10/14/2010

KAMRAN
INC.
SCIENCE UNIT TEST ECOLOGY NOTES

Unit Test Notes | Syed Kamran

Syed Kamran

Science Unit Test Ecology Notes

Introducing Ecosystems
Ecosystem: All the living and non-living organisms of a certain region or area interacting.
Example of ecosystems include: Forests, Swamps, and Coral Reefs. Living Components of an ecosystem
are called Biotic and non-living are abiotic.

Population: All the individuals of a single species in a certain region or area make a population.

Community: Individuals from all populations of a certain region or are form the community. This does not
include abiotic factors.

Characteristics of an Ecosystem:
Organisms: Organisms vary from ecosystem to ecosystem.
Temperature Range: The weather patterns of each ecosystem, depicts what organisms live there.
Precipitation: The amount of rain and snow fall controls the climate of an ecosystem.

Sustainability: Sustainability is the ability to maintain ecological balance; today most ecosystems are
sustainable. This means that their characteristics will remain the same over a long period of time. Human
actions can disturb the biotic and abiotic factors of an ecosystem, thus reducing its sustainability. Some
actions can damage an ecosystem to a point where it is no longer sustainable. E.g. Oil Spills.

Man-Made Ecosystems: Most ecosystems are not mad made, however ecosystems such as parks are mad
made. These ecosystems require constant management and are usually not sustainable. i.e. If you left a
farm for three years would it look the same when you came back.

Life on Planet Earth

The Spheres of Earth: The earth has three spheres surrounding it. Unlike the moon, the Earth’s gravity is
strong enough to hold gases close to the surface.

 Atmosphere: Layer of gases extending upward for hundreds of kilometres, and consists of 78%
nitrogen (N2), 21% oxygen (O2) and the remaining 1% is argon, water vapour, CO2, etc. This is
crucial to life on Earth, and acts like a blanket providing moderate temperatures.
 Lithosphere: The rocky outer shell of Earth containing rocks and minerals. It is 50- 150 km in
thickness.
 Hydrosphere: All the water on the Earth (above and below the surface). This includes all oceans,
lakes, ice, clouds, etc.

The Biosphere: All the life forms that exist within all the three spheres of Earth (Atmosphere,
Lithosphere, Hydrosphere)

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Bioaccumulation
Bioaccumulation: A process in which materials, especially toxins, are ingested by an organism at a rate
greater than they are eliminated.

Biomagnifications: The process, in an ecosystem, in which a higher concentration of a substance

in an organism is obtained higher up the food chain.

Cycles of Matter in Ecosystems

Biogeochemical Cycles: The movement of matter through biotic and abiotic factors. Matter cannot be
made or destroyed. Nutrients are produced from substances already in the environment. They are four
main biogeochemical cycles:

1. The Water Cycle:

2. The Carbon Cycle:

Carbon is cycled through the lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere. Carbon is an
important element, it is the basic building block of living things. Carbon is recycled by
photosynthesis and respiration.
3. The Nitrogen Cycle:
The series of processes in which nitrogen compounds are moved through and abiotic
environment. Nitrogen is taken from the atmosphere by soil bacteria by nitrogen fixation – a
process that converts nitrogen gas into nitrogen containing compounds. Nitrogen is than
available to producers, which animals eat. Decomposers feed on dead animals, while Denitrifying
bacteria release the nitrogen back into the atmosphere.
4. The Phosphorus Cycle:
Phosphorus starts in rocks, which break down into soil. Plants use the phosphorus in the soil; the
plants are eaten by animals, which are decomposed by bacteria, which release the phosphorus
back into the soil.

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Energy in Ecosystems
Types of Energy:

 Radiant Energy: Energy that travels through empty space.

o 70% of radiant energy from the Sun is absorbed by the hydrosphere and lithosphere, and
converted into Heat.
 51% Absorbed by land and oceans
 19% Absorbed by Atmosphere and Clouds
o 30% of the radiant energy is reflected back into space.
 Light Energy: Visible forms of radiant energy
 Thermal Energy: The form of energy transferred during heating and cooling (warms the
atmosphere, evaporates water, produces winds)

Photosynthesis: The process in which the Sun’s energy is converted into chemical energy
(Glucose/Sugar). This occurs only in producers, an organism that makes its own energy rich food
compounds using the Sun’s energy. Plants use chlorophyll to capture light energy. The formula of
photosynthesis is . In oceans algae and cyan
bacteria use chlorophyll to capture light energy for photosynthesis.

