LM SEM II HABITAT ECOLOGY 3.4.20

Habitat Ecology

Biosphere: The part of Earth where living beings interact with their environment, including hydrosphere, lithosphere, and atmosphere.
Ecosphere: The combination of living organisms and their physical environment (atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere).
The biosphere represents the largest scale of ecological organization, consisting of multiple ecosystems.
Ecological Relationships: Regulate energy, nutrients, and climate at a planetary scale, influencing CO2 and O2 levels through respiration and photosynthesis.
Gaia Hypothesis: Proposes that living organisms create feedback loops that regulate Earth's temperature and atmospheric conditions.

Understanding individual traits is key for analyzing populations, communities, and ecosystems.
Important areas: life history theory, ecophysiology, metabolic theory of ecology, and ethology.
Traits can be related to life cycles, structure, and behavior, e.g., age at maturity, metabolic costs, or physical adaptations.

Ecosystems consist of plants, animals, microbes, and their environment, possessing distinct soil, climate, flora, and fauna.
They require continuous energy and nutrient inputs due to their open system nature.
Ecosystem functioning involves cycles like the water cycle and nutrient cycles driven by solar energy.

Biosphere: Upper earth strata, lower atmosphere, and upper water bodies where life interacts and materials recycle.
Consists of diverse organisms creating rich ecosystem diversity on Earth.

Human activities generate significant pressures on ecosystems, such as pollution, resource depletion, and land use changes, leading to environmental degradation.
Health Effects: Degraded environmental quality can lead to adverse health outcomes for humans.

Specific life forms adapt to their habitats, employing various adaptations based on their ecological or physiological needs (e.g., aquatic, fossorial, saltatorial adaptations).

Morphological, physiological, and behavioral adaptations assist organisms in coping with environmental conditions.
Bergman's Rule: Larger body sizes in colder regions for heat conservation; Allen's Rule: Shorter extremities in cooler climates; Gloger’s Rule: Darker pigmentation in warmer, humid regions.

Liebig’s Law: Growth is limited by the nutrient that is in least supply.
Shelford’s Law: Each species has a tolerance range for environmental factors that affect its distribution and functioning.

Various diversity metrics: species-area relations, alpha diversity, beta diversity, gamma diversity.
Niche Concept: Defines an organism's role in its environment, emphasizing habitat and functional roles.

Three types of niches: spatial (space occupied), trophic (trophic interactions), and multidimensional (various environmental factors).
Fundamental vs. Realized Niche: Fundamental niche is the potential living conditions, realized niche is the actual conditions under environmental constraints.

Niche differentiation and resource partitioning enable species to coexist by utilizing resources differently.
Competitive Exclusion Principle: Two species competing for the same resources cannot coexist indefinitely.

Describes predator-prey dynamics. Involves equations to depict changes in populations of both predators and prey over time, predicting cyclical relationships between them.

Groups of species exploiting the same resource class in similar ways.
Guild memberships can reflect ecological roles at various trophic levels while minimizing direct competition.

Guilds involve multiple species sharing resources, while niches define the functions of individual species.

Habitat Fragmentation: Results from human activities, posing threats to biodiversity.
Metapopulation dynamics involve local populations linked by dispersal in fragmented habitats.

Includes colonization and extinction rates balancing to maintain population dynamics within habitat patches.

Primary Succession: Colonization of previously uninhabited areas.
Secondary Succession: Occurs after disturbances when existing communities are altered.