Ecology
Interactions in the Environment
What is Ecology?
The science of ecology includes
everything from global processes
(above), the study of various marine and
terrestrial habitats (middle) to individual
interspecific interactions like predation
and pollination (below).
Ecology is…
the study of the interactions
between living organisms and
their biotic and abiotic
environments.
Ecology is therefore the study
of the relationship of plants
and animals to their physical
and biological environment.
And the ENVIRONMENT is…
The surroundings of an organism that affect its
life and development.
An environment is characterized by
the ABIOTIC and BIOTIC factors.
Abiotic factors are non-living.
Abiotic factors include science like chemistry, physics and
geology.
Interactions of abiotic factors result in weather, seasonal changes,
tides, air quality, and water quality
Biotic factors are living and can be categorized within an
ecosystem structure…
Species Population Community
ECOSYSTEM: all of the communities that live in an area
together with the abiotic factors in the environment
A dead tree is not
alive but not
considered
abiotic….why?
It was
once
living!
Biotic features are all living
things in the biosphere.
The biosphere is all the parts of
Earth that support life.
This measures approximately
20km thick (12.4 miles)! Most
life on Earth exists between
500m below the surface of the
ocean and about 6km above sea
level.
What types of
communities make
up these ecosystems?
What types of
abiotic factors are
influencing these
ecosystems?
* A biome is an area that has the same climate (weather)
and the same organisms that live there.
* Biomes help scientists describe the world.
* There are ____
6 land biomes and ___
2 water biomes
* Tundra
* Coniferous (Boreal) Forest
* Deciduous Forest
* Tropical Rain Forest
* Grassland
* Desert
• Where is the tundra?
• Around the North Pole and near the Arctic Ocean
• Climate (weather)
• Very cold and dry
• Temperature: less than -5°C
• Only has 25 centimeters or less of rain every year
• What the land looks like
• Permafrost: the dirt that is always frozen (even in the
spring and summer)
• Flat land with only a few small, thin trees
• Plants
• Fungi and algae
• They cover the rocks and ground
• Animals
caribou duck lemming
musk ox
wolf
polar bear sandy hill
ermine marmot snowy owl
crane
• Plants
Japanese Knotweed
Austrian Pine
• Animals
Canada
Red Deer
Arctic Tern Goose
European Crab
• Climate
• Cold and snowy
• What the land looks like
• In the winter:
• Ground is frozen
• In the spring:
• Taiga: swampy forest
• Snow melts and the ground becomes wet and swampy
because the deeper ground is frozen
Alaska
Canada
Europe Asia
In Canada, Alaska, northern Asia, and northern Europe
• Conifer trees (have cones) cone
• Have needles covered with wax
• Wax protects the needles from freezing needles
Kinds of conifer trees
pin spruce fir
e
Moose Beaver Wolf Black bear
Wolverine
Hawk Owl Lynx Red Squirrel
Snowshoe Rabbit
English Grey
Holly Squirrel
European Starling
Asian Gypsy Moth
English Ivy
• Climate
• Summers are warm
• Winters are cold
• Gets 75 centimeters of rain every year
(that’s over 2 feet of rain!)
• What is special about deciduous trees?
• The leaves change colors and fall off the
trees in autumn and grow new leaves in the
spring
• The leaves on the ground make the dirt
better and help plants grow.
Deciduous forests are between northeastern United States and
Canada. Some are in the eastern United States. Others grow in
Europe and eastern Asia.
* Trees * Flowers
* Oak * Hickory * Lily of the valley
* Maple * Beech * Star Flower
Eagle Brown Bear Black Bear Chipmunk
Raccoon Porcupine Red Fox White-tailed Deer
Mouse Coyote
Asian Gypsy Moth
Screwworm
Nun Moth
Wineberry
English Ivy
Lady Bug
Purple
Loosestrife
• Climate
• Rains almost everyday
• Gets almost 10 feet of
rain every year.
