A Study Of Ecology And Its Effects On The Environment

Ecology is a biology branch which focuses on examining living organisms in their environment. Ecologist study the inactions of organisms within their environment, including ecosystems, communities and populations that influence life on earth. Economist can see the interconnection of animal and plant populations shape physical environments and the interactions of the different species.(N/A, 2014)

This report discusses an experiment to study the relationship between the ecological niche and competition. The hypothesis formulated states that if competition traits are identical and resources are abundant than multiple species will be able to coexist, and if one species has an advantage over the others than this species will be more likely to out compete another species for resources. The objective of this experiment is to use a simulation model of a rabbit pen containing four different “species” of rabbits. The model establishes rules for each species that are based on a number of important characteristics reflecting their ecological niches and their competitive abilities. These

Since organisms living in communities form interdependent relationships, a change in the abundance of one species will not only affect the physical and more direct interactions, but could indirectly affect the number of other species within the community as a consequence (Wootton 1993). These indirect affects rise because the interactions between pairs of species are not independent of other species, such as increasing the density of vegetation may increase the survival rate of the prey, reducing the intensity of the interaction between the predator and prey (Wootton 1993, 1994). An

The ecosystem consists of communities with different populations of species. Each diverse animal in the ecosystem has a unique way of surviving the abiotic and biotic factors in the environment through its traits; behavioral traits, morphological traits and physiological traits. Some of its traits prevent these organisms from predation, and others allows organism to survive when temperature are too high or too low. The strategy to survival depends on the animal. Let’s talk about the Procyon lotor also known by the name raccoon (Source 2).

Within communities, organisms compete for limited resources (food, space, mates, shelter). 613 of our native species (plants, birds, fish), compete with 240 introduced plant species, 19 introduced bird species, 9 introduced mammals and 2 amphibians. It is estimated that we have lost 30 native bird species due to this competition.

gracilis to acquire resources and outcompete B. rapa would increase as the ratio of B. gracillis to B. rapa increased. This hypothesis was based on the influence of community composition in interspecies competitive intensity (Elmendorf and Moore 2007). Competitive ability of invasive species are more intense when this species dominates within the community (Elmendorf and Moore 2007). However, by reversing the ratio, and allowing the non-invasive B. gracilis to dominate within the community, this would decrease the competitive ability of B. rapa, and consequently increase the competitive ability of B. gracilis. In doing so, high numbers of B. gracilis would overwhelm and inhibit B. rapa from colonizing the

In general, top predators and green plants are common because of the different community organisms such as the Chippewa Natural Forest that is in total disorder. These species come and go as free spirits and their colonization’s possible extinction are not determined by the presence or absence of other species (Wilson, 1992, p. 163). In fact, the amount of biodiversity is considered a random process in which the species fail to coexist except by accident. Secondly, some species are closely independent, that the food web is design so rigid the symbioses is so tightly bound and the community is virtually a super organism (Wilson, 1992, p. 16). Therefore, one species such as the Acadian flycatcher or goblin fern is a super organism, that thousands

In this article, Simberloff and Wilson presented evidence, based on direct observation, of an faunistic equilibrium (Š) when analyzing immigration and extinction process among animal species. In their experiment, they measured recolonization among six small mangrove islands in Florida Bay consisting of Rhizophora mangle trees (E1, E2, E3, E7, E9, and ST2) before and after defaunation. To conduct this experiment, the experimenters removed arthropod faunas from each island through fumigation. They then compared these results with the controlled islands E6 and E10. When observing the rate of which new species immigrated, researchers found that all fumigated islands except for E1 (the most distant island) attained relatively the same number of

the base of every ecosystem. Some populations remain stable and some die out, but the specific factors consistently affect the size of each population. In a stable predator-prey relationship, the predator eats the prey, however they both need each other to survive. As the number of predators begins to increase, the prey population will decrease, resulting in a decrease in predators, and the cycle continues to change over time. When there are irregular quantities, an unstable predator-prey relationship will develop causing one species of animals to die out. In this lab, our goal was to investigate how the population of predators (wolves)

Organisms in our society are always interacting with one another on a daily basis. These interactions impact the fate of the organisms lives, and that of the rest of the ecosystem. These interactions can either be direct and indirect. A direct organism affects an organism without outside interferences, while an indirect organism interaction is when an organism interacts an organism by its effects on a third organism. The three different direct interactions are competition in which both organisms interacting or negatively effect, mutualism in which both organisms benefit from the direct interactions, and predation in which one organism benefits from the interaction while the other one does not.

If resources are limiting, one species, with an advantage, will drive the other to extinction. The competitive exclusion principle refers to the idea that complete competitors cannot coexist. In an environment where resources are constant and limiting, one species will always have some sort of advantage for competing for these resources. For the other species, the only way out of the situation is to become extinct, or move to another niche. Gause experimented with this theory with two species of Paramecium, where he kept them competing under constant conditions. One species would always outcompete the other. The only way for the other to outcompete the first is if the resources were manipulated.

In any ecosystem, I tend to believe that everything lives in harmony. However, even in our small desert biosphere, there was competition. Both cacti root systems were very extensive but the Pigmyweed had the same sized root system

In the article “The Complex Net Effect of Reciprocal Interactions and Recruitment Facilitation Maintains an Intertidal Kelp Community” by Allison K. Barner, Sally D. Hacker, Bruce A. Menge, and Karina J. Nielsen discusses the effect of competition on the Saccharina Sessilis. The study shows the effect of positive and negative interactions on the community near the shore that the Sea Cabbage Kelp. During the research the scientists created 15centimeter squared sections in the area where this species is the dominant canopy. They then applied one of three options: removal of the kelp, removal of the bottom level species, and control (no removal at all). Then they studied the reactions of the life in these three areas. They concluded that both

For instance, the wolf population keeps the deer population under control in the temperate and boreal forests of North America. Since the wolves are apex consumers, they influenced the number of their prey and limited the number of smaller predators. Doing this helps increase the abundance of plants or woody productions. Consequences that Estes and his colleagues discussed due to the loss of apex consumers are the emergence of disease, fire, invasive species, and disruption in biochemical dynamics in earth’s soil. An example of a disease emergence, they talked about was the reduction of lions and leopards from the sub-Saharan Africa that led to outbreaks of intestinal parasites in baboons and humans. The loss of large predators led to behavior changes of the baboons, and they had more contact humans’ agriculture production, which resulted in a high rate of intestinal disease. The abundance of invasive species when the apex consumers are absent, the ecosystems are invaded by non-native species. The experimental removal of predatory birds in Hawaii showed an increased in non-native spider population. In a terrestrial ecosystem when apex consumers were absent, and the increased abundance of herbivores can cause the tree recruitment failure and the transformation of the forests into grasslands. This could be seen in many of the United

The environment has a major influence in the personal health of a child and many of them are not aware of how it affects them drastically. Various health conditions are either caused or aggravated by environmental factors. One of the major health causing hazards is air pollution which can results in asthma, cancer, and other severe respiratory conditions of which, many of these children are naïve about how to protect themselves from these diseases. Students from the grades four through sixth need to be educated about the health hazards resulting from air pollution and learn practices at school that will help lessen air pollutants for their overall health and for future generations as well. Applications such as riding your bike and walking to school, and creating your own garden, will help promote good health for children as it will help improve air quality for them.