Transcript Chapter 18
What is Ecology? The study of the interactions between organisms and their environment Interactions between organisms is not simply who eats who but varied, some good some bad Organization in the Environment Organism Populations Communities Ecosystems Biomes Biosphere Single animal Group of the same animal Different populations in the same area Includes the abiotic factors Geographic area characterized by certain types of plant and animal communities Earth where life exists 2 parts of ecology Biotic factors The living part of the environment Animals, plants, insects, humans Abiotic factors The non-living part of the environment Water, soil, light, temperature Habitat vs. Niche Habitat – the environment in which an organism lives When things like deforestation, building of roads and buildings occur, habitats are being destroyed Niche – organisms way of life in the ecosystem Includes its habitat, food, predators, competitors and abiotic factors Niche of the Gray Wolf Consumers Carnivores, eating moose, deer, reindeer, sheep and small animals such as birds and snakes Social Structure – hunt in packs Nurture and teach their young Important in population control Producers Make their own food/energy Use the sun to go through the process of photosynthesis Includes plants, algae and some bacteria Consumers Can’t make their own energy, get it by eating producers or other consumers Herbivore – eats only plants Carnivore – eats only animals Omnivores – eats both plants and animals Scavenger vs. Decomposer Scavengers eat dead animals for energy Examples include turkey vultures Decomposers get energy by breaking down the remains of dead organisms Recyclers, bacteria and fungi Predation Prey – the organism that is eaten Predator – the organism doing the eating Adaptations Predator – speed or ambush prey Prey – run away, camouflage, poisonous, bright colors, groups Competition Can occur among individuals within a population or between populations Competition for resources, mates, space Symbiosis Long term, association between two or more species Mutualism Both organisms benefit Commensalism One organism is benefiting and the other is unaffected Parasitism One organism is harmed and the other is benefiting Limiting factors Populations cannot grow indefinitely because the environment contains only so much food, water, living space and other resources When one or more becomes scarce, it becomes a limiting factor Carrying Capacity The largest population that a given environment can support over a long period of time When the population gets larger than carrying capacity, limiting factors will cause the population to get smaller Food Chains and Webs Food chains represent how energy flows from one organism to the next Rare in nature because animals usually eat more than one organism Food webs represent many pathways that energy flows in an ecosystem Energy Pyramids Represents the loss of energy by each organism in a food chain or web Coevolution Long term change that takes place in two species because of their close interactions with each other Herbivores evolving with the plants they eat Flowers and their pollinators