ECOLOGY

THE TERMINOLOGY:

• Species
• Population
• Community
• Ecosystem
• Habitat
• Biosphere
• Biotic environment
• Antibiotic environment

SPECIES → POPULATION → COMMUNITY → ECOSYSTEM → BIOSPHERE

 THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT
•Light
•Temperature
•Water
•Oxygen
•Salinity (salt concentration)
•pH (acidity or alkalinity)

PRODUCERS

CONSUMERS

DECOMPOSERS
 1. LIGHT
•PLANTS need light to make their food.

•Some plants show adaptations to reach

for light such as climbers.

•Most of the animals need sunlight.

•Some live in dark such as bats.

•Some are nocturnal: search for food in

the night.
 2. TEMPERATURE
•Affects the physiological activities of plants and animals.

•A fall in temperature = decrease in the metabolic activities of the

organism

•Find it difficult to tolerate extremes of temperature: extreme hot

extreme cold.

•Flowering plants have special adaptations to survive through the hot, dry
season or winter by:
1. Underground storage organs (tubers, corms, bulbs etc)
2. Shedding of leaves to reduce water loss
3. Formation of seeds just before the beginning of unfavourable seasons.

• Polar regions have their characteristic animals such as polar bears,

penguins and seals. These animals have thick layer of fat under their
skin so as to protect them from extreme cold.
 3. WATER
•Rainfall determines the amount of water

•Water is the most important factor in the distribution of plants and animals.

•No organism can survive without water for long. Only some are adapted like
camels, which can store water, so as to survive under conditions where there is
limited amount of water.

1. Xerophytes
2. Hydrophytes
 1. XEROPHYTES

• Xerophytes are those plants which can live in conditions of prolonged

drought in their habitat.

• Mechanism of survival:
1. reduce rate of transpiration (loss of water) by shedding young leaves.
2. Stems become fleshy, storing up water.
3. The stems are green and take over the function of photosynthesis from
the leaves.

A. Casuarina:
• Leaves reduced to tiny sheaths at the nodes.
• Food manufactured by the long green stems
• Stomata lie in grooves protected by minute
hairs.
B. MARRAM GRASS
• leaves have sunken stomata that lie in grooves
in the upper surface.

•Grooves bear many tiny hairs which trap water

vapour diffusing out of stomata, which leads to
increased humidity around the stomata and so
reduces the rate of transpiration.

•When leaves loose too much water, they roll up

reducing the surface area exposed.
 2. HYDROPHYTES

•Live in water or very wet places.

1. Completely submerged (Hydrilla)

2. Partially submerged (water lily)
3. Free floating (water hyacinth)

ADAPTATIONS:
4. Stems have air spaces so as to help plant float
5. Upper surface of leaf protected by water proof cuticle to prevent
water form blocking the stomata.
PNEUMATOPHORES

•Have their roots buried in oxygen-poor mud, but special breathing

roots called pneumatophores arise from the root system and project
above the mud surface.

•Pneumatophores bear openings through which oxygen can pass

downwards to the whole root system
IN ANIMALS:

•Gills for oxygen absorption

•Webbed toes in frogs
•Fins in fishes
 4. OXYGEN
ANIMALS ARE EITHER:

•Aerobes
•Anaerobes

Aerobes need special adaptations to survive in low oxygen in atmosphere:

•Pneumatophores in mangroves
•Fishes living in water of low oxygen concentration are usually air-
breathers and come to the surface to gulp air.
 5. SALINITY
(salt concentraion)
Salinity of the water is a very important factor for the aquatic organisms

•Either adapted for life in very salty water such as sea water.
•Or in streams and freshwater ponds where the salt concentration is low.

FRESH WATER
•Salt conc. Of the cytoplasmic contents of FRESHWATER ORGANISMS is higher
than the surrounding water, hence water enters these organisms by osmosis.
•Their cells don’t burst with water because of their rigid cellulose cell walls.
•Have contractile vacoule to remove excess of water (amoeba)
•Fishes possess water-proof coat consisting of closely-fitting scales covered by a
slimy mucous material.
 SEA WATER

•Animals lose water by osmosis as the sea water contains a higher

concentration of salt than the tissue cells.
•Saltwater fish has a slimy scaly skin which reduces the rate of water loss.

AQUATIC ORGANISMS ARE HIGHLY SPECIALIZED:

•They can survive only in their own environment.

