Transcript Chapter 6 Ecology

Chapter 6
Ecology
Preserving The Animal Kingdom
Animals and Their Abiotic
Environment
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Habitat: includes all living and nonliving of the animals
environment
Tolerance Range: the range of values in which animals
live
Range of Optimum: Defines the conditions under
which an animal is most successful
Limiting Factor: when factors necessary for an animal’s
survival and reproduction in out of range
Taxis: when an animal orients itself to an abiotic factor
ENERGY
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Heterotrophic
Autotrophic
Energy budget
TEMPERTURE
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Torpor
Hibervation
Winter sleep
Aetivation
OTHER ABIOTIC FACTORS
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Include: moisture, light, geology, and soils.
The texture, amount of organic matter, fertility,
and water holding ablity directly influence the
number and kinds of animals living in or on the
soil.
POPULATIONS
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Populations are groups of individuals of the
same species that occupy a given area at the
same time and have unique attributes.
2 important attributes involve the potential for
population growth and the limits that the
environment places on population growth.
POPULATION GROWTH
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Exponential growth: the population increases by
the same ratio per unit time.
Environmental resistance: the constraints that
climate, food, space, and other environmental
factors place on a population
Carrying capacity: the population size that a
particular environment can support
Logistic population growth: growth curves
assume a sigmiod, or flattened S shape
POPULATION REGULATION
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The conditions that an animal must meet to survive are
unique for every species.
Density-independent factors: influence the number of
animals in a population without regard to the number
of individuals per unit space.
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Ex. Weather conditions often limit population
Density-dependent factors: are more severe when
population density is high (or sometimes very low) than
they are a other densities.
INTRASPECIFIC COMPETITION
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Intraspecific competition: competition aming
members of the same species.
INTERSPECIFIC
INTERACTIONS
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Members of other species can affect all
characteristics of a population.
Interspecific interactions include herbivory,
predation, competition, coevolution, and
smbiosis.
Herbivory and Predation
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Animala that feed on plants by croppig portions
of the plant, but usually not killing the plant, are
herbivores.
This conversion provides food for predators
that feed by killing and eating other organisms.
Interspecific Competition
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When members of different species compete
for resources, one species may be forced to
move or move or become extinct, or the two
species may share the resource and coexist.
Coevolution
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Occurs when species are competing for the
same resource or during predator-prey
interactions
Also occurs with flowering plants and
pollinating animals.
Symbiosis
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Symbiosis: some of the best examples of adaptations
arising through coevolution come from two different
species living in continuing, intimate associations
Parasitism: a common form of symbiosis in which one
organism lives in or on a second organism.
Commensalism: a symbiotic relationship in which one
member of the relationship benefits, and the second is
neither helped nor harmed.
Mutualism: a symbiotic relationship that benefits both
members
Other Interspecific Adaptations
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Camouflage: occurs when an animal’s color patterns help hide
the animal, or a developmental stage, from another animal.
Cryptic coloration: is a type of camouflage that occurs when an
animal takes on color patterns in its environment to prevent the
animal from being seen by other animals.
Countershading: is a kind of camouflage common in frog and
toad eggs.
Aposematic coloration: warning patterns on animals
Mimicry: when a species resembles another species and gains
porotection.
COMMUNITIES
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Community-all population living in an area
Ex: a stream community of rainbow trouts that
helps controll the population of invertebrates
Dominant species: are responsible for
establishing community characteristic.
Community diversity: a variety of animals in a
community
The Ecological Niche
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Ecological niche includes all attributes of an
animal’s lifestyle
Ex: where it looks for food, what it eats, where
it nests & the condition of temp.
Community Stability
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Succession: the dominant members os the
community change a community in predictable
ways
Pioneer community: the first community to
become established in an area
Seral stage: each successional stage
Sere: the entire successional sequence
Climax community: the final community
Trophic structure of Ecology
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Ecosystems: communities and their physical
environment
Food Chain: the sequence of organisms through
which energy moves in an ecosystem
Food webs: complex interconnected food chains
Trophic level: organisms grouped accorhing to
the form of energy used.
Producers (autotrophs)
 Consumers (heterotrophs)
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Cycling Within Ecosystems
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Biogeochemical Cycles: matter moving through
the ecosystem.
Ecological Problems
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Name some ecological problems.
Human Population Growth
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Age structure: shows the proportion of a
population in prereproductive, reproductive, and
postreproductive classes.
Birthrates are falling world round due to more
women in the work force and the AIDS
epidemic.
Pollution
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Pollution is any detrimental change to an
ecosystem.
Acid deposition: falling sulfuric acid made by
combined sulfur dioxide and water.
Greenhouse effect: carbon dioxide released in
burning fuels is accumulating in the atmosphere.
Biological magnification: the accumulation of
matter in food webs
Resource Depletion and Biodiversity
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Biodiversity: the variety of living organisms in
an ecosystem.