Ecology
This guide explores key ecological concepts, highlighting the relationships of living organisms to their environment. It delves into essential terms such as habitat, niche, populations, and communities, detailing how these elements interact within ecosystems. Topics covered include population dynamics, carrying capacity, species diversity, and interspecific interactions, including predation and competition. By examining these concepts, readers will gain a comprehensive understanding of how different species coexist and interact, as well as the intrinsic and extrinsic factors influencing their survival.
Ecology
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Presentation Transcript
Ecology • Relationships of living organisms to their environment
Ecological Concepts • Environment • All conditions directly affecting animals existence • Habitat • The physical space inhabited by an animal • Niche • The specific multidimensional sets of conditions that define where an organism can exist
Ecological Concepts • Populations • Communities • Ecosystems
Ecological Concepts - Populations • Reproductively interacting members of a single species • Deme – • Any particular population separate from other populations of a species • Demographics • Age structure, sex ratio, growth rates, etc…
Population Dynamics • Growth rates • Birth rate – death rate = intrinsic growth rate • Carrying capacity • Upward limit on growth/size of a population • Intrinsic limits • Space, resources, intra-specific competition • Extrinsic limits • Biotic: Predation, parasitism, interspecific competition • Abiotic: fires, floods, etc…
Carrying Capacities 2012
Ecological Concepts -Communities • Co-existing populations of multiple species within the same habitat • Species diversity • # of species sharing a habitat and how abundant each species is • Species Richness • How many different species • Species evenness • How many individuals of each species
Populations - Interactions • Interspecific interactions • Detrimental (-) • Beneficial (+) • Neutral (0) • Predation • Parasitism • Commensalism • Mutualism • Competition • Keystone species • Any species whose removal from a population will cause extinction of other species
Character Displacement • Competition within a niche forces exclusion and adaptation competition no competition
Ecosystems • The transfer of energy among populations of organisms with a habitat • Trophic levels • Primary producers • Fix and store energy from outside the ecosystem – plants • Consumers • Primary – herbivores • Secondary – carnivores, insectivores • Decomposers – bacteria, fungi, nematodes, protozoa, annelids