Ecology

orkos-logos = home-the study of

• Study of interrelationships between organisms and their environments

◦Biotic & Abiotic

• Study of distribution and abundance of organisms

• The father of Ecology is Charles Darwin

• Studied at hierarchical scales typically above the organism level

Biosphere - the part of the planet that sustains life

Landscape - pattern of ecosystem distribution over a

large area

Ecosystem - community and abiotic factors that influence

it
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Community - group of different species that inhabit the
same place

Population - group of individuals of the same species that

inhabit the same place at the same time

* more complex and inclusive as levels increase

Biomes

• Ecosytems associated with particular regions of the planet

• Each biome is characterized by particular environmental features and biota

◦A biota includes flora and fauna (plants and animals) of:

‣ Terrestrial

‣ Aquatic

• Freshwater

• Marine

• Estuary (place in water where

tide and a river current meet)

• New World - Majority of Earth’s Western

Hemisphere

• Old World - Africa, Asia and Europe

Biogeographical Realms include:

• Neatric
vs t Canada
• Neotropical

Antigua
• Afrotropical
doin
• Paleartic
Europe
• Indo-Malay
India
• Australasia

• Antarctic

• Oceania

*father of biogeography is Wallace

• positioning of terrestrial biomes is contingent upon

◦Avg. Annual Percipitation

◦Avg. Annual Temperature

Aviv


Triopical Rainforest

most
• Found at the belt of the equator that is hit by the most sunlight
sunlight
• High temp, rainfall and diversity
beltoftheequator
• Little understory, high canopy and multi-layered

hightemprainfall diversity
• Nutrient-poor soil; rainfall washes out nutrients

• Little if any seasonality (Dry vs Wet)

soilispoorbecauserainfallwashesout
• Includes Epiphytes
the nutrients
◦Plants that are non-parasitic but grow on other plants

littleunderstory highcanopy multilayered

Desert

• Greatest deserts occur 30N and 30S

• Deserts are characterized by low percipitation

◦Huge masses of rainfall suck up all the

moisture in the air; causes dryness

• Can be hot or cold; huge variations in

temperature on a daily basis (more so than
seasonal)

• Little Vegetation; whatever is present is xerie-

adapted (dry conditions)

• Only biome that is increasing in area

30N Hos lithexerie adapted
vegetation
◦Process called desertification
lowprecipitation
• Albedo is the reflectivity of a surface
Desertification
◦High albedo = greater reflection
increasing insize

• Rainshadow Desserts
variations intemp on daily basis
◦Leeward vs Windward

◦Southwestern part of Antigua

◦Puerto Rico

* caudex is the swollen stem and roots of a perennial

w
interspersed tree
Savanna
grassland

• Type of grassland interspersed with trees

fire dependantWI 1
pronounced drywit
seasons

• Fire dependent ecosystem

Serevi
Sahellol Ucoupleinches
• Dry/Wet seasons are very pronounced
causes
Trypsanoma nese
• High temperatures in the summer (dry)
Helping sick
l•v Seringeti Savanna is the most famous

Nagana diceare
• South of the edge of the Sahara desert is called the Sahel
Chaya's
◦Famous because it losses a couple of inches to desertification every year

◦Major cause:

‣ Protist Trypanosoma; causes:

• Sleeping sickness (humans)

• Nagana (cattle)

• Chaga’s disease (humans)

◦Sleeping sickness and Nagana use the vector Tse-Tse fly

◦DDT was used to kill the vector allowing cows to overgraze

‣ Resulted in decrease in vegetation cover and increased albedo

Chaparral

• Mediterranean Coast, Southwest California, Southwestern South America, Southwestern Australia,

Southwestern South Africa
closetothewater firedependant hot sin drysin
• Characterized by shrubs/ xeric-adapted plants
of plants High endemism
high convergence vegetative
• Fire dependant; all next to the ocean

• High convergence of plants

How rainfall
moderate
• Hot season coincides with dry season

• Region of vegetative high endemism

• Moderate or low rainfall

• Wet/Dry Seasons

Temperate Grasslands

fertile soil is lost to agricultural grasses of

• Mississippi river to Rocky mountains, pompous in Argentina, Southwestern Australia, Russia,
Mongolia
atemperate seasons dominated
• Temperate means that you have seasons (seasonality)

bygrass
lotsoftemp fluctuations
• Dominated by Grass

notenoughwatertosustain free
• Fertile soils

growth
◦Lost to agricultural grasses (wheat, etc) and urban development

• Wide range of temperature fluctuations over the year (very hot and very cold)

