This document discusses key concepts in ecology. It defines ecology as the study of interactions between organisms and their environment. It describes different levels of ecological organization from individuals to the biosphere. It explains important ecological terms like species, populations, communities, ecosystems, and biomes. It also outlines abiotic and biotic factors, and how living things obtain and transfer energy through producers, consumers, and decomposers in food chains, webs, and pyramids. Finally, it discusses habitats and niches, population limiting factors, interactions like competition, predation, and symbiosis, and biogeochemical cycles like water, carbon, and nitrogen cycles.

1. Ecology and conservation
1. Fundamental Ecology
2. Vegetation Ecology
3. Restoration Ecology
4. Conservation of Ecosystem

2. ECOLOGY :
The scientific study of interactions between different
organisms/species and between organisms/species
and their environment
DEFINE ECOLOGY

3. Levels of Ecological Organization
• The study of how organisms interact with
with their environments
each other and
• Scientists study ecology at various levels of organization.
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Individual
/ Species Population Community Ecosystem Biosphere

4. SPECIES
Species - group of organisms so similar to
another that they can breed and produce fertile
offspring

5. POPULATION
• Population: A group of organisms of the
SAME species that live together.

6. Organism
Organism
Population
Population
Community
Community
A community is a group of different
species that live together in one area.

7. ECOSYSTEM
• Ecosystem: made up of a community of
organisms and the abiotic environment of the
community.
• An ecologist studying the ecosystem could examine
how organisms interact as well as how temperature,
precipitation, and soil affects the organisms.

8. Biome – a group of ecosystems that have the
same climate and similar dominant
communities.
BIOME

9. • BIOSPHERE –the part of Earth in which life
exists including land, water, & air or the
atmosphere.

10. WHAT IS ECOLOGY?
• Root word eco- derived from Latin oeco-
meaning home. In this case, the Earth is our
home.
• Ecology is the study of how living organisms
interact with each other and with their
environment.
• Ecology studies the interactions between biotic
(living) factors and abiotic (nonliving) factors.

11. BIOTIC FACTORS
• All the living things or their
materials that directly or
indirectly affect an organism in its
environment (bio = life)
• Biotic Factors include:
Organisms
Their parts
Their wastes
Their presence
Their
interactions

12. ABIOTIC FACTORS
• All the non-living physical and
chemical factors which affect the
ability of organisms to survive and
reproduce (a in abiotic = not, non)
• Abiotic Factors include:
Temperature
Sunlight
Air
Water
Wind
Soil

13. Living Things Need Energy
 All living things need energy to survive.
 Organisms can be divided into 3 groups
based on how they obtain energy:
1. Producers – organisms that use sunlight
directly to make food
2. Consumers – organisms that eat
producers or other organisms
3. Decomposers – organisms that get
energy by breaking down dead or
decaying organisms

14. Producers
 Use photosynthesis
 Mostly plants, but also algae and some
bacteria

15. Consumers
 Cannot use sun’s
energy directly
 Herbivore – eats
plants
 Carnivore – eats
animals
 Omnivore – eat both
plants and animals
 Scavengers – feed
on bodies of dead
animals

16. Decomposers
 Bacteria and fungi
 Extract the last bit of energy from dead
organisms and produce simpler
materials
 Nature’s recyclers

17. Food Chains
 Food Chains – represents how the
energy in food molecules flows from one
organism to the next

18. Food Webs
 Food Web – many energy pathways
between organisms

19. Energy Pyramid
 The loss of energy at
each level of the
food chain can be
represented by an
energy pyramid
 Each level uses 90%
of the energy it
obtains, so only 10%
of the energy is
passed along to the
next level

20. Habitat and Niche
 Habitat – the environment in which an
organism lives
 Niche – an organism’s way of life within
an ecosystem
 Includes its habitat, food, predators,
organisms with which it competes, how the
organism affects and is affected by abiotic
factors in its environment

21. Interactions with the
Environment
 An organism interacts with biotic or abiotic
factors in its environment that can control
the size of its population
 Limiting Factors – factors that influence
how large a population can grow to
 Ex: food, water, living space, other natural
resources
 Carrying Capacity – the largest population
that a given environment can support over
a long period of time

22. Interactions Among Organisms
 4 main ways that species and individuals
affect each other:
1. Competition
2. Predators and Prey
3. Symbiotic relationships
4. Coevolution

