Ecology 1 and 2 Final
Ecology 1 and 2 Final
CONCEPT OF ECOLOGY
                                                                                            Facilitators;
                                                                                   Makeo Onani & Ayeko Daniel
                                                                                      Department of Biology
                                                                            St. Joseph of Nazareth High School- Kavule
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                                                                 Introduction
Key words                                                        Ecology is a branch of biology that deals with the relations of
                                                                 organisms to one another and to their physical environment.
                                                                 Living and non-living things exist in the same environment. Many
• Ecosystem         • Marine           • Secondary               living things benefit from each other, from non-living things as
• Ecology           • Forest             consumer                well as the environment. The interaction between various living
                                       • Tertiary consumer       things around is important because it ensures our survival and
• Autecology        • Population                                 the survival of other organisms.
• Synecology        • Aquatic          • Quaternary
                                                                 There are two types of ecology that’s to say , autecology, which
                                         consumer                deals with the study of individual species of plants and animals
• Habitat           • Arboreal
                                                                 and synecology which deals with the study of communities
• Community         • Terrestrial                                (plants and animals under similar conditions).
• Environment       • Producer                                   Ecological studies therefore, will provide learners with an
• Estuarine         • Primary consumer                           excellent opportunity to demonstrate the link between plants and
                                                                 animals and their interdependence.
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                                                                 • Ecology
TERMINOLOGIES USED IN ECOLOGY
                                                                 • Biosphere
                                                                 • Ecological niche
Activity (a): Understanding the terms used in ecology
Leading question:                                                • Species
What is the meaning of the different concepts in ecology?        • Environment
Materials                                                        • Population
Textbooks, Ecological journals, Internet, Dictionary             • Habitat
In groups                                                        • Ecosystem
1. Discuss, describe and note down any five components of the    • Community
    environment.
                                                                 3. Present your findings to the rest of the class members for
2. Research the meanings of the following terms as used in       discussion.
    biology.
                                                                 4. Make notes from the presentation.
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           MAP OF EAST AFRICA        The five main ecosystems in Africa are: savanna grasslands,
                                     marine or coastal ecosystems, fresh water ecosystems, tropical
                                     rain forests and semi arid ecosystems.
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Main physical feature   Major ecosystems           Distinguishing features                          Aquatic           Fresh water ecosystem   • Consists of lakes, rivers, swamps, ponds etc.
                                                                                                                                              • Contain fresh water with low salt content, the
                                                                                                                                                water is either slow moving, fast moving or
Mountains               Tropical rain      forests • Consist of mainly tropical and sub-tropical
                                                                                                                                                stagnant
                        ecosystem                    rain forests
                                                                                                                                              • Have lower temperatures compared to the
                                                   • Contain more of diverse flora and fauna
                                                                                                                                                terrestrial ecosystem
                                                   • They are warm and moist through out the
                                                                                                                                              • Temperatures are usually stable throughout the
                                                     year
                                                                                                                                              • Light intensity and penetration decrease with
                                                   • Consist of tall trees with dense foliage
                                                                                                                                                increase in depth.
                                                   • Species habitats from the forest floor to
                                                     canopy
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Discussion 1
                                                                             Tropical rainforest ecosystem
Tropical rainforest ecosystems
These are large tracks of land covered by trees.
Characteristics
• High humidity due to high rainfall throughout the year
• Contains more diverse flora and fauna
• Consists of tall trees with dense foliage
• Species in habitat from forest floor to canopy.
• Forest canopy and floor have varied light penetration.
• Are main sources of rivers hence characterized by numerous
  streams and water ponds.
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Characteristics
• Occupy flat rocky surfaces with black cotton soils
• Have tall grasses with scattered trees or shrubs (xerophytic vegetation)
• Animals found in this ecosystem include grazers like zebras, kobs, and
  predators like lions and leopards
• There are high rates of evapo-transpiration and periodic severe drought
• Strong winds are felt periodically
• Unpredictable rainfall is always received which is poorly distributed
  annually.
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Semi-arid/desert ecosystem
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                                                                    Marine ecosystems
                                                                    These are areas around the oceans, seas and major salt lakes like
                                                                    Katwe and Bunyampakwa in Uganda, Nakuru in Kenya among others.
                                                                    The salty lakes are inland waters that are alkaline.
