Unit 4

Ecosystems: Stability and Change

Performance Expectation HS LS 2-1

Use mathematical and/or computational representations to support explanations of factors that
affect carrying capacity, biodiversity, and populations of ecosystems at different scales.
Clarification Statement
Emphasis is on quantitative analysis and comparison of the relationships among interdependent
factors including boundaries, resources, climate and competition. Examples of mathematical
comparisons could include graphs, charts, histograms, or population changes gathered from
simulations or historical data sets.
Disciplinary Core Idea Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems
HS.LS2A.b Ecosystems have carrying capacities, which are limits to the numbers of organisms
and populations they can support. These limits result from such factors as the availability of
living and nonliving resources and from such challenges as predation, competition, and disease
that affect biodiversity, including genetic diversity within a population and species diversity
within an ecosystem. Organisms would have the capacity to produce populations of great size
were it not for the fact that environments and resources are finite. This fundamental tension
affects the abundance (number of individuals) of species in any given ecosystem. (HS.LS2A.a)
Human activity directly and indirectly affect biodiversity and ecosystem health (e.g., habitat
fragmentation, introduction of nonnative or invasive species,
overharvesting, pollution and climate change).

Performance Expectation HS LS 2-6

Evaluate the claims, evidence and reasoning that the complex interactions in ecosystems
maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions, but changing
conditions may result in a new ecosystem.
Clarification Statement
Examples of changes in ecosystem conditions could include modest biological or physical
changes, such as moderate hunting or a seasonal flood and extreme changes, such as volcanic
eruption or sea level rise. Emphasis
should be on describing drivers of ecosystem stability and change, not on the organismal
mechanisms of responses and interactions.
Disciplinary Core Idea Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and Resilience
HS.LS2C.a The dynamic interactions within an ecosystem can keep its numbers and types of
organisms relatively constant over long periods of time under stable conditions. If a modest
biological or physical disturbance
to an ecosystem occurs, it may return to its more or less original status (i.e., the ecosystem is
resilient), as opposed to becoming a very different ecosystem. Extreme fluctuations in conditions
or the size of any population, however, can challenge the functioning of ecosystems in terms of
resources and habitat availability and may result in new ecosystems.

Unit 4 Lesson 1
Population Dynamics

Population Density
 The number of individuals living within a given geographical area.
 Calculated by dividing the number of individuals in an area by the total area.
 Write the equation here:

 Calculate the Population Density

Clumped Dispersion
 Clumped dispersion occurs when resources are spread unevenly within an ecosystem.
 Individuals gather into groups where resources are available.
 Clumped dispersion helps protect individuals from predators and makes finding a mate
easier.
Uniform Dispersion
 Uniform dispersion occurs when individuals of the same species must compete for
limited resources and territory.
Random Dispersion
 Random dispersion is the least common pattern of distribution.
 It occurs when resources are evenly distributed within an ecosystem.
 In plants, this type of dispersion often occurs when seeds are scattered by wind or water,
resulting in seeds being dropped randomly.
Measuring Population Size
 Scientists use various methods to measure population size.
1. Quadrant sampling - ecologists use quadrants—typically square or rectangular grids of
a known size—to collect data about population numbers in an ecosystem. Quadrant
sampling works best with species that do not move, such as plants and corals.
2. Mark–recapture technique - biologists capture individuals within a population, tag
them, and then release them. After a period of time, a second sample is captured, and
biologists look for and count the tagged individuals as well as any newly captured
animals. They may also fit animals with radio collars or GPS devices to track their
movements.
Population Growth Patterns
 Changes in population sizes and densities in ecosystems are normal responses to changes
in resource availability
Types of data needed
 Scientists must gather data on the types of species, their abundance, their ranges, and the
resources they use in the ecosystem.
Tracking population size.
 To accurately track the population over time, they would need to account for four factors:
immigration, emigration, births, and deaths.
Types of Migration
1. Emigration - Movement of individuals out of an area, E for exit

2. Immigration - Movement of individuals into an area occupied by an existing population, I

for into
Births and deaths also change a population size over time.
 Individuals have offspring, which adds more members to the population.
 Some individuals die each year, which reduces the population.
Growth Rate Equation
 The growth rate of a population can be measured with an equation that takes into account
these four factors:
 r = (b + i) – (d + e)
 In this equation, r = population growth rate, b = birth rate, i = immigration rate, d = death
rate, and e = emigration rate.
 Example problem

