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ECOLOGY. Introduction to Ecology. Ecology is the scientific study of interactions between organisms and their environments Every part of the environment is important in ecology. Ecology includes more than just living things. Living aspects of the environment are referred to as biotic factors
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Introduction to Ecology • Ecology is the scientific study of interactions between organisms and their environments • Every part of the environment is important in ecology. Ecology includes more than just living things. • Living aspects of the environment are referred to as biotic factors • Non-living aspects that have an impact on life (water, weather, temperature, etc) are called abiotic factors.
Introduction to Ecology • Just like the body is organized into levels, so is the environment • Organization of Ecology: • Individual living things are called Organisms (Those of the same species make a…) • Population (Different species groups interacting together make a …) • Community (Living things interacting with abiotic factors makes an …) • Ecosystem (all of the ecosystems around the world make up the …) • Biosphere
What are Biomes? Biomes are ecosystems found around the world that share similar plant structures, plant spacing, animals, etc. The type of biome a region has depends on the local climate (average temperature, seasonality) and amount of rainfall.
Latitude Generally, areas found at the same latitude (North South) will have the same biome. There are three temperature regions found on Earth - Arctic: (poles) COLD pretty much all year or most of the year. - Temperate: Warm summers and Cold Winters, Four seasons. - Tropical: (equator) HOT pretty much all year or most of the year.
Tundra (Artic) • Very cold all the time • Low diversity (few varieties of organisms) because few plants • Simple vegetation (ground is too cold for trees and growing season is very short) • Characterized by Permafrost – soil below a certain point never thaws • Example: Alaska, Antarctica
Grasslands (temperate or tropical) These are areas that do not get enough rainfall for trees. They are dominated by grasses as the main plant. There are two types of grasslands. The tropical grasslands (called the savannah) has a wet (rainy) and dry season, but is warm year round. The temperate grasslands have a hot summer and cold winter and four seasons. Grasslands have a lot of grazing animals and are great for farming. Example: African Savannah (Pete’s Pond), Midwestern US (fields of wheat as far as the eye can see, bison, etc.)
Desert (Artic, Temperate, or Tropical) • Deserts can be found ANYWHERE (hot or cold). Only based on the amount of rainfall in the region. VERY little water in these areas. • Very little vegetation • Very few animals • Often experience extreme temperature variations (100+ during the day and 40 at night.) • Example: Sahara, Arizona, Siberia
Rainforest (Temperate or Tropical) • Very rainy! Lots of trees and animals. Very diverse, especially the Tropical Rainforest. Tropical Rainforests contain more species than all of the other biomes combined. • Tropical is warm year round while the temperate has four seasons. • Soil is surprisingly nutrient-poor and acidic b/c of all the rain. • Examples: Amazon, Northern Pacific (Forks, WA)
Coniferous Forest (Temperate/Arctic Border) • Also called the taiga or boreal forest, this is the largest terrestrial biome. There are seasons, but summer is short. • Precipitation is primarily snow, so the plants must be equipped with leaves that can handle ice. Most of the trees are pines (conifers). Soil is nutrient poor and acidic. • Animals include woodpeckers, hawks, moose, bear and lynx. • Example: Canada
Decidious Forest (Temperate) • This is our biome in Virginia! • Good amount of precipitation year round, so lots of plants. Four distinct seasons that are about the same length. Most trees have broad leaves for photosynthesizing during summer. They drop these leaves in the fall and go dormant during winter. • Soil is rich thanks to all those dead leaves.
Marine Biome • Consists of oceans, coral reefs, and estuaries • The ocean is the largest of all ecosystems. • The ocean contains a diverse array of plants and animals at various depth zones. • Coral reefs consist mainly of coral. • Estuaries are areas where fresh and salt water environments converge. They are biologically diverse, which means they have many different species
Freshwater Biomes • Includes ponds, and lakes; streams and rivers, and wetlands. • Ponds have stagnant water which means it has no current or flow • Streams and rivers move in one direction. • Wetlands are areas of standing water that support aquatic plants.
How the biomes handle change… Primary and Secondary Succession
Primary Succession starts from nothing (bare rock)! • First in the environment are the pioneer organisms. These create the initial layer of nutrients (soil) and break up the rocks. • Next larger plants come in, but ultimately the amount of nutrients in the soil determines the types of species. The most successful species will be those best adapted with the right “range of tolerance”. Different biomes will follow different succession patterns. • Every generation of plants will create more soil due to decomposition • Competition between plants finally leads to climax community, where the ecosystem no longer changes much.
