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OUTLINE: A POPULATION
ECOLOGY

D B
PRINCIPLES COMMUNITY
BIO-
SPHERE OF STRUCTURE
ECOLOGY

C ECO-
SYSTEM
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POPULATION ECOLOGY
1. Demography
2. Exponential
Rate of growth
3. Limits on
increases in size
4. Life History
Patterns
5. Human
Population

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POPULATION ECOLOGY (cont..)

1. DEMOGRAPHY
Each population has characteristic demographics such as:
a. Population size: number of individual that potentially
contribute to the gene pool.
b. Population density: number of individuals in some
specified area of a habitat.
c. Population distribution: pattern in which the individual
are dispersed in a specified area.
d. Age structure: number of individuals in each of several
age categories (pre-reproductive, reproductive, post-
reproductive age) 4
POPULATION ECOLOGY (cont..)

Type of Population Distribution:

CLUMPED NEATLY UNIFORM RANDOM

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POPULATION ECOLOGY (cont..)

2. EXPONENTIAL RATE OF GROWTH

Population size change as result from:
Birth & immigration increase population size.
Death & emigration decrease population size .

Exponential rate: any quantity that is growing at a

rate proportional to its size.
Doubling time: the time that takes for a population to
double in size
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POPULATION ECOLOGY (cont..)

Exponential Rate

As long as the per capita

birth rate remains above per
capita death rate, a
population will grow
exponentially.

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POPULATION ECOLOGY (cont..)

3. LIMITS ON INCREASES IN SIZE

At first, a bacterial cells population may grow exponentially.

Then it slows, and population size remains relatively stable.
After a stable period, population size plummets untill all of
the bacterial cells are dead. What happened? 8
POPULATION ECOLOGY (cont..)

Limiting Factors:
Any essential resource that is in short supply that
limits the population growth.
Common samples: food, mineral ions, refuge from
predators, and living space.

2 type of limiting factors:

a. Density-dependent limiting factor
b. Density-independent limiting factor
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 POPULATION ECOLOGY (cont..)

Carrying capacity is the max. number of individuals of a

population that a given environment can sustain indefinitely.

initial carrying capacity

(number of individuals)
Population size

new carrying capacity

Time A B C D E
How carrying capacity affect population
size? 10
 POPULATION ECOLOGY (cont..)

4. Life History Patterns

Each species has a life history pattern, a set of adaptation that
influence survival, fertility, and age at first reproduction.
Also, reflect the individuals schedule of reproduction.
Type of survivorship curves:
Type I Type II Type III
Number of survivor
(logarithmic scale)

Number of survivor

Number of survivor
(logarithmic scale)

(logarithmic scale)
Age Age Age
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POPULATION ECOLOGY (cont..)

Survivorship curves:

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POPULATION ECOLOGY (cont..)

5. HUMAN POPULATION
Population Pyramid

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COMMUNITY STRUCTURES & BIODIVERSITY

1. Community
Characters
2. Species
Interaction
3. Behavioral
Ecology
4. Community
Stability and
Changes

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COMMUNITY STRUCTURE & BIODIVERSITY (cont..)

1. COMMUNITY CHARACTERS
Each community has a characteristic structure, defined by
species richness and their relative abundance.

That structure arises in response to biotic and abiotic factors:

1. Physical & chemical condition (temperature, rainfall, soil type).
2. Availability of food and other resources.
3. Evolutionary history of habitat.
4. Morphological, physiological, & behavioral traits that help species
survive.
5. Interaction among species.
6. Natural & human-induced disturbances.

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COMMUNITY STRUCTURE & BIODIVERSITY (cont..)

All species in a community share the same habitatthe

same addressbut each has a profession that sets it
apart.

A niche is the sum of all activities and relationships in which

individuals of a species engage as they secure and use the
resources necessary to survive and reproduce.

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COMMUNITY STRUCTURE & BIODIVERSITY (cont..)

Specialization Niche

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COMMUNITY STRUCTURE & BIODIVERSITY (cont..)

Fundamental Niche VS Realized Niche

Two organisms cannot occupy exactly the same niche.
If this were to happen, one
would be a better competitor for
resources and ultimately
displace the other.

What happened to Cthalamus

sp. & Balanus sp.?

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COMMUNITY STRUCTURE & BIODIVERSITY (cont..)

2. SPECIES INTERACTIONS
Two-species interactions:
1. Commensalism
2. Mutualism
3. Interspecific competition
4. Predator-prey interaction
5. Parasite-host interaction

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COMMUNITY STRUCTURE & BIODIVERSITY (cont..)

