Table of Contents

Ecology levels

Abiotic components

Biotic components

Imp Definitions

Metabolism, Catabolism, Anabolism

Ecological Sanitation

Ecological tipping point

Green Growth

Detritivores and Saprotrophs

Natural Capital Accounting/Environmental economic accounting

System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA)

Misc.

Ecology levels

Individual

Population - growth rate, death rate, immigration, emigration, population density

Community - major, minor and structure

Ecosystem - components, interaction

Biome - Terrestrial;

Aquatic zones

Biosphere - Life

Abiotic components

Soil, Water, Air, Light, temperature, Substratum, Organic and inorganic compounds, latitude and altitude, fire, gravity

Organic compounds - Proteins, Carbohydrates, Lipids, humic substances
Inorganic - Carbon, water, Sulphur, nitrates, phosphates and other ions

Biotic components

plants, animals, microbes (Primary producers, consumers(macro and micro))

Autotrophs (primary producers)

Heterotrophs (primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary consumers)

Phagotrophs (feeds by ingesting organisms/organic material and digested in the body)

Osmotrophs (obtain its nutrition from organic compounds in solution from its surroundings)

Saprotrophs (obtain nutrition by feeding on decaying organic matter of dead plants and animals; mostly fungi; obtain nutrition out of its cell)

Detrivores (obtain nutrition by feeding on decaying organic matter; mostly animals; obtain nutrition by digesting inside its cell)

Decomposers ( any organism that breaks down organic matter Ex: Flagellates, bacteria, fungi)

Parasites (obtain nutrition by living on the body surface or inside the body of another type of organism )

Prokaryotes - unicellular organisms with nuclei unbounded in cellular membrane Ex: bacteria

Eukaryotes - unicellular organisms with bounded nuclei in cellular membrane Ex: Fungi

Holophytes - Synthesize organic compounds by Photosynthesis

Macrophytes- aquatic plant grows in /near water emergent/submergent/floating

Helophytes - plant grows in marsh partly submerged in water

Hydrophytes - adopted plant life to wetlands

Byrophytes - small plants grew in small amount of soil

Epiphytes (grows harmlessly on another plant and derives nutrients and moisture from air, sun, rain)

Methanotrophs - they are methane oxidizing bacteria that grow on methane as their source of carbon and energy

Troph - who nourishes

Phyte - plant / plant like organism

Imp Definitions

Metabolism, Catabolism, Anabolism

Metabolism refers to the bio-chemical reactions that take place in an organism which allows an organism to live, grow, reproduce, heal, and adapt to its environment. It consists of two processes – Catabolism and AnabolismCatabolism deals with breakdown of larger molecules into smaller ones. These are usually energy releasing processes.

On the other hand, Anabolism is related to the synthesis of complex molecules from simpler ones. These are energy-using processes.

Putrescibility : process of decomposition of organic matter present in water using oxygen

Ecological Sanitation

Sustainable system for handling human excreta using dry composting toilets
Practical, hygienic, efficient, cost effective solution to human waste disposal
Can be converted into natural fertilizer
EcoSan toilets already in place in many areas of Kerala and Srilanka

Ecotone

Zone of junction b/w two or more diverse ecosystems Ex: Mangrove ecotone b/w Terrestrial and Marine ecosystem
Grassland is also an example of ecotone
Edge effect - In some ecotones, no.of species and population density is more than that of surrounding ecosystem which is called edge effect
Edge species - Organisms which occur primarily or most abundantly in the Edge Effect Ecotone zone are known as Edge species
Ecotone can be wide or narrow
Note: There is no such concept called Ecological Tone

EDGE Species

Ecocline

It is also a transition zone b/w two ecosystems wherein the transition of physical , chemical properties of environment
Ecocline is related majorly with variation of (halocline) salinity,(chemocline) chemical or (pycnocline) density of water.

Ecophene

Also called as Ecads
Morphologically changed form- Species adapted to new environment when shifted to new ecosystem
Ecophene from different habitats, when brought together, become similar
Reverses the changes once they moved to original habitat as there is no change in genetics

Ecotype / Ecospecies

In evolutionary ecology, ecotype describes a genetically distinct geographic variety, population or race within a species, which is genotypically adapted to specific environmental conditions.

