ECOLOGY IN EDEXCEL

BIOLOGY
 ECOLOGY
Ecology: the study of the interactions of organisms
with their biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living)
environments.
Biotic factors:any environmental factor that is
associated with living organisms.
E.g. Predation, competition and food availability.

Abiotic factors:any of the non-living factors that

make up the environment of living organisms.
E.g. Rainfall,soil pH,temperature and light intensity.
 BIOSPHERE
Global environment with interactions between land, sea, atmosphere and
stratosphere.
ECOSYSTEM 1
Interacting unit
with biotic and abiotic
components
= stable self-perpetuating
system.
HABITAT

Place where organism lives

within an ecosystem. A
habitat is an area of the
environment where an
organism lives, feeds and
breeds.
 NICHE
Niche refers to the way in which an organism fits
into an ecological community or ecosystem.

The ecological niche of an organism depends not

only on where it lives but also on what it does. By
analogy, it may be said that the habitat is the
organism's "address", and the niche is its
"profession", biologically speaking.
Odum - Fundamentals of Ecology - W B Saunders 1959
 "How strange it is that a bird, under the form of a
woodpecker, should have been created to prey on
insects on the ground; that upland geese, which never
or rarely swim, should have been created with webbed
feet; that a thrush should have been created to dive and
feed on sub-aquatic insects; and that a petrel should
have been created with habits and structure fitting it for
the life of an auk or grebe! and so on in endless other
cases. But on the view of each species constantly trying
to increase in number, with natural selection always
ready to adapt the slowly varying descendants of each
to any unoccupied or ill-occupied place in nature, these
facts cease to be strange, or perhaps might even have
been anticipated."

Darwin (1859), On the Origin of Species

 COMMUNITY
The community consists of all the animals and plants
living in one habitat.

Different animals and plants will effect each other by

competition, predation, grazing, sheltering and so
on.
 POPULATIONS
The community of animals and plants in an ecosystem is divided up into one
population of each species.

So in a forest there may

be a population of oak trees,
a population of squirrels,
a population of greenfly etc.

The size of any one population may be influenced by abiotic and biotic factors.

Population density is the numbers in a population per unit area.

 ECOSYSTEM 2
Each ecosystem has a
trophic structure that
represents the different
feeding relationships
that determine the
route of energy flow
and the pattern of
chemical cycling.
1. Primary producers

Autotrophs (usually
photosynthetic) are the
organisms that support
all other trophic levels
either directly or
indirectly by
synthesising sugars
and other organic
molecules using light
energy.
 2. Primary consumers
These are herbivores that consume primary
producers. Some examples are terrestrial insects,
snails, grazing mammals, seed-eating birds,
aquatic zooplankton, and some fish.
 3. Secondary consumers

These are the carnivores

that eat herbivores.
Examples are
terrestrial spiders,
frogs, insect-eating
birds, lions, many fish,
and sea-stars.
 4. Tertiary consumers

These are the carnivores

that eat other
carnivores.
5. Detritivores

These are the consumers that

derive energy from organic
wastes and dead organisms
examples include the
bacteria and fungi.
FOOD CHAIN
Longer food chains may
be found in tropical
waters where 5-7 steps
lead to the top
predator.
 FOOD WEB
Made up of inter related food chains
QUANTITATIVE MEASURE OF
TROPHIC LEVELS
1.Pyramid of numbers
2. Pyramid of biomass
3. Pyramid of energy
 BIOMASS
The weight of living material within an ecosystem.
• Measured by weight, or by dry weight, per unit area
of land or per volume of water.
• As the trophic level increases, the biomass of each
trophic level decreases.
• Biomass is also related to net primary productivity
(NPP).
• Factors limiting NPP mean that biomass
accumulates only slowly, these include low rainfall,
low temperatures, few available nutrients and a short
growing season.
 PRODUCTIVITY OF AN ECOSYSTEM
The weight of living material within an ecosystem.
GROSS PRIMARY
PRODUCTION
The total is known as
gross primary
productivity (GPP).
The NPP:GPP ratio is generally
smaller for larger producers such
as trees, which support large
metabolically active stem and root
systems.
NET PRIMARY PRODUCTION
Net primary productivity (NPP =
GPP - Rs).
o Where Rs is the energy used by
producers for respiration.
o NPP accounts for the organic
mass of plants (growth) and
represents storage of chemical
energy available to consumers.
o Net Primary Productivity can be
expressed as biomass
(expressed as dry weight) added
to an ecosystem per unit area
per unit time (g/m2/yr) or as
energy per unit time (J/m2/yr).
 YIELD
• High Yield • Low Yield
 Ecological efficiency
• The ratio of net productivity at one
trophic level compared to net
productivity at the level below.

• It can vary greatly depending on

the organisms involved, but is
roughly 10%.

• This means that 90% of the energy

available at one trophic level never
transfers to the next.
 COMPETITION
An interaction between two or more organisms or species. It
is a race, if you win you survive, if you lose you die.

