Lecture four

Name: ........................

Student Number: ............... PA/2023

Date : …......./........../2023

Course : Biogeography

Lecturer: Mr Pikirai. T.

Topic : Ecology

4.1 The concept of ecology

Ecology can be defined as the study of the relationship of plants and animals to
their physical and biological environment. The physical environment includes
light and heat or solar radiation, moisture, wind, oxygen, carbon dioxide,
nutrients in soil, water, and atmosphere. The biological environment includes
organisms of the same kind as well as other plants and animals.

Ecology is study on the interactions between organisms and their environment. It

has also been included the study on abundance of organisms in space and time
and the processes in biological communities. Ecology has a close link with
biogeography, because both ecologists and geographers are interested in the
pattern of distribution of organisms in space and time and the processes
determined by those patterns.
The term ecology was introduced by the German biologist Ernst Heinrich Haeckel
in 1866; it is derived from the Greek oikos (“household”), while in Greek logos
refers to the study of something . therefore ecology is the study of the households
and in this case it is the study of households of organisms. Modern ecology, in
part, began with Charles Darwin. In developing his theory of evolution, Darwin
stressed the adaptation of organisms to their environment through natural
selection. Also making important contributions were plant geographers, such as
Alexander von Humboldt, who were deeply interested in the “how” and “why” of
vegetational distribution around the world.

4.2 Levels in ecology

There are various levels in ecology . these are the level with which ecology can be
studied through. These levels range from the biosphere to the individual.

Biosphere

A group of ecosystems in a large area. these are identified and classified

according to the vegetation dominant vegetation.

Ecosystem

A self nourishing , self sustaining and self regulating community of organisms

which interact within a specified area.

Fig 4 showing an ecosystem

Community

A group of populations of species that live and interact in a geographical area at a

particular time.

Population

A defined group of individuals of species who live and breed and interact in the
same geographical area.

Metapopulation- population of species with discontinuous distribution. If the

habitat is patchy, species consist of a series of isolated populations separated by

uninhabited areas A " population of populations". The metapopulation as a whole

is often stable because immigrants from one population (which may, for example,

be experiencing a population boom) are likely to re-colonize habitat which has

been left open by the extinction of another population.

Individual

Species of organisms which include individual offspring which are capable of

reproducing.

4.3 The earth's biosphere

The thin mantle of life that covers the earth is called the biosphere. Several
approaches are used to classify its regions. It is the sphere where life is found. Its
depth and height extends as far as any area where life exists permanently.

Biomes

A group of ecosystems in a large area. these are identified and classified

according to the vegetation dominant vegetation. Biomes can be classified under
two categories namely , aquatic and terrestrial biomes. The aquatic can be
further subdivided into:

A) Freshwater

Which includes flowing water bodies such as streams rivers and lakes. It has less
nutrients . the dormant flora is phytoplankton. Some fresh water are ephermeral,
that is they are dry for part of the year such as pools and the Kalahari pans.

Fig 5 The Amazon river showing flowing fresh water and flora.
 B) Marine

These refers to the biomes of the oceans. It is salty hence richer in nutrients.

phytoplankton is also present and provides food for fish

Fig 6 Showing aquatic ecosystem

The Indian ocean with its salty waters

C) Estuaries
Located in between fresh water and marine water . these include marshes ,
mangrove , lagoons and river mouths.

4.4 Populations and communities

The functional units of an ecosystem are the populations of organisms through

which energy and nutrients move. A population is a group of interbreeding
organisms of the same kind living in the same place at the same time (see Species
and Speciation). Groups of populations within an ecosystem interact in various
ways. These interdependent populations of plants and animals make up the
community, which encompasses the biotic portion of the ecosystem.
The community has certain attributes, among them dominance and species
diversity. Dominance results when one or several species control the
environmental conditions that influence associated species. In a forest, for
example, the dominant species may be one or more species of trees, such as oak
or spruce; in a marine community the dominant organisms frequently are
animals such as mussels or oysters. Dominance can influence diversity of species
in a community because diversity involves not only the number of species in a
community, but also how numbers of individual species are apportioned.

The physical nature of a community is evidenced by layering, or stratification. In

terrestrial communities, stratification is influenced by the growth form of the
plants. Simple communities such as grasslands, with little vertical stratification,
usually consist of two layers, the ground layer and the herbaceous layer. A forest
has up to six layers: ground, herbaceous, low shrub, low tree and high shrub,
lower canopy, and upper canopy. These strata influence the physical
environment and diversity of habitats for wildlife. Vertical stratification of life in
aquatic communities, by contrast, is influenced mostly by physical conditions:
depth, light, temperature, pressure, salinity, oxygen, and carbon dioxide.

