5.1.

1 Define Species, habitat, population, community, ecosystem and ecology Wendy Choi
IB Biology
Species – A group of organisms which can interbreed and produce fertile offspring
Habitat – location within which a species normally lives
Population – a group of same-species organisms who live in the same area at the same time
Community – populations of different species in the same area interacting
Ecosystem – A community and its abiotic environment
Ecology – study of the relationship btwn living organisms and btwn others in their environment

5.1.2 Distinguish between autotroph and heterotroph

Mutual in
existance

5.1.3 Distinguish between consumers, detritivores and saprophytes.

Consumers – an organism that ingests other organic matter that’s living/ recently dead

– An organism that generally obtains food by feeding on other organisms or organic matter due to lack of the
ability to manufacture own food from inorganic sources; a heterotrophy
– Any of the organisms in all trophic levels in a food chain, except for producers
– In a food chain, the levels of consumers are:
○ primary consumers – herbivores that feed on producers
○ secondary consumers – consumers that feed on primary consumers and/or producers
○ tertiary consumers – consumers that feed on secondary and primary consumers, as well as on
producers

Detritivores – an organism that ingests non-living organic matter

– also known as detrivores or detritus feeders

– animals and plants that consume detritus (decomposing organic material)
– Speed up decomposition and recycling of nutrients by increasing the surface area available to detritvoric
bacteria
– Ex: millipedes, woodlice, dung flies, many terrestrial worms and burying beetles
– Most detritivores live in mature woodland, though the term can be applied to certain bottom-feeders in wet
environments; play a crucial role in benthic ecosystems, forming essential food chains and participating in the
nitrogen cycle

Saprophytes – an organism that lives on/ in non-living organic matter

– Secrets digestive enzymes into and absorbing the products of digestion

– obtains its nutrients from non-living organic matter, usually dead and decaying plant or animal matter, by
absorbing soluble organic compounds
– Saprotrophs consume external food sources rather than make their own food = heterotrophy
– Suffix -phyte = "plant".
 – no truly saprotrophic organisms that are embryophytes, and fungi and bacteria are no longer placed in the
Plant Kingdom. Plants once considered saprophytes, such as non-photosynthetic orchids and monotropes, are
now known to be parasites on fungi. These species are termed myco-heterotrophs
Choi 2

5.1.4 Describe what is meant by a food chain, giving here examples, each with three linkages (4 organisms)

A feeding hierarchy in which organisms in an ecosystem are grouped into trophic (nutritional) levels and are
shown in a succession to represent the flow of food energy and the feeding relationships between them. The
directional flow of materials and energy from one organism to another is graphically represented by arrows.
Most food chains have only about four to five links since too many links in a food chain will result in high
demand, less supply of food (and therefore energy).

Food Chain examples:

– Primary Producers → Primary Consumers → Secondary Consumers → Tertiary Consumers →

Quaternary Consumers
– Plant → Herbivore → Carnivore → Carnivore → Carnivore
– Phytoplankton → Zooplankton → Carnivore → Carnivore → Carnivore
– Grasses → Beetles → Small Birds → Hawk
– Grass → Slugs→ Badger → Mountain Lions
– Grass Dead → Grass → Woodlice → Shrew → Fox
– Grass → Slugs → Small Birds → Hawks
– Algae → Protozoa → Oligochaeta → Northern Eider → Arctic Fox

5.1.5 Describe what is meant by a food web.

Food Web is basically interconnecting food chains in an ecological community

– Direct steps in any food chain seldom reflect reality, whereas a food web makes it possible to show
much bigger animals (like a seal) eating very small organisms (like plankton).
– The food web has a number of advantages over a food chains including:
○ Shows the much more complex interactions between species within a community/
ecosystem
○ More than one producer supporting a community
○ A single producer being a food source for a number of primary consumers
○ That a consumer may have a number of different food sources on the same or different trophic
levels
○ That a consumer can be an omnivore, feeding as a primary consumer and as a consumer at
higher trophic levels
– Food sources of most species in an ecosystem are much more diverse, resulting in a complex web of
relationships. (Below is an example of an Antarctic food web)
 Choi 3

5.1.6 Define trophic level.

The trophic level of an organism = the feeding relationship of that organism to other organisms in a food.

A consumer can occupy a number of different trophic levels in the food web depending on its prey.

5.1.7 Deduce the Trophic Level of organisms in a food chain or food web (Use 5.1.4 and 5.1.8)

Organism Trophic
Level
Grass 1
2
Slugs 3
Badger 4

Mountain Lions

Grass 1
1
Dead Grass 2
Woodlice 3
4
Shrew

Fox
Grass 1
2
Mice 3
Hawk 4

Fox
 Algae 1
1
Protozoa 2
Oligochaeta 3
4
Northern Eider

Arctic Fox

Separate Paper: Diagram 5.1.8 Construct a food web containing at least 10 organisms.

