Module 2

Basic ecological concept and principles

ECOLOGY COMMUNITY

 Ecology is the scientific study of the  The community of all populations

interactions between organisms occupying a particular place is
and the environment. the community. While a population
consists of a single species, the
 These interactions determine
community consists of many
distribution of organisms and their
species and populations. A
abundance.
community can contain thousands
 Ecologists work at levels ranging of populations of plant, animal and
from individual organisms to the microorganism species.
planet / biosphere. Communities can be plant and
animal communities or mixed.
 Ecology integrates all areas of
biological research and informs HABITAT
environmental decision making.
 A habitat is a place where an
ECOLOGICAL CONCEPTS organism makes its home.
A habitat meets all the
 Ecological Concepts Ecological environmental conditions an
concepts are general organism needs to survive. For an
understandings about ecosystems animal, that means everything it
and ecosystem management. needs to find and gather food,
 Ecosystem concepts provide a select a mate, and successfully
foundation for developing reproduce. For a plant, a
ecological principles and good habitat must provide the right
applications. combination of light, air, water, and
soil
POPULATION ECOLOGY
Predators
 Basic level of ecological concept
- main role of predation is to keep the
 A community of individuals of the population under control.
same species in a particular place is
called a population. Pine trees in a - organism that primarily obtains
forest, people in a city are examples food by the killing and consuming of
of populations. The individuals who other organisms
make up the population are Prey
affected by similar environmental
conditions and they use the food - that falls victim to another or an
sources of the environment in animal that lives off of other
which they live. animals.
Module 2
Basic ecological concept and principles

Decomposers has been called the world's largest

land biome.
- Decomposers are organisms that
break down dead or decaying - Animals: Foxes, Siberian tigers,
organisms wolves, bears

- ✓ TUNDRA

- where the tree growth is hindered

by low temperatures and short
growing seasons.

- Examples: large stretches of bare

ground and rock and for patchy
mantles of low vegetation such as
mosses, herbs, and small shrubs.
Animals like snowy owls, fox,
mountain goats, etc.

BIOSPHERE

 All of the air, soil and water layers

ECOSYSTEM that enable living in the world are
 All the biotic and abiotic factors in called biospheres. This area
the area. extends from the deepest part of
the oceans to 16 km of the
 emphasizes energy flow and atmosphere. If the autotrophic,
chemical cycling among the various heterotrophic organisms in the
biotic and abiotic components. biosphere did not interact, the
world would become uninhabitable
BIOME
due to the excessive accumulation
 Group of ecosystems that have the of matter. As a result of this
same climate and dominant interaction, the transfer of matter in
communities nature continues regularly.

✓ Taiga ECOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES

- Referred to in North America and Ecological principles are basic assumptions

Canada as a boreal forest or snow (or beliefs) about ecosystems and how they
forest, is a biome characterized by function and are informed by the ecological
coniferous forests consisting concepts. Ecological principles build on
mostly of pines, spruces, and ecological concepts (which are understood
larches. The taiga or boreal forest to be true) to draw key conclusions that can
Module 2
Basic ecological concept and principles

then guide human applications aimed at including their size, shape and spatial
conserving biodiversity. relationships

1. Protection of species and species’ 6. Climate influences terrestrial,

subdivisions will conserve genetic freshwater and marine ecosystems.
diversity.
Climate is usually defined as all of the states
At the population level, the important of the atmosphere seen at a place over
processes are ultimately genetic and many years. Climate has a dominant effect
evolutionary because these maintain the on biodiversity as it influences
potential for continued existence of species meteorological variables like temperature,
and their adaptation to changing conditions. precipitation and wind with consequences
for many ecological and physical processes,
2. Maintaining habitat is fundamental to
such as photosynthesis and fire behaviour.
conserving species.

A species habitat is the ecosystem

conditions that support its life
requirements.

3. Large areas usually contain more species

than smaller areas with similar habitat.

A basic principle that large areas usually

contain more species than smaller areas
with similar habitat because they can
support larger and more viable populations

4. All things are connected but the nature

and strength of those connections vary.

Species play many different roles in

communities and ecosystems and are
connected by those roles to other species in
different ways and with varying degrees of
strength.

5. Disturbances shape the characteristics of

populations, communities, and
ecosystems.

The type, intensity, frequency and duration

of disturbances shape the characteristics of
populations, communities and ecosystems