1. To Those Who Shall Inherit the Earth…
Ecology
To Those Who Shall Inherit the Earth…

2. Flow of Energy
Love is energy and energy is everything

3. What is an Ecosystem?
Interactions among biotic (living) and abiotic (nonliving) factors
Let’s try to draw one

4. How does energy move? Essentially all energy comes from the sun
Moves from autotrophs (plants) to heterotrophs (not plants)
Heterotrophs (aka. Consumers) – must consume energy; cannot make their own
Autotrophs (aka. Producers) – Produce their own energy
Most use radiant energy from the sun to produce chemical energy in the form of glucose sugar
What is this process called?
Photosynthesis!

5. What about the other producers?
MOST use photosynthesis to produce energy
Others use energy from chemical reactions to produce organic molecules
Called Chemosynthesis
Bacteria and archaea

6. How do other organisms obtain energy?
Heterotrophs or consumers – take in energy by breaking down compounds in organisms they eat
Trophic levels:
Producers
Primary consumers – eat producers
Secondary consumers – eat primary consumers
Tertiary consumers – eat secondary consumers
Quaternary consumers – eat… guess what they eat?
Organisms participate in different levels
Sun
Producer
Primary producer
Secondary consumer
Decomposer

7. What are decomposers? Usually fungi or bacteria
Decomposers obtain energy from organic wastes
fallen leaves or dead organisms
Fungi usually break down plant matter
Bacteria usually break down animal matter
Break down complex molecules into simpler ones
Helps cycle carbon and nitrogen elements
Use secreted enzymes to break down food
Enzymes – special proteins that speed up reactions

8. Are there ways to show energy flow?
There are 2!
Food chains – path of energy from producer to decomposer
Food web – chains that interconnect through multiple feeding relationships
Arrows point the direction of energy flow from one organism to the next (What’s doing the eating)
Energy travels in 1 direction
Energy does NOT cycle through the ecosystem, unlike matter
What would be the simplest food chain?
Producer  consumer
Web
Chain

9. What types of eating habits are there?
Herbivore – eats only producers (eats plants)
Omnivore – eats both producers and consumers (eats plants and animals)
Carnivore – eats consumers (eats meat only)

10. Is there a model for energy flow?
Lets go back to the ecosystem drawing
Models are visual depictions that make a feature of the world easier to understand and are used to make predictions and test hypotheses etc…
Food pyramids are models for energy flow
Must show feeding relationships in food chains as well as amount of energy passed up trophic levels
10% of energy is ALL that passes to the next trophic level

11. Checkpoint Use the following food chain to create an energy pyramid:
Grass  mouse  snake  hawk
If the amount of energy present in the producers of this pyramid is 1.35 x 105 kilocalories, identify how much energy is present in each trophic level
What if we add decomposers to consume the hawk after it dies?

12. Assignment! Paper – pencil food chain lab
Complete the packet – due tomorrow
Materials
Packet
Writing utensil (no red, pink, or green)
Scissors
Glue

13. Biogeochemical cycles
What goes around comes around

14. What are biogeochemical cycles?
Bio = life
Geo = earth
Chemical = chemical
So, biogeochemical cycles are the patterns that elements and chemicals move through and between biotic organisms and their abiotic environment
3 major cycles include:
Carbon – oxygen cycle
Nitrogen cycle
Water

15. How does the carbon-oxygen cycle work?
C and O exist in all organisms
Both exist in the atmosphere as CO2 and O2
Steps
Plants take in CO2 using _____________ and convert it into carbohydrates
Plants release O2
Animals take in O2 and release through CO2 respiration
Decomposers break down C stored in dead organisms and return it to the atmosphere
photosynthesis

16. What is the “geo” part of the carbon-oxygen cycle?
Carbon is also released into the atmosphere by:
burning fossil fuels
Volcanic eruptions
Human or naturally caused forest fires