Note: Ecophene is morphologically adapted while ecotype is genetically adapted

Ecotype appear in response to natural selection within species
Ecotype become a species when isolated and disallowed interbreeding with others
Species in ecotypes are narrowed down more specifically

Ecotopes

Are the smallest ecologically-distinct landscape features in a landscape and mapping classification system.
As such, they represent relatively homogeneous, spatially-explicit landscape functional units that are useful for stratifying landscapes into ecologically distinct features for the measurement and mapping of landscape structure, function and change.

Ecological tipping point

It is a critical point in the evolving situation that leads to new and irreversible development

Green Growth

It is fostering economic growth and development while ensuring the natural assets continue to provide the resource and environment services on which our well-being relies

Detritivores and Saprotrophs

Detritivores are mostly animals while saprotrophs are mostly fungi.
Detritivores consume lumps of dead/decomposing organic matter separately, while saprotrophs absorb chemically digested food.
Saprotrophs digest their food externally, whereas detritivores do it internally in the digestive system.
Detritivores shed most of the digested matter unabsorbed, whereas saprotrophs absorb the entire digested matter into them for their growth, repair, and reproduction.

Homeostasis

Homeostasis is the maintenance of a stable equilibrium, especially through physiological actions(through bodily part functions).
Ex: Cooling your body through sweating
Organisms try to maintain the constancy of its internal environment (a process called homeostasis) despite varying external environmental conditions that tend to upset its homeostasis

Regulate	Shiver or Sweat. Plants do not have this mechanism. Humans, mammals use this. thermoregulation and osmoregulation
Conform	An overwhelming majority (99 per cent) of animals and nearly all plants cannot maintain a constant internal environment. Their body temperature changes with the ambient temperature
Migrate	The organism can move away temporarily from the stressful habitat to a more hospitable area and return when stressful period is over Ex: Siberian birds to Keoladeo national park
Suspend	Dormancy, hibernation(bear), aestivation( snails, Fish) , diapause(zooplanktons)

Bio-control

Biological control is the use of natural enemies (called bio-control agents) to reduce populations of pests such as insects and weeds.
Parasites, pathogens, and predators are the primary groups used in biological control of insects.
Natural enemy pathogens are microorganisms including certain bacteria, fungi, nematodes, protozoa, and viruses that can infect and kill the host.

Planetary Boundaries

They are the earth processes or system that regulate the stability and resilience of earth and are delimited to a certain boundary after which there is a risk of instability and irreversible change

Scientists have identified nine earth system processes to have boundaries, namely Climate Change, Biosphere Integrity, Land System Change, , Biogeochemical Flow, Freshwater Use, Ocean Acidification, Novel Entities, Atmospheric Aerosol Loading and Stratospheric Ozone Depletion.
These nine processes and systems regulate the stability and resilience of the Earth System
Out of these, four boundaries (Climate Change, Biosphere Integrity, Land System Change and Biogeochemical Flow) have now been crossed as result of human activity, which indicate that there is a risk of irreversible and abrupt environmental change.

Natural Capital

Natural capital can be defined as the stocks of natural assets which include geology, soil, air, water and all living things
It includes those elements of the nature that provide valuable goods and services to humans, such as the stock of forests, food, clean air, water, land, minerals, etc.
It is essential for economic growth, employment, and, ultimately, prosperity

Natural Capital Accounting/Environmental economic accounting

It can be used to measure the state of ecosystems, flows of ecosystem services as well as changes in stocks and flows of natural resources in relation to economic changes

System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA)

It is a statistical system that brings together economic and environmental information into a common framework to measure the condition of the environment, the contribution of the environment to the economy and the impact of the economy on the environment
It organizes and presents statistics on the environment and its relationship with the economy

Natural Capital Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services (EU)
Wealth Accounting and the Valuation of Ecosystem Services (WAVES) (WB)

Misc.

Imp cline

(halocline) salinity,
(chemocline) chemical
(pycnocline) density of water.
Lysocline - below which calcium carbonate minerals undergo dissolution

Standing crop - Total living biomass in an ecosystem
Standing state - Total amount of nutrients at any given time

Niche - description of all the biological, chemical, physical factors that a species needs to survive, stay healthy and reproduce. A niche is unique for species

(Food Niche, Habitat Niche, Reproductive Niche, Physical and Chemical Niche)

Biome characterized by Climate(Temp and precipitation mainly), Soil, Vegetation and animal types. No two biomes are alike.
Only terrestrial part is divided into Biomes and not aquatic systems

Ecology - Introduction