplankton (algae and photosynthetic bacteria that drift in aquatic
environments)
ϖ Note:
 Diatoms and phytoplankton are the basis for marine and freshwater aquatic ecosystem
2. Primary Consumers 3. Secondary Consumers 4. Tertiary Consumers
Eat producers Eat primary consumers Eat secondary consumers
Herbivores Carnivores Carnivores
Example: grasshoppers Example: frogs and small Example: hawk or larger
and zooplankton fish fish
(microscopic
arthropods)
ϖ Note:
 Fewer of these (less biomass) than any organism in the food chain
 Least stable trophic level and most sensitive to fluctuations in populations of the other
trophic levels
Energy and Productivity in Food Chain:
1. Productivity: rate at which organic matter is created by producers
2. Gross primary productivity: the amount of energy converted to chemical energy by
photosynthesis per unit time in an ecosystem
3. Net primary productivity: the gross primary productivity minus the energy used by
the primary producers for respiration
Biological magnification:
ϖ Organisms occupying higher trophic levels have greater concentration of
accumulated toxins stored in their bodies than those at lower trophic levels

ϖ Note:
 Any carcinogenic or teratogenic toxin that gets into the food chain accumulates and
remain in our body's fatty tissue

Decomposers:
ϖ They are bacteria and fungi
ϖ They are usually not depicted in any diagram of food chain
ϖ However, without decomposers to recycle nutrients back to the soil to nourish
plants, there would be no food chain and no life

Ecological Succession:
ϖ Most communities are not stable. The size of population increases and decreases
around the carrying capacity.
ϖ Destruction (as volcanic eruption or migration) can suddenly destroy a community or
an entire ecosystem
ϖ What happens after this destruction is the process of sequential rebuilding of the
ecosystem "ecological succession"
ϖ There are two types of ecological succession:
1. Primary ecological succession:
 it occurs if the rebuilding in a lifeless area where even soil has been removed
 The essential and dominant characteristic of primary ecological succession is soil
rebuilding
 Note:
 Pioneer organisms: the first organism to inhabit a barren area after an
ecosystem is destroyed. Example: lichens and mosses (introduced in the area by
wind as spores)
 The final stable community that remains (after primary ecological succession) is
called climax
2. Secondary succession:
 It occurs when an existing community has been cleared by some disturbance that
leaves the soil intact
 Biomes:
ϖ They are very large regions of earth whose distribution depends on the amount of
rainfall and the temperature in an area
ϖ Changes in altitude produce effects similar to changes in latitudes
ϖ Overview of the major biomes of the world:
1. Marine:
 The largest biome, covering 3/4 of earth's surface
 The most stable biome, with temperatures that vary little because water has the
ability to absorb lots of heats and there is such an enormous volume of water
 Provides most of earth's food and oxygen
 Subdivided into different regions classified by amount of sunlight they receive,
distance from shore and water depth, and whether open water or ocean bottom
 Open oceans are nutrient poor environment compared with land

2. Dessert:
 It receives less than 10 inches of rainfall per year, not even grasses can survive
 It experiences the most extreme temperature fluctuations of any biome. Daytime
temperature may reach as high as 70 C; heat is lost rapidly at night
 Characteristic plants are the drought-resistant cacti with shallow roots to capture as
much rain as possible during hard and short rains
 Other plants include sagebrush, creosote bush, mesquite
 There are many small annual plants that are stimulated to grow only after a hard rain.
They germinate, send up shoots and flowers, and die all within a few weeks
 Most animals are active at night or during a brief early morning period. During the day,
animals remain cool by burrowing underground or hiding in shade
 Cacti can expand to hold extra water and have modified leaves called spines, which
protects against attacking a cactus for its water
 Characteristic animals include rodents, kangaroo rats, snakes, lizards, arachnids, insects,
and few birds
3. Tropical rain forest:
 This biome is found near the equator with abundant rainfall, stable temperatures,
and high humidity
 Although these forests cover only 4% of earth's land surface, they account for more
than 20% of earth's net carbon fixation (food production)
 It has the greatest plant species diversity of any biome on earth. It may have as 50
times the number of species of trees as does a temperate forest
 Dominant trees are very tall with interlacing tops that form a dense canopy, keeping
the floor of the forest dimly lit even at midday
 The canopy also prevents rain from falling directly onto the forest floor, but leaves
drip rain constantly
 Many trees are covered with epiphytes, photosynthetic plants that grow on other
trees rather than supporting themselves. They are not parasite but may kill the trees
inadvertently by blocking the light
 This biome has the most animal species diversity of any biome and includes birds,
reptiles, mammals, and amphibians
 Soil is POOR in nutrition.
4. Temperate grasslands:
 Cover huge areas in both the temperate and tropical regions of the world
 Characteristic by low total annual rainfall or uneven seasonal occurrence of rainfall,
making condition inhospitable for forests
 Principal grazing mammals include bison and pronghorn antelope in the United
States, and wildebeest and gazelle in Africa
 Burrowing mammals, such as prairie dogs and other rodents, are common
 Note: it provides MOST FOOD for grazing animals

