The Ecology of Organisms and Populations
Lect. 18.3 Ch. 35 Wolf California Standards Ecology: 6b and 6d
State Standards Target Ecology 6.b and 6.d
• 6.b: Students know how to analyze changes in an ecosystem resulting from changes in climate, human activity, introduction of nonnative species, or changes in population size.
Targets Of Understanding
• How are abiotic factors connected to climate and habitat.
• How are adaptations, evolution and the organisms interactions with the environment connected to each other?
• What are some ways organisms can adapt to their environment?
• Key Terms: abiotic factors, climate, habitat, adaptation, homeostastis and natural selection
Abiotic Factors
• What are some abiotic factors that affect living things?
– Sunlight, Water, Temperature, Wind, Soil, Natural Disasters?
• Climate: is the typical weather pattern of an area over time.
• What factors determine climate? Tropics vs Artic?
• Factors = Temperature, precipitation, wind (abiotic) What are the abiotic (non living) factors that affect ecosystems?
Sunlight
• Solar energy powers nearly all ecosystems. How?
• Availability of sunlight affects aquatic and terrestrial environments. How does sunlight affect these environments?
• Need sunlight for producers to get energy.
Water
• How does water affect living organisms?
• How much water do you need in order to live? How long can you live without water?
• For terrestrial organisms, the main water problem is drying out. How do we organisms prevent drying out?
– Plants have waxy coating to keep water in.
THE EVOLUTIONARY ADAPTATIONS OF ORGANISMS • Evolutionary adaptation through natural selection results from the interaction of organisms with their environments • Adaptation: An inherited trait that increases a populations chances for survival in a specific environment.
– Do adaptations lead to better and better organisms?
Natural Selection
• Natural selection: organisms w/ traits favorable to their environment are more likely to survive, reproduce, and pass on the favorable traits to their offspring.
– How can populations adapt?
Anatomical Responses
• Many organisms respond to environmental challenge with some type of change in body shape or anatomy.
• Do individual organisms respond to changes in factors such as temperature? Do individuals adapt?
– Explain.
Behavioral Responses
• In contrast to plants, most animals can respond to an unfavorable change in the environment by moving to a new location
• Humans exhibit an especially rich range of behavioral responses
Figure 18.13