Ecology and the Biosphere

Hercules scarab beetle-Panama

 Definitions

• Ecology
– The study of interactions between organisms and the
environment
• Ecosystem:
– A community of organisms and its physical
environment
• The biosphere:
– The global ecosystem, the sum of all the planet’s
ecosystems
Organisms and the
Environment
• The environment of any organism
includes
– Abiotic, or nonliving components
– Biotic, or living components. (All the
organisms living in the environment are the
biota)
Earth’s climate changes rapidly
and a climate changes

Subfields of Ecology
 Organismal ecology
• Studies how an organism’s structure,
physiology, and behavior meet the
challenges posed by the environment

How do humpback whales How do hammerhead

select their calving areas? sharks select a mate?
Population ecology
• Concentrates mainly on factors that affect
how many individuals of a particular
species live in an area

Population ecology.
What environmental
factors affect the
reproductive rate of
deer mice?
Community ecology
• Deals with the whole range of interacting
species in a community

Community ecology.
What factors influence
the diversity of species
that make up a
particular forest?
Ecosystem ecology
• Emphasizes energy flow and chemical
cycling among the various biotic and
abiotic components
Ecosystem ecology. What
factors control photosynthetic
productivity in a temperate
grassland ecosystem?
Landscape ecology
• Deals with ranges of ecosystems and how
they are arranged in a geographic region

Landscape ecology. To what extent do the trees lining the

drainage channels in this landscape serve as corridors of
dispersal for forest animals?
 Global
ecology

The “Big”
Picture
Ecology and Environmental Issues
• Silent Spring 1962 warned that
(Book)

widespread pesticide use (DDT etc.) was

causing widespread population declines in
non target species

• “Over increasingly large areas of the United States,

spring now comes unheralded by the return of the birds,
and the early mornings are strangely silent where once
they were filled with the beauty of bird song.”
Precautionary Principle

• Most ecologists follow the precautionary

principle regarding environmental issues
• The precautionary principle
– Basically states that humans need to be
concerned with how their actions affect
the environment
Distribution of organisms
Climate and the distribution of
organisms
• Interactions between organisms and the
environment limit the distribution of species
• Ecologists recognize global and regional
patterns of distribution of organisms within
the biosphere
• Biogeography: study of distribution of
organisms
 Biographic realms
• Broad patterns of distribution

Palearctic

Nearctic
Tropic
of Cancer Oriental
(23.5N)
Ethiopian
Equator

Neotropical
(23.5S)
Tropic of Australian
Capricorn
Dispersal and Distribution
• Dispersal
– Is the movement of individuals away from
centers of high population density or from
their area of origin
– Contributes to the global distribution of
organisms
Natural Range Expansions
• Natural range expansion show the
influence of dispersal on distribution
Spread of
great-tailed
grackle bird
1974-1996

New areas
occupied Year
1996
1989

1974
 Natural Range Expansions

Cattle egret
Native to the Old
World.
First reported in
South America in
1877
Species Transplants

• Species transplants
– Include organisms that are intentionally or
accidentally relocated from their original
distribution
– Can often disrupt the communities or
ecosystems to which they have been introduced

Purple loosestrife-Introduced from Europe

Behavior and Habitat Selection
• Some organisms do not occupy all of their
potential range
• Species distribution may be limited by
habitat selection behavior
Biotic Factors
• Biotic factors that affect the distribution
of organisms may include
– Interactions with other species
– Predation
– Competition
 Abiotic Factors
• Abiotic factors that affect the distribution of
organisms may include
– Temperature
• because of its effects on biological processes
– Water
– Sunlight
• Light intensity and quality can affect photosynthesis.
• Also important to the development and behavior of organisms
sensitive to the photoperiod
– Wind
– Rocks and soil
Wind
• Wind
– Increases the effects of temperature on
organisms by increasing heat loss due to
evaporation and convection
– Can change the morphology of plants
Rocks and Soil
• Many characteristics of soil limit the
distribution of plants and thus the
animals that feed upon them
– Physical structure
– pH
– Mineral composition
Climate
• Climate is the prevailing (usual or main)
weather conditions in a particular area
• Four major abiotic components make up
climate
– Temperature, water, sunlight, and wind
Climate scale

