1. Organization in the
Biosphere

2. What is Ecology?
• Study of the interactions between living
things & the environment
Everything is connected to everything else

3. What is Ecology?
• Abiotic factors
– Any non-living part
of the environment
• Biotic factors
– Any living part of the
environment

4. How would the following
abiotic factors affect the
living things in their
environment?
• Light
• Temperature
• Water
• Soil & Minerals

5. How would the following
biotic factors affect the
living things in their
environment?
• Organisms that eat the same food
• Size of species
• Number of plants
• Type of predators

6. Levels of Organization
1. Organism
– An individual
2. Population
– A group of organism’s living in the same area

7. Levels of Organization
3. Community
– All the populations living in the same area

8. Levels of Organization
4. Ecosystem
– All the interactions between populations and
communites
– Both biotic & abiotic factors
5. Bioshpere
– All parts of the Earth that support life

9. Organisms & Ecosystems
• Habitat
– The part of the
environment where an
organism lives.
– May change or even
disappear

10. Organisms & Ecosystems
• Niche
– The role or “job” of an
organism
– Describes how they live
& reproduce
– Each organism has their
own niche

11. Organisms & Ecosystems
• Competition
– When organisms fight
over limited resources
– Often occurs if two
species try to occupy
the same niche
– E.g.

12. Organisms & Ecosystems
• Competition
– The more similar the
needs of
populations, the more
intense the competition
– Competition for the
same niche may result
in one population being
eliminated

13. Types of Relationships
• Symbiosis
– A close relationship between organisms for
different species.
– May be good or bad
MUTUALISM PARASITISM COMMENSALISM

14. Types of Relationships
• Mutualism
– Both organisms benefit
– E.g.

15. Types of Relationships
• Commensalism
– One organism benefits & the other is neutral
– E.g.

16. Types of Relationships
• Parasitism
– One organism benefits & the other is harmed
– E.g.

17. Energy Flow
• Energy is needed for survival.
• What is the ultimate source of energy?
• How a species obtains energy is an
important part of its niche.

18. Energy Flow
• Producer = Autotroph
– Make their own food
• Consumer = Heterotroph
– Must get food from other organisms

19. Energy Flow
• Herbivore
– Plant eater
• Carnivore
– Meat eater
• Omnivore
– Both plant &
meat eater

20. Energy Flow
• Scavenger
– Feed on dead
organisms
• Decomposer
– Breaks down the
bodies of dead
organisms, a recycler

21. Energy Flow
• Food Chain
– Shows how energy
moves through an
ecosystem
– Trophic level
• Each “feeding” step

22. Food Chain Level 4 Tertiary consumer Sun
Top
• Begin with energy carnivore
from sun Level 3 Secondary consumer
• Plant are always Carnivore
the first level Level 2 Primary consumer
• Usually 4-5 levels
Herbivore
• All levels connect to
Level 1 Producer
decomposers
Fungi
Decomposers
Bacteria

23. Energy Flow
• Pyramid of Energy
– Tracks the amount of
energy found at each
trophic level of a food
web

24. Energy flows through…
secondary
loss of
consumers energy
sun (carnivores)
loss of
energy
primary consumers
(herbivores)
loss of
energy
producers (plants)

25. Loss of energy
• Loss of energy between levels of food chain
– To where is the energy lost? The cost of living!
17%
growth
energy lost to
only this energy daily living
moves on to the 33%
next level in cellular
the food chain respiration 50%
waste (feces)

26. Energy Flow
• Each trophic level uses
about 10% of its energy
to build new tissue
• This new tissue is used
as food for the next
trophic level
– What does this mean for
the remaining levels?
• The remaining 90% is
lost.

27. Energy Flow
• Food Web
– Shows all possible
feeding
relationships
– Links many food
chains

28. Energy Flow
• Pyramid of Biomass
– Biomass = amount of organic matter
– Since energy decreases, total mass of living things at
each trophic level also decreases

29. But what about nutrients?
•Nutrients cycle around through decomposers
consumers
decomposers
producers
phosphorus
potassium iron
carbon
nitrogen
calcium
soil magnesium

30. Nutrients cycle…
n
• Nutrients must be recycled u
t
r
to be available for the next i
generation e
n
• decomposers return t
s
nutrients to the soil after
creatures die
• fungi
• bacteria
decomposers

31. Energy flows Nutrients cycle
loss of secondary
energy consumers
sun (carnivores)
decomposers
loss of primary consumers
energy
(herbivores)
loss of
energy producers (plants)
soil

32. Nutrient Cycles – Carbon Cycle
• Found naturally in
atmosphere as CO2
• Photosynthesis
• Respiration
• Decay & Fossil fuels

33. Nutrient Cycles – Water Cycle
• Life depends on
water, cycled through
atmosphere & Earth
• Evaporation
• Precipitation
• Transpiration
• Run off

34. Nutrient Cycles – Nitrogen Cycle
• Found naturally in
atmosphere, but
unusable
• Nitrogen fixation

35. Self-sustaining ecosystems
must have…
constant input
constant input of energy
of energy
nutrients cycle
Matter cannot
Don’t forget
be laws of
thecreated or
destroyed
Physics!
inputs
Cycling of  energy
nutrients
biosphere  nutrients

36. Maintenance & Change in Ecosystems
• Limiting Factors
– Any factor that limits
the make up of an
ecological community
– May be biotic or
abiotic
– E.g. temperature,
wind, lack of rain, food
sources, shelter,
mates, etc.

37. Maintenance & Change in Ecosystems
• Carrying Capacity
– The maximum number
of organisms the
environment can
support

38. Maintenance & Change in Ecosystems
• Ecological
Succession
– The orderly,
natural changes
& species
replacement
that occur over
time.
– E.g.

39. Maintenance & Change in Ecosystems
• Primary Succession
– Succession that
results in new soil &
land formations
– Takes thousands of
years
– E.g. what occurs after
a lava flow or glacier
retreat

40. • Pioneer species
– The first species to inhabit a new area
• Climax community
– The stable mature community that persists and
undergoes very little change

41. Maintenance & Change in Ecosystems
• Secondary Succession
– Succession that
occurs after a
community is
disrupted by natural or
human disasters
– Takes hundreds of years
– after a forest fire or
hurricane

42. Maintenance & Change in Ecosystems
Pond Succession
– Gradual accumulation
of sediment
– Plant growth begins

43. Maintenance & Change in Ecosystems
• Animal Succession
– Plant succession is a limiting factor for animal
succession.