Habitat

The community provides the habitat which refers to the place where particular
plants or animals live. Within the habitat, organisms occupy different niches.

A Niche

A niche is the functional role of a species in a community. This refers to its

occupation, or how it earns its living. The ecological niche of a species is defined
as the functional role of the species in its community and the position of the
species along all environmental gradients (ecological amplitude). The
fundamental niche is the full space which a species can occupy according to all its
environmental gradients. The realized niche is a small space occupied by the
species in the face of competition from all other species. The spatial distribution
of a species is a good indicator of its realized niche, but the position of the species
within the ecological pyramid must also be considered. For example, the lion
lives in the grassland savanna habitat. Its niche, in part, is hunting the bucks ,
impalas and zebras in the grasslands . The more a community is stratified, the
more finely the habitat is divided into additional niches.

Population

Population refers to the group of individuals in an ecosystem. Populations have a

birth rate (the number of young produced per unit of population per unit of
time), a death rate (the number of deaths per unit of time), and a growth rate.
The major agent of population growth is births, and the major agent of
population loss is deaths. When births exceed deaths, a population increases; and
when deaths exceed additions to a population, it decreases. When births equal
deaths in a given population, its size remains the same, and it is said to have zero
population growth.

Population have an effect on carrying capacity of an area. When introduced into

a favourable environment with an abundance of resources, a small population
may undergo geometric, or exponential growth, in the manner of compound
interest. Many populations experience exponential growth in the early stages of
colonizing a habitat because they take over an underexploited niche or drive
other populations out of a profitable one. Those populations that continue to
grow exponentially, however, eventually reach the upper limits of the resources;
they then decline sharply because of some catastrophic event such as starvation,
disease, or competition from other species. In a general way, populations of
plants and animals that characteristically experience cycles of exponential
growth are species that produce numerous young, provide little in the way of
parental care, or produce an abundance of seeds having little food reserves.
These species, usually short-lived, disperse rapidly and are able to colonize harsh
or disturbed environments. Such organisms are often called opportunistic
species.

Other populations tend to grow exponentially at first, and then logistically that is,
their growth slows as the population increases, then levels off as the limits of
their environment or carrying capacity are reached. Through various regulatory
mechanisms, such populations maintain something of an equilibrium between
their numbers and available resources. Animals exhibiting such population
growth tend to produce fewer young but do provide them with parental care; the
plants produce large seeds with considerable food reserves. These organisms are
long-lived, have low dispersal rates, and are poor colonizers of disturbed
habitats. They tend to respond to changes in population density (the number of
organisms per unit area) through changes in birth and death rates rather than
through dispersal. As the population approaches the limit of resources, birth
rates decline, and mortality of young and adults increases.

4.5 Ecosystems interactions and interrelationship

There are various interactions and interrelationships that take in

ecosystems

Major influences on population growth involve various population interactions

that tie the community together. These include competition, both within a species
and among species; predation, including parasitism; and coevolution, or
adaptation..

Keystone species

These are species with significant roles in the community structure due to the
impacts they have on other species. The interactions helps to maintain
equilibrium
Resilient

Refers to an ecosystem which is able to return to some state of dynamic

equilibrium after stress eg after a veld fire or drought.

The interaction between organisms (eating one another, competing with one
another for food, etc.) is clearly very important in biogeography, and may
determine whether or not different species can be found together in
communities. These interactions can become so complicated that an alteration in
the abundance of one animal or plant can often have very unexpected
consequences for the rest of the community. It is therefore extremely important
that ecologists and biogeographers should be aware of these relationships if they
are to be capable of predicting the outcome of environmental change, or of the
adoption of certain land-use or management practices. Interaction can be intra-
specific where species of the same family or group will be interacting while it
can be inter-specific where species of different groups or communities will be
interacting.

Competition

This can be intra-specific or inter-specific occurs when a shared resource is in

short supply, hence organisms compete, and those that are more successful
survive. Those with fittest gene group are usually the that survive. Usually the
fittest gene group will be passed on to the next gene group. Within some plant
and animal populations, all individuals may share the resources in such a way
that none obtains sufficient quantities to survive as adults or to reproduce.
Among other plant and animal populations, dominant individuals claim access to
the scarce resources and others are excluded. Individual plants tend to claim and
hold onto a site until they lose vigour or die. These prevent other individuals
from surviving by controlling light, moisture, and nutrients in their immediate
areas.

