Ecology Hierarchy - Organism , Population , Community, Ecosystem, Biome , Biosphere Biotic factors Interspecific competition, Mutualism, Predation, Commensalism,

, Paratism, Decomposition , Human Abiotic factors Sunlight, Temperature, Water/Rainfall , Soil fertility Niche- Role of organism in ecosystem, Divided into 3 , Namely Fundamental, Ecological and Realised niches Cycles Carbon,Sulphur, Phosphorus From Environment Reservoir --- Plants --- Consumers --- Decomposers --- Weathering and back to Environment Reservoir

Sulphur cycles Dead plants/animals to Hydrogen Sulphide ( Anaerobic breakdown ) Hydrogen sulphide to Sulphur ( Chromatium ) Sulphur to Sulphates ( Thiobacillus ) Sulphates to Hydrogen Sulphide ( Desulfovibrio ) Phosphorus Cycle Sedimentary ( Not found in atmosphere ) A little bit special as it involves the MARINE BIRDS which carry back phosphorus from sea back to land.

Energy transfer 1st Thermodynamics Law Energy X destroyable but can be converted into another form. 2nd Thermodynamics Law Transfer of energy can be lost in the form of heat.

Gross Primary Production/GPP = Rate of organic production in plants Net Primary Production/NPP = Rate of storing organic substance in plants or ( GPPMetabolic activities such as respiration and growth ) Food chains can be divided into 2 divisions, Detritus and Gazing Food Chains Detritus food chain begins with dead organic matters. Gazing food chains divided into 2 subdivisions, Predatory and Parasitic Food Chains.

Population Growth rate = ( Birth + Immigration ) ( Death + Emigration ) Survivorship = Chance of a given individual in population to survive to a particualr age. There are 3 types of survivorship curves. Type 1 : Low infant death rate, Most individuals can live until old age. Ex : Human & Elephant Type 2 : The death rate and birth rate are constant throughout its life stages. Ex : Oyster, Birds and Invertebrates Type 3 : High infant death rate, Few individuals can live until old age. Ex : Young Birds, Young Oysters, Underdeveloped country people

When talking about K and r-Strategies, 1. Body size 2. Life span 3. Infant care 4. Offspring number 5. Reproductive rate ( time to mature ) 6. Population dispersion 7. Population fluctuation 8. Ablility to survive in exposed land 9. Ability to be a good competitor 10. Defence system

Carrying capacity = Max. no of individuals the environment can support. Beyond it, population size will decrease.

Population size affected by Abiotic and Biotic Factors Abiotic Factors Light, Temperature, Water, Edaphic factors , Natural disasters Liebigs law ( Law of Minimum ) When one of the abiotic factors is in short supply , it will limit population growth. Shelfords law ( Law of Tolerance ) Organisms can only tolerate certain range of physical factors. Eg. Optimum temperature are in range 0-30 degree Celsius Biotic factors Predatory, Territorial behaviour, Overcrowding, Competition ( Intra and interspecific ) , Parasitism

Sampling Method Quadrat Mostly measuring uniform distribution , not changing environment. Disadvantage : Unable to measure a changing distribution. Line transect Mostly measuring not uniform distribution , gradual changing environment. Eg . Distribution of certain species from Mountain bottom to top Disadvantage : Meaningless to measure a uniform distribution Belt transet- Modified line transect, can be further modified to have quadrats along it to obtain more information. Disadvantage : The quadrats are abritary

Capture-Recapture method Marked with indian inks -The marking process wont deal harm to samples. ( Limit movement, Obvious to predator , Not able to mix with population ) - Dye should be waterproof and not brightly coloured - Allow enough time to mix with populations Assumptions made Mix well with populations, no death or emigration, no selective predation , samples are not trap shy or trap happy

Population distribution Clumped To protect infants, protection from predator (Prey) , Higher chance of killing food ( Predators such as African wild dogs ) Uniform Aggressive terretorial behaviour ( Penguin ) Random Resources are consistently available, Each individual is independent of another