17. Where do fossil fuels come from?
Carbon in the bodies of deceased organisms that lived millions of years ago were subjected to heat and pressure deep within Earth turning them into fossil fuels
Any combustion reaction (anytime you burn organic things), CO2 and water vapor are produced AND oxygen is consumed
Burning fossil fuels
Burning wood for fuel/forest fires
Forest fires

18. What is the nitrogen cycle and why is it important??
Movement of nitrogen through the organisms, water, rocks, minerals, and atmosphere
Nitrogen is ESSENTIAL to living things as it makes up:
Nucleic acids and DNA
Amino acids and proteins
ATP (high energy molecule used for cellular energy)

19. How does nitrogen move through the cycle?
Atmosphere contains approximately 78% nitrogen… that most organisms cant use
Nitrogen fixation into ammonia (ammonification) changes nitrogen into a usable form for organisms done by:
Soil bacteria
Certain plants, called legumes, have a mutualistic relationship with certain bacteria that allow nitrogen fixation
Ex. Peanuts, most beans, and peas

20. What happens after the nitrogen is fixed?
Assimilation - Plants absorb nitrogen once it is in the form of usable nitrates
Animals obtain nitrogen by eating plants
Nitrogen in animals is passed through the food chain and returned to decomposers
In low oxygen environments bacteria convert nitrogen to gas which returns to the atmosphere = denitrification
Marine environments
Soil

21. What is the hydrologic cycle?
Water cycle
Driven by energy from the sun
Important steps:
Evaporation – liquid to gas by energy from sun or heat
Condensation – gas to liquid
Precipitation – falls
Respiration – water vapor produced by cells when breaking down glucose
Transpiration – liquid to gas through plants
Vascular plants (large plants) use a tissue called xylem to move water up the plant
Water leaves through holes in leaves called stomata

22. Assignment! Complete the worksheet for biogeochemical cycles
Color AND answer questions
Use the document to help you answer questions
Materials
Colored pencils or crayons
Pencil
Due tomorrow

23. Symbiotic Relationships
Living together isn’t always easy

24. What is the hierarchy of biological systems?
Atoms – come together to make:
Molecules – come together to make:
Organelles – come together to make:
Cells - come together to make:
Tissues - come together to make:
Organs - come together to make:
Organ systems – come together to make:
Organism - come together to make:
Populations - come together to make:
Communities - come together to make:
Ecosystems - come together to make:
Biosphere
We’ll focus on these for now

25. What are the parts of ecology hierarchy??
Population - A group of organisms of the SAME species living together
Community – A group of organisms of DIFFERENT species living together
Ecosystem – A group of living and non-living things in an environment
Biosphere– all living things on Earth

26. How do ecosystems remain stable?
Population of individual species will cycle regularly and predictably as energy flow remains fairly constant
Organisms live in habitats
Depends on availability of water, shelter, and food
The role and organism plays in its environment is its niche
What it eats, where it eats, and its effect on the environment

27. Can organisms occupy the same habitat and niche?
Organisms may have the same habitat
Organisms may NOT have exactly the same niche within the habitat
2 plants may both live in the same habitat – occupy the same niche – but they may require different amounts of light

28. Can organisms live together?
Yes these types of relationships are called symbiotic/symbiosis
Symbiosis is an interdependent relationship between two different organisms or a different species – at least 1 of them ALWAYS benefits
Mutualism – both species benefit
Commensalism – one organism benefits and the other is unaffected
Parasitism – one organism benefits and one is harmed
Relationship
Benefits
Unaffected
Harmed
Mutualism
X X
Commensalism X
Parasitism
Each X represents a different organism

29. Assignment! Symbiotic relationships cut and paste Due tomorrow
Materials:
Scissors
Glue or tape
Worksheet

30. What about other relationships?
Predator population increases
Prey population decreases
Predator population decreases
Prey population increases
What about other relationships?
Predator – prey: one organism kills and eats another
Key role in the ecosystem keeping population sizes balanced
Populations that are too high are prone to:
Starvation
disease

