Group 1

Ecological
successions
and Population
control
CAMAY, JENNIFER
TAÑARA, JENERYN S.
JAKOSALEM, LEMUEL KENT A.
ABLONG, SIGFRED JASPER P.
ROSALES, KIMBERLY G.
FREJOLES, WILMEL
Hello,
Class!
 “In looking at nature, never forget that
every single organic being around us may be
said to be striving to increase its numbers.”
-Charles Darwin, 1859
How do species
interact?
 Five types of
interactions among
species
compe t i on
f ic t da
e
it i
c i

pr
e

on
ters p
in
 Five types of
interactions among
species

i t i sm a l i sm nsa l i sm
a s tu e

comm
mu
par
Most Species Compete
with One Another
for Certain Resources
Interspecific
Competition
The most common interaction among
species is competition.
Competition: Occurs when members of one
or more species interact to use the same
limited resources such as food,water, light,
and space.
Competition within a species is called
intraspecific competition, but
interspecific competition, or
competition among different species,
plays a larger role in most ecosystems.
Interspecific
Competition

Most interspecific competition involves

one species becoming more efficient
than others in obtaining the resources it
needs.
Interspecific
Competition
When two species compete with one
another for the same resources, their niches
overlap.
The greater this overlap, the more they
compete for key resources. If one species
can take over the largest share of one or
more key resources, each of the other
competing species must move to another
area (if possible), adapt by shifting its
feeding habits or behavior through natural
selection to reduce or alter its niche, suffer
a sharp population decline, or become
extinct in that area.
Over a time scale long enough
for natural selection to occur,
populations of some species
develop adaptations that allow
them to reduce or avoid
competition with other species
for resources.
Resource Partitioning
- occurs when species
competing for similar scarce
resources evolve specialized
traits that allow them to share
resources by using parts of
them, using them at different
times, or using them in
different
ways.
Examples:

Interspecific competition

Intraspecific competition
Consumer Species Feed
on Other Species
Predation

In predation, a member of one species

(the predator, or hunter) feeds directly
on all or part of a living organism (the
prey, or hunted) as part of a food web.
Together, the two different species such
as a lion, the predator, and a zebra, its
prey.
Predation

Predators have a variety of methods that

help them capture prey.
Herbivores can
walk, swim, or fly
to the plants they
feed on.

Carnivores such
as the cheetah
catch prey by
running fast.
Predation

Others:
Can fly and have
keen eyesight.

Can use
camouflage to
hide.

Use chemical
warfare to attack
their prey.
Predation

Prey species have evolved many

ways to avoid predators:
Including abilities to run, swim, or fly fast,
and some have highly developed senses of
sight, sound, or smell that alert them to
the presence of predators.

Include Thick
protective bark
shells
Predation

Prey species have evolved many

ways to avoid predators:

Spines Thorns

Camouflage
Predation

Prey species have evolved many

ways to avoid predators:

Many bad-tasting, bad-

smelling, toxic, or stinging
prey species have evolved
warning coloration, brightly
colored advertising that
helps experienced predators
to recognize and avoid them.
“Eating me is risky.”
Examples:
 Some Species Feed Off
Other Species by
Living On or Inside Them
Parasitism - occurs when one species (the parasite) feeds
on another organism (the host), usually by living on or
inside the host. In this relationship, the parasite benefits
and the host is often harmed.
In Some Interactions,
Both Species Benefit
Mutualism - two species behave in ways that benefit both by
providing each with food, shelter, or some other
resource.

Gut - armies of bacteria in the digestive systems of

animals help to break down (digest) the animals’
Inhabitant food. In turn, the bacteria receive a sheltered
Mutualism habitat and food from their hosts.
In Some Interactions, One
Species Benefits
and the Other Is Not
Harmed
Commensalism
- is an interaction that
benefits one species
but has little, if any,
beneficial or harmful
effect on the
other.
Ecological
Succession
Communities and Ecosystems
Change over Time
 Ecological Succession
The types and numbers of species in biological communities
and ecosystems change in response to changing
environmental conditions such as a fires, volcanic eruptions,
climate change, and the clearing of forests to plant crops. The
normally gradual change in species composition in a given
area is called ecological succession.
Importance of Ecological Succession
Ecological succession is an important ecosystem service that
tends to enrich the biodiversity of communities and ecosystems
by increasing species diversity and interactions among species.
Such interactions in turn enhance sustainability by promoting
population control and by increasing the complexity of food
webs, which enhances energy flow and nutrient cycling.
 Two major types of
ecological succession

PRIMARY SECONDARY
ECOLOGICAL ECOLOGICAL
SUCCESSION SUCCESSION
 Primary ecological succession
Primary ecological succession involves the
gradual establishment of communities of
different species in lifeless areas where there is no
soil in a terrestrial ecosystem or no bottom
sediment in an aquatic ecosystem.
Examples include bare rock exposed by a retreating glacier,
newly cooled lava, an abandoned highway and parking lot

retreating glacier newly cooled lava abandoned highway

Primary succession usually takes hundreds to
thousands of years because of the need to build
up fertile soil or aquatic sediments to provide the
nutrients needed to establish a plant community.
 Secondary ecological succession
A series of communities or ecosystems with
different species develop in places containing soil
or bottom sediment.
This type of succession begins in an area where an ecosystem has
been disturbed, removed, or destroyed, but some soil or bottom
sediment remains. Candidates for secondary succession include
burned or cut forests, heavily polluted streams, and flooded land.