Survivorship Curves
 A survivorship curve is a simplified diagram that shows the number of surviving
individuals over time from a measured set of births.
 By measuring the number of offspring born in a year and following those offspring
through until death, survivorship curves give information about the life history of a
species.
Type I survivorship curve
 Some species have a small number of offspring, and many of the offspring live long
enough to reach old age.
 Ex. Mammals and other large animals.
Type II survivorship curve
 The survivorship rate is roughly equal at all stages of an organism's life.
 At all times, these species have an equal chance of dying, whether from disease or as a
result of predation.
 Ex. birds, small mammals, and some reptiles exhibit this intermediate type of
survivorship.
Type III survivorship curve
 Some species have a large number of offspring, but many of these offspring do not
survive long enough to reproduce.
 Many invertebrates, fish, and plants.
Model the survivorship curves in your notes.
Population Growth
 Population growth depends on the environment and available resources.
 The rate of growth for a population is directly determined by the amount of available
resources.
 A population may grow very rapidly, or it may grow slowly over time.
Exponential Growth
 Almost any species that lives in ideal conditions of available resources, space, and other
factors will rapidly increase in population.
 Population size increases dramatically over a relatively short amount of time.
 A graph of exponential growth looks like a J-shaped curve.
Logistic Growth
 During logistic growth, a population begins with a period of slow growth followed by a
period of exponential growth before leveling off at a stable size.
 A graph of logistic growth takes the form of an S-shaped curve.
 During the initial growth period, resources are abundant, and the population is able to
grow at a quick rate.
 Over time, resources are reduced, and growth starts to slow. As resources become even
more limited, the population levels off at a size the environment can support.
Factors That Limit Population Growth
 Because natural conditions are neither ideal nor constant, populations cannot grow
forever.
 Instead, resources are used up or an ecosystem changes, causing deaths to increase or
births to decrease within a population.
Carrying Capacity
 The carrying capacity of an environment is the maximum population size of a species that
a particular environment can normally and consistently support in terms of resources.
 Once a population hits this limit, certain factors then keep it from continued growth.
 These factors include availability of resources such as food, water, and space, as well as
competition among individuals.
Comparing Exponential and Logistic Growth
Climax Community
 A stable, mature community that undergoes little or no change in species.
Limiting Factors
 Many factors can affect the carrying capacity of an environment for a population of
organisms.
 A factor that has the greatest effect in keeping down the size of a population is called a
limiting factor.
 There are two categories of limiting factors—density-dependent and density-independent.
Density Dependent limiting factors
 Density–dependent limiting factors are factors that are affected by the number of
individuals in an area. The larger the population, the greater the effect. Density–
dependent limiting factors include the following: competition, predation, parasitism and
disease.
Competition
 Plants and animals compete for resources.
 As population becomes dense, resources become scarcer and limit the population growth.
Predation
 Predator prey relationships limit each other’s population growth.
Parasitism and disease
 Parasites and disease spread more quickly through dense populations.
 Ex. Black death (bubonic plague) used the flea as a vector and spread swiftly through
densely populated areas killing nearly 30-60% of the European population.
Density-independent limiting factors
 Density–independent limiting factors are factors that can impact a population regardless
of its density.
 These factors include things such as: weather, natural disasters, human activity
Nonnative species (invasive species)
 Nonnative species are species that are brought into ecosystems in which they do not
normally live.
 In some cases, the nonnative species may outcompete one or more native species for
resources.
 Because of the complex network of ecosystems, such effects could alter the ecosystem
food web.
 In some extreme cases, the extinction of a species may occur.
Nonnative invasive species in Louisiana
 Examples of nonnative invasive species in Louisiana include:
 Nutria from South America destroy wetlands
 Asian carp out compete native fish for resources
 Fire ants from South America
Unit 4 Lesson 2
Ecosystem Dynamics

Population Diversity
 When a new species enters a habitat, three main phases of development transpire:
 Lag phase – the new population gets a foothold in the habitat
 Exponential phase – the population grows dramatically as its natality exceeds its
mortality, the species is very successful.
 Logistic growth – the population reaches its Carrying capacity – the average number of
individuals the habitat can support over a long period. Population stops growing
exponentially and starts leveling off.
 Invasive species - A new species that enters into a community and is a little too
successful, reduces the biodiversity.
Interactions in Ecosystems
An ecosystem is a collection of habitats.
The organisms that occupy these habitats have separate niches, but the niches have certain
abiotic and biotic factors in common.
Think of a habitat as where a species lives and a niche as how the species lives within its habitat.