31. What about organisms that require the same things?
They compete: interact where they try to use the same resources at the same time
Intraspecific competition – organisms of the same species compete for food, water, shelter, mates
Interspecific competition – organisms of different species compete for food, water, shelter
Most successful competitors are best adapted to their ecosystem

32. Assignment Online virtual lab examining competition
Found here: BL_04.html
Materials:
Computer
Internet
Handout
Pen/pencil

33. Why do organisms communicate?
They communicate to their own and to other species
Helps organisms survive by allowing them to:
ID themselves
Attract mates
Warn of predators
Protect living space – territory (can be small or large)
Many animals use chemical markers to identify their territory
Many animals use sound to warn another animal they are encroaching
Many animals will fight to defend their territory

34. How do organisms communicate?
Sound
Ex: Whale songs, wolf howls, your nonstop chatter
Visual
Ex. Waggle dance in bees, courtship dances
Chemical
Ex. Pheromones – chemicals used by one organism to elicit a response from another (used by bees, ants, etc…)

35. Assignment! Population dynamics worksheet Due tomorrow Materials:
Two colored pencils or pens (you may use patterns on your graph to distinguish between species if you wish to use 1 pencil or pen)
Graphing worksheet

36. Population dynamics
What goes up must come down

37. Brief Review: What is a population? What is the hierarchy of ecology?
All the organisms of the same species living in an area
What is the hierarchy of ecology?
Organisms  population  community  ecosystems  biosphere
Tell me the factors discussed so far that determine population change?
Number of predators
Amount of resources (food, water, shelter)
Number of mates
Disease

38. What makes up an ecosystem?
Biotic factors – living things
Other organisms: bacteria, plants, animals, fungi, protists (5 kingdoms)
Abiotic factors - non living things
Rocks, sunlight, temperature, precipitation, inorganic chemicals (sodium, nitrogen, potassium, etc…)

39. How do populations grow and decline?
Affected by 4 factors:
Births
Deaths
Immigration – movement of organisms INTO an area
Emigration – movement of organisms OUT OF an area
Population equation:
Pop. = (births + immigration) – (deaths + emigration)
When (deaths + emigration outnumber (births + immigration), what happens to the population?

40. What makes birth and death rates rise?
Birth rates:
Usually higher in developing countries
Tend to rise when there is a need for more people to work
Death rates:
Result from lack of food and water
Also result from lack of medical care and sanitation (enable rapid spread of disease)

41. What makes birth and death rates fall?
Usually lower in developed countries
Increase cost in having children
Death:
Usually also lower in developed countries
Better medical care
Better sanitation and personal hygiene
Better access to food and water
Changes in population
If population cannot adapt to changing environments they decline
If populations do adapt to changing environments they increase

42. Is there selection for survival?
K selection (think kanagaroo)
R selection (think roaches)
Few babies born to an individual organism
High amount of parental care
Slow maturation
Long gestation
Long life span
Many babies born to an individual organism
Little to no parental care
Quick maturation
Short gestation
Short life span

43. Assignment! Mark and recapture method Random sampling
Estimating population lab part 1
Estimating population lab part 2
Mark and recapture method
Materials:
plastic baggie
A lot of white beans
10 black beans
Handout
Pencil/pen
Random sampling
Materials:
Paper for cutting
2 baggies
Scissors (optional)
Handout
Pencil/pen

44. What limits population size?
Most population stabilize over time or reach carrying capacity
Carrying capacity – number of organisms an environment can support
Limiting factors – are biotic or abiotic things in the environment that control population
Number of predators – biotic
Disease – biotic
Amount of food – biotic (food is organic)
Precipitation – abiotic
Sunlight – abiotic
Amount of water – abiotic

45. What kind of limiting factors depend on population density?
Density – dependent limiting factor – limits the population based on the size of the population
Biotic factors
Have more affect on the population when numbers are high
Include:
Competition
What do organisms compete for?
Predation
Parasitism
Disease
Tuberculosis

46. What kind of limiting factors don’t depend on population density?
Density-independent limiting factors – control growth of population regardless of density
Abiotic factors
Do not depend on the size of the population to control population
Include:
Forest fires
Droughts
Tsunamis
Other natural disasters
Pollution caused by humans

48. When does a population stabilize?
Populations are stable when they reach their carrying capacity
Carrying capacity – the number of organisms an ecosystem can support due to limited resources
Can change as amount of resources change
Creates an S shaped curve on a population graph
What’s happening to the factors in the population equation?