•Many fresh water animals cannot live in sea water and vice versa.

•Starfishes and coral reefs are only found in sea. Are not found even in
BRACKISH water (water where fresh and sea water mix)

•Animals and plants living in brackish water are adapted to tolerate wide
fluctuations in salt concentration.
6. pH (acidity or alkalinity)
pH value of soil water OR water of the freshwater ponds or sea is very
important.

•Sensitive to pH of water and may be killed if the pH changes appreciably.

•Sea water is alkaline with pH 8. And this pH has little variation.

•In Freshwater ponds and streams, pH varies from region to region.

•Changes in pH occur, especially if pH of water depends on the amount of
bicarbonates present in it.
•In strong daylight, photosynthesis of plants uses up carbon dioxide in the
water, making the water more alkaline.
•During the night, photosynthesis ceases and carbon dioxide produced as a
result of respiration makes the water more acidic.
•For most freshwater organisms, neutral or nearly neutral water is best.
 FOOD CHAINS
FOOD WEBS
•Energy enters an ecosystem from outside – SUN
•And flows through it in a non-cyclic manner. That’s why energy has to be
constantly supplied to an ecosystem.

•Materials are not supplied fro m outside.

•Obtained from the physical environment and flow through the ecosystem in a
cyclic manner.

•In a balanced ecosystem, materials are never lost and are continually recycled.
A series of organisms through which energy is transferred in
material form (food) constitutes a food chain.

Each level in a food chain is called a TROPHIC LEVEL.

HOW MATERIALS ARE RECYCLED!!!
 ENERGY TRANSFER IS INEFFICIENT
•The amount of energy that is passed on in a food chain is reduced at
every step.
•Energy can be neither created nor destroyed, it is not lost but is
converted into some other form.
•During respiration, some energy is transferred to the environment as
heat.
 FOOD WEB

•Little energy is transferred from the base to the top of a food chain, a
top carnivore must eat many herbivores.

•These herbivores are probably not all of the same species.

•In turn, each herbivore is likely to feed on many different plant

species.

•These different relationships are shown linked to each other in a food

web.

•The more complicated a food web, the more stable a community is.
TROPHIC LEVEL

Ter. HAWK
Consumer

Secondary
Consumer STARLING OWL

Primary
SNAILS WOODLICE WORMS RATS MICE SQUIRRELS
Consumer

Producers FALLEN LEAVES LIVING LEAVES GRASSES

SEEDS

FOREST FOOD WEB

FEEDING RELATIONSHIPS
PYRAMIDS OF NUMBERS

PYRAMIDS OF BIOMASS

PYRAMIDS OF ENERGY
1. PYRAMID OF NUMBERS
A diagrammatic representation of the number of different organisms at
each trophic level in an ecosystem at any one time!!!

Note:
1. The number of organisms at any trophic level is represented by the
length or the area of the rectangle.
2. Moving up the pyramid, the number of organisms generally
DECREASES , but the size of each individual INCREASES.
2. PYRAMID OF BIOMASS
BIOMASS is the number of individuals x mass of each individual.

Pyramid of biomass represents the biomass at each trophic level at any one
time.
 GRASS → RABBIT → SNAKE → HAWK

Lets suppose:

•10 hawks in an area and each hawk feeds on 2 snake every day.
•Each snake eats one rabbit every day.
•Each rabbit eats 20 grass plants every day.

Construct a PYRAMID OF NUMBERS .

The pyramid of biomass is constructed based on the dry mass of organisms
in each trophic level at any one time. This is called the STANDING MASS of
organisms.

HOW CAN WE CONSTRUCT A PYRAMID OF BIOMASS???

•Lets suppose there are 1000 rabbits in a given area at one time.
•We can determine the biomass of rabbits at that time as follows.

1. Dry 10 rabbits in an oven at 1000C until a constant mass is obtained. Lets

say the dry mass of 10 rabbits is A g. the biomass of 1000 rabbits will be
100A g.

2. Repeat step one for all the other trophic levels.

3. Construct a pyramid of biomass using the information obtained in

steps 1 and 2.
VARIATIONS IN ECOLOGICAL PYRAMIDS……

Mostly they are pyramid shaped, but there are impostant exceptions.

