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Overview: The Scope of Ecology

• Ecology is the scientific study of the interactions between organisms and the environment

• These interactions determine distribution and abundance of organisms and their abundance

• Ecology reveals the richness of the biosphere

Fig. 52-1

Eschrichtius robustus

What environmental factors determine geographical distribution?

How do variations in their food supply affect the size of populations?

Fig. 52-2Organismalecology

Populationecology

Communityecology

Ecosystemecology

Landscapeecology

Globalecology

Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Benjamin Cummings

• Organismal ecology studies how an organism’s structure, physiology, and (for animals) behavior meet environmental challenges

Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Benjamin Cummings

• A population is a group of individuals of the same species living in an area

• Population ecology focuses on factors affecting how many individuals of a species live in an area

Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Benjamin Cummings

• A community is a group of populations of different species in an area

• Community ecology deals with the whole array of interacting species in a community

Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Benjamin Cummings

• An ecosystem is the community of organisms in an area and the physical factors with which they interact

• Ecosystem ecology emphasizes energy flow and chemical cycling among the various biotic and abiotic components

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• A landscape is a mosaic of connected ecosystems

• Landscape ecology deals with arrays of ecosystems and how they are arranged in a geographic region

Copyright © 2008 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Pearson Benjamin Cummings

• The biosphere is the global ecosystem, the sum of all the planet’s ecosystems

• Global ecology examines the influence of energy and materials on organisms across the biosphere

Fig. 52-4

Fig. 52-5

Kangaroos/km2

0–0.10.1–11–55–1010–20> 20Limits ofdistribution

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• Ecologists consider multiple factors when attempting to explain the distribution of species

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Climate

• Four major abiotic components of climate are temperature, water, sunlight, and wind

• The long-term prevailing weather conditions in an area constitute its climate

• Macroclimate consists of patterns on the global, regional, and local level

• Microclimate consists of very fine patterns, such as those encountered by the community of organisms underneath a fallen log

Fig. 52-20

Tropical forestTemperate grasslandDesert

Temperatebroadleafforest

Northernconiferousforest

Arctic andalpinetundraA

nn

ual

mea

n t

emp

erat

ure

(ºC

)

Annual mean precipitation (cm)

30

15

0

0–15

100 200 300 400

Fig. 52-21g

Great Smoky MountainsNational Park in North Carolina

Coral Reefs

Acropora millipora

Orange Bushy Coral 

Bicarbonate Buffer System

Coral Combat

Kane’ohe Bay

Eucheuma denticulatum

Urchin Side

Non-urchin Side

Florida Key Reef Monitoring

Coral Bleaching

Decline Timeline

1973-74: Black band disease makes its appearance in the Caribbean. 1978-79: Staghorn and elkhorn corals suffer die-off in Florida. 1980-81: Staghorn and elkhorn corals die in Jamaica. 1982-83: Staghorn and elkhorn corals die throughout the Caribbean

(major El-Niño).Sea urchin Diadema, a key reef herbivore, dies throughout the Caribbean, allowing algal infestation of dead corals.

1985-87: Black band disease rampant in Florida.Corals bleach throughout the Caribbean and seas grasses die in Florida (major El-Niño).

1990: Corals bleach in Florida. 1994: Corals bleach in Florida. 1998: Corals bleach throughout the Caribbean (major El-Niño).

Black Band Disease