An introduction to Ecology

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An introduction to Ecology Habitats,
environment and survival

• Unit 2, Area of Study 1 organisms and their
  environments

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What is Ecology?

• Ecology is the study of the relationships between
  ___________ and their ___________________.
• The habitat (where the organism lives)
• The other organisms it lives with
• The non-living parts of the habitat

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Habitat

• All organisms live in a particular area, called a
  habitat.
• Organisms are suited to their particular habitat.
• Organisms live in all types of habitats, even
  those that are considered extreme very hot,
  acidic, cold, salty etc. Many of these
  ____________________ are ____________

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Light-emitting bacteria
DEEP SEA
ANGLERFISH
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Types of habitat

• General descriptions
• _________________ (on land)
• __________________ (in water may be freshwater
  or marine, or ______________________ living in
  the river mouths that open to the ocean)

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Microhabitats

• Within a larger habitat (for example, a forest
  habitat called a ________ in the following
  diagram), there are a number of different areas
  that different organisms call home. These are
  ________________.

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Resources

• Animals live in particular habitats for their
  ______________. This usually includes __________,
  shelter, food, ____________________.
• Habitats are not _____________ in the amount of
  resources. For example, a frog living in a pond
  may use the water for shelter and hydration, but
  breed on the edges of the pond, and need sunlight
  and air from the outside of the pond.

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Range

• The area that encloses all the habitats the
  organism lives in is the range or
  _________________________ of the species.
• Within the range, there may be areas of plentiful
  organisms, or areas where they are rare a large
  range does not necessarily mean that a species is
  ____________

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Range of Australian wombat species
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Range changes

• Over time, the range of a species can change,
  usually due to change in ____________ (eg. The
  clearing of forests)
• Many Australian ____________ species have a
  _________________ range

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The changing distribution of the introduced Cane
Toad
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Absence from a region

• There are a number of reasons an organism might
  NOT live in a particular habitat
• Unsuitable environment
• ______________________ barriers
• Competition another organism competing for the
  same resources

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Migration

• Some __________ organisms travel long distances
  between widely _________ habitats
• Annually
• Humpback whales spend summer feeding and mating
  in Antarctic water, but travel to Australia when
  it gets too cold, where the females give birth
• Bogong moths are caterpillars in QLD and NSW in
  winter. When they become moths, they hibernate in
  the Snowy Mountains, then fly to the north again
  in autumn to mate
• Once in their life cycle
• Short-finned eels mature in freshwater lakes in
  southern and eastern Australia, but when they are
  sexually mature, they swim across to their
  breeding areas in deep ocean near New Caledonia.
  Larvae hatch and are carried back to Australia,
  where they swim up freshwater rivers to lakes to
  mature.

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Glossary words...

• Ecology, habitat (or biome), microhabitat,
  terrestrial, aquatic, resources, range,
  migration, competition.
• Page 263 Quick Check questions
• Homework Read about Technology as a Tool in
  Biology (pp 263 266) and answer Quick Check
  questions pg 266

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Niche

• In a habitat, many ___________ live together.
• They all must somehow __________ the resources
  which are there, or must require ______________
  resources

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Niche definitions (underline your favourite one!!)

• the way of life of a species
• the role or profession of a species in a
  community
• the way of life of an organism
• the status or role of an organism in its
  community

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Niche continued

• Each _________ has its own niche, which may be
  described in terms of the resources it uses
• Where it lives
• What it eats
• When it feeds
• The environmental conditions it ____________ (eg.
  Temperature, amount of sunlight)

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Describing niche

• Niche is usually described in words, for example,
  its niche is that of a leaf-eating
  _________________ that feeds by day in the
  _______________ of a tropical rainforest.
• Have a go at writing niche description for the
  following organisms
• Desert cactus
• Giraffe

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Niche overlap

• When more than one species in a __________
  occupies the same niche, or part of the same
  niche (eg. It requires the same food or shelter
  source), there is niche ____________
• Niche overlap means that there will be
  _____________ between species for the same
  resources, with one species undoubtedly being the
  stronger species

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Niche overlap continued

• The result of niche overlap is that one of the
  species will be either ____________ from that
  habitat, or will have to ____________ to fill a
  different niche.
• This, sadly, often happens when a species is
  _________, and it pushes out a native species
• Eg. Rabbits have out-competed small herbivorous
  mammals in many areas of Australia
• Natural habitats have _______ or
  ______________________ niche overlap

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Glossary etc

• Niche, niche overlap
• Pg 270, Quick Check questions