5.1.9 State that light is the initial energy source for almost all communities.

– To maintain food chains, food webs, communities and all their interactions requires energy
– Sunlight is the source of this energy for most communities both aquatic and terrestrial
– Principle trap of sunlight energy = protein molecule chlorophyll
– Other energy sources for deep ocean communities based on geothermal energy
 Choi 4

5.1.10 Explain the energy flow in a food chain.

a) Not all solar energy will come into contact with chlorophyll and will therefore not be trapped in the
synthesis of organic compounds
b) Photosynthesis
c) Consumers feeding and passing on energy in the food
d) Loss of energy as heat from respiration
e) death and the consumption of dead organisms by detritivores. Or as food not assimilated because of
incomplete digestion.

Energy Loss

– loss of energy in undigested food which will then be used by saprophytes/ decomposers
– loss of heat energy in the reactions of respiration
– ultimately all energy will be lost has heat

5.1.11 State that energy transformations are never 100% efficient.

– The transfer of energy from one trophic level to the next is inefficient
– Approx 10-20 % of the energy on one trophic level will be assimilated at the next higher trophic level
– The volume of one layer is 10% of the layer below (loss of energy makes food chains relatively short)
– Extreme environments
○ Like arctic: low initial trapping of energy by producers
○ Food chains are short.
– In tropic rainforests
○ The trapping of energy = more efficient
○ Food chains are longer, webs are more complex.
– Why are big scary predators rare?
○ Energy and matter are lost at each stage of the food chain
○ Number of organisms generally reduces at each step or link in the chain
○ Organisms at higher trophic levels become less and less common
○ 'top carnivores' will have to feed over a wide area or territory simply to find food.
○ Another reason: an organism population gets smaller
 becomes more vulnerable to 'catastrophes': environmental changes or disease.
 therefore 'super top carnivores' unlikely & prone to extinction.
5.1.12 Explain reasons for the shapes of pyramids of energy.

– The narrowing shape illustrates the gradual loss of energy progressing along the links of a food chain to
higher tropic levels
– The base of pyramid would have a scale = energy/ area/unit time e.g. kJ m-2 yr-1
– Unlike pyramids of number (of organisms), a pyramid of energy cannot invert due to the second law of
thermodynamics, 'energy cannot be created nor destroyed'

5.1.13 Explain that energy enters and leaves ecosystems, but nutrients must be recycled.

(a) Energy flows: At each trophic level energy is lost as heat and gained by consumption of food sources: At the
top of the pyramid of energy it tapers to a point showing how all energy is ultimately radiated to space as heat.

(b) Matter recycles and is the subject of the carbon, nitrogen and water cycle: nutrient is a form of matter,
which cannot be created: no new carbon, hydrogen or oxygen. Producers (autotrophs) take inorganic molecules
and convert them to organic compounds. Consumers feed at different trophic levels taking in organic matter and
using it for their own growth.
 Choi 5

5.1.14 State that saprophytic bacteria and fungi (decomposers) recycle nutrients.

Saprotrophic bacteria and fungi recycle the nutrient (organic molecules) of dead organisms.

– Decomposition - complex process

○ serves many functions
○ formation of soil,
○ the recycling of nutrients stored in the organic materials
○ the reduction of high energy carbon compounds.
– Decomposition is a biological process
○ First: secretion of extra-cellular digestive enzymes produced by the saprophytic bacteria & fungi onto
the dead organism
○ Enzymes hydrolyze biological molecules of which dead organisms are composed
○ hydrolyzed molecules are soluble and will then be absorbed by the fungi or the bacteria
○ Organic molecules oxidized to release CO2 back to the atmosphere
○ Organic molecule are oxidized to release nitrogen in form of nitrate, nitrite and ammonium.

