ECOLOGY

- Taken from the Greek words

• Oikos – “house”
• Logy – “the study of”
- is the study of the interactions of organisms with
each other and their environment.
Biosphere: Levels of Organization
Biosphere - any part of the Earth where organisms live,
broadest level of ecological study, includes all of Earth’s
ecosystems.
The organization of the biosphere from the most specific
to the broadest level:
Organism Population Community

Ecosystem Biome Biosphere

Biome
- a geographic region that has separate but similar
ecosystemscharacterized by a distinct climate

- Climate of a location determines which types of

organisms are able to live there
Major Biomes on Earth
 tropical rainforest,
 temperate rainforest
 desert
 grassland
 deciduous forest
 coniferous forest
 tundra
 estuary
 savannas
 taiga
Types of Ecology
1. Molecular Ecology – the study of ecology focuses on the production of
proteins, how those proteins affect the organism and the environment.
2. Organismal Ecology – deals with individual organisms and their
interactions with other organisms and the environment.
3. Population Ecology – groups of organisms of the same species.
4. Community Ecology – different populations that live in the same
environment
At the community level, interactions between organisms can be
observed
Predator/prey
Consumer/producer
Competition and cooperation
 ECOSYSTEM
- A community of plants and animals interacting with each
other in a given area and also with their non living
environments.
- a community of living organisms in conjunction with the
non living components of their environment, interacting as a
system.
Biotic and Abiotic
Biotic – talks about living things
- Living organisms and factors from formerly living
organisms
- Include interactions between members of the same
species and different species
Abiotic – talks about non living things
- Any nonliving geological, geographical and climatological
factors

 Both abiotic and biotic factors can limit or enhance a

population’s success in a particular environment
Ecosystem Structure

At a basic functional level, ecosystem generally contains primary

producers (plants) capable of harvesting energy from the sun through the
process called photosynthesis. Next come consumers. This could be
primary consumers (herbivores) or secondary consumers (carnivores).
These consumers feed on the captured energy. Decomposers work at the
bottom of the food chain. Dead tissues and waste products are produced
at all levels. Scavengers, detritivores and decomposers not only feed on
this energy but also break organic matter back into its organic
constituents. It is the microbes that finish the job of decomposition and
produce organic constituents that can again be used by producers
Types of Ecosystem
There are many types of ecosystem but the three major classes of
ecosystem, sometimes referred to as “biomes” which relatively
contained the following:

1. Freshwater Ecosystem
2. Terrestrial Ecosystem
3. Ocean Ecosystem
Freshwater Ecosystem – this is the smallest of the three
major classes of ecosystem.

In freshwater ecosystem, they can be broken up into smaller

ecosystems.

• Pond Ecosystem – these are usually relatively small and

contained.
• River Ecosystem – they are more likely to contain fish
alongside the usual plants, amphibians and insects.
Terrestrial Ecosystem – are many because there are so
many different sorts of places on Earth.

Common terrestrial ecosystem

 Rainforest – have extremely dense ecosystems because

there are so many different types of animals all living in a
very small area.
 Tundra – have limited amount of life that can be
supported in these harsh conditions.
 Deserts – quite different of tundra in many ways but still harsh, more
animals live in the extreme heat than live in the extreme cold of
Antarctica, for instance.
 Savannas – a bit wetter which is better fro supporting more life.
 Forest – can support a lot of life and can have very complex
ecosystems.
 Grasslands – support a wide variety of life and can have very complex
and involved ecosystems.
Ocean Ecosystems – are relatively contained, also include
certain birds that hunt for fish and insects close to the ocean’s surface.

• Shallow water – some tiny fish and coral only live in the
shallow waters close to land.
• Deep water – big and even gigantic creatures can live deep in
the water of the oceans.
• Warm water – contain some of the most impressive and
intricate ecosystems in the world.
• Cold water – less diverse, cold waters still support relatively
complex ecosystems.
Nutritional Relationship – involves transfer of
nutrients from one organism to another within an
ecosystem.
Food chains and energy flow are the functional properties of
ecosystems which make them dynamic. The biotic and abiotic
components of an ecosystem are linked through them.

Food Chain
Transfer of food energy from green plants (producers) through a series of
organisms with repeated eating and being eaten is called a food chain.

Grasses → Grasshopper → Frog → Snake → Hawk/Eagle

Food Web: The different food chains are inter connected at various
trophic level to develop a food web (Figure 39.5). For example, in
grassland ecosystem, grass is consumed by the rabbit but in their absence,
it may be eaten by the grazing cattle. Similarly, rat or mouse is eaten by
snake but snake can be eaten by predatory birds. In contrast to food
chain, food web has several distinct characteristic. (1) Food web are never
straight. (2) Food web is formed due to interlinking of food chains. (3) A
food web in the ecosystem brings alternate source of food. The complex
food web gives better stability to the ecosystem. Most of the animals are
polyphagous and they feed on more than one kind of organism. If the
availability of one particular animal is decresing in the ecosystem, they
start eating alternate animal. As a result, it gives chance to other animal
to reproduce and grow in number and in addition, it gives chance to
predator to survive