Ecosystems and Communities
Ecosystems and Communities
Climate
• Weather is the condition of the atmosphere at that time for a particular area. Unequal heating of our atmosphere
• Climate is the yearly average atmospheric condition in a specific area over a long period of time.
Greenhouse Effect
• Atmosphere is a thin shell where conditions are presently suitable for life.
• Greenhouse Effect
• Greenhouse gases are water vapor, carbon dioxide(CO2), methane and a few other gases.
Latitude on Climate
• Latitude
• Equator
• Tropics
• Temperate
• Polar
Heat Transport in the Biosphere
• Unequal heating and cooling rates drives winds and ocean currents
• Winds– Jet stream– Westerlies– Trade winds
• Ocean currents– Gulf Stream– Southern Oscillation
• Altitude-rain shadow
Factors in an Ecosystem
• Biotic factors are the living factors in an ecosystem.
• Abiotic factors are the nonliving factors in an ecosystem.
• Habitat
Niche
• Niche is what an organism does or its occupation
Community Interactions
• Competition
• Predation
• Symbiosis– Mutualism+,+– Commensalism+,0– Parasitism+,-
Succession
• Ecological Succession
• Primary Succession– Pioneer species– Climax community
• Secondary Succession
• Natural disasters, climate change, human activitiesM
Aquatic Succession
• Death of large organism, scavengers, decomposers
• Nutrients that are broken down from tissues, bones are left. Marine worms
• Skeleton is dissolved by chemosynthetic organism and the nutrients and energy is used by mollusks and arthropods.
Biomes
• Biome
• Tolerance
• Stress
• Optimum
Biomes and Climate
• Microclimate
• Climate diagram, climatograph
Major Terrestrial Biomes
• Each of the terrestrial biomes is defined by a unique set of abiotic and biotic factors
Biome Characteristi Climate Soil/Seas
Tundra Dry, very cold
0, Dry, Very Cold
Permafrost, 60 days
Taiga, Boreal
Coniferous Cold winters, hotsummer
0-5 degrees, 50-100cm
Spodosol
60-100 days
Temperate Decideous
Cold hot
Trees
N12-27
S15-30
75-150cm
Mollisol
180 days
Grassland, Steppe, veldt, pampas
Variable, Sometime drough
Grassest
Wide Ranges
25-75cm
Mollisol
180 days
Tropical rain forest
Warm and Wet
25 constant
Over 150cm
Udisol
Year round
Desert Very dry Hot +20
Cold 10
Below 25cm
Aridisols, depends
Other Land Areas
• Mountain Ranges– Factors vary with elevation
• Polar Ice Caps– North, mosses, lichens, Polar bears, seals,
insects, mites– South, mosses, lichens, Penguins, aquatic
marine animals
Aquatic
• Aquatic ecosystems are determined by the depth, flow, temperature and water chemistry of the water.
Freshwater
• Flowing-River, streams, creeks, brooks
• Standing-Lakes, pond – Plankton-free floating organisms– Phytoplankton-unicellular plants– Zooplankton-organism that feed off of the
phytoplankton
• Wetlands-bogs, marsh, swamps
Wetlands
• Wetland– Bog(sphagnum)– marsh cattails, rushes, wetlands along rivers, – swamp flooded forest
Estuaries
• Estuaries-are areas where rivers meet the ocean. Detritus, shallow characteristics. Valuable as nursaries, migration stop
• Salt marsh- temperate-zone estuaries where grasses are the dominant vegetation
• Mangrove swamps-coastal wetlands, along tropical regions. Mangroves, seagrasses dominant vegetation. Valuable as nursery for fish and shellfish.
Marine Ecosystems
• Phototic Zone-light penetrates, photosynthetic
• Aphotic Zone-below 200 m, chemosynthetic
• Benthic Zone-covers the ocean floor
• Divisions also with distance from shore and depth.
Intertidal Zone
• Areas where organisms are exposed to extreme conditions, daily.
• Many different types of communities
• Zonation- prominent horizontal banding of organisms that live in a certain area High tide, low tide
Coastal Ocean
• Coastal Ocean from low tide mark to the edge of the continetial shelf.
• Kelp forest temperate, shallow regions, very productive. Usually supports a complex food web.
Coral Reef
• Corals are small marine animals that are found warm, shallow coastal areas.
• Corals are sack like with tenticles
• Symbiotic algae and corals, coral wastes are nutrients for the algae, the algae supply Carbon for the corals.
Open Ocean
• Open ocean is anywhere from continental shelf, 500 -11,000 meters
• Low nutrients, high pressure, low temperatures and total darkness.
Benthic Zone
• Benthic zone the ocean floor.
• Benthos-organisms that live on the bottom of the ocean
• Depend on other organisms for food, detritus
• Vents, nutrients
• chemosynthetic