Ecology

Grade 10 Living Environment

Ms. Samson
 What is Ecology?
The study of multiple
organisms and their
interaction with each
other and the
environment
 Ecosystems
The collection of all living organisms in a geographic area,
together with all the living and non-living things with
which they interact. Physical aspects of an ecosystem
include soil, water, and weather.
 Acquatic Ecosystems (water-based) ecosystems
 Terrestral Ecosystems (land-based) ecosystems.

Biotic versus Abiotic factors

What is the definition and who can list at least 1
example for each?
 Abiotic v. Biotic Factors
The physical aspects of a habitat are called abiotic
factors, and the living organisms in a habitat are
called biotic factors.
Abiotic
Temperature
Light
Air
Water
Soil

The single abiotic factor most lacking in a particular

environment is called a Limiting Factor. e.g. water –
in a desert and temperature - Tundra.
Biotic
Plants
Animals

The place where a particular population of a

species lives is called its habitat.

The many different species that live together in a

habitat are called a community.
 Activity Time!
Think of a place in a forest that is close
to a river that is rarely touched by
humans. Imagine it is the size of two
football fields. Write down as many
species as you can think of that you
would expect to see there.
Now, imagine that we removed every
organism from your area. The nonliving
surroundings that remain make up the
abiotic factors. What would these
factors include? List three without using
your notes.
 Interactions Within Communities

Within a given ecosystem, populations of different

species interact in a community.
Modified from Vincenza Pontieri, Trinity College School
Ecological Niche—An organism’s biological
characteristics, including the use of and interaction with abiotic
and biotic resources in its habitat. It is also the organism’s role
or occupation within a community.

Modified from Vincenza Pontieri, Trinity College School

 Categories of Organisms
There are 3 categories, also known as Trophic Levels!
1. Producers
 Green plants that carry out photosynthesis. Producers are
termed autotrophs because they are self-nourished;
they don’t depend on other species to feed.
 
During photosynthesis, plants capture light energy
with their chlorophyll and use it to convert carbon
dioxide and moisture (absorbed from air) into sugar
(chemical energy). Oxygen is released as a by-product
 Let’s review the equation…

6CO2 + 6H2O + Energy → C6H12O6 + 6O2

Every major ecosystem has its particular

green plants that carry on photosynthesis
and release chemical energy on which non-
producers feed.
Aquatic - algae & plankton
Terrestrial – plants
2. Consumers
 A) An organism that cannot make its own food, also
known as a heterotrophs
 B)Consumers are subdivided into groups according to

their food source.

 Primary, secondary and tertiary consumers

Primary Consumers
 Species that feed directly on producers (plant-eating
species). They are also called Herbivores. Examples
include: elephants, goats, cattle
 
Secondary Consumers
Species that feed on primary consumers. Secondary and
higher order consumers are called Carnivores. Examples:
fox, cat.

Tertiary and Higher Level Consumers

Species that obtain their nourishment by eating other
meat-eating species. Example: tiger

Multiple Level Consumers

Species that obtain their nourishment from eating both
plants and animal species. Also called Omnivores
3. Decomposers
They are the final link in the food chain!!! Made up of
organisms that feed on dead matter and break it down to
release chemical energy back into the soil for plants to
re-use them. Examples: fungi, bacteria, insects, worms
and others.
Feed on detritus matter (dead plants and animals),
which is why they are called detritivores. Examples:
crab, vulture, termites, wood beetle and crayfish. Also
called scavengers.
A sequence of organisms directly dependent on one another for
food.
Food web- An interconnection of many food chains.
A food chain, explains what an organism might eat,
and what might eat it in a specific scenario

Producers belong to the First Trophic Level. Primary

consumers, whether feeding on living or dead
producers feed from the Second Trophic Level.
Organisms that feed on other consumers belong to the
Third Tropic Level. Only about 10% of the calories in
plant matter survive from First to the Second trophic
level.

Another way to look at this relationship is a food

pyramid
Predation Interaction is beneficial to one
species and lethal to another.
+/-
 Biomagnifications
The accumulation of a certain substances as one
moves up the food web.

What does this mean?

