Introduction to Ecology & Community Ecology

1.1 - What is Ecology?

Define

• Ecology: a study of how organisms and their surroundings interact.

• Abiotic: the parts of an organism’s surroundings that are not alive. Ex: Temperature and Soil

• Biotic: all the living things in a given habitat. Ex:   Fish and Frog

Levels of Organization in the human body

1.2 - Energy, Producers, and Consumers

Describe how the sun provides energy to terrestrial (land) communities

Terrestrial communities rely on the sun as their main energy source. Producers capture the sun's energy and transform it into chemical energy through photosynthesis. The resulting chemical energy is then transferred through the ecosystem in approximately four stages.

Describe the role

• Producers = Autotrophs

  • Delivers all the energy required for tertiary ecosystems.

  • Through photosynthesis, plants transform light energy from the sun into food.

• Consumers = Hetrotrophs

  • Organisms that consume other living things are called consumers

    • Primary consumers feed on plants

    • Secondary consumers feed on primary consumers

    • Tertiary consumers feed on secondary consumers

• Diets:

  • Herbivore: Eat Plants

  • Carnivore: Eat animals/meat

  • Omnivore: Eat plants and animals

  • Detritivore: Eat dead organic material

• Decomposers vs Detritivores

  • Decomposers break down dead organisms but Detritioveres eat the dead organisms directly.

  • Example of a Decomposer - Mushrooms

  • Example of a Detritoveres - Millipedes

1.3 - Niches and Community Interactions

Define Niche:

• The fit of a species through a certain environmental setting

  • When different species compete for the same resource, inter-species competition takes place which is the reason the shorebirds in the diagram occupy the same niche.

• Habitat: the specific environment where the organism lives and Diet: the type of food an organism eats and how it obtains it are things that are considered when describing an organism’s niche.

• Predator, Decomposer, Parasitic, and Herbivore are all different niches that organisms can occupy within a community.

• Predation, Mutualism, Commensalism, Parasitism, and Competition are 5 types of species interactions. Predation one organism kills and eats another. Mutualism both species benefit. In parasitism one organism benefits, and the other is harmed but not killed. In commensalism, one organism benefits, and the other is not harmed or benefitted. Competition organisms that utilize the same resource.

• Using camouflage, organisms can hide within their environment, making it more difficult for prey to avoid them and predators to find them.

• It enables organisms that imitate harmful or unappealing creatures to avoid predation, which makes them more difficult to spot by predators.

1.4 - Energy Flow in Ecosystems

Food chain with 4 populations:

Trophic Levels:

• Define Tropic Level: A trophic level is a term used to describe each consumption level. Energy is transferred between the levels through the consumption of organisms by other organisms.

Biomass:

• 90% of the energy at each level is used for Cellular respiration, Heat, and Movement.

Food chain:

• Weakness: The food chain is open to disturbance, and the extinction of one species can have an impact on the ecosystem as a whole.

• Strengths: Food chains are significant because they reveal the complex interactions that exist throughout ecosystems.