49. How is carrying capacity affected by ecosystems?
Depends on:
number of organisms living there
Size of the ecosystem
Available resources
Rainforests have higher carrying capacity than a desert
Large areas of land have higher carrying capacities than small areas of land

50. What happens when a population does not stabilize?
Exponential growth – population continues to grow and does not show presence of limiting factors
J shaped curve
Only population known to currently do this is humans

51. How does using resources affect the environment?
Higher population = higher demand on resources
Ex: growing human population needs more energy  more burning of fossil fuels
What has this done to the carbon-oxygen cycle?
Increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
What has this done to the planet?
Caused the greenhouse effect where heat from the sun is trapped on Earth instead of reflected into space
What has this done the temperatures of the planet?
Increased carbon dioxide correlates to higher global temperatures over time

52. How do ecosystems change over time?

53. Assignment! Population dynamics worksheet Due tomorrow Materials
Pencil/pen
worksheet

54. How Humans Affect The Environment
A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory

55. How has human population changed?
What kind of growth do humans show?
Exponential (for the last 200 years or so)
What kind of curve does this growth have?
J shaped
What does this mean has happened to birth and death rates?
Birth rates have increased and death rates have decreased

56. How does population growth affect the environment?
Higher population = more demand on resources
Resources are limited
Limiting factors will control the size of the population
Population will eventually reach carrying capacity
Researchers work to address these limits
Increase energy efficiency and find new energy resources
Work to increase agricultural yield
This increases the carrying capacity

57. How do humans affect biodiversity?
Biodiversity – the number of different organisms living on Earth or in an ecosystem
More humans = more demand on natural resources
Natural resource - any part or product of the environment that is used by humans or other organisms
Limited
When humans use them they are unavailable for other organisms
May physically change the ecosystem and harm organisms
Often results in loss of habitat
Organisms that can’t move often die

58. How do habitats get destroyed?
What is a habitat? What is a niche?
Place where an organism lives, its job or role
Deforestation – removal of all trees in an area of forest
Land is cleared for farms, mines, or towns
Wood products needed
Destroys habitats forcing species out
Reduces biodiversity

59. What if humans don’t affect many organisms?
Even the removal of 1 specie from an ecosystem can change it drastically
Keystone species – species that plays a critical role in the community of the ecosystem
Ex. Eastern oyster on NC coast have 3 major roles
Food source
Filter water
Build reefs that house as many as 300 other species
Their population has declined by around 90% due to overharvesting
Higher pollution and decline in other species have resulted

60. How does pollution affect the environment?
Pollution – the release of harmful substances or energy into the environment
Burning fossil fuels is a major cause of increased CO2 levels in the atmosphere
Derforestation also increases CO2 levels as:
Many trees are burned releasing carbon
Trees are no longer available to perform photosynthesis
Increased CO2 may increase global warming – an increase in average global temperatures

61. What else does burning fossil fuels cause?
Acid rain – rain that has a pH lower than 5.6
Produced by nitrogen and sulfur (both released by burning fossil fuels) mixing with water in the atmosphere
Damages plants
Harmful to animals feeding on those plants
Changes pH of aquatic habitats

62. What else does pollution do to water?
Eutrophication - excess nutrients (like fertilizer) are released into water causing massive algal blooms
hog farms in NC are major causes of this
Steps:
Nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus) wash into water
*sediment may also block sunlight
Make large algal blooms
Nutrients are used up and algal blooms die
Decomposer populations increase
Decomposers use extra oxygen
Low oxygen levels kill off fish and other organisms