1. A PYRAMID OF NUMBERS MAY E UPSIDE DOWN if:

• Organisms of one trophic level are parasitic on organisms of another trophic

level.
• Many small organisms of one trophic level feed on a large organism of
another trophic level
EXAMPLE: tree → aphid → protozoa
In this case the pyramid of numbers is inverted.
•Bottom of the pyramid is one tree.

•Many aphids are parasitic on the tree.

•Many protozoa are parasitic on the aphids.

Pyramid of biomass is going to be the same, ie, broad at the bottom and
narrow towards the apex. This is because one tree has comparatively large
biomass.
2. Pyramid of biomass for rapidly reproducing organisms are also not pyramid
shaped.

•As the pyramid of biomass is based on standing mass, it does not take into
account the rate of reproduction of organisms.

•This is a disadvantage when considering organisms that reproduce rapidly.

PHYTOPLANKTON → ZOOPLANKTON → SMALL FISH → LARGE FISH

•Phytoplanktons are microscopic ,
plant-like organisms which make
food through photosynthesis.

•Zooplanktons are microscopic

primary consumers, feeding of
phytoplanktons.

•Biomass of phytoplankton is smaller

than the zooplankton which is not
possible.

•Rate of reproduction of
phytoplankton is fast enough to
replace the organisms that were eaten
by zooplankton.
3. PYRAMID OF ENERGY
The total energy in the various trophic levels of a food chain can be
represented in the form of a pyramid.

•We need to determine the total energy content of each trophic level over a
period of time.
•We should take into consideration the rate at which the organisms
reproduce.
•The average energy content of each trophic level can then be calculated
using special techniques.
•Then we can construct the pyramid of energy.

THE PYRAMID OF ENERGY IS THUS CONSTRUCTED BASED ON THE

TOTAL ENERGY LEVEL IN EACH TROPHIC LEVEL OVER A CERTAIN
PERIOD OF TIME, FOR EXAMPLE, ONE YEAR
 A LOT OF ENERGY IS LOST TO THE ENVIRONMENT AS FOOD IS
TRANSFERRED FROM ONE TROPHIC LEVEL TO THE NEXT

It may be lost to the environment:

1. As heat during respiration at every trophic level.

2. In uneaten body parts
3. Through undigested matter egested by consumers.
4. Through waste products excreted by consumers, eg. Urea.

Heat energy is wasted energy since it cannot be recycled in any way in the
ecosystem.

• More and more energy is lost as we go down a food chain.

• The total energy level is highest at the 1st trophic level.
• Hence, the enrgy of pyramid is always broad at the base and narrow
towards the top.
 We can assume that about 90% of the energy is lost when it is
transferred from one trophic level to the next.

The greatest amount of energy is lost during transfer of energy from

producer to primary consumer.
 PYRAMID OF BIOMASS
1. Related to the biomass of the
organisms
2. Constructed based on the biomass at
any given time
3. Does not consider the rate of
reproduction of organisms
PYRAMID OF ENERGY
1. Related to the energy content of the
organisms
2. Constructed based on energy content
over a period of time
3. Takes in consideration the rate of
reproduction of organisms
 NON-CYCLIC ENERGY
FLOW IN ECOSYSTEM
•The first source of energy in an ecosystem is the sun.
•Some of it is lost to the environment as heat.
•Energy lost as heat cant be recycled.
•Hence, energy has to be constantly supplied to the ecosystem.

•In an ecosystem, energy does not flow in a cycle. Energy flow is non-cyclic or
linear.
1. In an ecosystem, the ultimate source of energy is the sun.

2. Light energy absorbed by chlorophyll in producers is converted into

chemical energy during photosynthesis.

3. Energy in the producers is passed from one trophic level to another by

feeding. (holozoic nutrition)

4. The flow of energy through the ecosystem is non-cyclic. Energy is

released as heat to the environment as it flows through the ecosystem.
This energy can not be recycled and returned to the same system.

5. Dead organisms and egested and excreted materials contain trapped

chemical energy. Some of this energy is released by the activity of
decomposers. Decomposers use some of this energy for their needs
whereas, the rest is lost as heat.

ALL the energy that enters the BIOTIC part of the ecosystem is lost as
heat energy. Living organisms can not use heat energy to do work.
They can ONLY use LIGHT AND CHEMICAL ENERGY.
 NUTRIENT CYCLING
Essential nutrients:
•Carbon
•Oxygen
•Nitrogen
•Water

Released back into the soil when organisms die.

