1. Symbiosis, Succession, Cycles of Nutrients
Ecology Notes Part 2
Symbiosis, Succession, Cycles of Nutrients

2. Symbiosis: Types of Symbiosis: 1. Mutualism 2. Parasitism
Describes a close relationship between 2 organisms, in which at least one of the organisms involved benefits.
Types of Symbiosis:
1. Mutualism
2. Parasitism
3. Commensalism

3. Mutualism Both organisms benefit from the relationship.
A).Clown fish is provided a protective home and the sea anemone is provided food as the clownfish lures other fish toward the sea anemone.
B). Bees receive food (nectar), while the flower’s pollen is spread for reproduction.

4. Parasitism
One organism benefits, and the other is harmed (host).
A).Ticks feed on the blood of the host in which they live. The closer together organisms live, the easier these parasites can spread through the population.
B). Can you think of any other parasites?

5. -Parasitism -Mutualism Aphids feed on sugary sap from the plant.
Aphids are herded and protected by the ants because the ants feed on sugary excretions the aphids produce.
-Parasitism
-Mutualism

6. Commensalism
One organism benefits, and the other is neither helped nor harmed.
A). Barnacles live and grow on the bodies of various ocean organisms like whales. However, they do not help or cause any harm to them.
B). Can you think of any commensalitic relationships?

7. 4. PREDATION:
An interaction in which one organism captures and feeds on another organism

8. 5.COMPETITION:
when organisms attempt to use an ecological resource in the same place at the same time.
Could be over a mate, food, space, water etc. Anything that would affect survival.

9. Ecological Succession https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqEUzgVAF6g

10. Ecological Succession
The gradual replacement of an existing environment by another.
Primary Succession: begins in a place where there is NO soil (sides of volcanos); when a community develops where there was none before.

11. Next, mosses grow to hold newly made soil.
Pioneer Organisms/Species : The first species to populate an area. First, lichens that do not need soil to survive grow on rocks
Next, mosses grow to hold newly made soil.
Lichens break down rock to form soil.

12. Secondary Succession: begins in an area that already has soil, occurs when an existing community is disturbed or destroyed without removing the soil and a new community begins.

13. Climax Community Grasses in prairies Cacti in deserts
A stable group of plants and animals that is the end result of the succession process
Does not always mean big trees
Grasses in prairies
Cacti in deserts

14. CYCLES OF NUTRIENTS

15. Water Cycle: process by which water moves from ocean and land into the atmosphere and back.
1. Water enters the atmosphere through evaporation and transpiration.
2, Water vapor cools and condenses to form clouds.
3. The cloud cools and droplets fall back to earth in the form of some type of precipitation.
Precipitation: snow, rain, sleet, hail, etc.
4. Some rain water runs off back into the lake. The rest seeps into the ground (infiltration/percolation)
5. This underground water collects and flows back to the lake. The cycle begins again..
Condensation 15

16. The Carbon Cycle: a process through which the element carbon cycles through the environment.
1. In photosynthesis, producers remove CO2 gas from the atmosphere to make organic molecules (sugars)
2. Animals get organic molecules from plants & return CO2 gas to the atmosphere through cellular respiration.
3. When plants and animals die in an ecosystem, CO2 gas is returned to the atmosphere during decomposition.
3. Fossil fuels (Coal, oil, natural gas which were once living organic material) when burned produce CO2 gas and this is returned to the atmosphere and increases the amount of CO2 gas in the air.

17. The Nitrogen Cycle: a process through which the element Nitrogen (N2) is changed into a useable form and recycled back into the atmosphere.
78% of atmosphere is N2.
Producers (plants) absorb these forms through their roots.
Nitrogen fixation: actions by some bacteria in the soil change N2 gas into ammonia (NH4+) and nitrate ions (NO3-).
Consumers (herbivores) obtain nitrogen from the plants they eat.
Decomposers break down animal waste, dead animals, & dead plant material & return the nitrogen to the soil.
Other bacteria return nitrogen in the soil back to the atmosphere (denitrification)