Plants compete for physical Animals compete for

space, for nutrients and territory, for food, and for
water from the soil and for mates.
sunlight.
 Intraspecific competition
Intraspecific competition occurs when two or more
individuals of the same species strive for the same resource.
o It can mean resources are divided
equally resulting in all individuals
suffering equally as resources
become depleted or resources
divided unequally resulting in
winners and losers.
o At the individual level, competition
for resources can affect
development, fertility and survival.
o At the population level,
intraspecific competition for
resources can give rise to "logistic"
population growth.
o The effects of intraspecific
competition can be observed in
many populations.
 Density independence
The tendency for the death, birth or growth rate in a
population to neither rise nor fall as the density
increases.
E.g. weather conditions
 Density dependence
The tendency for the death rate in a population to
increase, or the birth or growth rate to decrease, as
the density of the population increases.
E.g. quantity of food available
 Carrying capacity
The maximum population size that can be supported
indefinitely by a given environment.

Intraspecific competition
has reduced the net rate
of increase to zero.

An idealized concept not to be taken literally in

practice.
 Interspecific competition
Interspecific competition when individuals from different species
compete for a single resource.

Under interspecifc competition Models predict that the best

both species may suffer competitor is the one that
reductions in growth rate or is most efficient at
only one species may be utilising the limiting
affected. resource.
 Competitive
exclusion
The elimination from an area
or habitat of one species by
another through interspecific
competition.

Gause's Competitive exclusion principle

The idea that if two competing species coexist in a stable
environment, then they do so as a result of differentiation of their
niches.
If there is no such differentiation then one competing species will
eliminate or exclude the other.
 Other Feeding Relationships 1

Parasitism
A parasite lives on or within a host and obtains
food from it. The parasite benefits, the host is
always harmed.
 Other Feeding Relationships 2
Mutualism
2 species live together,
providing benefit to the other
via the relationship.
Other Feeding Relationships 3
Predation
A consumer feeds on another consumer.
 BIODIVERSITY 1

Biodiversity encompasses the diversity of all living things, from human

beings to micro-organisms, the diversity of all the habitats in which they
live and the genetic diversity of individuals within a species.

All of these are part of the global ecosystem - the Earth's entire collection of
living things and the environment in which they live.
 BIODIVERSITY 2
Biological diversity refers to the number of different
types of animals on Earth.
Scientists estimate that 50% of all
species on the planet are found in
tropical rainforests that consist of only
6 to 7% of the Earth's land surface.
The fast rate at which tropical rainforests
are being cut, it is estimated that up
to 20% of the Earth's biodiversity
may become extinct in our lifetime!

.
 Why conserve biodiversity?
Biodiversity is a fundamental part of the Earth's life support system.
It supports many basic natural services for humans, such as fresh
water, fertile soil and clean air. Biodiversity helps pollinate flowers
and crops, clean up waste and put food on the table. Without it we
would not be able to survive.

The term biodiversity should also remind

us that no one organism lives in isolation.
The many different ways that the millions
of organisms on the Earth interact with each
other contributes to the balance of the global
ecosystem and the survival of the planet.

Biodiversity plays a role in regulating natural processes

such as the growth cycles of plants, the mating seasons
of animals, and even weather systems.
What threatens our biodiversity?

The world's biodiversity

is under threat from
various dangers, the
majority of which
have been caused by
humans.
 1. Habitat loss and fragmentation
• This is considered by conservation
biologists to be the primary cause
of biodiversity loss.

• Clearance of native vegetation for

agriculture, housing, timber and
industry, as well as draining
wetlands and flooding valleys to
form reservoirs, destroys these
habitats and all the organisms in
them.

• In addition, this destruction can

cause remaining habitats to become
fragmented and so too small for
some organisms to persist, or
fragments may be too far apart for
other organisms to move between.
 2. Invasive alien species
The second greatest threat to biodiversity worldwide.
Whether introduced on purpose or
accidentally, non-native species can
cause severe problems in the
ecosystems they invade, from
affecting individuals to causing huge
changes in ecosystem functioning and
the extinction of many species.

As well as the risks to human health,

alien species inflict massive
economic costs to agriculture,
forestry, fisheries and other human
activities.
 3. Pollution

o Any chemical in the wrong place

o Pollution is currently poisoning all
forms of life, both on land and in the
water, and contributing to climate
change.
o These chemicals can directly affect
o Transport, industry, construction,
extraction, power generation and
agroforestry all contribute pollutants
to the air, land and water.
or at the wrong concentration can
be considered a pollutant.
biodiversity or lead to chemical
imbalances in the environment that
ultimately kill individuals, species
and habitats.
ACID RAIN
BIOACCUMULATION

Biomagnification
The increasing concentration of a
compound in the tissues of organisms
as the compound passes along a food
chain, resulting from the accumulation
of the compound at each trophic level
prior to its consumption by organisms
at the next trophic level.
 4. Climate change
Brought about by emissions of greenhouse gases when fossil
fuels are burnt.
It is making life uncomfortably
hot for some species and uncomfortably
cold for others. This can lead to a change
in the abundance and distribution of individual
species around the globe and will affect the
crops we grow, cause a rise in sea levels
and problems to many coastal ecosystems.