•Decomposers break down dead organisms

•The materials locked up in these dead organisms are returned to the
physical environment to be again used up by green plants.
•That’s how nutrients are never lost in a balanced ecosystem.
•They are continually recycled.

Physical processes
Biological processes
Chemical processes
1. CARBON CYCLE
Living organisms require carbon containing compounds as:

1. A source of energy, when carbon-containing compounds are

oxidized during respiration. (carbohydrates and fats)
2. Raw materials for the growth of cells (fats and proteins)

•Carbon is constantly being removed from and released into the

environment in the form of CO2

•CO2 concentration in the environment remains relatively

constant.

IMPORTANCE:

1. Ensures a continuous supply of carbon dioxide for plants.

2. Enables energy to flow through the ecosystems. Carbon compounds
carry the trapped solar energy from organism to organism in the food
chains of an ecosystem.
 REMOVAL OF CARBON DIOXIDE FROM
THE ENVIRONMENT

During photosynthesis, green plants absorb CO2 from the atmosphere

and use it to manufacture carbohydrates, for example: glucose

Glucose may be changed to other organic compounds such as fats,

amino acids and proteins.

When animals feed on green The carbon compounds may also

plants, the carbon compounds
become part of the bodies of
these animals.
be preserved in fossil fuels such
as coal, natural gas and oil.
(This happens in conditions of low
temperature , Oxygen and low pH,
which prevent the action of
decomposers. Carbon compounds
become LOCKED UP in fossil fuels)
RELEASE OF CARBON DIOXIDE FROM THE
ENVIRONMENT

RESPIRATION: When living organisms respire, Carbon compounds

are broken down in their bodies and CO2 is released into the
environment.

COMBUSTION: When fossil fuels like coal and natural gas are burnt,
or undergo combustion, carbon compounds preserved in fossil fuels
are broken down and CO2 is released into the environment.

DECAY: When organisms die, their bodies decay into simpler

substances by decomposers. CO2 is one of the simplest substances
released into the environment during decay.
Also, some of the simple substances are absorbed by decomposers and
become a part of their bodies. When the decomposers respire, CO2 is
released.
Methanobacterium, utilizes acetate and produces methane and carbon
dioxide.
1. NITROGEN CYCLE
WHY NITROGEN IS ESSENTIAL?
•Plants need nitrogen for the synthesis of proteins and other
compounds, including the DNA and vitamins.

•Nitrogen gas makes up about 80% of the Earth’s atmosphere, but plants
do not have the enzymes necessary to use the nitrogen directly – instead
they must absorb it as NITRATE.

•Nitrate is formed by 2 sets of processes carried out by microorganisms:

1. Nitrogen fixation
2. Nitrification
 NITROGEN FIXATION
Nitrogen and hydrogen are combined to form ammonium ions and then
nitrate.

The process depends upon enzymes that are only possessed by

NITROGEN FIXING BACTERIA, a specific class of bacteria.

Some of these bacteria live free in the soil but a very important species
called Rhizobium leguminosarum lives in swellings called nodules on the
roots of the leguminous plants such as peas, beans and clover.

Nitrogen fixation only happens IF OXYGEN IS PRESENT.

It also naturally occurs in the atmosphere when the energy from lightning
combines nitrogen directly with oxygen.

Farmers can plant legumes in a crop rotation scheme to avoid having to

use so much nitrogen-containing fertilizers. This saves money and also
limits pollution of water.
 NITRIFICATION
In NITRIFICATION, ammonium ions produced by the decomposition of
amino acids and proteins are oxidized , first to nitrite and then to nitrate.

The process id carried out by NITRIFYING BACTERIA which live in the

soil.

Nitrifying only happens IF OXYGEN IS PRESENT.

In the absence of oxygen the process gets reversed and DENITRIFYING

BACTERIA obtain their energy by converting nitrate to nitrogen gas.

This is why waterlogged soils, example: tend to lose nitrate as nitrogen

gas.
 RECYCLING NITROGEN
Once nitrate has been formed by either nitrogen fixation or nitrification,
it can be absorbed by plants through their roots.

Eventually the plant dies and its body is added to the nimal wastes and
remains in the soil.

Decomposers break down the nitrogen compounds in these wastes and

remains and the formation of nitrate can begin again.

