Slide 1
INTRODUCTION TO
ECOLOGY
Biosphere
Tissues
Ecosystems
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Cells
Communities
Organells
Populations
Molecules
Organisms
Atoms
Organ Systems
Subatomic Particles
Organs
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Slide 2
BIOSPHERE
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• The region that supports life on earth
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This includes land, air, and water
The biosphere is:
a closed system with respect to materials
an open system with respect to energy
• Materials necessary for life must be
recycled
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Slide 3
BIOSPHERE
Materials needed for life must be recycled
Closed system:
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Water
CO2 ( carbon dioxide)
Oxygen (O2)
Mineral nutrients
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Recycle minerals• nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, potassium, sulfur
• Open System:
• Energy from the sun
• Maintain life
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Slide 4
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Ecosystems
• Ecosystems: all living organisms in an area
interacting with their environment
• The biosphere can be viewed as a global
ecosystem with many smaller ecosystems
within it
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Slide 5
Biotic and Abiotic components of
the ecosystems
• Biotic components
– Definition: living organisms in an ecosystem
– Examples
• Individuals
• Populations: members of the same species
inhabiting an area
• Communities: various populations interacting
with each other
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Slide 6
Biotic and Abiotic components of
the ecosystems
• Abiotic components
– Definition: nonliving components of the
ecosystem
– Examples
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• Physical factors
– soil, sunlight, temperature, altitude
• Chemical factors
– water, oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen
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Slide 7
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Food chains
• Food chains can viewed in pyramid form
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– Example
• Terrestrial: land based
– plant
caterpillar
robin
hawk
• Aquatic: water based
– algae
snail
sunfish
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largemouth bass
– Each step is called a trophic level
– Pyramid represents trophic levels or feeding
levels
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Slide 8
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Cat
Robin
Caterpillar
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Tomato plant
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Slide 9
Food chains
• Components of a food chain
• Producers:
– food energy from abiotic sources
– perform photosynthesis, converting light energy
into chemical energy
– producers are also called “autotrophs” meaning
self feeders
– example of producers:
• algae, trees, plants, and various bacteria
• other bacteria use earth’s chemicals to produce food
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Slide 10
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Food chains
• Components of a food chain
• Consumers
– organism that feeds on another organism in a
food chain
– consumers can be classified as
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•
•
•
primary
secondary
tertiary
quaternary
– tree
caterpillar
robin
hawk
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Slide 11
Components of a food chain
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• Primary consumers feed on producers
– animals that feed on plants only are called
herbivores
• Secondary consumers feed on primary
consumers
– animals that feed on other animals are called
carnivores
• Tertiary consumers feed on secondary
consumers
• Quaternary consumers feed on tertiary
consumers
•
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animals that consume both plants and animals are called omnivores
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Slide 12
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Components of a food chain
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Slide 13
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Slide 14
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Components of a food chain
• Some consumers are part of detritus food
chain
• they feed on dead plants, animals, and waste
materials
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– Example
• vultures, crows, lions
• insects, worms, beetles
• decomposers: bacteria, fungi
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Slide 15
Scavengers
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Slide 16
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Detritus food chains
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Slide 17
Detritus feeders – feed on dead plants and
animals, wastes
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Slide 18
Decomposers
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Slide 19
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Frog
– tertiary consumer
Spider- secondary consumer
Butterfly- primary consumer
Flower- producer
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Slide 20
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COOPERATIVE ACTIVITY
1. Which are herbivores? Butterfly
2. Which are carnivores? Spider, Frog
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3. Which perform photosynthesis? Flower
4. How many different types of consumers are
present? 3
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Slide 21
COOPERATIVE ACTIVITY
5. If the secondary consumers in your food
chain died, what would happen to their
remains? Be specific.
Remains would be decomposed and
nutrients returned to the soil.
Decomposers will excrete excess minerals
back into the soil
6. On your food chain, circle any organism
that could be food for decomposers.
