1. Chapter 5: Evolution and Community Ecology
Mr. Manskopf
Notes Can Also Be Found at

2. Section 3: Ecological Communities
Explain the difference between producer and consumer.
Explain the effect of inefficient energy transfer on community structure.
TERMS: primary producer, photosynthesis, consumer, cellular respiration, herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, detritivore, decomposer, trophic level, food chain, biomass, food web, keystone species.

3. What makes an ecosystem like this “work?”

4. Life Depends ENERGY, LOTS OF ENERGY…from the Sun
Average Star
93 million miles away
Nuclear Fusion
No Sun, No Life

5. Life Depends on the Sun
ALL organisms need a constant supply of energy or they die
Why do plants grow upwards?

6. Life Depends on the Sun
The ultimate source of almost all energy for organisms is the SUN.
What did you eat? (Nuclear Powered?)
Only some deep sea creatures do not get energy from sun
Mmmm, solar energy tastes good!

7. Life Depends on the Sun
Photosynthesis: plants use the suns energy, water and CO2, to make energy.
Base of ALL food chains

8. Almost all organisms depend either directly or indirectly on photosynthesis

9. From Producer to Consumer
Producer: an organism that makes it own food
Plants
Autotrophs, self-feeders
Use sunlight
Base of all food chains

10. From Producer to Consumer
Consumer: gets it energy by eating producers or other consumers
Heterotrophs
Indirectly solar powered

11. Types of Consumers Herbivore: eats only producers (vegetarian)
Cows, sheep, deer, grasshopper, mice, rabbits

12. Types of Consumers Carnivore: eats other consumers
Lion, hawks, snakes, alligator, whales

13. Types of Consumers Omnivore: eats both producers and consumers
Bears, pigs, raccoons and most humans

14. Types of Consumers Decomposer: breaks down dead decaying organisms
Critical to ecosystem health
Returns nutrients
Fungus, bacteria

15. Detritivores and decomposers: recycle nutrients within the ecosystem by breaking down nonliving organic matter

16. How do Organisms Use Energy
Most organisms spend large amounts of time/energy in search of food and a mate.

17. How do Organisms Use Energy
Cellular Respiration: processes of breaking down food to yield energy
Gives energy to walk, read, grow, think, run, fight diseases
Excess stored as fat

18. Glucose (sugar) + Oxygen yields carbon dioxide, water and energy
REACTANTS PRODUCTS

20. Energy Transfer
Each time one organism eats another, energy is transferred
Ecosystems are all about energy flowing from one organism to another

21. Energy Transfer Who are the producers? Consumers? Herbivores?
Carnivores?
Omnivores?
Decomposers?
Where does the energy start?

22. Energy Transfer
Food Chain: sequence in which energy is transferred from one organism to another
Starts with producers

23. Energy Flow
Food Web: shows many feeding relationships that are possible in a ecosystem
More complex and realistic

26. Energy Flow
Trophic Level: each step which energy is transferred

27. Energy Pyramid

28. Energy Flow
Why are there fewer organisms at the top? (Why fewer bears than the fruit they feed on)
Why aren’t there more than 4-5 trophic levels in a energy pyramid?

29. Energy Flow At each trophic level about 90% of energy is lost
Cellular respiration
Lost to heat body and carry out living

31. Energy Flow
Why are there fewer organisms at the top? (Why fewer bears than the fruit they feed on)
Why aren’t there more than 4-5 trophic levels in a energy pyramid?

32. What does this diagram show?

34. Keystone Species
Species that have strong and/or wide-reaching effects on a community
Removal of a keystone species can significantly alter the structure of a community.

35. Keystone Species
(Otter Keystone Species)
Prairie Dogs: Keystone species NATURE's "Silence of the Bees“

36. Section 3 Review Explain the difference between producer and consumer.
Explain the effect of inefficient energy transfer on community structure.
TERMS: primary producer, photosynthesis, consumer, cellular respiration, herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, detritivore, decomposer, trophic level, food chain, biomass, food web, keystone species.

37. Section 3 Quiz
1) The ultimate source of energy in an ecosystem in which deer eat grass and coyotes eat deer is A. the grass. B. the sun. C. the deer. D. chemosynthesis.
B. The SUN

38. 2) When energy is transferred between trophic levels, the amount of available energy lost is about A. 90 percent. B. 50 percent. C. 25 percent. D. 10 percent.
A. 90%

39. 3) Humans are generally A. carnivores. B. herbivores. C. omnivores. D
3) Humans are generally A. carnivores. B. herbivores. C. omnivores. D. detrivores.
C. Omnivores

40. 4) Any being that uses the sun’s energy to create sugars is a A
4) Any being that uses the sun’s energy to create sugars is a A. primary producer. B. secondary producer. C. primary consumer. D. secondary consumer.
A. primary producer.

41. 5) In a food web that consists of grass, mice, deer, coyotes, and hawks, which species is likely to have the greatest biomass? A. grass B. mice C. coyotes D. hawks
A. grass

42. 6) The first level of all food pyramids A
6) The first level of all food pyramids A. consists of primary producers. B. consist of primary consumers. C. is chemosynthesis. D. is photosynthesis.
A. consists of primary producers.

43. 7) Short Answer: In a meadow community, you observe a high biomass of plants, a fairly high number of rodents, but only a single fox. Explain.
This is due to inefficient energy transfer through the food web. Only about 10 percent of energy is available from one level to the next, so a high biomass of plants will support only a few predators.