Many animals have a highly developed social organization through which

resources such as space, food, and mates are apportioned among dominant
members of the population. Such competitive interactions may involve social
dominance, in which the dominant individuals exclude subdominant individuals
from the resource; or they may involve territoriality, in which the dominant
individuals divide space into exclusive areas, which they defend. Subdominant or
excluded individuals are forced to live in poorer habitats, do without the
resource, or leave the area. Many of these animals succumb to starvation,
exposure, and predation.

Competition among members of different species results in the division of

resources in a community. Certain plants, for example, have roots that grow to
different depths in the soil. Some have shallow roots that permit them to use
moisture and nutrients near the surface. Others growing in the same place have
deep roots that are able to exploit moisture and nutrients not available to
surface-rooted plants. At the end competition sometimes results in co-existence
at manageable densities.

Co-operation

This is usually intra-specific . it happens between members of the same species

as communities. It ensures the survival of the entire group. Groups such as
termites and herds of impalas and zebras usually work as a group protecting
each other.

Predation
One of the fundamental interactions is predation, or the consumption of one
living organism, plant or animal, by another. The one that eats is called the
predator while the one that is eaten is called the prey. Their relationship is called
the predator prey relationship. While it serves to move energy and nutrients
through the ecosystem, predation may also regulate population and promote
natural selection by weeding the unfit from a population. Thus, a rabbit is a
predator on grass, just as the fox is a predator on the rabbit. Predation on plants
involves defoliation by grazers and the consumption of seeds and fruits. The
abundance of plant predators, or herbivores, directly influences the growth and
survival of the carnivores. Thus, predator-prey interactions at one feeding level
influence the predator-prey relations at the next feeding level. In some
communities, predators may so reduce populations of prey species that a number
of competing species can coexist in the same area because none is abundant
enough to control the resource. When predators are reduced or removed,
however, the dominant species tend to crowd out other competitors, thereby
reducing species diversity.

Symbiosis

Symbiosis (Greek symbioun, “to live together”), in biology, the term for the
interdependence of different species (Sym) means together while bio means
living. Thus symbiosis means living together. This is a relationship based on
living together with some organism benefiting from the association or both
benefitting. There are three main types of symbiosis, based upon the specific
relationship between the species involved: mutualism, parasitism, and
commensalism.

Mutualism

Symbiosis that results in mutual benefit to the interdependent organisms is

commonly known as mutualism. A relationship between two organisms of
 different species that benefits both and harms neither. With this relationship
both organisms benefit without harming each other. There is a sort of agreement.
An example is of the flowers and bees where bees get nectar from the flowers for
the production of honey , while the flower benefits through pollination by the
bees. . Another example of mutualism is the coexistence of certain species of
algae and fungi that together compose lichens. The fungus provides a protective
structure, and the alga produces a carbohydrate as food for the fungus. Their
close association enables them to live in extreme environments, nourished only
by light, air, and minerals. Living separately, the alga and fungus would not
survive in such conditions.

Commensalism

The type of symbiosis known as commensalism is an association between two

different kinds of non-parasitic animals, called commensals, that is harmless to
both and in which one of the organism benefits. Many commensals are free to
separate. Other commensals function together so completely that they cannot
separate. They are not considered parasitic, however, because they do not harm
each other. An example is that of the inhabitants of the termite mound which
takes shelter without harming the termites.

Parasitism

In parasitism, also known as antagonistic symbiosis, one organism receives no

benefits and is often injured while supplying nutrients or shelter for the other
organism . Parasites include viruses and bacteria that cause many diseases;
certain protozoans that can infect plants and animals; tapeworms and flukes that
infest the intestinal tracks and internal organs of animals; and external parasites
such as lice and ticks. Parasites, which are smaller than their hosts, include many
viruses and bacteria. Because of this dependency relationship, parasites normally
do not kill their hosts the way predators do. As a result, hosts and parasites
generally co-exist with their hosts although parasites may regulate some host
populations, lower their reproductive success, and modify behaviour.