Cellular Respiration: The process by which sugar is converted into carbon dioxide, water and energy.
Organism use released energy for any of the activities carried out by its cell. The formula of cellular
respiration is .

Food Webs
Ecological Niches: An ecological niche is simply the function of a species serves in its ecosystem; thus no
two species have the same ecological niche.

Producers vs. Consumers

 Producers: These are always plants that harness the sun’s energy with chlorophyll.
 Consumers: Living things that eat producers in addition to other consumers.
o Herbivore: Animals that eat only plants (producers)
o Carnivore: Animals that eat only meat (other consumers)
o Omnivore: Animals that eat both plants and meat (producers and consumers)
o Scavenger: Animals that feed on the remains of another organisms.

Food Chain: A sequence of organisms, each feeding on the next, displaying how energy is following from
one organism to the next. E.g. Pine cone Red Squirrel Weasel Goshawk. Arrow head is pointing
toward the consumer. These chains are not exhaustive and simply show feeding relationships. If one link
of a food chain is broken it would result in numerous problems within the chain.

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Trophic Level: The level of an organism in an ecosystem depending on its feeding postion.

 First Trophic Level: Producers e.g. Plants

 Second Trophic Level: Will eat producers only e.g. Small Animals (primary consumers)
 Third Trophic Level: Can eat primary consumers and producers e.g. Mid-sized animals (secondary
consumers)
 Fourth Trophic Level: Can eat primary, secondary consumers, and producers e.g. Large animals
(tertiary consumers)

Food Webs: A visual representation that much accurately displays who eat who within a community. It is
usually highly complex as organisms feed upon several species. Similar to food chains the arrow points
from the organism being eaten to the organisms that is eating it. Food webs are used to figure out what
may happen when a species is removed or added to an ecosystem.

Ecological Pyramids
Ecological Pyramids: Pyramids that display the relationship between trophic levels in ecosystems.

 Energy: Displays energy loss between trophic levels; only about 10% of the energy is passed on to
organisms at the next trophic level. Only 10% of the energy is passed on because organisms use
90% of the energy for cellular respiration. The energy is released as heat and absorbed by the
ecosystem.
 Numbers: The number of organisms that make up each tropic level. This pyramid are sometime
bigger at the top.
 Biomass: Represents the mass (weight) of all the living organisms within that trophic level.

Biomass and Fossil Fuels

Biomass: Biological material from living, or previously living organisms. This material is usually recycled
allowing the material to be reused. If biomass is trapped in places without oxygen, with is required to
break down living matter, over time the trapped biomass is converted into fossil fuels.

Burning Fossil Fuels:

The burning of fossil fuels is the world’s fastest way of producing energy. Oxygen is used to produce
energy and Carbon Dioxide. Fossil fuels have accumulated for millions of years, but in recent years human
have burned significant portion of the Earth’s reserves.

 Suspicion: Some believe that the CO2 being released is responsible for Greenhouse Effect.

Global Warming:

The Greenhouse Effect is predicted to be causing Global Warming; this effect states rising of CO2 in the
atmosphere is responsible for the increase in temperature. However, this has not been proven thus far.

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Fuel from Waste:

Some bacteria are known to break down waste into sugar, through a process called fermentation. This
released a gas called methane (CH4). This gas is then collected and burn to generated electricity.

Acid Precipitation: Acids fall to the earth as a form of precipitation (rain, sleet or snow).

