3: Ecology
- Page ID
- 210360
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Ecology is the study of how living things interact with each other and with the environment around them. In this chapter, you will explore how energy and matter move through ecosystems, and how populations of organisms grow, interact, and respond to changes in their environment. You will learn how factors like food, space, predators, and climate affect where organisms live and how many can survive. We will also connect these ideas to real-world issues, such as habitat loss, pollution, and conservation, including local ecosystems you will visit in this course like coastal marshes and chaparral habitats. By the end of the chapter, you will be able to use data, graphs, and models to better understand how ecosystems function and how human actions impact the natural world.
- 3.1: Population Ecology
- This page highlights the detrimental effects of road networks on wildlife, specifically habitat fragmentation that threatens biodiversity and increases extinction risks. It suggests wildlife corridors, including overpasses and underpasses, as effective solutions for facilitating animal movement.
- 3.2: Community Ecology
- This page outlines the significance of Bison as a keystone species in the Great Plains, detailing their decline in the late 1800s due to government actions and subsequent conservation efforts that aided in population recovery by the early 2000s. It emphasizes Bison's role in enhancing biodiversity and ecosystem structure, while discussing biotic interactions, community dynamics, and the necessity of assessing ecological changes over time for effective conservation.
- 3.3: Ecosystem Ecology
- This page highlights the dual role of beavers as both nuisances in urban settings and vital keystone species in natural ecosystems, where their dams enhance habitat diversity and manage water flow. It introduces key ecological concepts such as ecosystem types, resilience, foundation species, and discusses essential topics like matter, biogeochemical cycles, soil composition, and soil degradation processes.
- 3.3.1: Matter
- 3.3.2: Energy
- 3.3.3: Biogeochemical Cycles
- 3.3.4: Food Chains and Food Webs
- 3.3.5: Soils
- 3.3.6: Soil Degradation
- 3.3.7: Ecosystem Types and Dynamics
- 3.3.7.1: Climate and Biomes
- 3.3.7.2: Terrestrial Biomes
- 3.3.7.3: Aquatic Biomes
- 3.3.8: Data Dive- Beaver Impacts on Wetlands
- 3.3.9: Data Dive- Biome Carbon Storage
- 3.1: Population Ecology
- This page highlights the detrimental effects of road networks on wildlife, specifically habitat fragmentation that threatens biodiversity and increases extinction risks. It suggests wildlife corridors, including overpasses and underpasses, as effective solutions for facilitating animal movement.
- 3.2: Community Ecology
- This page outlines the significance of Bison as a keystone species in the Great Plains, detailing their decline in the late 1800s due to government actions and subsequent conservation efforts that aided in population recovery by the early 2000s. It emphasizes Bison's role in enhancing biodiversity and ecosystem structure, while discussing biotic interactions, community dynamics, and the necessity of assessing ecological changes over time for effective conservation.
- 3.3: Ecosystem Ecology
- This page highlights the dual role of beavers as both nuisances in urban settings and vital keystone species in natural ecosystems, where their dams enhance habitat diversity and manage water flow. It introduces key ecological concepts such as ecosystem types, resilience, foundation species, and discusses essential topics like matter, biogeochemical cycles, soil composition, and soil degradation processes.
- 3.3.1: Matter
- 3.3.2: Energy
- 3.3.3: Biogeochemical Cycles
- 3.3.4: Food Chains and Food Webs
- 3.3.5: Soils
- 3.3.6: Soil Degradation
- 3.3.7: Ecosystem Types and Dynamics
- 3.3.7.1: Climate and Biomes
- 3.3.7.2: Terrestrial Biomes
- 3.3.7.3: Aquatic Biomes
- 3.3.8: Data Dive- Beaver Impacts on Wetlands
- 3.3.9: Data Dive- Biome Carbon Storage
Attributions
Modified by Erin Rempala.
Thumbnail western toad wikimedia.org by Thompsma - Own work, (CC BY 3.0).