Commensalism

Shark and remora fish

The remora fish uses its

suckers to connect itself
to the shark and get a
free ride on the shark's
http://www.west.asu.edu/achristie/hs body.
w4kids/animals/sharks/index.htm
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COMMUNITY STRUCTURE & BIODIVERSITY (cont..)

Mutualism
Facultative mutualism Obligatory mutualism

Yucca plant and its pollinator

Ants & aphids symbiosis 21

COMMUNITY STRUCTURE & BIODIVERSITY (cont..)

Competitive Interactions
Intraspecific competition Interspecific competition

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COMMUNITY STRUCTURE & BIODIVERSITY (cont..)

Predator-prey Interactions

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COMMUNITY STRUCTURE & BIODIVERSITY (cont..)

Evolutionary Arms Race

Predators and prey exert selective pressure on one another.
One defends itself and the other must overcome
defenses. Such interactions are often evidence of a
coevolutionary arms race.

Prey defenses:
1. Camouflage
2. Mimicry
3. Chemical defenses
4. Moment-of-truth defenses
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COMMUNITY STRUCTURE & BIODIVERSITY (cont..)

Camouflage

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COMMUNITY STRUCTURE & BIODIVERSITY (cont..)

Mimicry

Hawk-moth mimicry Elephant Hawk-Moth caterpillar 26

COMMUNITY STRUCTURE & BIODIVERSITY (cont..)

Parasite-host Interactions (Cowbird brood-parasitism)

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COMMUNITY STRUCTURE & BIODIVERSITY (cont..)

3. BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY
IMPRINTING
is a type of behavior that
includes both learning and
innate components and is
generally irreversible.

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COMMUNITY STRUCTURE & BIODIVERSITY (cont..)

SOCIAL BEHAVIOR
Benefits of social behavior:
1. Defense (passive and active)
from predators.
2. Easier to find a mate.
3. Synchronize reproductive
behavior (increases likelihood
of offspring survival).
4. Parental care increases
survival of offspring.

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COMMUNITY STRUCTURE & BIODIVERSITY (cont..)

ALTRUISM
On occasion, some
animals behave in ways
that reduce their
individual fitness but
increase the fitness of
others.
This kind of behavior is
called altruism.
In naked mole rat populations, non-reproductive
individuals may sacrifice their lives protecting the
reproductive individuals from predators.

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COMMUNITY STRUCTURE & BIODIVERSITY (cont..)

Hamiltons Rule and Kin Selection

The three key variables in an

altruistic act are:
The benefit to the recipient.
The cost to the altruist.
The coefficient of relatedness.

The coefficient of
relatedness is the probability
that two relatives may share
the same genes.

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COMMUNITY STRUCTURE & BIODIVERSITY (cont..)

Hamiltons Rule and Kin Selection

In honey bees, most of
the females in a colony
do not reproduce.
Female workers can
increase their overall
fitness by caring for
sisters rather than
reproducing on their
own.

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COMMUNITY STRUCTURE & BIODIVERSITY (cont..)

4. COMMUNITY STABILITY & CHANGES

Pioneer species are the start of community structure.
They have:
1. High dispersal rates,
2. Grow and mature quickly,
3. Produce many offspring,
4. Have short life cycle,
5. Can survive intense sunlight, extreme temperature changes,
and nutrient-poor soil

In the time, more competitive species replace them. Then the

replacements are replaced.

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COMMUNITY STRUCTURE & BIODIVERSITY (cont..)

Succession
Primary succession: a process that begins when pioneer
species colonize a barren habitat, such as a new volcanic
island.

Secondary succession: a process of recovering a disturbed

area within a community. Commonly occurs in abandoned
field, burned forest, etc.

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ECOSYSTEM
1. Organization of
Ecosystem
2. Energy Flow Through
Ecosystem
3. Nutrient Cycling

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ECOSYSTEM (cont..)

1. ORGANIZATION OF ECOSYSTEM
Participants in ecosystem:
1. Primary producersphotoautotrophs
2. Consumersheterotrophs, we can describe into several by
its diet:
a. Herbivores
b. Carnivores
c. Parasites
d. Omnivores
e. Scavengers
3. Detritivores: eat particles of decomposing organic matters
(detritus)
4. Decomposers: break down organic remains and wastes of all
organisms.
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ECOSYSTEM (cont..)

Structure of ecosystem
We can classify all organisms of an ecosystem by their
functional roles in hierarchy of feeding relationship, called
trophic levels.

A food chain is a straight-line sequence of steps by which

energy originally stored in autotroph tissues moves to
higher trophic levels.
A number of food chains cross-connect with one another,
called food web.