• Not enough water to sustain large tree growth

◦No trees

• Different types: Prairie, Short and Long Grass, Steppe, Pampas

Temperate Decidious Forest

duidoos lose leaves temperate duringwinter
• Decidious = loses its leaves during a part of the year

temp fluctuation
◦temperate means you lose your leaves in the winter
wide rangeof
precipitation
• Wide range of temperature fluctuations over the year
a moderatethigh
• Moderate to high precipitation
dominatedby trees
• Dominated by trees

◦Store nutrients and shed leaves to avoid using energy and resources

◦Colour change of leaves is because of change in Chlorophyll A and B

‣ Change allows visibility of colours other than green

• Seasonal

*Test Question: Tropical decidious trees lose leaves because of hot/dry season

Taiga/Coniferous Forest/Borreal Forest

terrestrial biome
target
• Dominated by conifers (Evergreen trees)
shed duringwinter
tree i donot
• Trees do not shed leaves during winter
winters
• Extremely cold winters
extremelycold

◦Long winters; short cool summers

• Most precipitation occurs in the form of snow

• Largest terrestrial biome

Tundra

• Arctic

◦High latitude

◦North of Taiga

◦No trees

◦Small grass and grass-like plants

◦Permafrost (permanent frozen soil)

• Alpine

◦Mountain tops; above timber line

◦No trees

◦Small grass and grass-like shrubs

◦No permafrost

◦Altitudinal gradients mimic latitudinal gradients

Aquatic Biomes

• location depends on a multitude of factors,

including: water-temperature, gas content of Structure
water, insulation, nutrient content, turbidity
(cloudiness/haziness of a fluid), etc.
Marine

4
Fresh Water

• ponds
Freshter
• Lakes

• Streams
rs pls
• Rivers

• Swamps

Marine
Marine
• salt water marshes

VASCO
• Coral Reefs

• Littoral zone (region of sea close to the shore)

• Abyssal Plain (underwater plain on the deep ocean floor)

• Open ocean (Pelagic)

Population Ecology

• characterized by 3 general features

◦Density

◦Dispersion Pattern

◦Geographical Distribution

Density

• measure of number of individuals per area

of
• # of individuals / area = density
probability
anywhere
• The # of individuals alone is the abundance
occoring

Dispersion Pattern

• positioning of individuals relative to each

Regular
Random
yd clumped

other within a population

• 3 types:

◦Random

uniform
‣ Individual has equal probability of
0
occurring anywhere in an area
theseareasare
‣ Neutral interactions between individuals and local environment

richin resources
◦Regular

‣ Individual are uniformly spaced through the environment

‣ Antagonistic interactions between individuals and local depletion of resources

◦Clumped

‣ Individuals live in areas of high local abundance that are separated by areas of low
abundance

‣ Attraction between individuals and a common resource

 Georaphical Distribution

• geographical extent of the population

◦Limits of the boundaries beyond which a species does not occur

◦Terms relating to geographical distribution and evolution

‣ Endemic

• Restricted to an area; likely evolved there

‣ Native

• Synonymous with naturally occurring in region

‣ Autochthonous

• Indigenious rather than descendent of colonist/migrants

‣ Invasive

• Species is not native to an area; likely introduced by humans

◦Eg. West Indian Whistling Duck

‣ Endemic to
Caribbean
islands but only
native to Antigua

‣ Extant

• Still around

‣ Extinct

• Globally disappearing

‣ Extirpated

• Local extinction

◦Eg. Antigua racer

snake is extant in parts such as bird
island but extirpated in Antigua
E
‣ Home range

• Area used daily of seasonally

9
undershoot

‣ Territory

• Area that is defended

Population Growth

Exponential v Logistic

• r is intrinsic rate of population growth

◦= (#of births - #of deaths) / unit-time

ON
• carrying capacity is the maximal # of individuals of a particular
species that can be maintained in a healthy environment for an
indefinite amount of time

◦Specific for each species in a given environment

◦Can change if environmental conditions change

Environmental resistance (limiting factors) are:

◦Biotic

◦Abiotic

i
• acts in two distinct ways:

◦Density dependent

‣ Effect of factor is proportional to population size

• Eg. Spread of pathogen

‣ Mostly biotic

◦Density independent

‣ Effect of factor doesn’t change based on density

• Eg. Catastrophic event

 ‣ Typically abiotic

Life History Characteristics

• Age at first reproduction

• Number of reproductive episodes

• Number of offspring per reproductive episode

• Nature of maternal care

• Longevity

R-Selected

• populations that inhabit environments

where densities are initially low and
resources are abundant often are
ephemeral

• Organisms tend to be:

