Ecology :

Dr. Carolyn R. Valenton

SBCA / UPHDS
ECOLOGY

 It is the science that

deals with the
interaction between
living organisms and
their environment.
 
TERMS IN ECOLOGY

 Biosphere- all areas of earth where life (biotic)

exists, including air, land and water(abiotic)
ABIOTIC FACTORS
 Include the non living factors in the environment
like LIGHT, TEMPERATURE, WATER, SOIL,
FIRE, GRAVITY, GASES AND MINERALS.

BIOTIC FACTORS
 Refers to the different species of PLANTS and
ANIMALS found living together and bound
together in a given ecosystem.
BASIC BEHAVIORAL PATTERNS
 TROPISMS
The turning plants towards or away from the
stimulus.
 Reflexes
These are automatic response of specific
body organs or parts of an organism to
stimuli
 Instinct
These are encoded sequences of
stereotyped behavior.
 Learning
It is the ability to acquire and process
new knowledge.
 Reasoning
It is the ability to evaluate and reflect
situations sensibly and thereby exhibit
reactions that would allow them to
interact better with other organism and
their environment.
BIOTIC COMPONENTS

 PRODUCERS – manufacture food for the

other members of the community.
 CONSUMERS- feed either directly on the
producer or on other consumers. These are
the herbivores, carnivores and omnivores.
 DECOMPOSERS (final consumer)- feed on
organism wastes and on dead organisms
and in the process, returns their nutrients to
the environment.
 Ecosystem- is a community interacting
with the non-living parts of its
environment.
 Community- is made up of all the
populations of different species that live
in the same place at the same time.
 Population- consists of organisms of
one species living together in the same
place at the same time.
Ecological Relationships

MUTUALISM
PARASITISM
COMMENSALISM
PREDATOR - PREY OR PREDATION
INTRA-SPECIFIC COMPETITION
INTER-SPECIFIC COMPETITION
Defense Mechanism
JUST LIKE PLANTS, ANIMALS HAVE EVOLVED
STUNNING CHARACTERISTICS AND BRILLIANT
MECHANISMS FOR DEFENDING THEMSELVES
PASSIVELY. WHETHER IT’S THE ABILITY TO CHANGE
COLOR OR ACTUALLY RESEMBLE OTHER OBJECTS,
THE WONDROUS WAYS IN WHICH ANIMALS
CAMOUFLAGE THEMSELVES FROM PREDATORS IS
FASCINATING.  
HUMANS SOMETIMES USE CAMOUFLAGE TOO).
The best way to defend oneself is to run
away from the clutches of the enemy. Some
animals can bite when seriously provoked,
but their first line of defense is usually to
hide or lee.

Fish use its genius in swimming, kangaroo

uses its talent for fast running to escape
from predators.
Animals use their unique body parts to fight or
defend themselves from predators. Some animals’
features make them undesirable meal.

Antlers, horns or teeth or claws and hoofs are used

with full force when an animal senses a threat to its
life. The canine teeth and sharp claws or carnivores
are actually related to their carnivorous feeding
hahits but may also be used for defense.
Spikes on a hedgehog’s back Sharp toothed Spines on a sea
Hippo star

Wild rams fighting Gavial Short-beaked echidna

Some animals have developed
external or superficial protection
against attack by predators , formed
as part of the body usually through
the hardening of body tissues,
outgrowths or secretions.

Scales cover the body of some animals such as

the pangolin (scaly anteater) and crocs

Shells of turtles and tortoises form armour against

enemies.
 Chinese Alligator Alligator snapping
Scaly Pangolin turtle

Red Rock Crab Nile Crocodile

Giant tortoise
Some animals use chemical secretions from their bodies to
deter attackers.
Ex. Stripes and spotted skunks direct the anal
glands which produce the stinking secretion
straight to their foes.
Sea cucumbers turn themselves inside out by
excreting stinky filaments from their anus when
attacked by their enemies. When under treat, sea
cucumbers rapidly eviscerate, ejecting part or all
of their digestive tract.
African spitting cobra sprays venom at the eyes of
a predator as far as 3m.
Beetles excretes hot Octopus ejecting Poison arrow frog
gas ink

Spotted Skunk produces foul African spitting cobra

smell
Animals produce ultrasonic noises and sounds to escape
from predators or to give a message to their predators
that they will be difficult to capture

Tiger moth
Skylark
Mimicking a dangerous animal to a predator is another
effective means of avoiding being eaten.

