Interactions and Ecosystems

Topic 1: Interactions Within

Ecosystems
• Ecology: The study of the relationships
between living organisms and their
environment.
• Scientists who study these relationships
are called ecologists.
The Needs of Living Things

• All living things from spiders, to

sunflowers, to humans need…
1) Food
2) Water
3) Habitat
4) Air (gas exchange)
Adaptation
• Adaptation: is an inherited characteristic
that helps an organism survive and
reproduce in its environment.

• E.g. A duck has webbed feet so it can

swim well
• E.g. Many birds have hollow bones so they
can fly easily.
Continued…
• There are however many characteristics
that help animals survive in their
environment that are learned.

• E.g. Humans learn to look both ways

before crossing the street.

• These however, are not adaptations.

Ecosystems
• An ecosystem is the interactions between living and
non-living things in a particular environment.

• E.g. A rotting log is an example of an ecosystem. The organisms living in

and on the log and the soil, temperature, and other non-living features
around the log are interacting.
Interactions Between Living Things
in an Ecosystem
• Symbiosis: Occurs when two species live
closely together in a relationship that lasts
over time.

• Can you think of any examples??

3 Types of Symbiosis

• Mutualism: Each partner benefits from

the relationship!
• e.g. The remora fish uses suckers on its head to
attach itself to a shark. It then eats the bacteria
living on the shark’s skin.
• Other examples??
Continued…

• Parasitism: One partner benefits from

the relationship and the other is harmed.
• Which is which?? Parasite or host??

Examples: tapeworm, mosquito, leech

Continued…

• Commensalism: One partner benefits

and the other appears to be unaffected
• The orchid plant lives high up attached to the trunks of
trees. The orchid benefits by having a safe place to live,
the tree does not benefit or suffer.
• Other Examples???
Impacts on Ecosystems

• Relationships exist between the living and

non-living. These can have a major impact
on an environment.
• The beaver can have a dramatic impact on water and
change the environment around them by building dams.
• Other examples??
Human Impacts on Ecosystems

• Humans have a more dramatic and often more

devastating effect on the Earth’s ecosystems
than any other animal.
Natural Resources
• We rely on the ecosystem around us, just like all
living things do. We use natural resources to
meet our basic needs.

• Natural Resources: The materials and

products that are found in nature.

• Examples???
People and Nature: A Changing Relationship
• How have the ways people interact with the
environment changed over time??

• Evolution of gathering Food

Buffalo Hunt → Small Farms → Feedlots
How has this affected the environment??

Other Examples??
Needs vs. Wants

• Need: Something you need to survive

• Want: Things that make our lives more

enjoyable
Environmental Choices
• Ecological Footprint: Is a calculation of the total area
of land and water needed to supply all of the materials
and energy that you use as well as absorb all of the
waste you produce.

• What does that mean??

Sustainability

• Sustainability: A system where the

resources are being renewed as quickly as
they are being used. All wastes are able to
be completely absorbed.
The Roles of Organisms in an
Ecosystem
• Niche: The role of an organism in its
ecosystem.

• To determine an organism’s niche, you

must look at what it eats, where it lives,
and how it interacts with other organisms
in its ecosystem.
Types of Niches…
• Producers: make food for themselves
using the sun’s energy through a process
called photosynthesis.

• Examples???

• Producers make life possible for all other

organisms on Earth.
Continued…

• Consumers: Consumers eat the food

made by producers. Consumers can eat
producers or other consumers.
• Herbivores: Eat producers only and fill the plant-eating
niche. E.g. cows, deer, horses…
• Carnivores: Eat other consumers and fill the meat-
eating niche. E.g. wolves, coyotes, sharks…
• Predators: Kill and eat other animals (cougar)
• Prey: Get killed an eaten by predators (mouse)
Continued…
• Omnivores: Eat both producers and consumers. E.g.
raccoons, skunks and humans

• Food Chain: is a model that shows how the energy

stored in food is passed from organism to organism.
Food Webs
• Food Webs: Are more complex than food chains. They
show all of the relationships between predator and prey
in an ecosystem. (They are a combination of several
food chains)
1. Green vegetable bug becomes a problem if provided with non-pest weeds.
2. Ants tending aphids.
3. Weeds as alternate hosts for pathogens.
Overwintering hosts for aphids.
Pyramid of Numbers
• Food Chains and Food Webs show how food energy moves
throughout a system but not how many organisms it involves. To
solve this, scientists invented the pyramid of numbers.

• Biomass: The total mass of all the organisms in an ecosystem

The Order of Consumers
• There are Primary, Secondary and Tertiary
Consumers. Explain…
The Clean-up Squad
• Scavengers: Are organisms that feed on dead or
decaying plant and animal matter.
• Examples??

• Decomposers: Don’t actually eat dead material, instead

they grow on or in dead material, absorbing some
nutrients into their own cells.
• Examples??
Succession and Change in an
Ecosystem.
• Have you ever noticed grasses or plant growing in
vacant lot near your home? How does this process
happen?
• Succession: the gradual process by which some species
replace others in an ecosystem.
• Primary Succession: The gradual growth of organisms
in an area that was bare, such as rock.
• E.g. Ferns and mosses growing on rocks
Primary Succession
Secondary Succession
• Secondary Succession: The gradual growth of
organisms in an area that previously had a number of
organisms. E.g. A burnt forest area
Assignment

1. Differentiate Pest Insurgence and Pest

Resurgence
2. Why did monocultures become so
widespread?
– Can we expect monocultures to continue?
– If so, how can we make biodiversity relevant?
END OF PRESENTATION