Introduction to Ecology

• Ecology

  the distribution of organisms and their relationship with the environment
• Levels of ecology

  organism, population, community, ecosystem, landscape, global
• Factors that affect the distribution of organisms

  dispersal, behavior, biotic factors, abiotic factors
• Dispersal factors

  movement away from area of origin or centers of high population density
• Biotic factors

  ability of species to survive and reproduce is reduced by interactions with other species
• Components of climate

  temp, water, sunlight, wind
• Climate

  long-term weather conditions in an area
• Climate is affected by

  bodies of water, mountains, altitude and longitude, air circulation, precipitation, wind, variation in sun intensity
• How do bodies of water effect climate?

  They moderate temperature and moisture of coastal land masses
• How do mountains affect climate?

  By affecting airflow; air moving toward mountains rises, cools and releases moisture
• How does wind affect climate?

  It amplifies the conditions
• Biome

  A group of ecosystems with similar climates and organisms
• How are terrestrial biomes characterized?

  climate, vegetation type, disturbance
• How are aquatic biomes characterized?

  physical environment
• Tropical forest

  high levels of precipitation and warm temperatures year-round.
• Desert

  extremely dry, little water and few plants
• Savanna

  tropical grassland with scattered trees and large herbivores; maintained by occasional fires and drought
• Chaparral

  A scrubland biome of dense, spiny evergreen shrubs found at midlatitudes along coasts; mild, rainy winters and long, hot, dry summers.
• Temperate grassland

  found at middle latitudes; climate is moderate, various grass species
• Northern coniferous forest

  long, cold winters and cone-bearing tress
• Temperate broadleaf forest

  midlatitude regions where moisture is sufficient to support large, broadleaf deciduous trees
• Tundra

  a vast, flat, treeless Arctic in which the subsoil is permanently frozen.
• Climograph

  a plot of temperature and precipitation in a region
• Wetlands

  habitat inundated by water at least some of the time, supports plants adapted to water-saturated soil
• Estuaries

  transition area between river and sea
• Intertidal zone

  periodically submerged and exposed by tides
• Oceanic pelagic zone

  vast open water, constantly mixed by ocean currents
• Coral reefs

  formed from calcium carbonate skeletons of coral
• Marine benthic zone

  seafloor
• Photic zone

  top layer of water where light penetrates sufficiently for photosynthesis
• Aphotic zone

  lower region were little light penetrates
• Pelagic zone

  photic and aphotic zones
• Benthic zone

  bottom surface of aquatic environment
• Littoral zone

  a shallow zone in a freshwater where light reaches the bottom
• Limnetic zone

  zone of open water in lakes and ponds
• Neritic zone

  the shallow region of the ocean overlying the continental shelf
• Oceanic zone

  vast open ocean beyond the continental shelf
• Abyssal zone

  deepest, very cold region of the open ocean
• Turnover

  mixing waters as a result of changing water-temperature profiles in a lake or ocean
• oligotrophic lake

  deep, nutrient poor, oxygen rich