Ecology, Pollution & Environmental Health

• Ecology, pollution, and enviromental health are the main topics
• The study notes were compiled by C. Mavimbela
• The lecturer is Dr. Oyin Olaokun

Ecology

• Ecology is the scientific study of the relationships among living organisms
• Ecology also studies the interaction organisms have with their environment
• Part 1 focuses on ecology
• Part 2 concentrates on environment health
• Part 3 discusses pollution

Learning Outcomes

• Define ecology
• Understand the historical context of the development of ecology
• Synthesize the meaning of the definition of ecology from its component contextual parts
• Understand the scope and levels of organisation of ecology
• Be familiar with basic fundamental questions characteristic of ecological investigation
• Key concepts include ecology, biotic, abiotic, habitat, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere

Introduction to Ecology

• Ecology is a science of dependency and probability

Definitions of Ecology

• The word ecology, coined by German zoologist Ernst Haeckel in 1866, originates from the Greek terms "oikos" (home or house) and "-ology" (study of)
• Haeckel defined ecology in 1870 as the knowledge of nature's economy and the study of the total relations of animals to both their inorganic and organic environment
• Tansley in 1904 defined Ecology as the relations of plants with surroundings and with each other, dependent on habitat differences
• Elton in 1927 described ecology as a new name for scientific natural history
• Charles Elton described ecology in 1927 as studying animals and plants in relation to their habits and habitats
• The evolved term has shortfalls, fungi, protists, bacteria have their own kingdoms of importance
• Andrewartha (1961) defined ecology as the scientific study of the distribution and abundance of organisms
• Krebs (1972, 2008) defines ecology as the scientific study of interactions that determine the distribution and abundance of organisms
• Ecologists study the patterns of distribution and abundance in nature, how these patterns are maintained, and how they change during evolution
• Ecology is a biology branch examining the interactions of organisms with environments
• Townsend et al. (2003) defined ecology as the interactions that determine distribution and abundance
• Begon et al (2006) defined ecology as the study of the distribution and abundance of life

Definitions of Terms

• Environment includes biotic and abiotic factors that influence organisms
• Organism is an individual living thing
• Population is many individuals of one species living close enough to potentially interbreed
• Community includes all interacting populations in a particular habitat
• A community includes plants, animals, and decomposer microbes
• Community is often used when discussing two or more species
• Habitat is the place where a microbe, plant, or animal lives
• Ecosystem is the community plus abiotic factors like nutrients, water, and soil
• Biosphere is the earth
• Autecology - relation of individual organism to environment
• Synecology is the relation of populations or species to other populations or species

Introduction to Ecology

• The natural environment includes physical properties/factors, the sum of local abiotic and biotic factors
• Abiotic factors are sunlight, temperature, water, and soil
• Chemical factors are the composition of air, soil, and substances dissolved in water
• Biotic factors are other living organisms sharing a habitat

Levels of Ecological Organization (LEO)

• The levels from largest to smallest are; Universe, Biosphere, Ecosystem, Community, Population, Habitat, Individual

Individual Level

• Ecology is studied at various scales
• The individual level is the lowest scale
• Ecologists study how individuals adapt to their immediate environment
• Example 1: A newborn ungulate calf learns to walk quickly to outrun predators
• Example 2: Famous peppered moths observational study for behavioural ecology

Habitat Level

• Habitat refers to a place where an organism lives and reproduces
• Each species/individual has a position in the community called a habitat
• Habitat is spatial and functional sense
• Forest floors, ocean edges, and streams are practical examples of habitats
• Each habitat is unique, determined by particular ranges of temperatures, humidity, soil, vegetation structure, food type, competitors, predators, etc.
• Functional sense (the role an organism plays) is the concept of ecological niche
• The ecological niche of an organism is the role the organism plays in its community
• The ecological niche includes the organism's habitat, interactions, and resources for energy, nutrients, and survival
• Niche is affected by abiotic and biotic factors

Population Level

• Mader (1998) defined a population as the existence of all organisms of the species in a specified area
• Emphasis is based on factors that growth and regulation of populating size
• Ecology encompasses studying factors (growth plus regulations) of populations size and distribution of organisms, where and why in a particular place/time

Characteristics of Populations

• Populations have a certain size
• Population size is the number of individuals contributing to gene pool

Factors Affecting Population Size

• Population size depends upon balance between natality, mortality, emigration, immigration
• Increase includes pop size, natality, and immigration Decrease includes pop size, mortality, and emigration
• Life either adds or removes individuals for balance
• (Natality + Immigration) – (Mortality + Emigration)

