Ecology

Bui Hong Thuy, Ph.D.

School of Biotechnology,
International University
Email: bhthuy@hcmiu.edu.vn

1
 What is ecology?
Ecology- the scientific study of interactions
between organisms and their environments,
focusing on energy transfer

Ecology is a science of relationships

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 Biotic and Abiotic factors

The environment is made

up of two factors:
• Biotic factors- all living
organisms inhabiting the
Earth
• Abiotic factors- nonliving
parts of the environment
(i.e. temperature, soil, light,
moisture, air currents)

3
 Climate
What is climate?
What abiotic factors are the major components of
climate?
What effects do bodies of water have on climate?
What effects do mountains have on climate?
Include descriptions of how elevation affects
temperature, and of rain shadows.

4
 global Biosphere
ecosystem- the
sum of all the
planet's
a mosaic of
ecosystems
and landscapes Landscape connected
ecosystems

the community of
organisms in an
area and the
Ecosystem
physical factors
with which those
a group of
organisms interact
Community populations of
different
species in an
area
a group of organisms
of the same species
Population
living in an area

Organism An individual 5
Fig. 52‐12

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Fig. 52‐13

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 Ecological research
1. Organismal ecology: how an organism's structure,
physiology, and (for animals) behavior meet the challenges
posed by its environment.
2. Population ecology: factors that affect population size and
how and why it changes through time (*).
3. Community ecology: the interaction between different
species of organisms that affect the community structure
and organization (*).
4. Ecosystem ecology: energy flow and chemical cycling
between organisms and the environment (*).
5. Landscape ecology: the factors controlling exchanges of
energy, materials, and organisms across multiple
ecosystems.
6. Global ecology: how the regional exchange of energy and
materials influences the organisms across the biosphere.
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9
 OUTLINES
1. Population Ecology

2. Community Ecology

3. Conservation Biology
and Restoration Ecology

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 Population ecology

• Study of populations in relation to the

environment
– Environmental influences on density (*),
distribution (*), age structure, and variation
in population size

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 Dynamic biological processes influence
population density, dispersion, and
demographics
 Density is the number of individuals per unit area or
volume.
 Dispersion is the pattern of spacing among
individuals within the boundaries of the population.
• Immigration is the influx of new individuals from
other areas.
• Emigration is the movement of individuals out of
a population.
 Demography is the study of the vital statistics of a
population and how they change over time.

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 Population dynamics

Births Deaths

Births and immigration Deaths and emigration

add individuals to remove individuals
a population. from a population.

Immigration Emigration

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 Patterns of Dispersion
 Environmental and social factors influence spacing of 
individuals in a population.
• In a clumped dispersion, individuals aggregate in patches. 
A clumped dispersion may be influenced by resource 
availability and behavior.
• A uniform dispersion is one in which individuals are evenly 
distributed. It may be influenced by social interactions 
such as territoriality.
• In a random dispersion, the position of each individual is 
independent of other individuals.  It occurs in the absence 
of strong attractions or repulsions.

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Patterns of
dispersion
within a
population’s
geographic
(a) Clumped
range

(b) Uniform

(c) Random 15
 Life Tables & Survivorship Curves

• A life table is an age-specific summary of the

survival pattern of a population.
• A survivorship curve is a graphic way of
representing the data in a life table.

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Table 53‐1

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Survivorship curves for squirrels shows relatively constant death rate

1,000
Number of survivors (log scale)

100

Females
10
Males

1
0 2 4 6 8 10
Age (years)
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 Reproductive Rates
• For species with sexual reproduction, 
demographers often concentrate on females in a 
population.
• A reproductive table, or fertility schedule, is an 
age‐specific summary of the reproductive rates in a 
population.  It describes reproductive patterns of a 
population.

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Table 53‐2

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 Life history traits are products
of natural selection
• An organism’s life history comprises the traits that 
affect its schedule of reproduction and survival:
– The age at which reproduction begins
– How often the organism reproduces
– How many offspring are produced during each 
reproductive cycle
• Life history traits are evolutionary outcomes 
reflected in the development, physiology, and 
behavior of an organism.

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Variation in the size of
seed crops in plants

Some plants, like the

dandelion, produce a large
number of small seeds,
ensuring that at least some of
them will grow and eventually
reproduce (a) Dandelion

The coconut tree, produce

a moderate number of
large seeds that provide a
large store of energy that
will help seedlings become
established.