Co-evolution

Co-evolution is the joint evolution of two unrelated species that have a close
ecological relationship that is, the evolution of one species depends in part on the
evolution of the other. Co-evolution is also involved in predator-prey relations.
Over time, as predators evolve more efficient ways of capturing or consuming
prey, the prey evolves ways to escape predation. Plants have acquired such
defensive mechanisms as thorns, spines, hard seed-coats, and poisonous or ill-
tasting sap that deter would-be consumers. Some herbivores are able to breach
these defences and attack the plant. Certain insects, such as the monarch
butterfly, can incorporate poisonous substances found in food plants into their
own tissues and use them as a defence against predators. Other animals avoid
predators by assuming an appearance that blends them into the background or
makes them appear part of the surroundings. The chameleon is a well-known
example of this interaction. Some animals possessing obnoxious odours or
poisons as a defence also have warning colorations, usually bright colours or
patterns, that act as further warning signals to potential predators.

Another co-evolutionary relationship is mutualism, in which two or more species

depend on one another and cannot live outside such an association. An example
of mutualism is mycorrhizae, an obligatory relationship between fungi and
certain plant roots. In one group, called ectomycorrhizae, the fungi form a cap or
mantle about the rootlets. The fungal hyphae (threads) invade the rootlet and
grow between the cell walls as well as extending outward into the soil from the
rootlet. The fungi, which include several common woodland mushrooms, depend
on the tree for their energy source. In return the fungi aid the tree in obtaining
nutrients from the soil and protect the rootlets of the tree from certain diseases.
Without the mycorrhizae some groups of trees, such as conifers and oaks, cannot
survive and grow. Conversely, the fungi cannot exist without the trees.

4.6 Succession and Climax Communities

According to Revelle and Revelle (2008) ecological succession refers to “ a

natural process in which the species found in a given area change conditions to
make an area less suitable for themselves and more suitable for other species.”

Wright (2014) views succession as “the gradual or sometimes rapid change in

species that occupy a given area with some species invading and becoming more
numerous while others decline in population and eventually disappear.”

Succession is a directional non-seasonal cumulative change in the types of plant

species that occupy a given area through time. It involves the processes of
colonization, establishment, and extinction which act on the participating plant
species. Most successions contain a number of stages that can be recognized by
the collection of species that dominate at that point in the succession. Succession
begin when an area is made partially or completely devoid of vegetation because
of a disturbance. Some common mechanisms of disturbance are fires, wind
storms, volcanic eruptions, logging, climate change, severe flooding, disease, and
pest infestation. Succession stops when species composition changes no longer
occur with time, and this community is said to be a climax community.

Ecosystems are dynamic, in that the populations constituting them do not remain
the same. It begins with the colonization of a disturbed area, such as an
abandoned crop field or a newly exposed lava flow, by species able to reach and
to tolerate the environmental conditions present. Mostly these are opportunistic
species that hold on to the site for a variable length of time. Being short-lived and
poor competitors, they are eventually replaced by more competitive, longer-lived
species such as shrubs, and then trees. In aquatic habitats, successional changes
of this kind result largely from changes in the physical environment, such as the
build up of silt at the bottom of a pond. As the pond becomes more shallow, it
encourages the invasion of floating plants such as pond lilies and emergent plants
such as cattails. The pace at which succession proceeds depends on the
competitive abilities of the species involved; tolerance to the environmental
conditions brought about by changes in vegetation; the interaction with animals,
particularly the grazing herbivores; and fire. Eventually the ecosystem arrives at
a point called the climax, where further changes take place very slowly, and the
site is dominated by long-lived, highly competitive species. As succession
proceeds, however, the community becomes more stratified, enabling more
species of animals to occupy the area. In time, animals characteristic of later
stages of succession replace those found in earlier stages.

Types of succession

Primary succession

Primary succession refers to the gradual establishment through a series of

stages of a climax ecosystem in an area that has not been occupied before eg
bare rock.

Types of primary succession

Lithoseres

A lithosere starts on a bare rock surface, e.g. cliff, quarry or scree. The dominant
ecological problem for plants is aridity on the soilless surface. Soil formation
proceeds very slowly beneath successive plant covers of lichen, mosses, grasses
and shrubs. Hydrolysis and chelation are the main weathering processes which
produce soil, liberate nutrients and allow a larger water-holding capacity. The
invasion of the proto-soil by soil fauna and soil micro-organisms greatly speeds
up the rates of soil formation.
Psammoseres

A psammosere starts on bare loose sand on the sea- or lake-shore. Aridity is a

severe ecological problem, owing to the inability of the sand to hold water.
Secondary ecological problems are nutrient deficiency, unstable surfaces,
abrasive quartz grains and soil alkalinity on seashores. The role of greater humus
content and increasing thickness of humus surface horizons is vital in regulating
the succession. Other soil changes during the succession involve leaching and a
decline in pH and salt content, an increase in the organic population of the soil,
and an increase in the thickness of the A, E and B soil horizons.

