1. Principles of Ecology

2. Ecologists study environments at different levels of organization
Over their life cycle, Pacific salmon are the main food source for more than 140 species of wildlife, including grizzly bears.
Pacific salmon are threatened with extinction due to competition from hatchery fish, blocked river paths, and loss of spawning grounds.

3. What is ecology?
Ecology is the study of the interactions among living things, and between living things and their surroundings.

4. Relationships
The relationships between organisms is sometimes very difficult to decipher.

5. The Polar Bear and the Sled Dogs

6. The Polar Bear and the Sled Dogs

7. The Polar Bear and the Sled Dogs

8. The Polar Bear and the Sled Dogs

9. The Polar Bear and the Sled Dog

10. The Lioness and the Baby Oryx

11. The Lioness and the Baby Onyx

12. The Lioness and the Baby Onyx

13. The Lioness and the Baby Onyx

14. The Lioness and the Baby Onyx

15. Interaction?

16. Interaction?

17. Interaction?

18. Interaction?

19. Levels of Organization

20. Ecological research methods
Observation
Observation is the act of carefully watching something over time.
Surveys
Direct surveys – for easy to follow organisms. Scientist can watch animals with the naked eye or with binoculars or scopes.
Indirect surveys—for difficult to track organisms. Scientists search for signs of its presence, such as feces or a recent kill.
Long-eared Jerboa

21. Ecological research methods
Experimentation
Experiments may be performed in the lab or in the field.
This study focuses on small ecosystems. Moss provides structure and ultimately detritus that feeds bacteria, fungus, and other microorganisms at the base of a complex food-web including mites and microarthropods. This has been used as a successful model system to study questions relating to habitat fragmentation and patterns of biodiversity.

22. Ecological research methods
Modeling
Using computer and mathematical models to describe and model nature.
Used to test hypothetical situations with the use of real data.

23. Biotic and Abiotic Factors

24. An ecosystem includes both biotic and abiotic factors.
Factors that are living things, such as plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria.
Abiotic
Factors that are non-living things such as moisture, temperature, wind, sunlight, and soil. The balance of these factors determines which living things can survive in a particular environment.

25. Abiotic or Biotic?

26. Biotic or Abiotic?

27. Biotic or Abiotic?

28. Biotic or Abiotic?

29. Biotic or Abiotic?

30. Biotic or Abiotic?

31. Changing one factor in an ecosystem can affect many other factors.
All species are affected by changes to the biotic and abiotic factors in an ecosystem.

32. The Harbor Seals of California
Diatoms
Red Tide

33. The Harbor Seals of California
Harbor seals live along the coast of California (among other places). They eat many types of fish, including shell fish.

34. The Harbor Seals of California
As harbor seals eat shell fish that have accumulated toxins, they get domoic acid poisoning. The domoic acid causes severe neurological deterioration. Seals will have nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, dizziness, confusion, disorientations, memory loss, motor weakness, seizures, respiratory secretions, cardiac arrhythmia, coma, and death if untreated.

35. Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the assortment, or variety, of living things in an ecosystem.
An area with a high level of biodiversity, such as a rain forest, has a large assortment of different species living near one another.
The amount of biodiversity found in an area depends on many factors.

36. Keystone Species
In some cases, the loss of a single species may cause a ripple effect felt across an entire ecosystem.
These organisms are called keystone species.
Keystone species have an unusually large effect on its ecosystem.
Prairie dogs are keystone species.

37. The Sea Otter
Sea otters are native to the coasts of the northern and eastern North Pacific Ocean. They are the largest member of the weasel family at lbs.
Sea otters prey mostly on marine invertebrates, like sea urchins, mollusks, and crustaceans.

38. Between 1741 and 1911, sea otter were hunted for their fur.
The Sea Otter
Sea urchins graze on the lower stems of kelp, causing the kelp to drift away and die.
Between and 1911, sea otter were hunted for their fur.

39. The Sea otter
The hunting of sea otters was banned in 1911, and extensive conservation efforts have seen the Sea Otter return to two-thirds of its original habitat and population.
Aside from helping kelp forests, and the organisms that rely on them thrive, sea otters also remove mussels from rocks, liberating space for competitive species, thereby increasing the diversity of species in the area.