Earth - “The Living Planet” - non-living chemicals and

physical parts of the environment

Ecology – A branch of Biology that studies the
relation of organisms and their environment.
Population
- Oikos - house, logos - to
- Formed by a group of organisms of
study
the same species that lives in a defined area.
- Ecologists
Habitat
Ecologists study :
- A type of environment where a species
o What animals and plants
live.
live in this lake or forests
- Includes food, shelter and other
o How do they interact with
resources that the species need.
each other and
environment
o What changes will it
undergo over time

Biosphere
– part of Earth that supports life.

Ecosystem
– composed of all living things
Roles Organisms Play in an Ecosystem:
interacting with each other and their
environment
Producers
- Sir Arthur George Tansley
- Autotrophs
- Organisms that make their own food
Biome
- Traps radiant energy from the Sun and
– a set of ecosystems occupying large
uses it to convert H2O and C2O to make food
areas
- Flowering plants; trees; ferns
- Usually defined by abiotic factors like
climate patterns and soil types.
Consumers
- Heterotrophs
- Uses organic matter produced by
Community
plants as sources of food
- Consists of different species that
- Herbivore, Carnivore, Omnivore,
interact with each other.
Scavenger, Parasite

Species
Herbivore
- A group of organisms that share
- Eats plants directly
physical characteristics, interbreed, and
- Cow, panda, vegetarians
produce offspring.
Carnivore
- Eats animals
Biodiversity
- Lion, sharks, wolf
- Biological Diversity
Omnivore - competing with one another to
- Both plants and animals obtain resources
- Pigs, rats, humans Predation
Scavenger - one consumer serves as food
- Eats dead animals of another
- Hyena, vulture, coyotes - predator
- the organism that kills
and eats its victim
- can wipe out its prey
- prey
Parasites - the one that gets eaten
-Lives in another living organism to get Symbiosis
nourishment - living together of two or more
- Bacterias, Flea, Tapeworms organisms
- mutualism
Decomposer - two or more species benefit
- Converts organic matter to inorganic from each other
- Fungi, worms, bacteria - parasitism
- where one parasite lives on the
Abiotic Components host and harms it
- Physical parts of the environment - commenasalism
- Temperature and light; Water; - one organism benefits and the
atmosphere; Chemical elements; wind other is neither injured nor harmed
- commensal – physically
Detritus attracted to the host
- what decomposers break down and - host
turn into inorganic substances
Natural Ecosystems
Photosynthesis - biological environments that isn’t man
- process by which plants and made
other things make food - terrestrial
- aquatic
Biomes
Food Chain - distinct biological communities that
- how each living thing gets food, and have formed in response to a shared physical
climate.
how nutrients and energy are passed from
- contains a variety of habitats
creature to creature
- climate, temperature, moisture

Food Web
Tropical Rain Forest
- how the many different paths plants
- receives an incredible amount of rain
and animals are connected
- home of a great variety of organisms
Interactions in an Ecosystem :
- stay green all year
- different species in each layer
Competition
Emergent Layer Mossy Forest
- tallest tree that towers above all plants
- controls how much light and water
reach the lower layers
- woodpecker, hawks, eagles visit this
layer to munch on leaves

Canopy Layer Grasslands

- Still growing and soon will be part of
the emergent layer
- Home of sloths, orangutans and
parrots
- umbrella from the sun, rain and wind
- areas where grass is the main type of
plant
- tropical grassland - hot
- temperature grassland – cold
- Savannah; home to lions

Desert
- carpets of flowers, caves, canyons and
strange rock formations
- extensive in the interiors of continents
Understory Layer - no rain or little rain
- where other organisms live in a very - organisms in a desert are adapted to
difficult environment. the lack of rainfall.
- animals have adapted to become - oasis
nocturnal animals - when rain falls and some of it
- sleeps during day time sinks forming a reservoir of water
and active at night.
- night monkey, bats, spotted Temperature Forests
cats, clouded leopards. - grows in milder climates
- forest trees :
Forest Floor - deciduous forests
- dark, air is still and quiet - coniferous forests
- 250 feet from the emergent layer
- fungi, lichens, spiders, land crabs, etc. Deciduous Forests
- hardwood trees that shed their leaves
Three major regions of TRF : each winter
South America’s Amazon Basin - trees produce flowers in spring, seeds
Africa’s Congo Basin in summer, colored leaves in the fall
South Pacific’s Malay - warm summers, cold winters
- covers Eastern United States,
Philippine rain forests are home to all Southeastern Canada, parts of Europe and
endangered species. Asia.