(b) Coconut palm 22

 The exponential model describes population growth
in an idealized, unlimited environment
• Zero population growth occurs when the birth rate
equals the death rate.
• Most ecologists use differential calculus to express
population growth as growth rate at a particular
instant in time:
N 
t rN

where N = population size, t = time, and r = per

capita rate of increase = birth – death

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 Overview: A Sense of Community
• A biological community is an assemblage of populations of 
various species living close enough for potential interaction.  
All life / all populations in an area.
• Ecologists call relationships between species in a 
community interspecific interactions.
• Interspecific interactions can affect the survival and 
reproduction of each species.  Effects can be positive (+), 
negative (–), or no effect (0).  
• Examples:  competition, predation, herbivory, and 
symbiosis (parasitism, mutualism, commensalism).

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 Competition
• Interspecific competition (–/– interaction)
occurs when different species compete for a 
resource in short supply.
• Strong competition can lead to competitive 
exclusion, local elimination of a competing 
species.
• The competitive exclusion principle states that 
two species competing for the same limiting 
resources cannot coexist in the same place = 1 
species per niche.

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 Ecological Niches
• The total of a species’ use of biotic and abiotic resources is 
called the species’ ecological niche. 
• An ecological niche can also be thought of as an organism’s 
ecological role.
• Ecologically similar species can coexist in a community if 
there are one or more significant differences in their 
niches.
• Resource partitioning is differentiation of ecological niches; 
enables similar species to coexist in a community.

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 A. Lizard species perches on B. lizard species usually perches
Resource fences and other sunny surfaces. on shady branches.
partitioning
is
differentiation
of
ecological
niches,
enabling
similar
species
to coexist
A. ricordii
in a
community

A. insolitus

A. aliniger A. christophei
A. distichus

A. cybotes
A. etheridgei

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 How a Later - Realized Niche
species’ High tide
Chthamalus
niche can be Balanus Chthamalus
influenced by realized niche
interspecific Balanus
competition? realized niche
Ocean Low tide

Ist - Fundamental Niche High tide

As a result of interspecific Chthamalus

competition, a species’ fundamental niche
fundamental niche may
differ from its realized niche Ocean Low tide
--> the niche it occupys
after resource partitioning.
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 Prey: Defensive Adaptations

• Behavioral defenses include hiding, fleeing, forming herds 
or schools, self‐defense, and alarm calls.
• Animals also have morphological and physiological 
defense adaptations:
• Cryptic coloration = camouflage, makes prey difficult to 
spot.
• Aposematic coloration:  Animals with effective chemical 
defense / poison / often exhibit bright warning coloration. 
Predators are particularly cautious in dealing with prey that 
display such coloration.

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(a) Cryptic
coloration
Canyon tree frog

(b) Aposematic
coloration
Poison dart frog

(c) Batesian mimicry: A harmless species mimics a harmful one.

Hawkmoth
larva (d) Müllerian mimicry: Two “yuck”
unpalatable species mimic each other.
Green parrot snake Cuckoo bee
Yellow jacket

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 ECOSYSTEM ECOLOGY
Ecosystem - populations in a community and
the abiotic factors with which they
interact (ex. marine, terrestrial)

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 Nutrient Cycles
Cycling maintains homeostasis (balance) in
the environment.
•3 cycles to investigate:
1. Water cycle
2. Carbon cycle
3. Nitrogen cycle

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 Water cycle
• Evaporation
• Transpiration
• Condensation
• Precipitation

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Water cycle

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 Carbon cycle

Photosynthesis and respiration cycle

carbon and oxygen through the
environment.

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Carbon cycle

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 Nitrogen cycle
• Atmospheric nitrogen (N2) makes up nearly
78%-80% of air.
• Organisms can not use it in that form.
• Lightning and bacteria convert nitrogen
into usable forms.

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 Nitrogen cycle

• Only in certain bacteria and industrial

technologies can fix nitrogen.
• Nitrogen fixation-convert
atmospheric nitrogen (N2) into
ammonium (NH4+) which can be used
to make organic compounds like amino
acids.
• N2 NH4+
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 Nitrogen cycle
Nitrogen-fixing
bacteria:
Some live in a symbiotic
relationship with plants
of the legume family
(e.g., soybeans, clover,
peanuts).

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 Nitrogen cycle
• Some nitrogen-fixing bacteria live free in
the soil.
• Nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria are
essential to maintaining the fertility of
semi-aquatic environments like rice
paddies.