– The oxidation of these organic compounds produces energy for the saprophyte but returns the various
forms of matter to the abiotic environment
 Choi 6

5.3.1 Outline the population size is affected by natality, immigration, mortality and emigration.
Factors that increase population size:
 Natality is recruitment to a population through reproduction
 Immigration from external populations e.g. Bird migration
Factor reducing population size:
 Mortality which is the death rate from any source e.g. predation
 Emigration, where individuals leave the population for another habitat

5.3.3 Explain the reasons for the exponential growth phase, the plateau phase and the transitional phase
between the two phases.
a) Exponential Phase: Low or reduced limiting factors cause the population expands exponentially into
the habitat. The population may be increasing at 2n where n= number of generations. The rate of
natality + immigration is greater than Mortality + emigration. Note that it does not mean that death/
emigration= 0
 This would be typical of a population of germinating annual plants in a new season.
 Another example would be a a bacterial population during the initial phases of an infection.
 The population of any species occupying a previously unoccupied habitat (succession)
b) Transition Stage: Resources are reduced and become limiting in the growth of the population:
 As a population grows then there will be increased competition between the individuals of that
population for the same resources.
 This competition means that some individuals will obtain resources and survive and others will
not.
 Overall the effect is to produce a lower rate of population increase that observed during the
exponential phase.
 ecology + evolutionary theory: a reduced rate of population growth and selection (survival and
reporduction) of individuals within the population best suited to using resources.
''........can we doubt (remembering that many more individuals are born than can
possible survive) that individuals having any advantage, however slight, over
others, would have the best chance of surviving and procreating their kind? On
the other hand, we may feel sure that any variation in the least injurious would
be rigidly destroyed. This preservation of favourable variations and the rejection
of injurious variations, I call Natural Selection' Darwin C. (1859) The Origin of
Species
c) The Population plateau is where the population remains constant over time/ generations
 A constant population means that Natality + Immigration = Mortality + Emigration
 The population size is determined by the carrying capacity of the habitat at that point in time

5.3.4 List three factors that set limits to population increase.

With unlimited resources the population would increase exponentially.

In reality however environmental resistance limits the population growth and determines the carrying
capacity of the habitat:
 shortage of food or prey
 predation or parasitism
 disease
 accumulation of waste
 Shortage of space or territory
 Choi 7

G.1.1 Outline the factors that affect the distribution of plant species, including temperature, water, light, soil,
pH, salinity and mineral nutrients.

– The climate of a region- temperature and water

○ determines whether a particular organism or group of organisms live in a certain area
○ partially determined by global climate patterns
○ Terrestrial biomes are defined by the predominant type of vegetation
 relies on the factors of temperature and rainfall.
 Curvature and tilt of the Earth result in an uneven distribution of light, creating
tropical, temperate, and arctic areas
– Among the many soil properties, soil pH is one of the most important.
○ provides a good indication of the chemical status of the soil and can be used in part to
determine potential plant growth
○ influences nutrient uptake and tree growth
○ Many soil nutrients change form because of reactions in the soil that are largely controlled
by soil pH
○ pH values at the extremes (<4.0 and > 8.5) can make some nutrients toxic and others
unavailable to plants
○ lower pH levels (<4.5), aluminum, iron, and manganese are readily available for plant
uptake. At high pH levels (>5.5), calcium and potassium are overabundant.
– Salinity is the presence of salt in the land surface/ soil/ rocks/ dissolved in water in rivers/ groundwater
○ Can develop naturally but where human intervention has disturbed natural ecosystems, the
movement of salt into rivers and onto land has been accelerated.
○ Some species of plants are more salt tolerant than others
 Evidence in FL by observing the vegetation differences near salt water environments.
– Plant health depends on essential nutrients
○ Macronutrients—carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus (together 98% of plant
dry weight) and potassium, calcium, magnesium (1.5% of plant dry weight) –
○ Micronutrients—chlorine, iron, manganese, boron, zinc, copper, nickel, molybdenum

G.1.2 Explain the factors that affect the distribution of animal species, including temperature, water, breeding
sites, food supply, and territory.
– The predominant vegetation & climate determine the animal species found in the ecosystem
– Several limiting factors regulate growth in natural populations, the most obvious being competition
among members of the population for limited resources, such as a food supply
– Limited resource may be something other than food or nutrients
– In many vertebrates that defend a territory, the availability of space may limit reproduction. The space
needed for breeding and finding sufficient food is included in this territory.
– Even when space is sufficient, suitable breeding sites may not be available.
– As a population’s density increases, factors such as limited food supply and increased disease or
predation may increase the death rate, decrease the birth rate, or both.
– Most populations are regulated by a mixture of factors and fluctuations in numbers are common.
G.1.3 Describe one method of random sampling, based on quadrat methods, that is used to compare the
population size of two plant or animal species.

