Transcript Ecology Organization and Symbiosis

What is Ecology?
• Study of interactions among
organisms and the environment
– Reveals relationships between living
(biotic) and nonliving (abiotic) parts
of the world.
Levels of
Organization
Population
• A group of organisms
of the same species that
breed and live in the
same place and time.
• May compete for
scarce resources
Community
• A collection of
interacting populations
– ex. beech/maple forest
– A change in one
population will cause
changes in another
Ecosystem
• Interactions between the
community (biotic factors)
and the environment (abiotic
factors)
• Three types
– Terrestrial - forests, meadows,
desert scrub
– Fresh water - ponds, lakes,
streams
– Marine – salt water, oceans
Biome
• Large group of ecosystems
that have the same climate
and similar types of
communities
• Terrestrial Examples:
–
–
–
–
–
Temperate Forest
Tundra
Desert
Grassland
Tropical Forest
• Aquatic Examples:
– Rivers and Streams
– Lakes and Ponds
– Wetlands
– Coral Reefs
Biosphere
• Layer of the Earth that
supports life
• Spans from the high
atmosphere to deep in the
ocean.
Community Interactions
Chapter 2 – Section
Relationships that shape ecosystems
Let’s review…
ABIOTIC FACTORS:
Non-living parts of an ecosystem
Wind or air
Water
Sunlight
Soil or land
Temperature
How do abiotic factors
affect an ecosystem?
Matter on Earth provides the
ingredients for organic compounds.
6CO2 + H2O  C6H12O6 + O2
Heat & water are distributed across
the globe and regions are
characterized as biomes.
Let’s review…
BIOTIC FACTORS:
Living parts of an ecosystem
Bacteria
Protists
Fungi
Plants
Animals
How do biotic factors
affect an ecosystem?
Living organisms use & transfer energy.
Ex: producer  herbivore  omnivore  carnivore  decomposer
Living organisms cycle matter.
I. e. Nitrogen fixation / denitrification – absorption & assimilation –
photosynthesis / respiration – evaporation & transpiration
Competition, Predation, Symbiosis
COMMUNITY
INTERACTIONS
Compare Habitat & Niche
Habitat is the place.
Niche is the place, what is eaten,
the lifestyle.
or
Habitat : Address :: Niche : Job
FUNDAMENTAL NICHE
The full range of physical and
biological conditions in which
an organism lives and uses
those conditions.
What would happen if
all organisms attempted
to use same niche?
Competitive exclusion (extinction),
migration (one species moves), or
niche partitioning (they share)
REALIZED NICHE
A species may have to restrict its
activity to avoid predators or sharing
with other species may prevent it from
using a resource.
Therefore, they only use a portion of
the fundamental niche, called the
realized niche.
Obtaining resources…
Competition – organisms
attempt to use a resource
in the same place at the
same time.
*Intraspecies-within same
species
*Interspecies-between
different species
Obtaining resources…
Predation – one organism eats another
Symbiosis
(from the Greek: syn "with”
and biosis "living“) describes
close and often long-term
interactions between different
biological species.
Mutualism
Two or more organisms benefit from being in close
association with one another.
The clownfish (at left) benefits
by having a protected home
territory in the sea anemone.
What does the sea anemone
gain from this arrangement?
A lichen is actually a mutualistic
association between a species of
fungus and a species of either a
algae or cyanobacteria.
Commensalism
One member derives benefit from the association, whereas
for the other member, the association is neither beneficial
or harmful.
Barnacles are crustaceans that
stick to the skin of a whale.
The barnacle benefits by
finding a habitat where
nutrients are available. The
barnacle does not appear to
hamper or enhance the survival
of the animals carrying them.
Parasitism
One organism lives at the expense of another. The
parasite benefits while the host is harmed
Mosquitoes eat blood
for protein and can
spread disease.
What kind of relationship?
Although termites can physically
chew and ingest wood, they are
incapable of chemically digesting
cellulose into sugars. They rely on
intestinal protists for digesting
cellulose. These protists reside in
the hindgut of termites and provide
nutrition for both organisms.
A similar association exists
between the ciliates of herbivores
like cattle.
What kind of relationship?
Animals pollinate flowers, spread
seeds, and protect plants while the
animals get food from plants
What kind of relationship?
Cleaning fish often seen around sharks feeding on
parasites in the mouth and gills.
What kind of relationship?
Aphids are small, soft-bodied, near
defenseless insects that feed on
plant sap. Some ant species use
excess plant sap for their own
nutrition. Ants find a colony of
aphids and milk the waste plant
sap. In return the ants protect the
aphids from predators and
parasites.
What kind of relationship?
Hitching a ride
What kind of relationship?
Cattle egrets perch atop the backs of cattle for a “bird’s
eye view” of food that gets churned up from under the
ground.
What kind of relationship?
Spanish moss is a plant that lives upon other plants
(from Greek epi = “upon” and phyte = “plant”), which
absorbs nutrients and water from the air and rainfall.
What kind of relationship?
The cowbird lays its eggs in the nest of smaller songbirds.
Cowbird chicks being larger birds end up pushing their
nest mates aside during feedings. So the "foster parents”
usually raise cowbird young at the expense of their own
eggs or young.
What kind of relationship?
Water and nutrients needed by mistletoe for its growth
and development are taken from the tree's sap
Symbiosis “living together”
• Mutualism – both species benefit
• Commensalism – one species
benefits but the other is neither
helped nor harmed.
• Parasitism – one species benefits
while the other is harmed.
What is pictured?
What is pictured?
What is pictured?
What is pictured?
What is pictured?