◦Small

◦Poor competitors

◦Early age at first reproduction

◦One or a few reproductive episodes

◦Many offsprings

◦No parental care

K-Selected

• species near the end of the curve;

populations that inhabit environments that
are stable (have many species and few
resources available)

• Organisms tend to be:

◦Large

◦Good competitors

◦Later age at first reproduction

◦Many reproductive episodes

◦Few offsprings
i
◦Parental care

l
I
Life Tables

BottomHeavy TopHeavy Stable

• demographic analysis of a population

• Includes longevity, mortality, fecundity and etc.

r t r f r o
• Follows a cohort (individuals born at the same time)

• initially developed by insurance companies

Survivorship Curves

• depicts the probability of life/death at an age for a species

• Illustrates specific trends

◦Humans have high survivorship at birth which decreases after 50 years

• an ideal situation would be to have equal number of individuals in all generations = stability

Ecosystem Ecology

• a look into the movement of energy and nutrients through an ecosystem

◦Energy flow is unidirectional

◦Nutrient flow is cyclical

Energy Flow

• ultimate source of energy for most ecosystems on Earth is the sun

• only 1% of solar energy is trapped in the earth via photosynthetic organisms (99% reflected)

◦Photosynthetic organisms include

‣ Plants

‣ Cyanobacteria

‣ Photosynthetic algae

Photosynthesis

• the gross primary productivity is equal to the rate of photosynthesis (GPP)

• Net primary productivity is the rate of photosynthesis - respiration (NPP)

• Biomass and standing crops = manifestation of NPP

• The open ocean is the least productive ecosystem; but because of its size it is responsible for the
most NPP

• Tropical rainforests have the highest GPP and NPP

• Coral reefs are the tropical rain forest of the ocean

Food Chain

• representation of who eats whom in an ecosystem

• A<B<C<D

• A = Producer

◦Photosynthesis

◦Chemosynthesis

‣ Powers underwater communities where sunlight is not available

• Ex. Methane seeps and hydrothermal vents

• B = Primary Consumer

◦Herbivore
between chaindweb
• C = Secondary Consumer
goin know difference
◦Carnivore
4
andenergy retention Ioi
• D = Tertiary Consumer

◦Carnivore

• Omnivores eat both plant and animals

• Detritivores feed at all trophic feeding levels

Aviv
Food Web

• Sum of all the food chains in an ecosystem

◦Apex predator is the top predator that has no predators of its own

◦Generalist species feeds on a wide variety of food items

◦Specialist species feeds on a specific variety of food items

• thermal energy obtained from consumption is mostly lost; only 10% ecological efficiency between
tropic levels

◦Because of this: predators have to eat larger amounts of the other tropic levels to satisfy energy
requirements

‣ Effects amplified when toxins are involved

• Ex. DDT (Rachel Carson) use caused large amounts of toxin to be taken up by marine
animals

◦When predators ate these animals conc. of DDT would rise cause of low efficiency

◦DDT effects calcium formation of the eggs of birds; high concentration of DDT led
to soft eggs that could not be incubated

• amount of energy available determines the number of species in a system

◦Diet for a small plant (book) encouraged veg diets for sustainability

Nutrients are cycled

• Cycles can be global or local

◦Global an only exist if nutrients exist as a gas at

some point

‣ Ex. Water, carbon, nitrogen (global)

‣ Ex. Phosphurus (local)

• Nitrogen cycle is one of the most important cycles

◦It is established and maintained by roughly 80

species of bacteria

◦Nitrogen fixing is the process of taking gaseous

nitrogen and adding hydrogen to produce
ammonium

‣ Decomposers break down ammonium and

produce nitrates

• nitrates either go to plants via roots or

are broken down via Denitrifying Bacteria
before converting to atmospheric
nitrogen

• Water Cycle

◦See diagram

• Carbon Cycle

in
results
condensation
◦Increased fossil fuel usage and cutting/burning formationof
clouds

trees is artificially increasing the CO2 in the

atmosphere

‣ As a result of global warming parts of the

world get hotter, while other parts get
colder

‣ Most of the worlds methane production

comes from the farting/belching of cows

◦O3 layers thickness is decreasing

‣ Whole above arctic is being repaired as a

result of rule changes

Greenhouse Gases

• include: CO2 and CH4

• Sunlight reflects from the surface of the Earth;

due to atmosphere reflected back to Earth;
causes increases in the temperature

• The increase of gas immersions/pollution

increases these effects

Community Ecology

Recall: Community is a group of individuals of different species inhabiting the same place at the same
time

• Diversity: the number of species and number of individuals per species in a community

◦Species Richness (S)

‣ Number of species

◦Evenness (E)