– Determine what kind of plants and animals are in a particular habitat, and how many there are of each
species, it is usually impossible to count each and every organism present.
– Usually solved by taking a number of samples from around the habitat, making the necessary assumption
that these samples are representative of the habitat in general.
– Samples usually taken using a standard sampling unit of some kind. This ensures that all of the samples
represent the same area or volume (water) of the habitat each time.
– Usual sampling unit is a quadrat
○ Quadrat normally consist of square frame, the most frequently used size being 1m2 .
○ Purpose of using a quadrat: enable comparable samples to be obtained from areas of consistent size
& shape.
○ Random sampling usually carried out
○ Quadrat frame placed on the ground (or on whatever is being investigated) & the animals, &/ or
plants inside it counted, measured, or collected, depending on what the survey is for.
○ Done many times at different points within the habitat to give a large number of different samples.
– Simplest form of random sampling: the quadrat is thrown to fall at “random” within the site.
○ Better method of random sampling:
 map the area
 lay a numbered grid over the map
 A (computer generated) random number table then used to select which squares to sample in

G.1.4 Outline the use of a transect to correlate the distribution of plant or animal species with an abiotic
variable.

– Another way to assess distribution of organisms within a habitat

– Tape is laid along the ground between two poles.
– In a line transect, sample is confined to describing all of the organisms that touch the line
– In a belt transect, sampling is confined to a strip of fixed width such as 0.5 or 1 meter
G.1.5 Explain what is meant by the niche concept, including an organism’s spatial habitat, its feeding activities
and its interactions with other species.
– A habitat is where an organism lives, and an ecological niche is the role an organism plays in its community,
including its habitat and its interactions with other organisms.
– The niche includes the resources an organism uses to meet its energy, nutrient, and survival demands.
G.1.6 Outline the following interactions between species, giving two examples of each: competition, herbivory,
predation, parasitism and mutualism.
– Competition (- -)
○ When members of different species try to use a resource that Is in limited supply
– Herbivory ( + - )
○ When one organism (herbivore) feeds on a Predation ( + - ) plant
○ When one animal (predator) feeds on another living animal (prey)
 Interactions between predator and prey
 Interactions between prey and its own
– Parasitism ( + - )
○ Organism (parasite) derives nutrition from another organism (host)
○ Effects of parasites on hosts can range from slight weakening to actually killing the host
○ Parasite also uses the host as a habitat
– Commensalism ( + o )
○ One species benefits, while the other neither benefits nor is harmed.
○
– Mutualism ( + + )
○ Both organisms in this relationship receive a benefit
○ Mutualistic relationships often help organisms obtain food or avoid predation
○ Parasitism, commensalism, and mutualism are all types of symbiosis.
G.1.7 Explain the principle of competitive exclusion.
– Principle of competitive exclusion states that no two species can occupy the same niche at the same time
– Demonstrated by Gauss in cultures of Paramecium species
– Definition of this principle in the Biology Course Companion states:
○ two species cannot coexist in the same habitat if their niches overlap
○ Either one species will lead to the decline and extinction of the other, or one or both of the competitors
will narrow their niches to avoid competition.
○ Their realized niche will be narrower than their fundamental niche
G.1.8 Distinguish between fundamental and realized niches.
– An organism’s niche is affected by both abiotic factors
– such as climate and habitat
– Biotic factors (such as competitors, parasites, and predators in the habitat)
– Because of this, ecologists distinguish between the fundamental and realized niches
– An organism’s fundamental niche comprises all conditions under which the organism can potentially survive
and reproduce.
– The realized niche is the set of conditions under which it exists in nature.

G.1.9 Define biomass.

– Biomass - dry weight of organic matter of a group of organisms found in a habitat

– Biomass may refer to the entire community or to a single trophic level of even to a single individual

G.1.10 Describe one method for the measurement of biomass of different trophic levels in an ecosystem.

– A number of ways to measure plant biomass with varying degrees of destructiveness.

○ In the area set aside for biomass, randomly locate a quadrat.
○ Biomass can be assessed indirectly and completely nondestructively by
 counting the number of individuals of the target species.
 Randomly selecting a sample of individuals.
 Determining mean height within the sample (height will be an indirect measure of
biomass).
 Multiply the mean height by the stem density (number of individuals).
– A more destructive method involves taking a sample of individuals of the target species and cutting them at
soil level.
○ Tag each individual with a label
○ Dry it to a stable weight and weigh it
○ Determine mean mass of plants in area
○ Multiply by the stem density in the area.
– A third method –
○ completely harvest all the target species in the quadrat
○ dry them to a stable weight and then determine the total biomass
– Herbivorous insects can be collected from a plant to determine their mass and then the biomass of the plant
they are consuming can be determined
G.2.1 Define gross production, net production and biomass.
– Productivity = energy quantity fixed per unit area per unit time in an ecosystem by a particular trophic level
– Gross Production = amount light energy converted to chemical energy by autotrophs in an ecosystem
○ aka primary productivity
○ reduced by the loss of energy through cellular respiration
– Net Production = Energy able to be passed on by producers to consumers
○ used to create the next level of an energy pyramid
○ aka productivity pyramid
G.2.2 Calculate values for gross production and net production using the equation:
gross production – respiration = net production.