Let’s talk about pesticides that farmers spray on

crops
 Quick Recap

i de r
a s p
a n d
w e b e ?
f o od e s a m
Is a e b t h
w
 Quick answer: NO

Although a food web is not REALLY connected like a

spider web, food webs are drawn in a diagram similar
to a spider web (with connecting arrows as the
webbing) to show how the energy moves.
 Cycles
We are going to study 3 cycles
Can anyone name one?
 Carbon Cycle
The carbon cycle is important in ecosystems because it
moves carbon, a life-sustaining element, from the
atmosphere and oceans into organisms and back again
to the atmosphere and oceans. If the balance between
these two reservoirs is upset, serious consequences,
such as global warming and climate disruption, may
result. Scientists are currently looking into ways in
which humans can use other, non-carbon containing
fuels for energy. Nuclear power, solar power, wind
power, and water power are a few alternate energy
sources that are being investigated. Let’s take a look at
it…
Carbon Cycle
What do the steps of the Carbon

Cycle mean?
Interactive Carbon Cycle
 Water Cycle or Hydrologic Cycle
Involves the cycling of water through the
biosphere.  Water naturally exists in 3 forms:
solid, liquid, and gas.  Water constantly cycles
through these forms while in the atmosphere (as
water vapor or condensed as clouds), on the
ground (as liquid water or snow), undergound (as
groundwater), in the ocean, and as precipitation
(rain, snow, sleet, hail, etc.).  Water enters the
atmosphere by a process known as evaporation,
and then in condensation it forms clouds. 
Through precipitation the water falls back
down to earth.  This cycle then repeats itself
over and over again. At any given time just .005
percent of the worlds total water supply is
moving through the hydrologic cycle. A drop of
water will usually spend 9 days in it but, once it
falls it can spend anywhere from 40 years (in a
glacier) to 40,000 years (in the ocean) before
going into the cycle. Every drop of water winds
up moving through the hydrologic cycle. Lets
take a look…
Water Cycle
 Nitrogen Cycle
The nitrogen cycle is the process by which atmospheric
nitrogen (where most N is found) is converted to ammonia or
nitrates, as seen in the diagram you are about to see

Nitrogen is essential to all living systems. To become a part

of an organism, nitrogen must first be fixed or combined
with oxygen or hydrogen. Nitrogen is removed from the
atmosphere by lightening and nitrogen fixing bacteria.
During electrical storms, large amounts of nitrogen are
oxidized and united with water to produce an acid which is
carried to the earth in rain producing nitrates. Nitrates are
taken up by plants and are converted to proteins.
Next, the nitrogen passes through the food chain from
plants to herbivores to carnivores. When plants and
animals eventually die, the nitrogen compounds are
broken down giving ammonia (ammonification). Some
of the ammonia is taken up by the plants; some is
dissolved in water or held in the soil where bacteria
convert it to nitrates (nitrification). Nitrates may be
stored in humus or leached from the soil and carried to
lakes and streams. It may also be converted to free
nitrogen (denitrification) and returned to the
atmosphere.
Nitrogen Cycle
 List, Sort, Pair Time! 
Count off in 6’s
Find your group members and spread out
The person that has the closest birthday to
Thanksgiving in each group needs to come and grab an
envelope
When I say go, each group is going to complete one of
the cycles
When you are done, I will come around and check
your work before you move on to the next one
 What does this say???

Who feels confident enough to

draw a cycle on the white board
without notes?
It means…
i d e n t
c o n f
f e el s a
W h o d r a w
g h t o i t e
en o u e w h
o n t h o t e s?
cy c l e o u t n
w i t h
 BIOMES

What is a Biome?
 Biomes
Biome Location Climate Soil Plants Animals
Midlatitudes Very hot days, cool Poor in None to cacti, Rodents, snakes,
Desert nights. animal and bunch grasses, lizards, tortoises,
Less than 10 inches plant decay shrubs, and a few insects, and some
of precipitation a products, but trees birds. The Sahara in
year often rich in Africa is home to
minerals camels, gazelles,
antelopes, small
foxes, snakes, lizards,
and gerbils
High Northern Very cold, harsh Nutrient- Grasses, Arctic foxes, hares,
Tundra latitudes and long winters, poor, wildflowers, owls, hawks, weasels
short and cool permafrost mosses, small
summer. 4-10 layer a few shrubs
inches of inches down
precipitation per
year
Midlatitudes, Cool in winter, hot Rich topsoil Mostly grasses Prairie dogs, foxes,
Grassland interior in summer, 25- and small shrubs, small mammals,
continents 75cm/yr some trees near snakes, insects,
sources of water various birds.
Giraffes, lions, zebras
Deciduous Forest
Midlatitudes
Mild summers, cold winters, 30-50 inches/yr
Rich topsoil over clay
Hardwoods, such as oak, beeches, hickory, maples
Wolves, deer, bears, birds, reptiles, insects 

Taiga
Mid to high latitudes
Very cold winters, cool summers. 20 inches/yr
Acid, mineral-poor decayed pine and spruce needles on surface
Mostly spruce, fir, and other evergreens
Rodents, snowshoe hares, bears, wolves, birds in summer

Tropical Rainforest
Near the equator
Hot all year round. 80-100 inches/yr
Nutrient-poor
Greatest diversity of any biome. Vines, orchids, ferns, and a wide variety of trees
More species of insects, reptiles and amphibians than anywhere; monkeys,
other small and large mammals, some places elephants, many colorful birds
 AND
SPECIES
EXTINCTION
 BIODIVERSITY

How many species are there?