Four specific types in Philippines : Hard Oakwood trees:

Molave Forest Oaks Maples
Dipterocarp Forest Ashes Birches
Pine Forest
Animals in DF:
Deers Bears
Coniferous Forests
- Christmas trees
- Conifers or Evergreen Trees
- Cold and wet climates
- Largest on Earth, called by
Taiga
- Winter is long and cold
Tundra
- type of biome where the tree growth is
hindered by low temperatures and short
growing seasons
- Covers 1/5 of Earths land surface
- Very cold and dry
Aquatic Ecosystems are not counted as biomes
Marine Environments
- covers 70% of Earth
- about 90% of all photosynthesis and
release of free oxygen takes place in the ocean
- bottom can be muddy, sandy or rocky
- shoreline can be smooth sandy to
jagged and rocky cliffs
- dark and very cold with little dissolved
oxygen
- creatures adapt by having light –
glowing property ( bioluminescence )
Freshwater Environments
- only places where you can get fresh,
flowing waters
Lakes cover 1.8% of Earths surface
Rivers and streams cover 0.3%
Littoral Zone
- nearshore is the part of a sea, lake, or
river that is close to the shore
Limnetic Zone
- farther away from the shore but close
to the surface
- open and well-lit area of a
freestanding body of fresh water
- inhabited by floating algae,
zooplanktons, and fishes

Three Major Communities: Profundal Zone

Coastal Zone - deep zone of an inland body of
Open sea surface freestanding water
Deep seawaters
*Not all freshwater systems are deep enough
Coastal Zone to have one
- commonly defined as the interface or
transition areas between land and sea
- supports numerous activities for Open ecosystems
humans makes it the most vulnerable - Interdependent Ecosystems
- areas open to outside and surrounding
Open Sea Surface influences
- area of the ocean outside of coastal - receives nutrients from bordering land
areas ecosystems

Deep seawater zone Wetland

- lowest part of the ocean
 - basic name for an ecosystem where
fresh or saltwater and land meet
Estuaries
- tidal mouth of a large river, where the
tide meets the stream
- the most productive ecosystem on
Earth
- filters sediment and nutrients, purifies
water that drains the land
- regarded as wastelands and are being
drained for housing and agriculture
Humanmade Ecosystems
- alters the planets natural ecosystem
- Singapore Night Safari
- first night zoo that maintains
artificial biomes as the animals home
Humans are connected to each other and all
other life forms. We depend on each other for
survival.
Bioinvasion
- Biological pollution that harms the
economy
- Invasive organisms aquatic or
terrestrial that have moved from their natural
habitat and when introduced in an ecosystem
where they establish themselves.
- Poses an ecological threat by altering
the environment
Direct Introduction
- involves human intervention
Indirect Introduction
- hitched by a ride or accidentally
transported
Succession
- a dynamic process where nature heals
itself
- a continuing process that occurs in all
ecosystem
Pioneer Community
- a variety of plants, animals and fungi
that first colonize a barren habitat
Transition Community
- determines what kind of species can
join in establishing
Climax Community
- community of plants, animals, and
fungi which, through the process of ecological
succession in the development of vegetation in
an area over time, have reached a steady state
Ecological Balance
- describes the equilibrium between
living organisms such as human being, plants,
and animals as well as their environment
*state of balance between opposing forces or
actions
Bioconservation
- protection of global biodiversity
starting at local, regional and global
communities, ecosystems and cultures and
apply to both plants and animals
Worldwide Efforts
Convention on Biodiversity
- June 1992
- United Nations Conference On
Environment and Development
(Earth summit)
- Rio de Janeiro
- Objectives:
 1) to achieve conservation of Tarsier
biological diversity - Carlito syrichta
2) make biodiversity sustainable - smallest known primates
in the long term - Presidential Proclamation No. 1030
3) share fairly the benefits of ( protected animal species )
genetic resources - Department Of Environment and
Natural Resources Administrative Order No.
381
- highly vulnerable species
- Philippine Tarsier Foundation, Inc.
Earth Summit
- climate change
- threats of extinction on species and
habitats
- looked for solutions that can help
reverse these

Coral Reef Preservation

- alternative livelihood projects
- information dissemination that
degrade resources
- International Coral Reef Initiative
(1994)
- Global Coral Reef Monitoring
Network (1996)

Philippine Conservation Efforts

Philippine Eagle
- monkey- eating eagle
- Pithecophaga jefferyi
- one of the worlds largest eagles
- endangered
- illegal logging
- Philippine Eagle Foundation
- National bird; July 9, 1995
- Maya bird; 1995