– Gross energy minus energy lost equals net energy

– Might be asked to use this equation when interpreting or creating an energy pyramid
– Primary production can be used to compare biomes.
G.2.3 Discuss the difficulties of classifying organisms into trophic levels.

– “Discuss, giving examples, the difficulties of placing organisms in higher trophic levels.” 4 point question
– In food webs, organisms often occupy two levels.
– Some organisms eat prey from different trophic levels.
– Not all feeding habits of all organisms are known
– Feeding habits may vary seasonally or during the life cycle
– As you move up the food chain, less energy is available
– Broad diet is needed to ensure adequate energy intake.
G.2.4 Explain the small biomass and low numbers of organisms in higher trophic levels.
– The shortness of food chains can be attributed to the loss of energy between trophic levels.
– In general, only about 10% of the energy from one trophic level is available to the next trophic level.
– This 10% rule of thumb also explains why few carnivores can be supported in a food web
– The amount of energy available to top-level consumers is small compared with that available to lower-level
consumers.
– Only a fraction of the energy from photosynthesis flows through a food chain to top-level consumers.
– This explains why top-level consumers such as lions and hawks require so much territory; it takes a lot of
vegetation to support trophic levels that are many steps removed from the photosynthetic level.
– An energy pyramid also explains why meat is a luxury for humans. Producing meat for human consumption
means more land be cultivated; more water, fertilizers and pesticides are needed.
– Energy losses between trophic levels also result in pyramids based on the number of organisms or the
amount of biomass at each trophic level.
G.2.6 Distinguish between primary and secondary succession, using an example of each.
– Biotic factors may actually change the abiotic factors in an environment
○ the environment becomes limiting to them
○ other species become more suited
○ This is known as succession
– Primary succession occurs in areas where there is no soil formation.
– Secondary succession is the progression of communities where a pre-existing climax community has been
disturbed but the soil is already developed
– During succession, initial changes are often much more rapid than subsequent changes.
– A pioneering group of plant species will arrive on the island contribute to the development of an ecosystem
that will eventually stabilize with different dominant species
– The change in dominant species with will arrive on the island contribute to time
○ occurs as a result of the development of an ecosystem pioneering species altering the abiotic
○ eventually stabilize with conditions such that other species different dominant species
○ become more suited.
G.2.7 Outline the changes in species diversity and production during primary succession.
– Gross productivity rises as small plants are replaced by larger plants.
○ Biomass increases.
○ Increase in productivity at autotroph level is transmitted to upper trophic levels
○ Succession increases species diversity.
– Often the only life forms present are autotrophic bacteria
○ Lichens and mosses grow from windblown spores
○ Soil develops gradually as rocks weather and organic material accumulates.
G.2.8 Explain the effects of living organisms on the abiotic environment, with reference to the changes
occurring during primary succession.
– Ecologists have studied primary succession on the rocky moraines left by retreating glaciers around Glacier
Bay, Alaska, and have identified a predictable pattern of changes in vegetation and soil characteristics
– Early pioneering species include Dryas, a mat-forming shrub, which is later replaced with stands of alder.
Both of these species have symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria, which improve the soil for later plant species.
– Later spruce trees use the soil nitrogen and lower the soil pH as the trees’ acidic needles decompose.
– By altering soil properties, pioneer plant species permit new species to grow, and the new plants in turn
alter the environment
– By about 300 years after glacial retreat, spruce-hemlock forest dominates the area.
G.2.9 Distinguish between biome and biosphere.
– A biome is an ecological region dominated by a certain type of ecosystem characterized by certain
precipitation and temperature conditions leading to a distinctive biological community adapted t those
conditions
– Our biosphere is composed of these biomes.
○ Mader defines biosphere
 “zone of air, land, & water at the surface of the Earth in which living organisms are found”.
○ Atmosphere = air
○ Lithosphere = land
○ Hydrosphere = water
G.2.10 Explain how rainfall and temperature affect the distribution of biomes.
– The distribution of biomes is determined by physical factors such as climate (principally temperature and
rainfall), which varies according to latitude and altitude.
G.2.11 Outline the characteristics of six major biomes.
– Desert
○ Temperature
○ Moisture (rainfall)
○ Vegetation
– Grassland
– Shrubland
– Temperate Deciduous Forest
– Tropical Rainforest
– Tundra