LESSON 3: ECOLOGY OF LIFE c. c.
MARINE ECOLOGY
(ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE)
ECOLOGY OF LIFE
- is the science that deals with the relationships between
living organisms with their physical environment and with
each other.
HABITAT
- The environment in which a particular organism lives.
ANIMAL ECOLOGY
- Animal ecology is the study of animals and how they
related to each other as well as their environment or
defined as the scientific study of interactions that
determine the distribution and abundance of organism.
Importance of Animal Ecology:
* For the application of knowledge about ecosystems so
that actions can be taken to create a better balance and
harmony between people, animal (living organism) and
nature in order to reduce some unwanted impact
on living things and their habitats.
* To provide breeding populations of plants and
animals for reintroductions, and maintain a
classified biodiversity inventory of specimens and
genetic resources.
The various forms of animal ecology are:
a. BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY
- the study of the behavior of the animals with
relation to their environment and others
b. POPULATION ECOLOGY
- the study of the effects on the population of these
animals
- is the scientific study of marine-life habitat,
populations, and interactions among organisms and
the surrounding environment.
d. EVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGY
- is the study of how animals evolve over time to
meet the demands on them
PLANT ECOLOGY
- is a sub-discipline of ecology focussed on the
distribution and abundance of plants, and their
interactions with the biotic and abiotic environment.
2 Categories of the Environment:
a. Biotic - all the living things around us (plants,
animals..etc.)
b. Abiotic - all non-living part of an ecosystem that
shapes its environment. (example: temperature, light,
clouds, water)
Importance of Plant Ecology:
* They provide oxygen for us, play a role in the carbon
cycle, control global warming, etc.
* Plants are the most important producers.
* Plants use energy from sunlight to convert CO2 into
glucose (or other sugars).
*Plants with roles in the ecosystem are called
ecological services. They keep us and the rest of the
ecosystem alive.
FOOD CHAIN
- a simple food relationship between organisms. It is
a series of steps in which organisms transfer energy
by eating and being eaten.
- A food chain cannot really exist as a single series
of connections, isolated from any others.
- Food chain shows how each living things get its
food.
- Energy and nutrients are passed from organism to
organism. Through the food chain as one organism
eat another.
It starts with the producer and end with the top
consumer.
FOOD WEB
- A model describing the relationship between
organisms in many different food chains is called a
food web.
- A network of food chains within the ecosystem.
- The food web demonstrates the complex patterns
of energy flow in an ecosystem. It is believed that
the more complex a food web is, the more resistant
it is to outside interference
The producer of the above organisms are grasses.
The top consumer above the organisms is Hawk.
In an ecosystem the living organisms (biotic
community) have a pattern of feeding:
* The producers are eaten by the herbivores.
* Herbivores in turn are eaten by carnivores.
* Carnivores may further be eaten by other larger
carnivores.
* In this process the food energy is transferred from
plants to herbivores to carnivores to larger carnivores
who feed on them.
FORMS OF ENERGY
Living organisms may use energy in two basic
forms:
a. RADIANT ENERGY
- is electromagnetic radiation, such as solar light. For
example, green plants use this energy to synthesize
glucose molecule
b. FIXED ENERGY
- energy is the chemical energy stored within the
carbon bonds of organic molecules, such as
glucose.
BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTION
- The process of storing or producing fixed energy by
organisms
ENERGY FLOW
- is the movement of energy through an ecosystem
from the external environment through a series of
organisms and back to the external environment.
* Every ecosystem resources energy for its survival.
* The supply of energy has to be continuous to
maintain the biotic structures and their function.
* The energy flow refers to a cyclic movement of
energy comes from the environment which is external
to the ecosystem, passes through a series of
organism, and then return to same external
environment from where it has come.
* The flow of energy through an ecosystem is very
essential requirement. The quality and quantity of
energy flow helps to tell or decide the richness or
poorness and shortness of life.
* The Biosphere, the sun is ultimate source of energy.
AUTOTROPHS
- these are organisms with an ecosystem that
produce their own food.
* These organisms are also called primary producers.
* The group includes all organisms in an ecosystem
that can synthesize and store their own
chemical energy in the form of organic molecules
from inorganic raw materials.
* Green plants, multicellular algae, photosynthetic
protests, bacteria and blue greens are under this
category.
* They have chlorophyll or other pigments like
carotenoids that help them to absorb the sun light
energy.
HETEROTROPHS
- includes all organisms other than autotrophs that
cannot synthesize their own food. Organisms that get
energy requirements by consuming other organisms
called consumers
Two Broad Categories:
I. CONSUMERS
- are organisms that derive their nutrient from primary
producers.
- consumers depend upon other organisms for their
source of energy.
a. PRIMARY CONSUMERS
- consumers that get their energy directly from
producers. Primary consumers include cows and
rabbits.
b. SECONDARY CONSUMERS
- consumers that get their energy directly from
primary consumers. Secondary consumers include
fish and hawks.
c. TERTIARY CONSUMERS 2. ECTOPARASITES
- consumers that get their energy directly from - are those that dwell on the external body of the host.
secondary consumers. Tertiary consumers include (ex. fleas, ticks, mites)
wolves and hawks
LESSON 4: ECOLOGY OF LIFE (P2)
II. DECOMPOSERS (Saprophytic Nutrition)
- these are organisms that feed on fallen leaves,
twigs, and other dead organic materials including
remains of plans and animals.
- this group includes most of the bacteria and
mushrooms that degrade complex dead organic
matter of all categories into simple inorganic
compounds, and restore minerals to the environment

