An Introduction to Ecology

and the Biosphere

Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

 • Ecology
– Is the scientific study of the relationships of
organisms with their environment
– The relationship of organisms with their
environment is interactive
• Organisms get all their survival needs from the environment.
• Organisms modify the environment as they extract their
requirements or deposit their products.
• Environment determines the type of organisms that will live on
it.
“ORGANISMS AND THEIR ENVIRONMENT ARE STRONGLY
COUPLED”
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 • Ecology
– Is an enormously complex and exciting area of
biology
– Reveals the richness of the biosphere

Figure 50.1
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 • Concept 1: Ecology is the study of interactions
between organisms and the environment

Why humans are interested in the

distribution and abundance of other
organisms?

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 Organisms and the Environment
• The environment of any organism includes
– Abiotic, or nonliving components
– Biotic, or living components
– All the organisms living in the environment, the
biota

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 • Environmental components
– Affect the distribution and abundance of
organisms
Kangaroos/km2 Climate in northern Australia
> 20 is hot and wet, with seasonal
drought.
10–20
5–10
1–5
0.1–1
< 0.1 Red kangaroos
Limits of occur in most
distribution semiarid and arid
regions of the
interior, where
precipitation is
relatively low and
variable from
year to year.

Southeastern Australia
has a wet, cool climate.
Southern Australia has
cool, moist winters and
Figure 50.2 warm, dry summers.
Tasmania

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 • Ecologists
– Use observations and experiments to test
explanations for the distribution and
abundance of species

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 Subfields of Ecology
• Organismal ecology
– Studies how an organism’s structure,
physiology, and (for animals) behavior meet
the challenges posed by the environment

Figure 50.3a
(a) Organismal ecology. How do humpback whales
select their calving areas?
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 • Population ecology
– Concentrates mainly on factors that affect how
many individuals of a particular species live in
an area

(b)
Population ecology.
What environmental
factors affect the
reproductive rate of
deer mice?

Figure 50.3b

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 • Community ecology
– Deals with the whole array of interacting
species in a community
– Focuses interactions (predation,competition,
disease, disturbance
(c) Community ecology.
What factors influence
the diversity of
species
that make up a
particular forest?

Figure 50.3c

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 • Ecosystem ecology
– Emphasizes energy flow and chemical cycling
among the various biotic and abiotic
components

(d) Ecosystem ecology. What

factors control photosynthetic
productivity in a temperate
grassland ecosystem?

Figure 50.3d

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 • Landscape ecology
– Deals with arrays of ecosystems and how they
are arranged in a geographic region

Figure 50.3e
(e) Landscape ecology. To what extent do the trees lining the
drainage channels in this landscape serve as corridors of
dispersal for forest animals?

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 • The biosphere
– Is the global ecosystem, the sum of all the
planet’s ecosystems
– Includes the entire portion of the earth
inhabited by life
– Atmosphere, land, lakes and streams, caves,
oceans to a depth of several kilometers

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 Ecology VS Environmentalism

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Copyright © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings
 • Concept 2: Interactions between organisms
and the environment limit the distribution of
species
Biogeography-the study of the past and present
distribution of individual species

• Ecologists
– Have long recognized global and regional
patterns of distribution of organisms within the
biosphere

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 • Many naturalists
– Began to identify broad patterns of distribution
by naming biogeographic realms

Palearctic

Nearctic
Tropic
of Cancer Oriental
(23.5N)
Ethiopian
Equator

Neotropical
(23.5S)
Tropic of Australian
Figure 50.5 Capricorn

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 Importance of Biogeography
 Continental drift theory-provides good starting
point for understanding what limits the
geographic distribution of a species

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 Dispersal and Distribution
• Dispersal
– Is the movement of individuals away from
centers of high population density or from their
area of origin
– Moving into areas where they did not exist
previously
– Contributes to the global distribution of
organisms

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 • Biogeography
– Provides a good starting point for
understanding what limits the geographic
distribution of species
Species absent
because

Yes Area inaccessible

or insufficient time
Dispersal Yes
Habitat selection
limits Behavior Yes Predation, parasitism, Chemical
distribution? No limits Biotic factors competition, disease factors
Water
distribution? No (other species) Oxygen
limit Abiotic factors Salinity
distribution? No limit pH
distribution? Soil nutrients, etc.

Temperature
Physical Light
factors Soil structure
Fire
Moisture, etc.
Figure 50.6

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 Natural Range Expansions
• Natural range expansions
– Show the influence of dispersal on distribution
– When organisms expand their range by moving into
areas where they did not exist previously

New areas
occupied Year
1996
Figure 50.7 1989

1974

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 Species Transplants
• Species transplants
– Include organisms that are intentionally or
accidentally relocated from their original
distribution
– Can often disrupt the communities or
ecosystems to which they have been
introduced
What are the indicators that transplanted species
are successful in the new found area?
What are the impacts if new species occupies
new area?
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 Behavior and Habitat Selection
• Some organisms
– Do not occupy all of their potential range

• Species distribution
– May be limited by habitat selection behavior

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 Biotic Factors
• Biotic factors that affect the distribution of
organisms may include (Negative interactions)
 Cannot complete its full life cycle (inability to
survive and reproduce)
– Interactions with other species
– Predation
– Competition
– Absence of other species

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 • A specific case of an herbivore limiting
distribution of a food species
EXPERIMENT W. J. Fletcher tested the effects of two algae-eating animals, sea urchins and limpets, on seaweed
abundance near Sydney, Australia. In areas adjacent to a control site, either the urchins, the limpets, or both were removed.

