Slide 1 / 131 Slide 2 / 131 AP BIOLOGY Ecology March 2013 www.njctl.org Slide 3 / 131 Slide 4 / 131 Table of Contents Click on the topic to go to that section Intro to Ecology · Intro to Ecology Population Ecology · Community Ecology · Click to return to the Table of Contents Slide 5 / 131 Slide 6 / 131 Biotic vs Abiotic Ecology Factors that ecologists study can be either biotic or abiotic. Biotic factors of this coral reef include fish, corals, sea anemones, and plankton. Ecology is the study of how organisms interact with each other and their environments. Abiotic factors of this coral reef include water temperature, water salinity, nutrient availability and sunlight. Clownfish interact with sea anemones in a manner that is positive to both. The sea anemone provides protection and nutrients to the clownfish. In return, clownfish fecal matter provides nutrients to the Use this information to define the parameters of sea anemone. biotic and abiotic factors.
Slide 7 / 131 Slide 8 / 131 Salt Marsh Biotic vs Abiotic The salt marsh ecosystem is composed of land that is submerged by ocean water during high tide and is dry during low Biotic Factors Abiotic Factors tide. Organisms that live in a salt marsh need to have the ability to survive in both wet/dry conditions and in high/low salinity conditions. Plants are composed of grasses and shrubs. Living factors in an Nonliving factors in an environment. Common animals include crabs, mussels and a variety of birds. environment. Many fish use salt marshes as hatcheries. Animals · Sunlight · Plants Water · · Fungi Temperature · · Describe three Bacteria · Nutrients · biotic and three Soil · abiotic factors that affect the salt marsh. Slide 9 / 131 Slide 10 / 131 Levels of Biological Levels of Biological Organization Organization Organism: Ecosystem Any individual that has all the characteristics of life. Community Population Organism SMALLEST LEVEL Slide 11 / 131 Slide 12 / 131 Levels of Biological Organization Levels of Biological Organization Population: A group of organisms of the same species that live in the same geographic area. Community: All of the populations that live in the same geographic area. Remember: What are the characteristics of a species?
Slide 13 / 131 Slide 14 / 131 Groups of different species living together and 1 Levels of Biological Organization interacting in the same environment are referred to as a A Organism Ecosystem: B Community All of the living organisms (communities) and the nonliving C Ecosystem components of a geographic area. D Population Slide 15 / 131 Slide 16 / 131 2 All of the following are abiotic factors EXCEPT: 3 Which of the following levels of biological organization includes both abiotic and biotic factors? A Algae Species A B pH B Population C Temperature C Community D Nutrients D Ecosystem Slide 17 / 131 Slide 18 / 131 Habitat Ecological Niches The term habitat describes the specific area - including biotic and An organism's niche is a description of the role it plays in its habitat. abiotic factors - where an organism lives within an ecosystem. A niche includes all aspects of where and how an organism lives including: * the type of food it eats * how it obtains food * where it lives in its environment (tree, nest, hive, etc.) * when and how it reproduces A habitat is like an organism's home within an ecosystem.
Slide 19 / 131 Slide 20 / 131 Ecological Niches Ecological Niches A population's habitat answers the question "Where do you live?". A population's niche answers the question "How do you make a living?". Komodo Dragon Niche Click this picture to watch a video about niches in the Komodo dragons live in the Indonesian Islands. They hunt and North African river plains. ambush invertebrates, birds and mammals. They lay up to 20 eggs at a time in self-dug holes. The eggs incubate for eight months. Komodo dragons take nine years to mature and can live up to 30 years. Slide 21 / 131 Slide 22 / 131 Ecological Niches Ecological Niches Niche overlap leads to a fundamental niche and a realized niche No two species can occupy the same niche in the same environment for a species. at the same time. This is called niche overlap . When this occurs, competition for resources will displace one of the species. The figure below shows three different species of warblers that have established different niches in the same tree. Realized niche - the actual Fundamental niche - the optimal niche of a species, in niche of a species, as a result of competition the absence of limiting factors Slide 23 / 131 Slide 24 / 131 4 Traditionally, a polar bear's diet consists mainly of seals that it hunts from the edges of sea ice. As the sea ice melts and humans encroach on the existing habitat, polar bears are now known to hunt through human trash for nutrition. Describe the difference between the polar bear's fundamental niche and realized niche. Students type their answers here Population Ecology Click to return to the Table of Contents
Slide 25 / 131 Slide 26 / 131 Density Dependent Factors Populations Density dependent factors affect populations based on the Population ecology studies the interactions between populations density of that population. Examples include predation, competition and their environments. and disease. A low density population will suffer more from heavy predation than a high density population. Factors that affect populations can be density dependent or density independent. Slide 27 / 131 Slide 28 / 131 5 In 2005, hurricane Katrina deposited over 5 cm of Density Independent Factors sediment on the coastal wetland ecosystem of the Gulf of Mexico, destroying 100 km 2 of wetland. Did hurricane Density independent factors affect a population, regardless Katrina have density dependent or density independent of population density. Examples include weather and natural effects? disasters. A Density dependent Severe weather that causes flooding will destroy both B Density independent high density and low density populations. Slide 29 / 131 Slide 30 / 131 6 In a field of wildflowers, population size is limited by Population Size available nutrients in the soil. When the density of flowers reaches a certain level, the death rate increases due to Population size is positively correlated with birth rate and lack of nutrients. Is this population affected by density immigration and negatively correlated with death rate and dependent or density independent factors? emigration. Draw two graphs illustrating the relationship between population A Density dependent size and 1) birth rate/immigration and 2) death rate/emigration. Answer B Density independent Entering Leaving
Slide 31 / 131 Slide 32 / 131 Exponential Population Growth Exponential Population Growth When a population has access to unlimited resources, it experiences exponential growth. Exponential Population Growth d N = r N dt where r = growth rate After elephants in Kruger National Park, South Africa, were protected from hunting, the population grew exponentially for 60 and N = population size years. When population size threatened to destroy habitat and food supply, park managers implemented elephant birth control and exportation. Slide 33 / 131 Slide 34 / 131 Logistic Population Growth Logistic Population Growth Most populations do not have unlimited resources. The population size that can be When a population becomes too large, it exhausts food supply, maintained with a given amount water supply and shelter. At this point, intraspecific competition of resources is called the causes the population to decrease. carrying capacity . Populations that are limited in resources experience logistic Intraspecific competition - growth . competition among In logistic growth, the rate of members of the same increase approaches zero as species. These two lions the carrying capacity is are competing for the reached. same prey. Source: Nature.com Slide 35 / 131 Slide 36 / 131 Case Study: Red Tail Hawk Case Study: Red Tail Hawk Consider a new population of red tail hawks that have been released Consider a new population of red tail hawks that have been released by conservationists into a woodland in upstate New York. by conservationists into a woodland in upstate New York. Six years ago Since the hawks scientists released had no natural 50 hawks into a 900 predators and plenty acre woodland. of prey in the environment, they showed exponential population growth.
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