 When fossil fuels are burned they release undesirable substances

 Nitrogen Oxides and Sulfer Dioxide, are released and combine with water to form compound
acids, such as Nitric Acid & Sulphuric Acid)
 Acid Precipitation damages many things:
o Forest soils lose nutrients killing life.
o When mixed with water in lakes and oceans, it damages the ecosystems and kills aquatic
life.
o In addition, acid also damages stone work.
 Efforts to reduce Acid Precipitation
o Reduce burning of fossil fuels
o Improve technologies to prevent Nitrogen Oxides and Sulfer Dioxide from escaping
power plants.
o Rising the standard for factories and motor vehicle emissions.

pH: The measure of acidity and basicity of a substance.

 pH 7: Neutral e.g. Pure Water and Blood

 pH below 7: Acidic e.g. Vinegar (pH:3)
 pH above 7: Basic e.g. Ammonia (pH:12)

Biotic and Abiotic Influences on Ecosystems

Limiting Factor: Any factor that places a limit on the size of a population, this can be biotic or abiotic.
These factors can indirectly effect another population in the community.

 Biotic limiting factor: Amount of food available

 Abiotic limiting factor: Temperature, and availability of water.

Tolerance: Ability of an organism to withstand many conditions (abiotic and biotic). If the organism is the
optimal zone, it will perform the best and thrive.

Carrying capacity: The number organisms of a single species that an area the support forever.

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Symbiosis
1. Mutualism: Both species benefit from each other.
2. Commensalism: Both species benefit (Taken out of the curriculum):P
3. Parasitism: One species benefits at the expense of another species. This harms the host, however
does not kill them.

Predator – Prey Relationship: The predator-prey relationship act to regulate the population of each
species. e.g. If there are more predators the prey population will decrease, thus also bringing down the
predator population because there is less to eat.

 Predator: Eats plants and animals. This are consumers that eat other organisms
 Prey: The organism that is eaten by the predator

Population Factors: Factors which display how a population changes.

 Nataility (Births)
 Mortality (Deaths)
 Immigration (Animals coming in)
 Emigration (Animals leaving)

Population Equation:

Exponential Growth: Rapid, uncharacteristic growth which occurs for a short period of time. Usually
happens when a species is introduced into a new ecosystem that has lots of resources or when predators
are removed.

Ecological Succession
Ecological Succession: Gradual changes, in the types of species that live in an area. The replacement of
one plant community by another through natural processes over time. This process takes over 100 years.

 Primary Succession: Begins in a place without soil, due to flooding. The species that are first to
arrive are those who do not need soil to survive. These are called Pioneer Species. These species
help break down rocks into smaller pieces to produce soil; when they decompose they also add
organic matter to the rock to make soil. As the small species die off more plants slowly begin to
grow. Primary Succession would look similar to the following: Dune grasses  Cottonwoods
Shrubs Oaks  Beeches Maples. As more plants begin to grow animals also begin to arrive .
 Secondary Succession: Starts in an area where soil is already present, this usually occurs after a
forest fire. Unlike Primary Succession, soil is already present so there is no need of Pioneer
Species.
 Pond Succession: Organic substances will build up at the bottoms of ponds and lakes and convert
the pond into marsh and later into dry land. An example of Pond Succession is: Pond  Marsh 
Dry Land/Grasses  Shrubs  Forest.

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Terminology:

 Pioneer Species: The first species to start the process of succession.

 Climax Community: The last or final stage in succession e.g. Forest is matured.

Importance of Bio-Diversity
Biodiversity: The amount of life in a particular ecosystem, this is measured by counting all the species and
is referred to as Species Richness. i.e. Tropical rainforest have the highest biodiversity of any ecosystem.

Why humans value biodiversity:

 Different trees clean the air we breathe

 Animals provide, we require different tasting animals 
 Stabilizes and moderates the climate
 Benefits our industries such as forestry, farming, and fishing

At Risk Species:

 Vulnerable: Any species that is at risk because of declining numbers in population

 Threatened: Any species that is likely to become endangered if factor that make it vulnerable are
not reversed.
 Extirpated: The species no longer exists in one of its previous habitats
 Endangered: The species is very close to extinction in a large area.
 Extinct: The species cannot be located anywhere in the world.

Keystone Species: Species that are crucial for the health or survival of other species e.g. Bats. These
species are hard to identify until an ecosystem fails due to their absence.

Natural Causes of Extinction: Extinction of species that have not been blamed on humans.

 Competition with other organisms

 Environmental disasters
 Climate change
 Low Reproduction

Human Cause of Extinction: Extinction of species which is blamed upon humans. As human population
increases, the amount of species remaining declines.

 Invasion of habitat
 Over Hunting
 Pollution

Good Luck on the Test! 

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