Term 3 Learning Point 2

Hi guys,

I will be now telling you guys about my other learning point in term 3. Throughout this 10 weeks, I also have learnt about Ecology and how organisms interact with each other.

So what is Ecology? Ecology is the study of interaction of organisms in biotic and abiotic environments.

In Ecology, there is always a Ecosystem. In this ecosystem, there will be many communities of organisms and in this communities, there will be many populations and in these populations, there will be many organisms.

In every envionments, there will always be an abiotic environment and a biotic environment. Let me first explain to you guys what is an abiotic environment.

An abiotic environment is the physical factors that affect the ecosystem. In an abiotic environment, the temperature and pH of the environment, amount of oxygen, humidity, amount of water, wave action, wind speed, light intensity, salinity of the water, type of substratum will affect the ecosystem. So how does each point affects the ecosystem?

Temperature and pH:
This factor affects the proper functioning of enzymes, as extreme temperatures and pH will distrupt the hydrophobic*, hydrophilic** and ionic interactions of the enzymes, causing them to lose their shape and functionality.

*hydrophobic: Ability to absorb water
**hydrophilic: Ability to be mixed and dissolved in solutions.

Amount of oxygen: Low oxygen content will result in lower metabolism rate in organisms as oxygen is used for aerobic respiration

Humidity: High humidity will slow down the rate of transpiration in plants, yet, affects the survival of  organisms living in dry and barren land.

Amount of water: The amount of water will affect the number and locations of plants and animals as water is essential in the survival of all organisms.

Wave action: Strong waves will prevent marine organisms from settling down and feeding.

Wind speed: Strong winds may break the stems of some plant species which have weak stems.

Light intensity: Low light intensity will slow down plant growth, however, high light intensity will on the other hand, bleach chlorophyll, causing them to be unable to photosynthesize.

Salinity of water: High salinity will prevent some organisms from being able to take in water, and vice versa, low salinity may also make some organisms take in too much water.

Type of substratum: Different substratum will affect the ability of plants and immobile organisms to anchor themselves.

Therefore, factors in abotic environment will affect the ecosystem.

Now let me move on to biotic environment.

A biotic environment means the biological interactions of organisms that affects the ecosystem in a whole.

So there are abiotic factors, there will also be biotic factors. Let me explain each factor to you guys.

Mutualism is sort of a "win-win" situation, where both organisms benefits from the interaction.

Commensalism is a situation where only one organism benefit and the other do not benefit nor lose anything.

Predation is a situation where one organism benefit and the other lose something.

Competition is a situation where both organisms lose something.

Ammensalism is a situation where one organism lose something and the other remains neutral.

This marks my end of the definition of biotic factors.

In ecosystems there will always be food webs and in each food webs, there will be many food chains. Food chains is the sequence of organisms, starting with a plant and energy will be passed to the other organism when it is eaten. A food web then comprises of many interlinked food chains from the same ecosystem.

Also in ecosystems, there will also be carbon cycles. Carbon is found in ALL living things on Earth. Now you may ask how is carbon found in living things?! Now I will explain this cycle to you guys.

So carbon cycle starts with the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide in the air will allow plants to photosynthesize and produce oxygen needed for aerobic respiration. During aerobic respiration, organisms then respire and produce carbon dioxide. Also when organisms die off, bacteria will decompose them and form fossil fuels which is used by humans for production of many things. During these production, most of them will produce carbon dioxide which will again be taken in by the plants during photosynthesis. Therefore, this forms the carbon cycle where carbon is passed on from one organism to another.

In all, Ecology is a topic that is interesting as it allows us to see how do organisms like us interact with the environment. Just a short summary of this post, in Ecology, there will be ecosystems that branches out to many communites and further branches out to many populations and organisms. Also in all environments, there will always be an abiotic environment and biotic environment and also a carbon cycle.

Reflection:

As stated above, I feel that Ecology is a topic that is very interesting as firstly, it allows us to find out how do we interact with the other organisms and how does interacting with these organisms allows us to stay alive and how do other organisms benefits us and causes us to lose something. Ecology is also easier when compared Physics as I find that most of the information are memorisable and also common sense. It is just the terms that are used in Ecology that is hard for me. In all, I find Ecology easy and interesting.

Thanks,
Aloysius Chan