Burned Forests polluted streams flooded land

 Living Systems Are Sustained through
Constant Change
All living systems, from a cell to the biosphere, are constantly
changing in response to changing environmental conditions.
However, living systems contain complex processes that interact to
provide some degree of stability, or sustainability. This stability, or
capacity to withstand external stress and disturbance, is
maintained only by constant change in response to changing
environmental conditions.
EXAMPLE STABILITY OR SUSTAINABILITY IN ECOSYSTEMS

In a mature tropical rain forest,

some trees die and others take
their places. However, unless the
forest is cut, burned, or otherwise
destroyed, you would still
recognize it as a tropical rain
forest 50 or 100 years from now.
 Two aspects of stability or
sustainability in ecosystems

INERTIA
The ability of an ecosystem to survive moderate
OR
disturbances.
PERSISTENCE

The ability of an ecosystem to be restored

RESILIENCE through secondary ecological succession after a
more severe disturbance.
Evidence suggests that some ecosystems have one of
these properties but not the other. For example, tropical
rain forests have high species diversity and high inertia
and thus are resistant to lower levels of change or
damage. But once a large tract of tropical rain forest is
cleared or severely damaged, the resilience of the
resulting degraded forest ecosystem may be so low that
it reaches an ecological tipping point after which it
might not be restored by secondary ecological
succession.
What limits the
growth of
population?
 Population
A population is a group of interbreeding
individuals of
the same species.
 Population

Pop h Pop Pop

ulat i s o o n s
io n of A n t hia sF ula tio
n of K an ga r ula tio n
of P e n g u i
Four Variables

01 Birth 03 Immigration

02 Death 04 Emigration
 AGE STRUCTURE

Age groups are

usually described in terms of organisms not mature enough
to reproduce (the prereproductive stage), those capable of
reproduction (the reproductive stage), and those too old to
reproduce (the postreproductive stage)
Some Factors That Can
Limit Population Size
• Each population in an ecosystem has a range of toler-
ance—a range of variations in its physical and chemical
environment under which it can survive.
• Individuals within a population may also have slightly dif-
ferent tolerance ranges for temperature or other physical or
chemical factors because of small differences in their ge-
netic makeup, health, and age.
No Population Can Grow
Indefinitely:
J-Curves and S-Curves
J curves and S curves

Populations of
species can undergo exponential
growth represented by a J-shaped
curve (left) when resource sup-
plies are plentiful. As resource
supplies become limited, a popu-
lation undergoes logistic growth,
represented by an S-shaped curve
(right), when the size of the pop-
ulation approaches the carrying
capacity of its habitat.
• The sum of all such factors in any habitat is called
environmental resistance. These limiting factors
largely determine any area’s carrying capacity :the
maximum population of a given species that particular
habitat can sustain indefinitely.

• As population approaches the carrying capacity of its habitat, the

J-shaped curve of its exponential growth (Figure 5.11,
left) is converted to an S-shaped curve of logistic growth, or
growth that fluctuates around a certain level
Population
Crash
•A sudden sharp reduction in the size
of a population that can be caused by
disease, environmental stress (such
as pollution), or when its numbers
exceed the carrying capacity of its
habitat
• Also known as dieback.
 Different Species Have Different
Reproductive Patterns
R-selected species
species that have a capacity for a high rate of population
increase
tend to have short life spans and to have many, usually
small, offspring and to give them little or no parental
care or protection
overcome typically massive losses of offspring by
producing so many offspring that a few will likely survive
to reproduce many more offspring
Examples include algae, bacteria, and most insects.

Question

algae insect

bacteria
 K-selected species
tend to reproduce later in life and have a small number
of offspring with fairly long life spans
the offspring of K-selected mammal species develop
inside their mothers (where they are safe), and are born
fairly large
tend to do well in competitive conditions when their
population size is near the carrying capacity (K) of their
environment.

Most large mammals (such as elephants, whales, and

humans), birds of prey, and large and long-lived plants
(such as the saguaro cactus, and most tropical rain forest
trees) are K-selected species.
Species Vary in Their
Typical Life Spans
Individuals of species with different reproductive strategies
tend to have different life expectancies, or expected lengths
of life. This can be illustrated by a survivorship curve, which
shows the percentages of the members of a population
surviving at different ages. There are three generalized
types of survivorship curves: late loss, early loss, and
constant loss
 A late loss population (such as
elephants and rhinoceroses)
typically has high survivorship to
a certain age, then high
mortality.
A constant loss population (such
as many songbirds) shows a fairly
constant death rate at all ages.
For an early loss population
(such as annual plants and many
bony fish species), survivorship
is low early in life. These
generalized survivorship curves
only approximate the realities of
nature.
 Humans Are Not
Exempt from
Nature’s Population
Controls
 Humans are not exempt from population crashes.
In 1845, Ireland experienced such a crash after a fungus
destroyed its potato crop. About 1 million people died
from hunger or diseases related to malnutrition, and
millions more migrated to other countries, sharply
reducing the Irish population.

During the 14th century, the plague spread

through densely populated European cities and
killed at least 25 million people, amounting to one-
third of the European population. The bacterium
causing this disease normally lives in rodents.
 Technological, social, and other cultural changes
have expanded the earth’s carrying capacity for the
human species. We have used large amounts of
energy and matter resources to occupy formerly
uninhabitable areas, to expand agriculture, and to
control the populations of other species that
compete with us for resources.
Thank You
For Today!