23. Competition
 When 2 or more individuals or
populations try to use the same limited
resource (ex: food, water, shelter, space,
sunlight, etc.)
 Can occur among individuals within a
population
 Can occur between populations of
different species

24. Predators and Prey
 Prey – organism that is
eaten
 Predator – organism
that eats the prey
 Predator Adaptations –
Canines
Claws
Camouflage
Speed
 Prey Adaptations –
Chemical combat
Camouflage
Speed
Trickery: false features
and mimicry

25. Symbiosis
 Close, long-term association between
two or more species
 3 Main Groups
1. Mutualism
2. Commensalism
3. Parasitism

26. Mutualism
 Symbiotic
relationship in which
both organisms
benefit
 Examples:
 You and a species
of bacteria in your
intestines
 Coral and algae

27. Commensalism
 Symbiotic
relationship in which
one organism
benefits and the
other organism is
unaffected
 Examples:
 Sharks and
remoras

28. Parasitism
 Symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits
while the other organism is harmed
 Parasite – organism that benefits
 Host – organism that is harmed
 Example:
 Tomato hornworm and wasps

29. in ecosystems

30. Recall: The particles that make up matter
cannot be created or destroyed.
This means that all water and nutrients
must be produced or obtained from
chemicals that already exist in the
environment.

31. This happens in a series of cycles in
which chemicals are continuously
consumed, rearranged, stored and used.
Because these cycles involve living (bio)
organisms and occur on Earth (geo), they
are called biogeochemical cycles.

32. Every particle in every organism is part
of a biogeochemical cycle!

33. Water cycle = the series of processes
that cycles water through the environment
Most of the water that is
present in the water cycle
is found in the abiotic
environment.

35. Carbon moves between the abiotic and
biotic parts of an ecosystem in the
carbon cycle.
Most of this exchange occurs between
carbon dioxide (either in the atmosphere
or dissolved in water) and
photosynthesizing plants
and micro organisms.

37. Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
di atmosfir
Cadangan
Karbon
Trees take up
CO2 during
photosynthesis
PT. KSI
Kawasan Konservasi
Sertifikat RSPO-Nilai
Tawar Jual Minyak
Sawit dipasaran dunia

38. While large quantities of carbon cycle
through photosynthesis and cellular
respiration, most of Earth’s carbon is not
cycled.

39. Instead, it is stored in
carbon-rich deposits such
as fossil fuels (coal, oil,
natural gas etc.) that form
when decomposed
organisms are compressed
over millions of years.

40. Carbon is also stored for millions of years
as limestone formed from dead marine
organisms.

41. Large quantities of carbon are also contained
in plant tissue and as dissolved carbon
dioxide in the world’s oceans.

42. These locations are
referred to as carbon
sinks because carbon
can enter or leave them
over relatively short
periods of time.

43. Human activities have a dramatic impact on
the carbon cycle.
By burning fossil fuels, humans release the
stored carbon into the atmosphere, which is
contributing to global climate change.

44. Deforestation also increases the concentration
of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

45. Nitrogen is extremely
abundant in the
atmosphere, however
it is not easy to acquire
directly from the abiotic
environment.

46. Nitrogen enters and leaves the atmosphere
through a complex biochemical pathway
called the nitrogen cycle.

47. Most of the nitrogen used
by living things is taken
from the atmosphere by
certain bacteria in a
process called nitrogen
fixation.

48. These micro-organisms
convert nitrogen gas into
a variety of nitrogen-
containing compounds,
including nitrates,
nitrites and ammonia.

49. Lightning and UV light also fix small
amounts of nitrogen.

50. In addition, humans add nitrogen to the
soil as fertilizer.

51. Once in the soil ecosystem, the nitrogen-
rich compounds are available to
producers.
After the nitrogen is absorbed, it is passed
from producer to consumer and moves
up the food chain.

52. Many animals consume
more nitrogen than they
can use, and excrete the
excess in the form of urea
or ammonia.

53. A dead organism’s nitrogen-rich compounds are
taken in by decomposers, or are released back into
the environment.

54. These compounds are either recycled
again by soil micro-organisms, or they are
converted by denitrifying bacteria back
into nitrogen gas which then re-enters
the atmosphere.