Basics of Ecology

1. Basics of Ecology By Omar Jimenez, Reggie Roberson , Aulani Johnson

2. What is Ecology? • Ecology is the scientific study of interactions with organisms and with the physical and chemical environment they inhabit.

3. Habitat • A habitat is an environment that an organism inhabits or lives in that provides all the necessary essentials for that organism’s survival. • An example of habitat is the Borneo jungle which houses our animal the orangutan.

4. Predator • Predators are considered to be animals that naturally preys on others. • Ex) Lions are a major example as these big cats are built by nature to hunt and they have no natural enemies.

5. Niche A niche is basically the job or responsibility that an organism has in its given environment. (ROLE) Ex) The job/niche of the bee is to pollinate flowers

6. Symbiosis • The interaction/relationship between individual animals from two different species that live close together. • Barnacles attach their selves to whales

7. Mutualism • Interaction between 2 types of animals in which both benefit, it is a type of symbiosis • Ex) Plover Bird goes in Crocodile’s mouth and eats bits of food in teeth, as crocodile’s teeth are cleaned.

8. Community • All population of animals that live in one environment and interact with one another. • The amazon is an example as all the animals live in this area and depending on where they are they all interact with each other at one point.

9. Commensalism • Interaction between 2 types of animals in which one animal benefits without harming the other, a type of symbiosis • Ex) Clownfish/Anemone: Clownfish live in the tentacles of the anemones which protects them from predators. Predators are poisoned by the nematocysts of the anemones.

10. Competition • The struggle between two or more living things that depend on the same limited resource. • Plants in the forest compete for sunlight in order for them to undergo photosynthesis. And taller plants get more sunlight.

11. Prey • An animal that is naturally preyed upon. • A mouse is an example of a prey.

12. Succession • Succession isthe process by which the structure of a community of organisms evolves over time. • An example of this term is when a new island is formed from volcanic activity in the ocean.

13. Species population • The number of organisms that belong to one type of species. • For example the species population for pandas is 2000 to 3000 left. (I think)

14. Symbiosis • The living together of two completely different organisms that share a mutual, parasitic, or commensal type of relationship. • For example rhinos and OxpecKers share a mutual relationship because both organisms benefit. The Oxpecker eats the ticks and therefore gets food and therefore the rhino stays healthy because the ticks don’t get a chance to infect the rhino.

15. Parasitism • When two different organisms living together have a relationship in when only one of the organisms benefit. • For example bedbugs feed of their host and only harms organisms while it benefits and stays alive.

16. Carrying Capacity • The maximum amount of organisms an environment may have without detoriating. • If somehow animals that consume grass overpopulated and ate all the grass in a environment then there would be nothing to sustain the organisms and if they died off then animals that ate the animals would die off and a ripple effect would happen.

17. Limiting factors • Factors that may contribute to the stunted growth, population, or process of an organism. • Bad weather, drought, flood, fire, and human interactions can be limiting factors to the survival of a species.

18. Pioneer Species • Species that start an entire ecosystem from destroyed or uninhabited land. They are the very first animals to colonize. • Most and probably all pioneer species are plants and our example is the lichen. It is a type of plant that can survive in hostile, harsh environments.