• not really known…
estimates of 5-50 million
living species

• only 1.75 million identified

(mostly are insect)

• highest diversity in tropics,

lowest at poles
 What is the importance of biodiver

Medicine: Many organisms are source of drugs (i.e., penicillin,

cancer drugs); 25% of all pharmaceuticals contain ingredients derived
from native plants, primarily found in tropics.

Agriculture, forestry, aquaculture, animal husbandry: Diverse

organisms to meet our many needs.

Scientific value: Evolution, ecology, biogeochemistry, biology (we

love to study everything!)

Recreational and aesthetic value: Hunting, fishing, birding, etc.

Commerce: Direct commercial interests, indirect businesses,

ecotourism.

Intrinsic value: Species have a right to exist.

 BIODIVERSITY
1. Species diversity: # of different kinds of organisms within
community/ecosystem

2. Genetic diversity: Diversity within a species; variety of different

versions of the same genes within a species

3. Ecosystem diversity: Richness and complexity of a community (e.g.,

variety of forests, lakes, deserts, grasslands. etc.)
 Between 40 and 90% of
species live in tropical forests

MINN.
1,700 plant
1 end.

ECUADOR
20,000 plant
4,000 end.
MADAGASCAR
10% of all known
5 times as many trees as US
 ECOSYSTEM DIVERSITY
Richness and Complexity

Not just the

Richness: 1 2
number, but how they Species A 99 50
Species B 1 50
are distributed.

# of species
Complexity:
at each trophic level
and the # of trophic
levels.
 WHAT THREATENS
BIODIVERSITY?
• 5 mass extinctions
• last one wiped out dinosaurs
 WHAT THREATENS
BIODIVERSITY?
• Background extinction (95% of all extinctions)
• Mass extinction
• Habitat Disruption
– Volcanic Eruptions

Causes of – Asteroid Impact

• Habitat Modification
Natural – Climate Change
Extinction – Mountain-Building
– Sea Level Change
• “Exotic” Species
– Continental Drift
 EXTINCTION
Background rates

1 mammal species every 400 years

1 bird species/200 yrs

Now, considering
human impacts…

•  50-3,000 X the
background rate!

• 20-75 plant/animal
species each day loss?
 Human-Caused Extinction

Primary Causes
.

1) Habitat Destruction

2) Introduction of Exotic Species

 Competitors
 Predators
 Diseases

3) Pollution and Contamination

4) Over Exploitation (excessive predation, food, fur,
collecting, pest eradication, etc.)
 Madagascar Modern Extinction Case Study

Estimated 200,000+Save
species
me!
of plants and animals found
here are found nowhere else
on earth.

5-12 species of flightless birds

X 10
17 genera of lemur
Island classified as
giant tortoises
one of the world's top
three "hotspots" for
pygmy hippopotomi
biodiversity.
 ENDANGERED VS
THREATENED

Threatened: population low but extinction less imminent

Endangered: numbers are so low that extinction is imminent
 Species Susceptibility to Extinction

1. Small (localized) range (i.e., narrow habitat tolerance).

2. Commercial value.
3. Island dwellers (limited immigration; isolated evolution
free from competitors, predators and diseases--fewer
defenses when introduced).
4. Low reproductive success.
5. Large and/or flightless (easily hunted).
 Habitat Destruction
Tropical rainforests cover 6% of
Tropical deforestation
earth’s land surface area, but has greatest rate of
are believed to hold >50% of species loss.
the plant and animal species.

Ndoki

Malay lowland
Habitat Destruction
 Exotic Species
Kudzu
Exotic (alien) species introduced
accidentally or intentionally into a
new ecosystem causing disruption
to the ecosystem’s balance.
Purple Loosestrife

Zebra mussels
 Overexploitation
Parakeets Extinction of Siberian
removed
from wild for Removal of tiger for their coats.

household
pets.
species from wild
populations and
drastically
reducing their
population
numbers.
Elephants
Overhunting of whales.
killed for
their ivory
tusks.
 Pollution and Global Warming
Temperature-sensitive salmon. Eutrophication of aquatic systems.

Three-legged
frogs.
Human alteration of
natural environment that
adversely affects health of
living things.

Melting polar
ice caps
Peregine Falcon nearly reducing range
driven to extinction due for polar Seals caught in
to use of DDT pesticide. bears. oil slick.