‣ Distribution of individuals among species

• The greater the evenness is the greater the diversity is

◦Shannons (H)

navies hole

pi Mj individual
ofaspecies
H In
pi pi F

N totalpopulationsample s

• Abundance

• Density
Define
• Relative Proportion

◦Number of individuals per species in the total sample

• open communities are loosely structured

◦Communities consists of individuals who are not dependent on each other

• Closed communities are highly structured

◦Communities consist of individuals who are highly dependent on each other

Species Interactions

Interaction Effect on

Species 1 Species 2

Predation + -

Herbivory + -

Mutualism + +

Parasitism + -

Commensalism + 0

Competition - -

Predation

It
• Predator tends to be larger and stronger than the prey and have forward facing eyes; only smaller if
they hunt in packs

◦Keystone predator

‣ Predator that has an inordinate importance in maintaining community structure

• Ex. Starfish eating algae which becomes over populated

• Prey can undergo crypsis/camoflauge as well as protean display

◦Aposematism is warning coloration

◦Mimicry is looking like another species to gain an advantage

‣ Batesian Mimicry

NegDensity
• Resembles an unpalatable species; inorder to work:

Dep ◦Model must be more common than the mime

◦ Predator must learn and remember patterns displayed by the toxic organism

TositiveDensity ◦Model and mime are sympatric

Dep ‣ Mullerin Mimicry

chancesofnot being
increases
• Two or more unpalatable species are similar to each other
predator knows 1 pattern
hunted
 • Toxin is the actual chemical that is harmful in unpalatable species

• poisonous: toxin must be ingested

• Venemous: toxin is administered

PrayingMantisusesmore
◦Defense mechanisms
thanoneofthese strategies
‣ Run fast; Crypsis; Protean Display; Aposematic

‣ Freeze if they are detected

Rabbits

example
Parasitism

C I i
• parasite lives in living tissue on/in host and typically does not kill the host

◦Kills the host only if:

‣ Behavioural changes in the host

whenhost takes a longtimetodie leg aids

‣ First contact

• Emergent viruses/pathogens

Commensalism

ti 0
• one species benefits without harming the other

Mutualism
t t
• both species benefit

• May be obligate or facultative

◦Obligate is mandatory interaction

◦Facultative is non-mandatory interaction (Wrasse)

• Ex. Of obligate Ants and Bull-Horn Tree, human inter-intestinal flora ; bacteria and termits

Competition
C
i I
• two types of competition

◦Intraspecific: within the same species (more intense)

◦Interspecific: between species.

• Requirements for competition to occur:

◦Overlapping resource use

◦Resource must be limiting

• The fitness of each individual is reduced because the energy used for combat could be better spent
on reproduction or gathering food

Scramble v Contest Competition

• display v combat

The relation of competition and community structure

• Gause experimented on 2 species of paramecium

◦Both species were able to survive on their own

◦During combat species A won and species B died out

◦Density of species A still redued

• Gause concluded:

◦2 species at high densities with similar requirements could not coexist

◦This developed Competitive Exclusive Principle

‣ No 2 species can simultaneously occupy the same niche

• Niche is all of the conditions under which a species can survive and reproduce

◦N th dimensional hypervolume

◦The niche is the species role in the environment where as the habitat is its address

◦Diurnal -> active during the day

‣ Ex. Cheetah

◦Nocturnal -> active during the night

‣ Ex. Lions (also pack hunters)

 ◦Crepuscular -> dawn and dusk

‣ Leopards are active during all of these “phases”

Study of Niches via Barnacles

• two types of barnacles studied: Chthalanus and Balanus

• Chthalanus = lower intertidal region

◦When removed Balanus could not spread into area

• Balanus = higher intertidal region

◦When removed Chthalanus thrived

• Realized niche: niche in the presence of competitors

• Fundamental niche: niche in the absence of competitors

• three possible outcomes for species

◦One species goes extinct

◦Both species go extinct

◦Both species co-exist

‣ Resource partitioning

• Species exist amongst one another in different regions of a particular environment

‣ Character displacement

• Two species are most alike in some features when they are allopatric than when they
are sympatric

◦Easier to diverge than to compete

Cont’d

Role reversal predation

• biological interaction in which an organism that is typically preyed upon reverses the role and eats
the predator

Communities experience changes in species composition over time

• community succession

• each stage is a sere

• The final stable community is called the climax community

◦Succession can be:

no remanants ‣ Primary - no soil no plant, etc (when a new volcanic island comes up, or a volcano erupts)

• rare

‣ Secondary - still have soil and plants, (after a flood, fire etc)

rtialdestruction
◦many plants in a sere change the conditions making the area more amenable to plants in the
subsequent
environmental

changes