Bio unit 10

• Ecology


  The study of the relationship of living organisms among themselves and with the non-living components of the environment
• Ecology


  • Deals with relationships between organisms and their physical environments
  • Organisms of the same species
  • Organisms of different species
  • Organisms and the fluxes of matter and energy through biological systems
• Ecologists

  • Study interactions in order to understand the abundance and diversity of life within Earth's ecosystems
• Major principles of ecology


  • Protection of species and species subdivisions will conserve genetic diversity (Population viability)
  • Maintaining habitat is fundamental for the conservation of species
  • All things are connected but the nature and strength of those connections vary
• Abiotic


  All non-living components in the biosphere (air, water, soil)
• Biotic


  All the living components in the biosphere (animals, plants, microbes)
• Autotrophic


  Organism able to produce their own food using abiotic components
• Heterotrophic


  Organism unable to produce their own food
• Ecosystem


  A biological community plus all of the abiotic factors influencing that community
• Biome


  Sub-division of the biosphere, based on the specific climate of each region, where the climate determines the unique plant and animal species that live and are adapted to survive in a region
• Biosphere


  The global sum of all ecosystems
• Saprophytic organisms


  Organisms that live on by decomposing dead organic matters
• Scavengers


  Animals that eat what is left over by predators
• Photosynthesis


  A process where plants use sunlight energy, water and CO2 from the air, to produce organic compounds
• Vegetation


  The plant life that is found in a biome
• Organism


  Fundamental unit of ecology, no smaller unit in biology has an independent life in the environment
• Population


  A group of organisms consisting of a number of similar organisms that live in defined area and interact with each other
• Community


  A group of organisms consisting of a number of different species that live in an area and interact with each other
• A natural ecosystem is an assemblage of plants and animals which functions as a unit and is capable of maintaining its identity such as forest, grassland, an estuary
• A natural ecosystem is totally dependent on solar energy
• Main categories of ecosystems

  • Aquatic
  • Terrestrial
• Defining characteristics of ecosystems

  • Energy flow and loss as heat
  • Material (nutrient) cycling
• Materials are always being 'moved around' within an ecosystem through feeding, excretion, respiration and breathing, and decomposition
• What is a waste product to one organism becomes a vital nutrient to another
• All organisms in the ecosystem are interdependent and interact with their physical environment
• Ultimate source of energy in ecosystems

  The sun
• Food chains


  Successive stage of feeding whereby energy is transferred across the trophic levels
• Food chains are not isolated sequences, but are interconnected with each other</b>
• Trophic level


  Each step of the food web
• 20 to 30% of NPP is consumed by the herbivores
• Ecological pyramid


  The trophic levels together form the ecological pyramid
• Types of food chains

  • Grazing food chain
  • Detritus food chain
• Grazing food chain


  Beginning with autotrophs, green plants are its base, directly dependent on an influx of solar radiation
• Detritus food chain


  Beginning with dead organic matter, the organic wastes, exudates and dead matter derived from the grazing food chain
• Detritivores


  Organisms that make use of the detritus
• Decomposers


  Organisms that turn organic wastes inorganic materials
• Food web


  An interlocking pattern/chains of food chains in an ecosystem, all of the interconnected and overlapping food chains in an ecosystem
• Each living thing in an ecosystem is part of multiple food chains
• The feeding interactions represented by the food web may have profound effects on species richness of community, and ecosystem productivity and stability
• Human activities have impacted the stability of the food web