Some processes cause the loss of nitrate from the environment.

This happens naturally as a result of denitrification and less naturally
when crops are harvested and removed from the site where they have
grown.
These losses of nitrate can be made either by nitrogen fixation or by
adding nitrate in the form of fertlisers.
 PARASITISM
Parasitism is the association between two organisms such that one
organism (the parasite) lives on or in the body of another organism
(the host). The parasite derives its nutrients, and usually shelter from
its host. In this process, it normally does some harm to its host.

 Parasites live at the expense of their hosts, feeding on the host tissues,
they cause diseases and sometimes death.
Thus called PATHOGENS.

EXAMPLE: hookworms and aphids.

Hookworms live in the intestines of vertebrates.
Aphids suck plant juices.
 What is a VECTOR???
An animal that transmits a pathogen (disease causing organism) from one
host to another is called a vector.

The vector may transmit the pathogen:

1. By carrying it on its body

2. By swallowing infected material.

In the case of swallowed material – often blood – the pathogen survives

and can multiply inside the gut of the vector.
 VECTORS AND DISEASES
Name of Disease Pathogen Vector and method of transmission
Mammals including bats, rats and
Rabies Virus dogs. Passed on the saliva e.g. from
the bite of an infected animal

Mammals – passed on in the urine

to bodies of water such as ponds or
Leptospirosis Bacterium rivers. Humans wash or bathe in
infected water.

Mosquito (Aedes aegypti) which

bites and drinks the blood of an
Dengue fever Virus infected person and then passes on
the virus in its saliva.

Mosquito (Anopheles species)

which bites and drinks the blood of
Malaria Protoctistan an infected person and then passes
on the pathogen in its saliva.

Housefly picks up infected material

from food or from faeces and then
Gastroenteritis Bacterium of the passes it onto human food as it
salmonella group feeds.
 MALARIAL PATHOGEN
•Endemic disease in many tropical countries
•Caused by certain species of Plasmodium.

•Plasmodium is a parasitic protozoan that spends one part of its life cycle
in man and the other part in the female Nopheles mosquito, ie. It is a
parasite of both Man and mosquito.
 SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS
•Intermittent fever which occurs either every 48 hours or 72 hours.

•It attacks liver cells and red blood cells.

•Inside the liver cell or RBC, the parasite reproduces asexually.
•Thousands of them are released into the blood stream.
•The toxin produced by the parasite in the bloodstream causes fever,
usually accompanied by chills, shivering and ending in profuse sweating.

•The patient could become anaemic.

•Death may occur if untreated.
 TRANSMISSION OF THE PATHOGEN
•Transmitted by the female Anopheles mosquito. They are the vectors of malarial parasites
as they may carry and transmit them from an infected person to a healthy person.

•When a female anopheline mosquito bites a human being, it uses its probiscis to pierce the
skin of its victim, and at the same time secretes saliva into the wound.

•The saliva prevents the blood of the victim to clot around the probiscis. The insect then
sucks the blood.

•If the victim is the infected person, his blood will contain Plasmodium. Thus, the parasite
gets sucked into the mosquito’s stomach.

•In the stomach wall of the mosquito, the parasite first reproduces asexually to produce
numerous young Plasmodium.

•The parasite travels to the mosquito’s salivary glands.

•This mosquito is now ready to transmit the disease. If it bites an uninfected person, it
injects saliva, containing Plasmodium into his bloodstream.

•That person gets infected with the disease.

•It can also be transmitted by the transfusion of infected blood.
 METHODS OF CONTROL OF MALARIA
•An infected person should be treated with quinine or chloroquine.

•Uninfected persons travelling to malarial regions could take preventive

drugs, (PALUDRINE)

•Sleep under a mosquito net as mosquitoes are most active at night.

•Anti – mosquito measures are aimed at destroying the resting and breeding
places of mosquitoes or making these places unsuitable for them. They
include:

1. Filling and draining of breeding places .

2. Not allowing water to collect in empty tins and other containers for too
long a period in and around houses. (because they legs in water)
3. Spraying of insecticides especially in dark corners of the houses.
4. Spraying oil on stagnant water. Oil reduces the surface tension of water
and mosquito larvae and pupae are killed since they are unable to adhere
to the surface to breathe.
5. In ponds and lakes, small fishes may be introduced to feed on the
mosquito larvae and pupae.