Habitat
1. A habitat includes all of the biotic and abiotic factors in the environment where an
organism lives.
Ecological Niche
 An ecological niche contains all the physical, chemical, and biological factors that a
species needs to survive and reproduce. The factors that make up a species' niche include
the following:
 Food sources The type of food a species eats, how a species competes with others for
food, and where it fits in the food web are all part of a species' niche.
 Abiotic conditions A niche includes the range of conditions such as air temperature and
amount of water that a species can tolerate.
 Behavior The time of day a species is active and where and when it feeds and reproduces
also are factors in the niche of a species.
Relationships in Ecosystems
 Predation is the process by which one organism, the predator, captures and feeds upon
another organism, the prey.
 Competition occurs when two organisms compete for the same limited resource, be it
food, shelter, water, space, or any other biotic or abiotic factor that both organisms need
to survive.
Symbioses
 Symbiosis is a close ecological relationship between two or more organisms of different
species that live in direct contact with one another.There are 3 kinds of symbiosis:
 Mutualism - both species benefit
 Commensalism - one species benefits and the other species is neither harmed nor helped.
  Parasitism - a member of one species benefits and the other member is harmed.

Biodiversity
 Biodiversity refers to the variety of species within an ecosystem.
 Note that biodiversity measures the number of different species, not the number of
individual organisms living in an area.
Measuring Biodiversity
 Two factors that ecologists often use to measure biodiversity are species richness and
species evenness.
 Species richness is the number of species per sample of an area. Areas with a high
number of different species have high species richness and therefore high biodiversity.
 Species evenness measures the abundance of different species that make up the species
richness. Species evenness considers the relative distribution of the numbers of species in
an ecosystem.
Biodiversity Hotspots
 A biodiversity hot spot is an area with a particularly high level of biodiversity.
 Scientists are currently working to protect several biodiversity hot spots.
 Preserving these areas helps to prevent species from going extinct and protects the
ecosystem as a whole.
 Maintaining as much biodiversity as possible makes the entire biosphere healthier and
provides a more stable habitat for plants, animals, and other species.

Keystone Species
 Sometimes a single species has an especially strong effect on an entire ecosystem. This
species is called a keystone species.
 Whatever happens to this species affects all the other species in that ecosystem.
 For example, when beavers build a dam across a stream, it turns a terrestrial ecosystem
into a freshwater ecosystem. 
Human activities reduce biodiversity
 Clearing fields to plant crops, build neighborhoods, industrial sites, etc. removes native
plants and animals.
 Pesticides negatively affect native organisms.
 Introduction of new plants and animals that outcompete native species for resources
reduces biodiversity.
Disturbances in Ecosystems
 In general, an ecosystem can remain relatively constant over a long time under stable
conditions.
 However, a change in one or more of the biotic or abiotic factors can disrupt the
ecosystem and cause change.
 A change brought about by a physical, chemical, or biological agent that impacts
population size or community structure is called a disturbance.
 Disturbances can occur over short or long time frames.
 The type and size of the disturbance can affect how the ecosystem changes.
Natural Disturbances
  Damage or destruction to ecosystems caused by nature.
 Tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, floods, and lightning caused forest fires are some
examples.
Human Caused Disturbances
 Human-caused disturbances include human settlements, agriculture, air and water
pollution, clear-cutting forests, and mining.
 They destroy habitats, wipe out producers, and contribute to a loss of biodiversity.
 Roads and highways can permanently fragment an ecosystem, changing the way
populations of species interact with their habitat and altering the way abiotic factors cycle
through an ecosystem.
Ecosystem Stability
 Disturbances alter ecosystems, but if an ecosystem is relatively stable over time, it can
usually recover from a disturbance at a faster rate, adapting to or reversing any changes.
 How well an ecosystem rebounds, however, is determined by two factors: its resilience
and its resistance.
Ecosystem Resistance
 Resistance is the ability of an ecosystem to resist change from a disturbance.
 Highly resistant ecosystems remain essentially unchanged when a disturbance occurs.
Ecological Succession
 Ecological succession is the sequence of biotic changes that restore a damaged
community or create a community in a previously uninhabited area.
 Two types of ecological succession occur: primary and secondary.
Primary Succession
 Primary succession is the establishment and development of an ecosystem in an area that
was previously uninhabited, usually a bare rock surface.
 Melting glaciers, volcanic eruptions, and landslides all begin the process of primary
succession.
 The first organisms that move into this area are called pioneer species.
 These organisms, such as mosses and lichens, break down solid rock into smaller pieces.
 Once pioneer species have made soil, plants such as grasses can begin to grow.
 Over time, shrubs and trees replace the grasses to form a forest.
 This process continues until a climax community is established.
Secondary Succession
 Secondary succession is the reestablishment of an ecosystem in an area where the soil
was left intact, such as after a fire or flood.
 Because soil is already present in the ecosystem, secondary succession reaches the climax
community stage more rapidly than primary succession.
 The process of regrowth is begun by the plants, seeds, and other organisms that remain
after the disturbance occurs.