2 Kinds of Nutrition:
1. HOLOZOIC NUTRITION
- This is a kind of nutrition upon which the organisms
feeds relatively larger piece of organic matter (plant
or animal) by killing.
ENERGY PYRAMID
a. HERBIVORES
- are those animals that feed on plant materials or
obtain energy by eating plants. Consumer that eats
only other autotrophs.
Examples: Ex: cow, rabbit, grasshopper, cattle,
sheep and goats, elephant and giraffes.

b. CARNIVORES
- are consumer that preys on other heterotrophs. Eat
only animals.
- Carnivore could be predator that kills a living animal
or scavenger that eats (dead animals).
Examples: Mammals like tiger, crocodile, fox, Fish
like sharks, Birds like vulture, eagle, Insects like
dragon fly
c. OMNIVORES
- This includes those animals that feed on both
plants and animals. Eat both plants and
animals. They are generalistic feeders that
have no special feeding preference. Consumer
that feeds on both producers and other consumers.
Examples: humans, pig, and apes
d. DETRITIVORES
- Consumers that feed on pieces of dead organic
matter
Examples: earthworm, insects at the bottom of ponds
2. PARASITIC NUTRITION
- This is a kind of nutrition by which the parasite
derives its organic food from a living host.
- They are usually much smaller than the host.
- The group includes a number of protozoa, parasitic
insects, and none chlorophylous plants.
Different Forms of Parasitism:
1. ENDOPARASITES
- are those organisms that dwell inside the body of
the host. (ex. amoeba, tapeworm, roundworms,..)
BIOMASS PYRAMID
ENERGY PYRAMID
- shows relative amount of energy available at each
tropic level
BIOMASS PYRAMID
- represent the amount of living organic matter at each
tropic level
ENERGY AND BIOMASS PYRAMID
- Represent the amount of energy available at each
as well as amount of living tissue - both decrease with
each increasing tropic level.
TROPIC LEVELS
- each step in a food chain or food web
POPULATION PYRAMID
- are important graphs for visualizing how populations
are composed when looking a groups divided by age
and sex.
- graph that shows the distribution of ages across a
population divided down the center between male and
female members of the population. The graphic starts
from youngest at the bottom to oldest at the top.
AGE-SEX PYRAMID
- Population Pyramid or Age-Sex pyramid" is a
graphical illustration of the distribution of a population
by age groups and sex; males are usually shown on
the left and females on the right and usually in the
shape of pyramid.
- It is also used in ecology to determine the overall
age distribution of a population; an indication of the
reproductive capabilities and likelihood of the
continuation of a species.
POPULATION
- a group of people or animals living in a certain place
3. EXISTENT POPULATION
- defined as the population of concrete individuals. In
other words, the population whose unit is available in
solid form.
Examples: Students, books, laptops
4. HYPOTHETICAL POPULATION
- The population in which whose unit is not available
in solid form
Examples: The population of heads and tails
obtained by tossing a coin on infinite number of times

Three Trends in Population Pyramids:

1. EXPANSIVE
- creates a sharp triangle shape in the graph.
Expansive pyramids mean that the population does
not increase much in total number and has many
young people.
- This is when there are both high fertility and high
mortality rates among younger members.

2. CONSTRICTIVE
- these population pyramids are wider in the middle of
the graph as the population has high numbers of
middle aged and elderly people, but fewer young
people.
- This is when there is a lower mortality rate with the
fertility rate remaining constant.
- This is a typical pattern for a very developed country,
with a high level of education, easy access to and
incentive to use birth control, good health care, and
few negative environmental factors.

3. STATIONARY
- These graphs have a square or “pillar” shape rather
than a pyramid one. These population pyramids
represent a stable population that will not change
significantly barring any sudden changes to fertility or
mortality rates.
- This is when a population has low mortality and low
fertility rates, the numbers of births and death roughly
balance one another.

Classifications of Population
1. FINITE POPULATION
- A population if it is possible to count its individuals.
It may also be called a countable population.
Examples: books in a library, tables in room, cars in
a town

2. INFINITE POPULATION
- collection of objects or individuals that are no
boundaries or we cannot measure about the total
number of individuals in the occupied territories.
Examples: birth of insects or fishes