Hydroseres

Hydroseres start in freshwater lakes and pools, which become progressively

shallower by processes of siltation. Rushes, reeds and sedges dominate the early
stages of hydroseres, owing to their hydrophytic nature and ability to use oxygen
even in waterlogged conditions. Waterlogged soils also pose problems of nutrient
unavailability and the possible toxicity of a range of organic and inorganic
chemicals. Some plants in the hydrosere, e.g. alder and bog myrtle, are able to fix
atmospheric nitrogen and thus playa pivotal role in the hydrosere. Only when the
soil level builds up significantly above the water table are the wide range of
terrestrial shrubs and trees able to become established.

Haloseres

Haloseres commence in salt water on the salt marshes of estuaries, bays or

inland drainage areas. The zonation of plant communities in the halosere is
governed largely by height above sea level, which in turn controls the length of
time of inundation by saline water. Halophytes are plants which have
ecophysiological mechanisms which enable them to tolerate the high salt content
of saline soils in haloseres. Height above sea level allows more salt tobe leached
from the soil, leading to a lowering of pH, greater rooting depth for non-
halophytes, and a lessening of the problems of waterlogging and anaerobism.

Xeroseres

 Succession which occurs in dry habitats.

Secondary succession

The establishment through a series of stages a climax ecosystem in an area from

which it was previously cleared.

Natural Selection

The process whereby the natural factors of the environmental resistance tend to
eliminate those members of a population that are least well adapted to cope and
thus in effect select those best adapted for survival and reproduction. It is the
process by which environmental effects lead to varying degrees of reproductive
success among individuals of a population of organisms with different hereditary
characters, or traits. The characters that inhibit reproductive success decrease in
frequency from generation to generation. The resulting increase in the
proportion of reproductively successful individuals usually enhances the
adaptation of the population to its environment. Natural selection thus tends to
promote adaptation by maintaining favourable adaptations in a constant
environment (stabilizing selection) or improving adaptation in a direction
appropriate to environmental changes (directional According to Charles Darwin ,
this is called the survival of the fittest which means the survival of the individual
with the best traits that best enable them to cope with the biotic and abiotic state
of the environment selection).
4.7 Selective Breeding

It is the selective control of mating in plants and animals to produce organisms

that better serve human needs for food, work, sport, or aesthetics. Breeders first
identify the desired traits they would like to appear on the intended species. The
history of breeding can be divided into two periods: before and after the
rediscovery in 1900 of Mendel's concepts of heredity (see Mendel's Laws). Before
1900, breeders worked primarily by selecting from each generation the animals
or plants that displayed desired characteristics and then breeding these
individuals to produce the next generation. Although this simple method, known
as mass selection, produced some favourable results, it was often a slow and
unpredictable process. After the rediscovery of Mendel's work, breeding became
more predictable and scientific. Mendel's principles showed that many traits are
transmitted as discrete units, and over successive generations these traits do not
blend with or become corrupted by other traits. Most importantly, Mendel's work
showed that by analyzing breeding results it is possible to predict which traits
will occur, and in what proportions, in the next generation. Thus, analysis of
breeding results gives the breeder knowledge about genotype (genetic makeup)
of an organism based on observation of its phenotype (visual characteristics), and
it provides a knowledge of genetic variation for specific traits. Genetic variation is
the source for modification from which the breeder draws when selecting for a
particular trait. Through these methods modern Mendelian breeding has
produced remarkable improvements in a large variety of agriculturally useful
organisms.

Fig 7 Showing different breeds of dogs

Darling kindersley (1992)

Chihuahua and the German shepherd

The above dogs , the german sherpherd and chihuahua can beinterbred to produce a

dog with traits from both parents.

Animal and plant breeding has been responsible for vastly improving agricultural
yields over the past several hundred years, and thus for improving the world's
food supply (see Food Supply, World). Systematic breeding programs emerged in
Europe and the United States on an increasingly large scale during the Industrial
Revolution in the late 18th century, partly in response to the demand for more
food to feed an increasingly urban, non agricultural workforce. In the 20th
century, growing world populations have also brought increased pressure to
improve agricultural yields.