In addition, the climate is becoming more unpredictable and

extreme devastating events are becoming more frequent.
 5. Over exploitation
Selective removal of an
individual species can
unbalance ecosystems and all
other organisms within them.
In addition, the physical
removal of one species often
Humans cause massive harms other (e.g. fishing)
destruction to natural
ecosystems. Exploitation
of biodiversity occurs for
food, construction,
industrial products, the pet
trade, fashion and
traditional medicines.
 6. Human populations
Human populations are growing at an
exponential rate, resulting in all
these problems.

There are more than six billion people

in the world, and although natural
disasters, disease and famines cause
massive human mortality, we are getting
better at surviving and the population just keeps growing.

Human population numbers tripled in the twentieth century

and although growth is slowing, one estimate predicts it
will take until the twenty-third century for them to level
out at around 11 billion.
 SUCCESSION
& CLIMAX
If we stopped using school playing fields and fenced them off so
that nobody could walk on them, there would be a succession.

At the beginning there would be grass, plantains, dandelions and clover growing on the fields.
We have an effect on the fields because we trample all over them and someone mows them twice a week.

If we stopped doing this, other plants like brambles would seed themselves and start to grow.
Then there would be hawthorn bushes and oak saplings.

Because the brambles and oak saplings are taller than the grass and plantains they would take over: all the
grass, plantains, dandelions and clover would die out.

After about 50 years the oak saplings would start to win the
competition for light and the hawthorns and brambles would
lose out.

Eventually the playing fields would turn into oak forest.

This is called a climax community because the oak trees
would not be replaced by anything else.
 CONSERVATION
The principles and practice of the science of
preventing species extinctions.

Since 1945 the UK has lost:

95% of its wildflower rich meadows
30 -50% of its ancient lowland woods
50% of its heathland
50% of its lowland fens, valley and basin mires
40% of its hedgerows
 Management Techniques
To prevent succession
and the formation of a
climax community,
therefore maintaining
ecosystems and
biological diversity.
 1. Burning
This will help to:
Burning heather can 1. Achieve better all-
enhance sustainable year grazing
dwarf shrub heath
communities 2. Maintain and
improve bio-diversity

3. Maintain and
improve the
productivity of
domestic animals
using heathland
 2. Coppicing 1
Coppicing is the art of cutting of trees
and shrubs to ground level allowing
vigorous re-growth and a sustainable
supply of timber for future generations.

Trees and shrubs that are cut down this way can
produce shoots that grow over 30cm in a week and a
coppiced tree can live many times longer than if the
the tree had not been cut down at all.
 Coppicing 2
Many plants and animals including the
Coppice Woodlands can support a dormouse have evolved around
wide range of different trees, coppice management and have
become dependent on it for their
allowing various degrees of survival.
light to reach the woodland
floor; they also contain a vast
range of flora and fauna, most
notably bluebells in spring.

The dramatic decrease in coppicing in

the 1920’s has meant a major loss of
our flora and fauna. It is because of
this that many wildlife trusts all
over Britain are actively promoting
the re-introduction of coppicing in
their woodlands.
 3. Scrub Clearance
Chalk grassland, lowland heaths, peat bogs, dune slacks, moorland and wetland
margins need managing to retain their particular characteristics.

This often means cutting back and removing young bushes

and saplings - known as scrub clearance. Encroaching
scrub should be controlled as it will eventually
destroy a much rarer habitat through shading and
changing soil conditions.
In many cases once species are lost they cannot recolonise
because there are no nearby sources of new populations.

However scrub is an important habitat in some areas

such as woodland edges and parts of grasslands,
and should not be cleared as a matter of course.
4. Grazing
5. Management of hedgerows
Changes in countryside
management in recent decades
has led to a disappearance of
hedgerows.

They have been deliberately

removed to make larger fields
but they have also become lines
of bushes and trees as they have
not been cut and managed as
hedges.

These problems have been tackled

separately through legislation to
control removal and financial
incentives to encourage
management.
6. Mowing
 7. Management techniques in farming
Beetle banks to encourage
6m-wide margins buffer ditches predators of pests.
and watercourses from farm
operations and are a haven for
wildlife

Wildlife-friendly farming
encourages birds like
this yellow-hammer

Organic farming is
often better for
wildlife
CARBON CYCLE
 WATER CYCLE
There will never be any more freshwater on Earth than there is now. No new water is being
made and water can’t escape from the Earth. The water we use is recycled over and over
again.
The water cycle is the simplest natural cycle on Earth. Solar energy evaporates water from
the ocean, lakes and rivers. Millions of litres of water rise into the atmosphere as water
vapour. (evaporation) Water is also lost from trees in transpiration.
As the water vapour is pushed over the land by winds and rises over mountains, the water
vapour cools and turns back into tiny water droplets, forming clouds. (condensation)
These droplets fall to earth as rain (precipitation).
The rain runs into streams and rivers, which eventually flow into lakes or the sea and the
cycle begins all over again.