44. 8) Short Answer: Grasslands are generally considered highly productive ecosystems, and we see some of the largest and most diverse assemblages of mammal species on grasslands such as the Serengeti. Why do you think this is, as opposed to an ecosystem like a northern pine forest, for example?
Grasslands produce a huge amount of available plant energy, which in turn supports a large number of herbivores, and a higher concentration of carnivores. A forest contains a lot of biomass as unavailable woody material that animals cannot easily consume, so energy remains locked at the producer level.

45. 9) Short Answer: Explain why a food web is a better representation of energy flow in a community than a food chain.
A chain represents a single avenue of energy transfer. In reality, there are numerous relationships between a single species and the other species in its community, so energy might travel along any of several paths.

46. 10) Identify a producer, a primary consumer, and a secondary consumer from the illustration.
Plants are producers. Deer, crayfish, moorhens, raccoons, shrimp, and flagfish are primary consumers. Pin frogs, bobcats, alligators, crayfish, killfish, largemouth bass, anhingas, and alligators are secondary consumers.

47. 11) If an anhinga consumes a crayfish, what percentage of the energy of the crayfish’s original plant-based meal will reach the anhinga?
One percent of the original energy of the plants will be available to the anhinga.

48. 12) Which populations in this ecosystem would you expect to have the fewest members, and why?
The anhingas, bobcats, and alligators would probably be fewer in number than other species, since they are secondary or tertiary consumers and much of the ecosystem’s energy has been lost by the time it reaches them.

49. 13) What would happen if alligators were removed from the ecosystem
13) What would happen if alligators were removed from the ecosystem? Explain the effects on each level of the food web.
The alligator’s prey species might increase, which might put pressure on plant resources and on other species that the alligator’s prey species eat. On the other hand, competitors of the alligator would most likely flourish, so anhingas might also experience an increase in population.

50. 14) Identify two species in this web that might compete with each other, and explain which resources they compete for.
Alligators and bobcats are competing for food in the form of moorhens. Raccoons, moorhens, white-tailed deer, crayfish, glass shrimp, and flagfish compete for plant foods. Anhingas and alligators compete for pin frogs. Pin frogs and anhingas compete for crayfish. Bass and anhingas compete for killfish. Bass and killfish compete for grass shrimp and worms.

52. Section 4 How Ecosystems Change
Describe the types of ecological succession
Explain what pioneer species are
Explain the conditions necessary for a species to become invasive.
Terms: ecological succession, primary succession, secondary succession, pioneer species

53. Ecological Succession
Ecosystems constantly are changing (some fast some slowly)
Young Forests vs. Old Forest
Quick change like fire, or volcanic eruption

54. Ecological Disturbances
A community in equilibrium is generally stable and balanced, with most populations at or around carrying capacity.
Disturbances or changes in the environment can throw a community into disequilibrium.
Severe disturbances can cause permanent changes to a community and initiate a predictable series of changes called succession

55. Ecological Succession
Ecological Succession: the gradual change and replacement of some or all species in a community
Neighborhood changes over time

58. Ecological Succession
Primary Succession: occurs on a surface where no ecosystem existed before (FIRST)
Rocks, sand dunes
Uncommon!

59. Primary Succession
Occurs when there are no traces of the original community remaining, including vegetation and soil

60. Ecological Succession
Secondary Succession: occurs on a surface where an ecosystem has previously existed
More common
Land Disturbed by humans, other animals
Flood, fire, volcano

61. Secondary Succession
Occurs when a disturbance dramatically alters a community but does not completely destroy it
Common after disturbances such as fire, logging, or farming
Occurs significantly faster than primary succession

62. Secondary ecological succession after a fire on the left
Fires are a natural part of many forest ecosystems

63. Ecological Succession
Pioneer Species: first organisms to colonize a newly available land
Lichens, bacteria, small plants often pioneers

64. Pioneer species in a parking lot crack

65. Ecological Succession
Climax Community: final stable community.
Continues to change in small ways, but fairly stable if undisturbed

67. Invasive Species Nonnative organisms that spread widely in a community
A lack of limiting factors such as predators, parasites, or competitors enables their population to grow unchecked.
Not all invasive species are harmful
Did You Know? Although the European honeybee is invasive to North America, it is beneficial because it pollinates our agricultural crops.

68. A 2010 report on invasive species suggests that they cost the U. S
A 2010 report on invasive species suggests that they cost the U.S. $120 billion a year in environmental losses and damages.
Invasive kudzu

69. The zebra mussel has completely displaced 20 native mussel species in Lake St. Clair.

70. Invasive Species In the Great Lakes
San Francisco Bay
In Your Backyard
Invasive Phragmites

71. Section 4 Ecosystem Changes Review
Describe the types of ecological succession
Explain what pioneer species are
Explain the conditions necessary for s species to become invasive.
Terms: ecological succession, primary succession, secondary succession, pioneer species

72. Section 4 Quiz
1) In the years immediately after a fire, a forest will experience A. primary succession. B. secondary succession. C. tertiary succession. D. a climax community.
B. Secondary Succession

73. 2) A landslide causes part of a mountainside to fall away, leaving bare rock. In the years immediately following the landslide, the area will experience A. primary succession. B. secondary succession. C. tertiary succession. D. a climax community.
A. Primary Succession

74. A. predators, parasites, and competitors
3) If these are present in a new environment, a species is unlikely to become invasive. A. predators, parasites, and competitors B. cane toads, kudzu, and zebra mussels C. exotic species D. symbiotic and commensalist species
A. predators, parasites, and competitors

75. Fill in blank
4) A species introduced to a new environment without limiting factors could become ____________________.
Invasive

76. True or False
5) An invasive species is a species that has been introduced to a new area and lacks limiting factors.
TRUE