                                                                    Characteristics
                                                                    • Oceans and seas have salty water. The soils in this ecosystem are
                                                                      also salty
                                                                    • Have lower temperatures compared to the terrestrial ecosystem.
                                                                    • Temperatures are usually stable throughout the day.
                                                                    • Light intensity and penetration decrease with increase in depth.
                                                                    • There are various plants that are tolerant to salty waters in the lakes.
                                                                      Animal species include marine fish, flamingoes and invertebrates.
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Discussion 2
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                                                                        Energy                       Consumer
The learner should be able to:                                          Biomass                      Decomposer
• understand the feeding relationships in an ecosystem, and             Food chain                   Scavenger
  express them using food chains, webs, and pyramids (k, u, s)          Food web                     Trophic level
• appreciate the organisms and processes involved in the carbon         Photosynthesis               Carbon cycle
  cycle, and its role in maintaining the carbon dioxide balance in      Producer                     Respiration
  the atmosphere (u, v)
                                                                        Pyramid
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As earlier discussed, an ecosystem has both living components        Feeding relationships in an ecosystem can be expressed in two
and non-living components. The living components depend on           ways, that is either using the food chains or food webs.
non-living components and the latter on the former. When living
things benefit from each other, they form a chain of dependency
which results in a food chain.
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                                                                                 Study figure and identify which organism feeds on the other and fill in the
    Activity(a): Understanding the difference between food chain and             blank spaces. (Pg 122 Active Biology Students’ Book 4)
    food web.
    Key question: What is the difference between food chain and
    food web?
In groups
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                                                                                                 Organism(s)                    Eaten by
(i)........... is eaten by ...........
(ii).......... is eaten by ..................... which is eaten by ...........
(iii)......... is eaten by ....... is eaten by .......... is eaten by ........
Discussion:
                                                                         A food web:
1. Difference between food chain and food web.
• A food chain is a sequence of feeding relationships from the
                                                                         Is a complex nutritional relationship showing alternative sources
producers to the consumers. A food chain is a simplified sequence of     of food for each organism in a community.           The food web
transfer of matter and energy in the form of food from one organism to   consists of a number of interlinked food chains. It gives a clearer
another in a community. Food chains are linear and tend to show only     picture of what occurs in a community than the food chain that
one source of food for an individual organism represented.               provides no alternative source of food.
• For example, considering a feeding relationship between grass,
grasshoppers, a dove and cat.
• The grasshoppers feed on grass which is a producer, hence
grasshoppers are primary consumers on grass. The dove feeds on
grasshoppers which qualifies it to be a secondary consumer. Then
finally, an animal such as a cat feeds on meat from the dove hence
being a tertiary consumer.
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                                                                           NB:
3. Food chains
                                                                            Each food chain starts with a producer and the food then
                                                                             passes on to a primary consumer, next to a secondary
                                                                             consumer and so on.
                                                                            The arrows represent the transfer of food between the trophic level.
                                                                            The food chain is open ended and each individual has only one
                                                                             source of food thus no alternative.
                                                                            The number of links (producers and consumers) in a food
                                                                             chain may vary, but does not usually go above five.
                                                                            Arrows used are eaten by arrows i.e it goes from the eaten
                                                                             individual to the predator.
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4. Give the alternative food sources and choose an organism that           Sample food web of the organisms in discussion
is eaten by two or more organisms. Fill the table below.
                    Organism(s)                 Eaten by                              Draw the food in your groups and present it on a manila
                                                                                      paper.
           Plants                       Zebras, impalas, elephants,
                                        buffalos, rhinos.
           Zebras,            impalas, Cheetahs and lions
           elephants, buffalos, rhinos.
           Zebras, impalas, buffalos, Crocodiles
           rhinos, Cheetahs and lions
           Zebras, impalas, buffalos, Hyenas and marabou storks
           rhinos, Cheetahs and lions
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                                                                        NB:
                                                                         A food web is an interlinked multiple food chains of all the
                                                                          organisms given in the list above.
                                                                         Organisms are grouped as producers, primary consumers,
                                                                          secondary consumers and tertiary consumers.
                                                                         Arrows connect showing the transfer of energy from one
                                                                          organism (the source of food- Guinea grass/ maize plant) to
                                                                          another (the predator).