• Climate patterns can be described on two

scales
– Macroclimate, patterns on the global,
regional, and local level
– Microclimate, very fine patterns, such as
those encountered by the community of
organisms underneath a fallen log
Sunlight Intensity
• Sunlight intensity plays a major part in
determining the Earth’s climate patterns
LALITUDINAL VARIATION IN SUNLIGHT INTENSITY

North Pole
60N
Low angle of incoming sunlight

30N
Tropic of
Cancer

Sunlight directly overhead 0 (equator)

Tropic of
Capricorn
30S

Low angle of incoming sunlight

60S
South pole

Atmosphere
 Sunlight Intensity
SEASONAL VARIATION IN SUNLIGHT INTENSITY

March equinox: Equator faces sun directly;

neither pole tilts toward sun; all regions on Earth
60N experience 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of
June solstice: Northern 30N darkness.
Hemisphere tilts toward 0 (equator)
sun; summer begins in
Northern Hemisphere;
30S
winter begins in
Southern Hemisphere.

December solstice: Northern

Hemisphere tilts away from sun;
Constant tilt winter begins in Northern
of 23.5 Hemisphere; summer begins
September equinox: Equator faces sun in Southern Hemisphere.
directly; neither pole tilts toward sun; all
regions on Earth experience 12 hours of
daylight and 12 hours of darkness.
 Air circulation and wind patterns

GLOBAL AIR CIRCULATION AND PRECIPITATION PATTERNS

60N

30N

Descending Descending
0 (equator) dry air dry air
absorbs Ascending
moist air absorbs
moisture moisture
releases
30S moisture

60S
0
Arid Arid
zone Tropics zone
 GLOBAL WIND PATTERNS

Arctic
Circle
60N
Westerlies

30N
Northeast trades
Doldrums
0
(equator)
Southeast trades
30S

Westerlies
60S
Antarctic
Circle
Landscape features contribute to
local variations in climate
 Bodies of Water
• Oceans and their currents (streams), and large lakes moderate
(reasonable ) the climate of nearby terrestrial environments
2 Air cools at 1 Warm air
high elevation. over land rises.

3 Cooler
air sinks
over water.

4 Cool air over water

moves inland, replacing
rising warm air over land.
Mountains
• Mountains have a significant effect on
– The amount of sunlight reaching an area
– Local temperature
– Rainfall
1 As moist air moves in
2 Farther inland, precipitation
off the Pacific Ocean and
increases again as the air
encounters the westernmost
moves up and over higher
mountains, it flows upward, 3 On the eastern side of the
mountains. Some of the world’s
cools at higher altitudes, Sierra Nevada, there is little
deepest snow packs occur here.
and drops a large amount precipitation. As a result of
of water. The world’s tallest this rain shadow, much of
trees, the coastal redwoods, central Nevada is desert.
thrive here.

Wind
direction
East
Pacific
Ocean
Sierra
Nevada

Coast
Range
Microclimate
• Microclimate is determined by fine-scale
differences in abiotic factors.
– Shade from a tree
– Wind blockage by a boulder (Rock)
– Low-lying area that collects moisture
Biomes

• Biomes: Are the major types of

ecological associations that occupy
broad geographic regions of land or
water
 Aquatic Biomes-distribution