All organisms should be circled
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7. Bacteria, fungi, earthworms, maggots, beetles
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Slide 22
Ecology and the Environment
– Food webs:
– Organisms that eat many different types of
foods are called Omnivores
– Interlocking food chains; present in most
ecosystems
– Increased complexity, increases stability
• Food webs & Sustainable Agriculture
• Less impact on the environment
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Slide 23
COOPERATIVE ACTIVITY
1. Buy organic foods (cultivated
without pesticides)
2. Integrated pest management
3. Crop rotation
4. Transgenic organisms
5. Drip irrigation
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Slide 24
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Slide 25
ENERGY CONCEPTS
– Energy (actually “free energy”) is the ability to do work
– Most of the energy that fuels the living systems on
earth comes from the sun
– The sun’s energy is captured by the process of
photosynthesis
sun’s energy
CO2 + H2O
C6H12O6 + O2
chlorophyll
Phytoplankton- microscopic algae in oceans, lakes, and
streams
Rain forest - tropical belt around the equator
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Slide 26
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ENERGY CONCEPTS
• Cellular respiration occurs in all living
organisms
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•
plants
animals
fungi
microorganisms
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Slide 27
Simplified equation for
photosynthesis
sun's energy
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CO2 + H2O --------------------> C6 H12O6 + O2
chlorophyll
carbon
dioxide
water
glucose
oxygen
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Slide 28
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Slide 29
ENERGY CONCEPTS
cellular respiration
CO2 + H2O
C6H12O6 + O2
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photosynthesis
CO2 + H2O
C6 H12 O6 + O2
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Slide 30
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ENERGY TRANSFER
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– Only 10% of the energy passes from one
trophic level to the next
– Not all the material at each trophic level is
consumed
– Not all the material that is eaten is digested
– Most digested food is utilized as fuel for life
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Slide 31
Cooperative Activity 1-3: Long vs.
Short Food Chains
page 1-18
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Slide 32
BIOLOGICAL
MAGNIFICATION
– The accumulation and concentration of toxic
substances in a food chain
– Heavy metals- lead, mercury
– Nuclear wastes- radioactive elements
– Chlorinated hydrocarbons- pesticides, example
DDT, PCB’s
– Fat soluble
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Slide 33
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Slide 34
Bioaccumulation of toxic chemicals in food chains
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Slide 35
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Slide 36
COOPERATIVE ACTIVITY 1-4
7
1
8
2
3
4
5
6
tuna (large fish)
coal burning power plant releases mercury
humans*
rain washes mercury into rivers that lead to ocean
phytoplankton
shrimp
squid
strip bass (medium sized fish)
2. Which is the first position in the sequence where mercury would be
trapped in the fatty tissues of an organism? Phytoplankton
3. Draw an asterisk (*) next to the organism that would show the greatest
amount of toxic accumulation. *Humans
4. List three examples of substances that might bioaccumulate in the
ecosystem represented by the tropic pyramid you drew.
Mercury, radioactive isotopes, DDT and other pesticides
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Slide 37
THE CARBON CYCLE
– Carbon must be recycled through the biosphere
– The biosphere is a closed system
– Carbon has a fast and a slow pathway
Fast pathway
– The fast pathway- the atmosphere is the
reservoir for most organic carbon
• photosynthesis
• cell respiration
• decomposers
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Slide 38
Carbon cycle – fast pathways
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Slide 39
CARBON CYCLE
Slow pathway
– stored in rocks and fossil fuel deposits
• fossil fuels are formed from non- decomposed
plants and animals
• skeletons and shells of marine organisms - form
rock (limestone)
• carbon is returned to the atmosphere when the rocks
break down or when fossil fuels are burned
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Slide 40
Carbon cycle slow pathways
 marine skeletons
and shells are made
of calcium carbonate
 shells fall to the
ocean floor
 compressed
sediments become
limestone
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Slide 41
CAUSE OF ENVIRONMENTAL
PROBLEMS
• Global Warming
– Major greenhouse gases
• Water vapor
• CO2
• Methane
– Several other gases produced by industrial
activities contribute to global warming
– Naturally occurring greenhouse gases – insulate
the planet, keep planet’s surface in temperature
range to support life.