Factors Affecting the Size of a Population

• If a glass of water is a population, adding water increases the volume
• Factors acting this way also include natality and immigration
• Reduction of water by drinking and spillage reduces the volume
• Factors that affect the size of population like this include mortality and emigration
• Fundamental equation of Ecology (Harper 1977) (ΔN=B-D+I-E)

Species Interaction

• Species interact affecting relative distribution and abundance
• Two different populations have symbiotic relationships
• Three forms of symbiotic relationships may exist: parasitism, commensalism, and mutualism
• Parasitism: Similar to predation, a parasite derives nourishment from another called host (viruses, protists and bacteria)
• Commensalism: is when one species benefits and the other is neither benefiting or harmed (provision of home, transportation etc.)
• Mutualism: both species benefit from the relationship (bacteria reside in the human gastro-intestinal tract are provided with food)

Community Level

• Populations don't occur in isolation
• Populations form part of a community
• Mader (1998) defines biological communities as interacting populations in the same environment

Characteristics of A Community

• A community is characterized by size, boundary, diversity and abundance
• Communities differ in size
• There are no two communities that are the same size
• Community does not stay sameduring its existence
• Community fluctuates in size and composition
• It is sometimes difficult to have delineating boundaries between different communities
• Composition refers to the listing of various species
• Diversity has two elements. Number of species and relative abudance

Factors Maintaining Composition and Diversity of Species

• Species may change in time and space affecting the abundance
• Factors include competition (C) and predation (P)
• C&P affect dominant species, which may cause extinction or removal
• Competition: use the same food source where no specialization exists
• Predation by dominant and efficient species monopolize prey and also hinder species to to avoid competition
• What maintains species diversity and prevents species in trophic level to eliminate 1. When species are in competition, may subdivide resource e.g specialization

Diversity

• Diversity may be the creations of habitats by period disturbance
• In a undisturbed land the community becomes the climax
• Climax disturbed by forces and begins returning original by ecological succession
• The two ecological successions =primary and secondary
• Primary:barren lifeless land (slow)
• Secondary: series of community changes (disturbed areas)
• The cause of diversity in species within lies in climate

Ecosystem Level

• System consist of community and physical enviroment in they live
• Living= biotic physical/chemical enviroment- abiotic components
• Living things classifited by obtaining food: autotrophs and hetertrophs

Basic Components of An Ecosystem

• Ecosystem have biotic and abiotic components
• Component include minerals, oxygen, continue and water
• Autotroph =primary, food or organi nutreints/ others regardeed
• broken own=chemoautotrophs/ inorganic compound , synthesis carbohydrates
• Heterotrophs: consumner of organic nutients, herbivores/ plant
• Carnivores: Animals, omnivore and detrivors
• Detrivores break down dead organic to inoganic releast back producers
• Autroph synthesize from water and sunlight
• The sun useful autotrophs converter form energy That support energy I.e relise source or enery
• Energy the energy to satisty need (heat)
• The heterotrophs 55 prcent

Structure of Ecosystems

• A pyramid of numbers tells how many organisms there are in each trophic level, supporting the food the animals eat.
• As trophic levels ascend, energy efficiency drops. The highest trophic level should have a few organisms to benefit the available energy.
• A pyramid of biomass shows the relationship between biomass and trophic level by quantifying biomass amount at each trophic level
• Biomass is measured in grams/m or calories/m biomass pyramids. Biomass provides for snapshot in time of an ecological community
• Pyramid: productivity useful Shows production time energy of chain
• There is the energy chain, known as the 10% rule

Biogeochemical cycles

• Nutrient chemicals Elements recycles water lithosphere/hydrosphere Reservoirs accumated- passes orgamisim and bio
• Well carbon nitrogen water cycle
• Earth has 4 atmosphere bio and hydro and lithoshpere + cycle -
• The water carbon and nutrients
• Trasformation important- the carbon
• The life non required parts envirionment Gas atmoshere
• Oceans land sediment

Carbon Cycle

• What main process deforestation

Carbon Transformation

• Trasformation water system
• Bio nitrogen water cycle Nitrogen: The atmosphere protein

The Oxygen cycle

• What the biosphere - the atmosphere soil and the water

The Phosphorus cycle

• Sediment of rna an denta
• The water sediment cycle

The Sulfur Cycle

• Air and water
• Protein gas, The hydro system
• The sulfur of heat, rain, and weather

Summary

• Water sulfur oxygen cycle