Non-venomous Sinaloan Milk snake (right)

mimicks the venomous coral snake (left)
One form, cryptic coloration, allows the animal
to blend in with its environment to avoid being
detected. Predators also use cryptic
coloration to avoid detection y unsuspecting
prey.
 Leaf Mantis Moth tree
Matamata

Leech camouflaged as a
Spider flounder thorn
Puerishes have the
ability to inflate
themselves into a
balloon shape
swallowing water. Their
bodies are also covered
with thorny spikes,
which stand out on
inflation, providing a
formidable defense
against attack.
Ecosystems are systems consisting of living things in a given area, non-
living chemical and physical factors of their environment, related together
through nutrient cycle and energy flow.
A. Natural
1. Terrestrial ecosystem
2. Aquatic ecosystem
2.a. Lentic - the ecosystem of a lake, pond or swamp.
2.b. Lotic - the ecosystem of a river, stream or spring.
B. Artificial - environments created by humans

Biomes - major ecological communities of the world, classified

according to their predominant vegetation and characterized by
adaptations of organisms to the climatic conditions of the particular
environment:
Fundamental classifications of biomes:
1. Terrestrial (land) biomes
2. Freshwater biomes
3. Marine biomes
TYPES OF BIOMES:
A. Terrestrial biomes

1. Tundra - "uplands," "treeless mountain tract.“, vegetation is composed

of dwarf shrubs, and grasses, mosses and lichens
three types of tundra:
Arctic tundra, alpine tundra, and Antarctic tundra[

2. Grassland - lands dominated by grasses rather than large shrubs or trees

Savanna ( warm and hot

countries) and Temperate
( climate varies)

Savanna in the Samburu Game Preserve, Kenya

 
3. Forest biome - forests occupy approximately one-third of Earth's land
area,
Types:
a. Tropical forest Wisconsin
b. Temperate
c. Boreal ( Taiga )
a.

From left: Olympic Peninsula rain forest, Washington; Patria River, Costa Rica;
Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar; Hawaiian forest.

b.

From left: Wisconsin woods; a forest along California's north coast; the
forested hills of the Adirondacks, New York.
From left: taiga in Jasper National
c. Park, Alberta, Canada; forest west of
Stockholm, Sweden.
 
4. Desert biome - cover about one fifth of the Earth's surface and occur
where rainfall is less than 50 cm/year
Types: Sand dunes in
Death Valley

National Monument,
California
a. Hot and Dry
b. Semiarid
c. Coastal
d. Cold From left: Baja, Mexico desert; desert in Uluru National Park,
Australia; desert near the Kofa Mountains, Arizona

From left: Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area,

southern Nevada; sagebrush near Bridger, Montana; Castle
Valley, Utah, east of Arches National Park.
5. Marine biome - cover about three-fourths of the Earth's surface and include oceans, coral
reefs, and estuaries.
Types:
a. Ocean - largest of all the ecosystems
b. Coral reefs
c. Estuaries

From left: reef life in the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea; a reef at
Fanning Island atoll in the central Pacific; a reef in the Florida
Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

From left: Mangrove roots, south Florida; wetlands and tidal streams in
the Ashe Island area, ACE Basin National Estuarine Research Reserve,
South Carolina; a salt marsh in Winyah Bay National Estuarine
Research Reserve, South Carolina.
6. Freshwater -having low salt concentration — usually less than 1%.
Types:
a. Ponds and lakes
b. Streams and Rivers
c. Wetlands

From left: a view across Manzanita Lake toward Mt. Lassen, California; a forest
pond near Donnelly, Idaho; a Great Blue Heron; Paranagat Lake, southeastern
Nevada.

From left: McArthur-Burney Falls State Park, California; trout; Green River, Utah;
Brooks River, Alaska.

From left: Pescadero Marsh, California; coastal marsh at Umpqua Dunes,

Oregon; trees and bogs on Esther Island, Alaska
BIOTIC AND ABIOTIC INTERACTION

LIGHT
 Diurnal – organisms which are active at

daytime and inactive at night.

 Nocturnal- organisms which are active

at night and inactive at daytime.

 Crepuscular- organisms which are

active at dawn or dusk or at both.

TEMPERATURE

 Poikilotherms (cold blooded)- are

organisms whose body temperature match
the environmental temperature.
 Homoiotherms (warm blooded)- are
organisms whose body temperature tends
to remain constant even the environmental
temperature changes.
 Heterotherms- these are basically warm-
blooded organism but as winter
approaches to hibernate.
 WATER
 Hydrophytes- are plants with their roots
either submerged in water or covered
with water.
 Mesophytes- are plants with moderate
amount of water available to the roots.
 Xerophytes- are plants adapted to long
period of extreme dryness.
CONCEPTS OF ECOLOGY
 Organisms in a biotic community are bound together
by their common need for food.
 Organisms interact with each other and the chemical
and physical components of the abiotic environment.
 Materials move in a cyclic path within an ecosystem.
 Energy enters the biosphere in the form of light
during photosynthesis and leaves mostly in the form
of heat.
 Interactions between two populations differ as to
whether one or both of the two populations is/are
benefited or harmed in the process.
WATER CYCLE
 Source: Water
from the ocean,
lakes and other
forms of water.
CARBON CYCLE
 Sources: CO2 from
the atmosphere,
limestone, fossil
fuel.
OXYGEN CYCLE

Sources: Oxygen
from the
atmosphere, water
and other organic
compounds such
as calcium
carbonate and
phosphates.
 NITROGEN CYCLE
 Source: Nitrogen in the
atmosphere
Nitrogen fixation- is the
process by which
nitrogen in the air is
converted into other
chemical forms useful to
plants.
(a) Rhizobium (b) lightning
FOOD PYRAMID
 ECOLOGICAL PROBLEMS /ISSUES

 Research on the following:

 1. Impact of Climate change
 2. How to curb carbon emission