                                                                         Arrows represent the transfer of food between the trophic level.
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Exercise
                                                                        Responses
1. Study the organisms in the table below, to construct possible        1. Sample food chains for the organisms give
food chains.                                                            ................................................................................................................
                                                                        ................................................................................................................
           Guinea grass, Lizard, Grasshopper, Hen, Hawk,                ................................................................................................................
           Termite, Frog, Heron, Antelope, Lion, Vulture, Maize         ................................................................................................................
           plant                                                        ................................................................................................................
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Note:                                                                 Activity (b) : Constructing a pyramid of numbers using data from a field
                                                                      study.
The length (or area) of a rectangle represents how many               Key question: How would you construct would you construct a pyramid
                                                                      of numbers using data using data collected from a field study?
organisms they are at each particular trophic level. For example,
the size of the rectangles in the pyramid decreases as you move
                                                                      In groups
from producers to tertiary consumers.                                 1. Conduct a field study in a selected area (ecosystem) to identify the
                                                                         organisms that live there.
The number of organisms also decrease at each trophic level as        2. Record the number of organisms identified belonging to each
you move up the pyramid, but the size of each individual                 trophic level. In groups, use the data to obtain to construct a
increases.                                                               pyramid of numbers.
                                                                      3. During a field study in the savanna grassland, the following
                                                                         numbers of organisms was recorded.
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           Organisms                Number                           (a)Show the numbers of organisms at each trophic level when
           Grass/                    50,000                            they were added together.
           vegetation               hectares                         (b)Use the information above to develop a food chain and
           Buffalos                   3,000                            pyramid of numbers.
           Impalas                   10,000                          (c)Explain the appearance of pyramid of numbers.
           Elephants                  1,000
           Rhinos                      300
                                                                                Share your findings with the rest of the class.
           Cheetahs                    300
           Crocodiles                  400
           Lions                       300
           Hyenas                      150
           Marabou stork                50
           Vultures                     50
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                                                                         1. Pyramid of biomass:
Explaining the appearance of pyramid of numbers.                         • It is a histogram showing the total dry mass of organisms
                                                                         present at each trophic level. These convey more information,
-    The size of the rectangle represents how many organisms exist       since they consider the total mass of living organisms at each
     at each trophic level. For example, the size of the rectangles in   trophic level. The biomass of producers is greater than biomass
     the pyramid decreases as you move from producers to tertiary        of primary consumers and so on.
     consumers.                                                          • The biomass decreases from each trophic level to the next in
-    The number of organisms also decrease as well at each               most cases and the biomass should be dry mass (since water
     trophic level as you move up the pyramid.                           stores no energy) and is measured in kg m-2. The biomass may
                                                                         be found by drying and weighing the organisms at each trophic
                                                                         level, or by counting them and multiplying by an average
                                                                         individual mass.
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                                                                                    CYCLING OF MATERIALS
                                                                                    • Carbon cycle describes the process in which carbon in the form
                                                                                    of carbon dioxide and organic carbon is interchanged between
                                                                                    living and non-living components of the atmosphere to keep
                                                                                    concentration of carbon dioxide in balance.
                                                                                    • The carbon cycle is a biochemical cycle by which carbon is
                                                                                    exchanged among the biosphere. It involves processes like
                                                                                    photosynthesis, respiration and combustion, some of which are
                                                                                    controlled by bacteria. Carbon dioxide imbalance in recent times
                                                                                    has resulted in global warming a situation where the temperature
                                                                                    of the earth and its atmosphere has increased, affecting seasons
                                                                                    and life.
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                                                                        Discussion:
                                                                        Key stages involved in the carbon cycle in biosphere.
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Organisms and processes involved in the carbon cycle and their            Microorganisms (such as fungi and bacteria):
roles.
                                                                          These return carbon to the environment when they decompose
Plants: These absorb carbon from the environment during
                                                                          dead plants and animals. Carbon in inedible parts of plants can
photosynthesis and release it back during respiration.
                                                                          be released back into the atmosphere through: decomposers
Animals: These obtain their carbon by eating plants and animals           breaking down the inedible parts of dead plants, thus returning
and release carbon in form of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere          the carbon in their bodies to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide
during respiration.                                                       by respiration.
                                                                          The plant and animal materials may then be available as fossil
                                                                          fuels for combustion in the future.