• Very hot all year long
The largest tropical rainforest is in South America. It is called
the Amazon rain forest. They are also found in central Africa,
Central America, Southeast Asia, Hawaii, and a small area of
Australia.
Brown Marmooted Stinkbug Morella Faya
Burmese
Python
• There are _____
two kinds of grasslands.
• Temperate grasslands: called prairies
• Tropical grasslands: called savannas
• Climate
• All grasslands get between 25 and 75 centimeters of rain every year.
Coniferous forest
The largest grassland is in Africa. There are also grasslands
in North America, South America, central Asia, and northern
Australia.
• Some are found in the United States
• Illinois is on the prairie, so we live in the temperate
grasslands.
• Land is usually flat
• Not a lot of trees
grass
• The most important plant is __________.
• Largest savannas are found in Africa
• There are only a few trees on the savanna
• Why don’t a lot of trees grow?
• Savanna does not get a
lot of rain
• People set the grass
on fire to stop trees
from growing
• Animals eat the trees
before they can start
growing tall
• Grass
• Can live without a lot of rain
• Acacia tree • Baobab tree
African elephant Black Rhinoceros Cheetah Wild Dog Giraffe
Zebra
Ostrich
Hippopotamus Hyena Lions Warthog
Fire Ant
Wild Goat
Gum Arabic Tree
Grey Fox
two
There are __________ kinds of deserts.
• Hot deserts and cold deserts
hot desert cold desert
Sahara Desert Gobi Desert
In Africa, western North America, western Asia, central Australia,
and western South America.
* Climate
* gets less than 25 centimeters of rain every year
* hot during the day and cool at night
* Climate
* gets less than 25 centimeters of rain every year
* cold all of the time
* can live there because the roots are close to the top of the
ground and can get the water quickly.
Cactus Aloe
Barrel Cactus Prickly Pear
Cactus
Black-collared snakes camel
lizard
desert iguana
roadrunner jackrabbit
Red Fire Ant
Onionweed
Fountain grass
Argentine
Cactus
Moth
* Marine
* Freshwater
ocean
* The marine biome is the _________________ biome.
* covers about 70% of the Earth
* has salt water
* Organisms that live in the ocean are able to live in the salt water.
* sunlight, water pressure, and water movement affect the organisms
too
• because of these things, the ocean is divided into different
areas
• different organisms live in each area
* The water that is very deep has cold temperatures, high pressures, and is
very dark
• Many of the plants live near the top of the water
• they need the sunlight to help them grow and make food
• Most marine organisms live near the top of the water or close to land
• Many animals dig down into the sand or hang on to rocks, so they do not
get lost in the sea
• Other larger animals live where the water is deep
barracuda star fish clown fish crab
flashlight fish green sea turtle killer whale shrimp
Northern
Pacific
Seastar
Killer Algae
Lionfish
salt
* Freshwater means it does not have _______________ in it
* Includes still water and moving water
* Examples of still water * Examples of moving water
* lakes and ponds * rivers and streams
* Many of the plants that live in freshwater have strong roots to
keep them in one place.
* Some plants grow around the edge of the lake or float on the
top of the water
cattail water lily
bass carp trout
mallards bull frog
European Zebra
Green Crab Mussel Killer Algae
IN RESERVOIR RIGHT NOW!!!
ASIAN CARP GIANT
SALVINIA
* Estuary
* border between a freshwater biome and a marine biome
* are salt marshes, lagoons, swamps, and mouths of rivers that go
into the ocean
* are a mixture of freshwater and salt water
* some scientists believe estuaries are another biome, other
scientists believe estuaries are an ecosystem
* not very deep, so sunlight gets to all the water
* have many fish and plants
6
* There are __________ land biomes:
Tundra
____________________ Tropical Rain Forest
____________________
Coniferous Forest
____________________ Grassland
____________________
Deciduous Forest
____________________ Desert
____________________
2
* There are __________ water biomes:
Marine
____________________ Freshwater
____________________
estuary
* The special kind of water is an ___________________.