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ECOSYSTEM (cont..)

Soil Food Web

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ECOSYSTEM (cont..)

Biomagnification: DDT in Food Webs

The concentration effect occurs

because DDT is metabolized and
excreted much more slowly than
the nutrients that are passed from
one trophic level to the next.

So DDT accumulates in the bodies

(especially in fat).

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ECOSYSTEM (cont..)

2. ENERGY FLOW THROUGH ECOSYSTEM

Primary productivity of an ecosystem is the rate at which
producers capture and store energy in their tissues during
a given interval.

Biomass pyramid depicts the dry weight of all of an

ecosystems organisms at each tier.

Energy pyramid illustrates how the amount of usable energy

diminishes as it is transferred through an ecosystem
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ECOSYSTEM (cont..)
Ecological pyramids
Biomass pyramid Energy pyramid

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ECOSYSTEM (cont..)

3. NUTRIENT CYCLING
Biogeochemical cycle:
1. Hydrologic cycle
2. Carbon cycle
3. Nitrogen cycle
4. Phosphorus cycle

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ECOSYSTEM (cont..)

Hydrologic Cycle

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ECOSYSTEM (cont..)

Carbon Cycle

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ECOSYSTEM (cont..)
Nitrogen Cycle

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ECOSYSTEM (cont..)
Phosphorus Cycle

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THE BIOSPHERE

1. Air Circulation
Patterns
2. Ocean Circulation
Patterns
3. Terrestrial Biomes
4. Aquatic Biomes
5. Human Impacts on
Ecosystem

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THE BIOSPHERE (cont..)

1. AIR CIRCULATION PATTERNS

Climate: average weather conditions, such as cloud cover,
humidity, and wind speed, over time.

Latitudinal variations in solar heating cause a north-south

pattern of air circulation, and then east-west deflections
and air pressure differences over land and water introduce
variations in the patterns.

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THE BIOSPHERE (cont..)

What Factors Influence Climate?

An areas climate is determined by :
1. solar radiation,
2. the earths rotation,
3. global patterns of air and water movement,
4. gases in the atmosphere,
5. the Earths surface features.

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THE BIOSPHERE (cont..)

Generalized Map of Earth's Climate

THE BIOSPHERE (cont..)

Global Air Circulation

Three factors:
1. Uneven heating of earths surface,
2. Rotation of the earth,
3. Variations in properties of air, water, and land.
THE BIOSPHERE (cont..)

Creation of
prevailing winds:
the earths rotation
deflects the
movement of the
air over different
parts of the earth.
This creates global
patterns of
prevailing winds
that help distribute
heat and moisture
in the atmosphere.
THE BIOSPHERE (cont..)

2. OCEAN CIRCULATION PATTERNS

Earths
Conveyer
Belt

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THE BIOSPHERE (cont..)

RAIN SHADOW
On the windward side of On the leeward side of
Prevailing winds a mountain range, air the mountain range, air
pick up moisture rises,cools, and releases descends, warms, and
from an ocean. moisture. releases little moisture.

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THE BIOSPHERE (cont..)

3. TERRESTRIAL BIOMES

Biomes are vast expanses of land dominated by distinct kinds of communities. 55

THE BIOSPHERE (cont..)

Global air circulation

and biomes:

Heat and moisture are distributed

over the earths surface by vertical
currents, which form six giant
convection cells at different
latitudes.

The resulting uneven distribution of

heat and moisture over the planets
surface leads to the forests,
grasslands, and deserts that make
up the earths biomes.
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THE BIOSPHERE (cont..)

How Does Climate

Affect the Biomes?

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THE BIOSPHERE (cont..)
Climate
Determines the
Biomes

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THE BIOSPHERE (cont..)

Correlation Between Latitude and

Elevation

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THE BIOSPHERE (cont..)
SAVANNA

TUNDRA

DESERT
TERRESTRIAL
BIOMES

TEMPERATE
DECIDUOUS
TROPICAL
TAIGA FOREST
RAINFOREST 60
THE BIOSPHERE (cont..)

COMPLETE THE TABLE BELOW:

BIOMES TEMPERATURE PRECIPITATION VEGETATION ANIMALS

TAIGA

TEMPERATE
DECIDUOUS
FOREST

SAVANNA

DESERT

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THE BIOSPHERE (cont..)

3. AQUATIC BIOMES

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THE BIOSPHERE (cont..)