5. Temperate deciduous forest or boreal forest:

 Found in the north America, south of the taiga, and characterized by trees that drop
their leaves in winter
 Includes many more plant species than does the taiga
 Shows vertical stratification of plants and animals, some species live on the ground,
some in the low branches, and some in the treetops
 Rich soil due to decomposition of leaf litter
 Principal mammals include squirrels, deer, foxes, and bears that are dormant or
hibernate through the cold winter
6. Conifer forest- Taiga:
 Found in northern Canada and much of the world's northern regions
 Dominated by conifers forests
 Landscape is dotted with lakes, ponds
 Have very cold winters
 Is the largest terrestrial biome
 Characterized by heavy snowfall, trees are shaped with branches directed
downward to prevent heavy accumulations of snow from breaking their branches
 Principal large mammals include moose, black bear lynx, elk, wolverines, marrens,
and porcupines
 Flying insects and birds are prevalent in summer
 Has greater variety in animal and species than does the tundra
7. Tundra:
 Located in the far northern parts of north America, Europe, and Asia
 Called "the permafrost", permanently frozen subsoil found in the forest point north,
including Alaska
 Commonly referred to as the frozen desert because it gets very little rainfall, Which
cannot penetrate the frozen ground
 Has the appearance of gently rolling plains with many lakes, ponds, and bogs in
depressions
 Insects, particularly flies, are abundant
 Vast numbers of birds nest in the tundra in the summer to eat the insects and
migrate south in the winter
 Principal mammals include: reindeer, caribou, arctic wolves, arctic foxes, arctic
hares, lemmings, and polar bears
 Though the number of individual organisms in the tundra is high, the number of
species is small
 Tundra has NO large trees? Because thin soil surface
 Tundra regions typically get low amount of precipitation annually
 The water cycle:

The carbon cycle:

Note:
Autotrophs need heterophs to form carbon cycle
 The nitrogen cycle:

The phosphorous cycle:

Note:
 Phosphorus NEVER found in gas form.
Human and Biosphere:
ϖ As the human population grows, we have destroyed many ecosystems
ϖ We have caused ground water contamination and depletion, elimination of habitats, and
the loss of biodiversity
ϖ Here are some examples of how human altered earth's ecosystem:
1. Eutrophication of the lakes:

2. Acid Rain:
 3. Global Warming:
 Excessive burning of fossil fuels has caused the concentrations of carbon dioxide
in the air to increase to such a high level that causes "the greenhouse effect"
 Carbon dioxide and water vapor cause the average temperature to increase
 This increase in temperature is called "global warming"
 An increase of 1 C on average temperature worldwide would cause the polar ice
caps to melt, raising the level of the seas
 Eventually, major coastal cities would be under water
4. Depletion of Ozone Layer:
 The accumulation in the air of chlorofluorocarbons, chemicals used for refrigerator
and aerosol cans, have caused the formation of a hole in the protective ozone layer
 This allows ultraviolet light to reach the earth, which is responsible in the increase
in the incidence of skin cancers worldwide
Pesticides VS Biological Control:
ϖ Pesticides are chemicals that kill organisms that we consider to be undesirable
ϖ These include: insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, mice and rat killers
ϖ On one hand, these pesticides save lives by increasing food production and killing
animals that carry and cause diseases like bubonic plague (diseased rats) and
malaria (anopheles and mosquitoes)
ϖ On the other hand, exposure to pesticides can cause cancer to human and ensure
the development of resistant strains of pests through natural selection
ϖ An alternative to wide scale spraying with pesticides is called biological control
ϖ The following are some biological solutions:
1. Use crop rotation: change crop planted in a field
2. Introduce natural enemies of the pests
3. Use natural plant toxins instead of synthetic one
4. Use birth control: male insect pests can be sterilized by exposing them to
radiation and then releasing them in environment to mate unsuccessfully with
females