63. What do pesticides do to the environment?
Pesticides – are used to kill pest animals – DDT
Reduce disease
Increase food production
Can sicken or kill animals that are NOT target pests
Taken in by organisms as they feed
Passed up the food chain
Bioaccumulation – chemicals are stored and built up in tissues over time
Biomagnification – chemicals become more concentrated at higher trophic levels

64. Assignment! Deadly Links You will need: Handout Pencil/pen
A picture of your animal (grasshopper, shrew, or owl)
A plastic baggie
Paper chips

65. How do activities directly impact biodiversity?
Extinction – permanent dying out of a species
Pollution
Land clearing
Overhunting
Overfishing
Introduction of invasive species
Invasive species – non-native organism that is introduced to an area and takes over by out competing the native organisms

66. How does activity affect NC ecosystems?
Piedmont Urbanization:
Increasing demand for land  habitat destruction
Coastal Regions:
Construction  beach erosion
Sweeping/raking beach  beach erosion
Beach erosion makes beaches more vulnerable to storm damage

67. What about fishing and hunting?
Overhunting – killing organisms at a rate faster than the population can renew its numbers
Tigers
Whales
Many many others
Overfishing – harvesting fish or shellfish at a rate faster than the population an renew its numbers
Eastern oyster

68. How do invasive species affect ecosystems?
What is an invasive species?
Non-native species that is introduced and takes over an environment
Sometimes intentionally introduced:
Garden flowers and vegetables spread
Pets released into the wild
Sometimes accidentally introduced:
Seeds or insects hide in luggage or shipments
Shipping
Invasive species can often out compete native species
Invasive species usually have few or no predators as limiting factors

69. Assignment! Investigate the presence of invasive species in NC List:
The name of the organisms
The type of organism
The classification (domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species)
Origin and method of introduction
Where found
Environmental impact
Tell class
Materials:
Pencil/pen
Paper
laptop

70. Conservation
Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not. ~ Dr. Seuss

71. What is conservation?
Conservation – careful use and protection of resources
Renewable resources - those that can be replaced through natural process at nearly the same rate they are used
Crops – affected by limiting factors
Air
Water
Forests – affected by limiting factors
Nonrenewable resources – cannot be replaced through natural processes as quickly as they are used
Fossil fuels
Minerals

72. Why care about environmental responsibility?
Stewardship – taking care of something belonging to others
Sustainability – ability of an ecosystem to survive indefinitely
Using resources to meet current needs while maintaining enough to supply future generations – sustainable development
Community planning – making things closer to cut down on travel
Renewable energy – solar, hydroelectric, etc
Eliminating misuse of land/preserving soil

73. How do humans help the environment?
Teach awareness
Prevent and repair damage
Limiting hunting and fishing to conserve wildlife
Fuel efficient cars
Energy efficient appliances and responsible use
Turning lights off, low flow bathroom appliances
Plant only native species in gardens
Less paper products
Use less water for lawns and cars
Grow and buy organic foods

74. What about the current damage?
Many activities alter ecosystems so that organisms can no longer live there
Endangered species – have a population so small they are in immediate danger of becoming extinct
Threatened species – extinction is a threat but not an immediate one
endangered and threatened species list

75. How do we protect these organisms?
Laws are put in place to protect these organisms
illegal to hunt/harvest
Restrict chemical use
Habitat restoration – improves the conditions of the damaged habitat so they are similar to before the disturbance
Researchers look at:
carrying capacity
Interactions of species
How widely distributed organisms are
Oyster population is increasing due to building new reefs and release of larval oyster from farms

76. Assignment! Ecology project Use the guidelines available on the wiki.
The project is lengthy, 5 phases
Assign roles to each person within each phase to complete the project in a timely manner

77. Resources for pictures

78. Resources for pictures

79. Resources for pictures

80. Informational Resources
Zierdt-Warshaw, Linda. North Carolina End-of-Course Coach Biology. New York: Triumph Learning, Print.