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Slide 42
– Human activity - release of greenhouse gases
faster than natural process can remove them
• Burning of fossil fuel – large amounts of
CO2
• Cattle ranching – production of methane
• Methane hydrate – produced by bacterial
decomposition- trapped in frozen soil in
Arctic tundra and sea floor
When tundra thaws – due to global warming
• large amounts of methane gets release
• further climate warming – additional release
• All of the above contribute to global warming
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Slide 43
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Slide 44
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• Possible changes cause by global warming
orising global temperatures
ochanges in global weather patterns
orising sea levels
oincreased insect reproduction
• Actions to help prevent global warming
oreduce use of fossil fuels
oconserve energy
odevelop & use alternative energy sources
opolitical action
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Slide 45
If every American home replaced just one light
bulb with an Energy Star qualified bulb, we would
save enough energy to
• light more than 3 million homes for a year
• save more than $600 million in annual energy
costs
• prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the
emissions of more than 800,000 cars
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=cfls.pr_cfls
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Slide 46
wave power
waves are generated by
the passage of wind
across the surface of the
sea - energy is transferred
from the wind to the waves
and from the waves to the
generator
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Pelamis ocean generator
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Slide 47
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just wanted you
to see the real
size of
commercial
windmills
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use the person
on the top for
size comparison
of course they
come in small,
residential sizes
too
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Slide 48
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water over the dam
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Slide 49
Hydroelectric power
• water turns the blades of the turbine
• the turbine drives the generator
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turbine hydroelectric power
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Slide 50
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Ecological footprint
• Land, water, energy, and other resources
needed to support your personal life style
• Ecological footprint in U.S. is greater than
that of other developed countries
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Slide 51
POPULATION PRINCIPLES
• Population growth depends on biotic
potential & environmental resistance
(limiting factors)
• Biotic potential
– The maximum rate a population can increase
under ideal conditions
– Factors that affect biotic potential
– There are four factors
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Large family size
Absence of predators
High birth rate
Early reproductive age
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Slide 52
POPULATION PRINCIPLES
•
Environmental resistance (limiting factors)
• factors that prevent a population from reaching its biotic
potential
– Factors that decrease population growth:
• low food supply
• disease
• predation
• limiting space for living (nesting, breeding)
• habitat destruction
Population growth curves: balance between environmental
resistance & biotic potential
J- curve : exponential growth -unregulated growth (no
restrictions on the ability of the organism) – reproduce,
live or grow.
S- curve: Logistic growth – rapid growth in the population
counterbalance by environmental resistance.
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Slide 53
POPULATION PRINCIPLES
• Carrying capacity: the number of
organisms an ecosystem can support
indefinitely without using resources
faster than they can be replaced
• Exceeding carrying capacity can lead
to:
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famine
erosion, dust storms
fishing a species to extinction
lack of water
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Slide 54
COOPERATIVE ACTIVITY 1-6
It took 30 years for the world population to increase from two
to three billion.
2. It took 14 years for the world population to increase from three
to four billion.
3. It took 13 years for the world population to increase from four
to five billion.
4. It took 12 years for the world population to increase from five
to six billion.
5. What is the approximate population of the world at the current
time? 7 billion
6. Remove the page and turn figure 1-14 upside down. Does
human population growth resemble a J curve or an S curve? J
curve.
7. Based on the population trends shown in the graph, predict the
future availability of food, water, energy, and other resources
over your lifetime. Explain your answer.
Based on the trend of rapid population growth, there will be more
pressure on existing supplies of energy and other resources. The
biggest problem will likely be a decrease in availability of water for
human consumption & agriculture.
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1.
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Slide 55
POPULATION PRINCIPLES
Human population requires enormous amounts of
renewable and nonrenewable resources
• Renewable resources - replace themselves
fairy quickly by natural means
• Nonrenewable resources - not replaced at all
or are replaced very slowly
• Examples: Coal
Drinkable water
Topsoil
Heating oil
Diamonds
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Slide 56
Cooperative Activity 1-7
N
coal
R
N
petroleum
N
copper
R/N lumber
N
aluminum
N
natural gas
N
heating oil
R
solar energy
R
R
food animals
R
wind
food crops
wave power to generate
electricity
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