Zonation of Freshwater Ecosystem

1. Littoral zone: the topmost
zone near the shore of a lake
or pond, the warmest since it
is shallow and can absorb
more of the Sun's heat.
2. Limnetic zone: the near-
surface open water
surrounded by the littoral
zone, well-lighted (like the
littoral zone) and is
dominated by plankton.
3. Profundal zone: the deep-
water part of the lake/pond,
colder and denser than the
other two.
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/exhibits/biomes/aquatic.php
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THE BIOSPHERE (cont..)

Zonation of Saltwater Ecosystem

1. Intertidal zone: where the
ocean meets the land.
2. Pelagic zone: includes those
waters further from the land,
basically the open ocean.
3. Benthic zone: area below the
pelagic zone, but does not
include the very deepest parts
of the ocean.
4. Abyssal zone: the deep
ocean, very cold (around 3 C),
highly pressured, high in
oxygen content, but low in
nutritional content.

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/exhibits/biomes/marine.php 64
THE BIOSPHERE (cont..)

4. HUMAN
IMPACT ON
ECOSYSTEM

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THE BIOSPHERE (cont..)

DEFORESTATION
Population growth
leads to the loss of
natural habitats
Cut down trees to
build new homes

Effect:
Loss of biodiversity
Loss of oxygen
producers and CO2
eliminators
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THE BIOSPHERE (cont..)
DEAD ZONES

REMEMBER !

When an ecosystem receives a LARGE input of limiting

nutrient (ie., fertilizer runoff) the population increases
dramatically = Algal Bloom
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THE BIOSPHERE (cont..)

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THE BIOSPHERE (cont..)

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THE BIOSPHERE (cont..)

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THE BIOSPHERE (cont..)
ACID RAIN
BURNING FOSSIL FUELS
Whats the cause?________________________

Chemical Transformation Condensation

Nitric acid
Emissions to Atmosphere Sulfuric acid
Nitrogen oxides
Sulfur dioxide
Dry Fallout
Precipitation
particulates, gases Acid rain, fog,
snow, and mist

Industry Transportation Ore smelting Power generation

Nitrogen oxides and ________________

Releases _______________ Sulfur oxides
into the atmosphere that react with water to
produce ACID RAIN. 71
THE BIOSPHERE (cont..)

Effect of Acid Rain

damages buildings and statues

damages forests
kills fish
reduces biodiversity
causes illness & premature death from heart & lung
disorders like asthma and bronchitis 72
 GREENHOUSE EFFECT
THE BIOSPHERE (cont..)

Temperatures of Earth remain within a range

______________
suitable for life because the _____________
atmosphere
acts as a natural _________________
insulating blanket.

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http://wwwstatic.bayareawritingproject.org/images/bawp41/earthAtmosphereIMG.gif
THE BIOSPHERE (cont..)

Atmospheric gases such as

___________________
Carbon dioxide (CO2 )
___________________
methane
___________________
water vapor
___________________
CFCs

NORMALLY trap heat

energy from the sun
like a greenhouse
= _____________________
Greenhouse effect
http://www.acmecompany.com/stock_thumbnails/13808.greenhouse_effect_2.jpg
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THE BIOSPHERE (cont..)

GLOBAL WARMING
Temperature, CO2 Concentrations and Carbon Emissions

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THE BIOSPHERE (cont..)

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THE BIOSPHERE (cont..)

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THE BIOSPHERE (cont..)

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 THE BIOSPHERE (cont..) Kennedy Space

GLOBAL WARMING: Center

EFFECTS
Impact of a 1-m rise in sea
level on low-lying areas
Rising sea levels will cause
Displacement of coastal communities
Disturbance of agricultural activity
Coastal erosion, beach loss, decline in
tourism
Intrusion of sea water into freshwater
aquifers Areas subjected to
Inundation with a 1 m
Source:
(~3 ft) rise in sea
level
Corell, R. W., 2004: Impacts of a warming
Arctic. Arctic Climate Impact Assessment
(www.acia.uaf.edu) Cambridge University Press 79
(www.cambridge.org).
THE BIOSPHERE (cont..)
OTHER EFFECTS:
Climate Change & Global Warming

1. Effects on Plant and Animal Communities

2. Phenology (Timing of Natural Events)
3. Greening of the North
4. Desertification
5. Coral Bleaching
6. Species Extinction
7. Biological Shifts
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THE BIOSPHERE (cont..)

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THE BIOSPHERE (cont..)

REFERENCES

1. http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/exhibits/biomes/aquatic.php
2. http://people.uwec.edu
3. www.whrhs.org/
4. Corell, R. W., 2004: Impacts of a warming Arctic. Arctic Climate
Impact Assessment (www.acia.uaf.edu) Cambridge University
Press (www.cambridge.org).
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