Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Ecology Concepts
Ecology Concepts
Ecology
Ecology
• Hierarchy of Organization
- Individual
- Population - # of individuals in given area
- Community – all biota in an area
- Ecosystem – all biota & abiotic factors
- Landscape – multiple ecosystems over
large area
- Biosphere – all life on Earth
Ecology
Autecology: study interrelations of
individuals with environment
Synecology: study of communities
Basic Scientific Principles
Three Reasons:
1) Escape behavior/protective
coloration/unavailable material
2) Indigestible material
3) Cellular respiration
Bioaccumulation = Biomagnification
Nutrient Cycles
What does the Law of Conservation of
Matter state?
• circular flow of chemicals = recycling
• Inputs & relationship to energy flow?
• Water, Carbon (C), Nitrogen (N),
Phosphorus (P), Sulfur (S)
Carbon Cycle
• Carbon = building block of life
• Reservoirs = atmosphere, ocean,
organisms
• High rate of exchange in/out reserves
• Any relation to global warming?
Nitrogen Fixation
Types
1) atmospheric fixation via lightening
or sunlight; NO3 as precipitation (ppt)
2) biological fixation* via soil & water
bacteria (blue-green algae); NH3;
legumes & root nodules
Water Quality & Nitrates
Soil Condition & Fertilizers
Phosphorus Cycle
• Water Quality & Phosphorus
• Eutrophication: increase in nutrient
content of lakes
Some Ecological Principles
Individual
• Law of Tolerance: organisms can
tolerate a range of conditions beyond
which they die
• e.g., temperature, nutrients
• age-dependent, DNA
Where does habitat fit?
Habitat: home; area having necessary
resources (food, water, cover) and
environmental conditions (temp., ppt) that
allows organism to live & reproduce
Your habitat = ?????
What if habitat is drastically changed or
destroyed?
• Move, Adapt, or Die
Properties of Communities
1) Species Richness = # species in a comm.
2) Species Evenness = relative abundance of
different species
3) Species Diversity = richness & evenness
e.g., Four species (A,B,C,D) in 2 different
communities
Comm 1 – 25A 25B 25C 25D
Comm 2 – 97A 1B 1C 1D
What Happens in a
Community?
1) Competition: individuals contest over a
resource (food, space, water, mates…) –
major factor determining structure
http://fr.truveo.com/The-Raccoon-and-Two-House-Pets/id/2429116624
What Happens in a
Community?
Types of Competition
A) Interspecific: competition between
different species, e.g., blue jay &
chickadee compete for sunflower seed at
feeder
What Happens in a
Community?
Types of Competition
B) Intraspecific: competition within the same
species, e.g., 2 oryx bobcats compete for
space
Principle of Competitive
Exclusion (Gause’s experiments)
• Two species which compete for same
resource cannot coexist in same place at
same time
• Implications = different locations or
different times
• Relates directly to niche concept
Niche Concept
Niche: functional role (“occupation”) &
position (spatial & temporal) of a species
in its community
• Principle of Competitive Exclusion = 2
species cannot occupy the same niche
What Happens in a
Community? (cont.)
2) Predation: one species consumes another
species
Some Ecological Principles
Community
• Biological Succession: temporal
sequence of one community replacing
another; predictable
• Primary vs. Secondary
Terrestrial Biomes
dN N
rN 1
dt K
Density-dependent Effects
Who Cares?
Why bother discussing these models?
Metapopulations & Source-sink Populatons
highlight the importance of:
• habitat & landscape fragmentation
• connectivity between isolated
populations
• genetic diversity
Habitat Fragmentation
• Process of breaking contiguous unit into
smaller pieces; area & distance
components
• Leads to:
< remnant patch size
> edge:interior ratios
> patch isolation
< connectivity
• Community & Ecosystem processes
altered
Habitat Fragmentation
• First-Order Effects: fragmentation leads
to change in a species’ abundance
and/or distribution
• Higher-Order Effects: fragmentation
indirectly leads to change in a species
abundance and/or distribution via
altered species interactions
Habitat Fragmentation
• area-sensitive species: species that
require minimum patch size for daily
life requirements
• Edge effects: influence of factors from
outside of a patch
Edge Effects
• Habitat surrounding a patch can:
- change abiotic conditions; e.g., temp.
- change biotic interactions, e.g.,
predation
Example of nest predation = edge effect of
approximately 50 m into forest patch
Conservation Implications
• All habitats are “islands”
• The “internal external threat”
• Develop & manage reserve as
landscapes/ecosystems linked by
movement of species (metapop.
concepts)
• Develop strategies for countering edge
effects……predator control?????