BASIC ECOLOGICAL
CONCEPTS
BY OKORIE YVONNE
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
• At the of the lesson students should be able:
• Define ecology
• State two main branches of tea
• Ecological concepts
• Explian components of an ecosystem
Meaning of Ecology
• The word ecology is cornied from two Greek words Oikos which
means home or dwelling place. Ecology can be defined as the
study of plants and animals in relation to their enviroment.
Ecology is often described as enviromental biology.
BRANCHES OF ECOLOGY
• Two main branches are:
• Autecology; this concerned with the study of an individual
organism or single species of organism and its environment.
• Synecology: is concerned with the study of inter-relationships
between groups of organisms or species of organisms living
together in an area.
Some ecological
concepts
• Envrionment are all factors
external and internal,living and
non-living factors which affects
an organism.
• Biome: is any
naturally occurring group
of different organisms
living together and
interacting in the same
environment.
• Habitats: is area occurried by
a biotic community.
Population, ecosystem, community
• Population is the total number of organisms of the same species
living together in a given area.
• Community: is a group of plants and animals that occupy a given
area and are adaptable to the conditions of their environment.
• Ecosystem : an ecosystem refers to a community of plants and
animals functioning together with their non-living environment.
concepts
• Lithosphere: this is the solid portion of the earth. It is also called
the outermost layer of the earth crust.
• Hydrosphere: is the liquid or aquatic part of the earth or living
world. Which covers 70% of the earth crust.
• Atmosphere: is the gaseous portion of the earth
• Biosphere: is the zone of the earth occupied by living organisms.
• Niche: is the specific portion of a habitat which is occupied by
a particular species.
COMPONENTS OF AN ECOSYSTEM
• Biotic components include living
things which are grouped into
producers, consumers and
decomposers.
• Abiotic components are the non-
living things which include climatic
factors and other factors eg temp.
Wind, humidity, sunlight, oxygen,
nitrogen, soils, rocks, dust, storm
etc.
BIOMES OF NIGERIA
• They are grouped into two major zones. These are:
• Forest zone: made up of vegetation having mainly trees and
consist of :
• Mangrove swamp forest, tropical rain forest.
• Savanna zone: these are made up mainly grasses and is further
sub-divided into 3 belts which are southern, northern guinea
savanna and sahel savanna.
Mangrove swamp forest( Delta, cross river,
rivers, akwa -ibom, Bayelsa, Ogun and Lagos)
• Characteristices
• It has tall woody trees.
• Plants mainly have aerial roots(roots that grow above the ground)
• It has evergreen trees with broad leaves.
• It has high rainfall
• Its water is a combination of fresh and salt water.
• Tilapia, oysters, crabs, snakes etc.
TROPICAL RAINFOREST(Imo, Abia, Ogun,
Edo, Anambra etc)
• Characteristics
• They have tall trees with bttress roots and evergreen leaves.
• The trees exists in diff. Heights.
• The trees are scattered and deciduous, i.e. they shed their leaves
during the dry season.
• It has tall trees
• Monkeys birds, snakes, chameleon, and squirrel(animals)
• Iroko, walnut, mahogany etc (plants)
SOUTHERN GUINEA SAVANNA (ENUGU,
KOGI, BENUE, KWARA, EKITI, OYO ETC.
• Charateristics
• It is the largest of all the biotic communtiy in Nigeria.
• It has moderate rainfall
• Has tall grasses
• The trees are scattered and deciduous with broad leaves
• Locust bean, shea butter, (trees)
• Animals like antelopes, lioms. Leopard lions, zebra
NORTHERN GUINEA SAVANNA
• Characterstiics
• It has low rainfall
• It has scattered and short
• It has short but numerous grasses
• Animals include snakes ,lions, antelopes, deer
SAHEL SAVANNER
• Characteristics:
• It has high temperature
• It has short and scanty grasses
• It has short and tough shrubs
• Grasses are fewer, poorer and in patches
• Read /write characteristics of trees and shurb of savanna.
DESERT
• Characteristics
• A desert ha little or no rainfer
• They have