RESULTS Fletcher observed a large difference in seaweed growth between areas with and without sea urchins.

Removing both
100 limpets and
Sea
urchins or
urchin Both limpets removing only
and urchins urchins increased
80
removed seaweed cover
Seaweed cover (%)

dramatically.
60 Only
urchins
Limpet removed
Almost no
40 seaweed grew
Only limpets removed in areas where
both urchins and
Control (both limpets were
20 urchins and present, or where
limpets present) only limpets were
removed.
0
August February August February
1982 1983 1983 1984

Figure 50.8 CONCLUSION Removing both limpets and urchins resulted in the greatest increase of seaweed cover, indicating that both
species have some influence on seaweed distribution. But since removing only urchins greatly increased seaweed growth while
removing only limpets had little effect, Fletcher concluded that sea urchins have a much greater effect than limpets in limiting
seaweed distribution.
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 Abiotic Factors
• Abiotic factors that affect the distribution of
organisms may include
 Environment varies in both space and time
– Temperature
– Water
– Sunlight
– Wind
– Rocks and soil

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 Temperature
• Environmental temperature
– Is an important factor in the distribution of
organisms because of its effects on biological
processes
 Cells may rapture if water temp they contain
freezes (temp below 0°C), and proteins of
most organisms denature at temp above
45°C

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 Water
• Water availability among habitats
– Is another important factor in species
distribution
– Freshwater and marine water
– Terrestrial organisms are prone to dessication

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 Sunlight
• Light intensity and quality
– Can affect photosynthesis in ecosystems
 Intensity and quality of light limit distribution
of aquatic organism

• Light
– Is also important to the development and
behavior of organisms sensitive to the
photoperiod

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 Wind
• Wind
– Amplifies the effects of temperature on organisms by
increasing heat loss due to evaporation and
convection
 Contributes water loss
– Can change the morphology of plants

Figure 50.9
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 Rocks and Soil
• Many characteristics of soil limit the distribution
of plants and thus the animals that feed upon
them
– Physical structure
– pH
– Mineral composition
 In streams and rivers, the composition of
substrate (bottom surface) can affect water
chemistry affecting bottom resident
organisms
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 Climate
• Four major abiotic components make up
climate
– Temperature, water, sunlight, and wind

• Climate
– Is the prevailing weather conditions in a
particular area

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 Climatic Factors
 Temperature and water, have major influence
on the distribution of organisms

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 • Climate patterns can be described on two
scales
– Macroclimate, patterns on the global, regional,
and local level
– Microclimate, very fine patterns, such as those
encountered by the community of organisms
underneath a fallen log

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 Global Climate Patterns
• Earth’s global climate patterns
– Are determined largely by the input of solar
energy and the planet’s movement in space
– The sun’s warming effect on the atmosphere,
land, and water establishes the temperature
variations, cycles of air movement and
evaporation of water

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 • Sunlight intensity
– Plays a major part in determining the Earth’s
climate patterns
LALITUDINAL VARIATION IN SUNLIGHT INTENSITY

North Pole
60N
Low angle of incoming sunlight

30N
Tropic of
Cancer

Sunlight directly overhead 0 (equator)

Tropic of
Capricorn
30S

Low angle of incoming sunlight

60S
South pole
Figure 50.10 Atmosphere

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 Seasonal variation in sunlight intensity
• Earths tilt causes seasonal variation in the
intensity of solar radiation
• Planet is tilted on its axis by 23.5 degrees
relative to its plane around the orbit of the sun
 The tropics experience the greatest annual
solar radiation and the least seasonal variation
 The seasonal variations of light and
temperature increase steadily toward the poles

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 SEASONAL VARIATION IN SUNLIGHT INTENSITY

March equinox: Equator faces sun directly;

neither pole tilts toward sun; all regions on Earth
60N experience 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of
30N darkness.
June solstice: Northern
Hemisphere tilts toward 0 (equator)
sun; summer begins in
Northern Hemisphere;
winter begins in 30S
Southern Hemisphere.

December solstice: Northern

Hemisphere tilts away from sun;
Constant tilt winter begins in Northern
of 23.5 Hemisphere; summer begins
in Southern Hemisphere.
September equinox: Equator faces sun
directly; neither pole tilts toward sun; all
regions on Earth experience 12 hours of
daylight and 12 hours of darkness.
Figure 50.10
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