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41
 Atmospheric Nitrogen Cycle
Lightning nitrogen
Denitrification
by bacteria
Animals
Nitrogen
fixing bacteria
Plants
Decomposers

Nitrification Nitrites Nitrates

Ammonium
by bacteria
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 Ecosystems
Diagram the biogeochemical cycles of
• water
• carbon
• nitrogen
• phosphorus

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Fig. 55-14a

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Fig. 55-14b

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Fig. 55-14c

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Fig. 55-14d

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 Conservation Biology and
Restoration Ecology
• Conservation biology seeks to preserve life and integrates 
several fields:
– Ecology
– Physiology 
– Molecular biology
– Genetics
– Evolutionary biology
• Restoration ecology applies ecological principles to return 
degraded ecosystems to conditions as similar as possible to 
their natural state.

48
 Three Levels of Biodiversity
• Biodiversity has three main components:
– Genetic diversity
– Species diversity
– Ecosystem diversity

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Three
Levels
of
Biodiversity
Genetic diversity in a vole population

Species diversity in a coastal redwood ecosystem

Community and ecosystem diversity

across the landscape of an entire region 50
Genetic Diversity  & Species Diversity
• Genetic diversity comprises genetic variation within a 
population and between populations.
• Species diversity is the variety of species in an ecosystem 
or throughout the biosphere.
• According to the U.S. Endangered Species Act:
– An endangered species is “in danger of becoming extinct 
throughout all or a significant portion of its range”
– A threatened species is likely to become endangered in the 
foreseeable future.

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 Ecosystem Diversity
• Human activity is reducing ecosystem diversity, 
the variety of ecosystems in the biosphere.
• More than 50% of wetlands in the contiguous 
United States have been drained and converted 
to other ecosystems.

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The endangered Marianas “flying fox” bat is an important
pollinator

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 Biodiversity and Human Welfare
• Human biophilia allows us to recognize the value of 
biodiversity for its own sake.
• Species diversity brings humans practical benefits. The 
enormous genetic diversity of organisms has potential for 
great human benefit.
• In the United States, 25% of prescriptions contain 
substances originally derived from plants.
• For example, the rosy periwinkle contains alkaloids that 
inhibit cancer growth.

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The rosy periwinkle, a plant that saves lives

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 Ecosystem Services
• Ecosystem services encompass all the processes 
through which natural ecosystems and their 
species help sustain human life.
• Some examples of ecosystem services:
– Purification of air and water
– Detoxification and decomposition of wastes
– Cycling of nutrients
– Moderation of weather extremes.

56
 Three Threats to Biodiversity
• Most species loss can be traced to three major threats:
– Habitat destruction
– Introduced species
– Overexploitation
• Human alteration of habitat is the greatest threat to 
biodiversity throughout the biosphere.
• In almost all cases, habitat fragmentation and destruction 
lead to loss of biodiversity.

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 Overexploitation
• Overexploitation is human harvesting of wild plants or 
animals at rates exceeding the ability of populations of 
those species to rebound.
• Overexploitation by the fishing industry has greatly reduced 
populations of some game fish, such as bluefin tuna.
• DNA analysis can help conservation biologists to identify 
the source of illegally obtained animal products.

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Overexploitation

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Population conservation focuses on 
population size, genetic diversity, 
and critical habitat
• Biologists focusing on conservation at the 
population and species levels follow two main 
approaches: 
– The small‐population approach
– The declining‐population approach

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 Small‐Population Approach
• The small‐population approach studies processes that 
can make small populations become extinct.
• A small population is prone to positive‐feedback loops 
that draw it down an extinction vortex.
• The key factor driving the extinction vortex is loss of 
the genetic variation necessary to enable evolutionary 
responses to environmental change.

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Processes
culminating Small
population
in an
extinction Genetic
Inbreeding
vortex drift

Lower
reproduction

Higher
mortality
Loss of
genetic
Reduction in variability
individual
fitness and
population
adaptability

Smaller
population
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Biosphere - life supporting portions of
Earth composed of air, land, fresh water,
and salt water.
•The highest level of organization

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 Knowledge Testing 1
1. Define and distinguish between the following sets
of terms: density and dispersion; clumped
dispersion, uniform dispersion, and random
dispersion.
2. What are biotic factors and abiotic factors? Give
examples.
3. Explain how biotic and abiotic factors may work
together to control a population’s growth.
4. Describe the four nutrient reservoirs and the
processes that transfer the elements between
reservoirs.

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 Knowledge Testing 2
1. Describe how human activities increase CO2 in
the atmosphere, the logic behind how that leads
to global warming, and what humans have done
about global warming?
2. Describe the value of biodiversity in maintaining
the global ecosystem.
3. List the three major threats to biodiversity and
give an example of each.
4. What is habitat loss and how is it affecting life
on Earth today?
5. What is overexploitation and how is it affecting
life on Earth today?
6. Distinguish between conservation biology and
restoration biology. 65