30N

Tropic of
Cancer
Equator
Continental
Tropic of shelf
Capricorn
30S

Key

Lakes Rivers Estuaries Abyssal zone

(below oceanic
Coral reefs Oceanic pelagic Intertidal zone
pelagic zone)
zone
Aquatic Biomes
• Aquatic biomes
– Account for the largest part of the biosphere
in terms of area
– Can contain fresh or salt water
• Oceans
– Cover about 75% of Earth’s surface
– Have an enormous impact on the biosphere
 Stratification of aquatic biomes
Stratified into zones or layers defined by
light penetration, temperature, and depth Intertidal zone

Neritic zone Oceanic zone

Littoral
zone Limnetic 0
zone Photic zone
200 m
Continental Pelagic
shelf zone

Benthic Aphotic
Photic zone zone
zone

Pelagic
Benthic
zone
zone
Aphotic
zone
2,500–6,000 m
Abyssal zone
(deepest regions of ocean floor)

(a) Zonation in a lake. The lake environment is generally classified on the basis
of three physical criteria: light penetration (photic and aphotic zones),
distance from shore and water depth (littoral and limnetic zones), and
whether it is open water (pelagic zone) or bottom (benthic zone).
(b) Marine zonation. Like lakes, the marine environment is generally
classified on the basis of light penetration (photic and aphotic zones),
distance from shore and water depth (intertidal, neritic, and oceanic
zones), and whether it is open water (pelagic zone) or bottom (benthic
and abyssal zones).
 Lakes
LAKES

An oligotrophic lake in A eutrophic lake in Okavango

Grand Teton, Wyoming delta, Botswana
Nutrient rich / oxygen poor
Nutrient poor / oxygen rich
Wetlands

WETLANDS

Okefenokee National Wetland Reserve in Georgia

Streams and Rivers
STREAMS AND RIVERS

A headwater stream in the The Mississippi River far

Great Smoky Mountains form its headwaters
 Estuaries A transition
area between
rivers and the
ocean

An estuary in a low coastal plain of

Georgia
Intertidal Zones
INTERTIDAL ZONES

Rocky intertidal zone on the Oregon coast

Oceanic pelagic biome

OCEANIC PELAGIC BIOME

Open ocean off the island of Hawaii

 Coral Reefs

CORAL REEFS

A coral reef in the Red Sea

Marine benthic zone

MARINE BENTHIC ZONE

A deep-sea hydrothermal vent community

 Terrestrial Biomes

• Climate
– largely determines the distribution and
structure of terrestrial biomes
– important in determining why particular
terrestrial biomes are found in certain
areas
Climate and Terrestrial Biomes
• climograph

Desert Temperate grassland Tropical forest

30
Annual mean temperature (ºC)

Temperate
broadleaf
15
forest

Coniferous
forest
0

Arctic and
alpine
tundra

15
100 200 300 400

Annual mean precipitation (cm)

Terrestrial biomes-distribution

30N

Tropic of
Cancer

Equator
Tropic of
Capricorn

30S

Key Chaparral Tundra

Temperate grassland High mountains
Tropical forest
Temperate broadleaf forest Polar ice
Savanna
Coniferous forest
Desert
Terrestrial Biomes
• Terrestrial biomes
– Are often named for major physical or
climatic factors and for their predominant
vegetation
 Tropical Forest
A tropical rainforest is an ecosystem type that occurs roughly
within the latitudes 28 degrees north or south of the equator

TROPICAL FOREST

A tropical rain forest in Borneo

 Desert
A desert is a barren area of land where little precipitation occurs and
consequently living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life.

DESERT

The Sonoran Desert in southern Arizona

 Savanna
A savanna or savannah is a grassland ecosystem characterized by the
trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close.

SAVANNA

A typical savanna in Kenya

 Chaparral
Chaparral is a shrub land or heathland plant community found primarily
in the U.S. state of California and in the northern portion of the Baja
California peninsula

CHAPARRAL

An area of chaparral in California

Temperate grassland

TEMPERATE GRASSLAND

Sheyenne National Grassland in North Dakota

 Tundra
where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short
growing seasons

TUNDRA

Denali National Park, Alaska, in autumn