Ecology

Ecology is derived from the Greek word

“oikos”, meaning “household” and “logos “
meaning “study”.
- the study of the environmental house
including all organisms in it and all the
functional processes that make the house
habitable.
- literally, it is the study of “life at home” with
emphasis on the totality of pattern of relations
between organisms and their environment.
Ecology Definition by Ernst Haeckel (1869)

-Ecology is the study of the natural

environment including the relations of
organisms to one another and to their
surroundings.
- Relationships, interactions,
interdependence
- Ex. Predator – prey relationship
- Host – Pathogen relationship
Subdivision of Ecology

• Autecology - refers to the ecological study of

an individual organism or sometimes a
particular species (Species Ecology). It helps
us understand the relationships between
individual organism and environment.
• Synecology - refers to the study of group of
organisms of different species which are
associated together as a unit in form of a
community. It is also known as “Community
Ecology”.
Aquatic Ecology
• Aquatic ecology is a branch of the science
of ecology which is concerned with the study of
aquatic ecosystems.
• Subdivisions of Aquatic Ecology:
• freshwater, estuarine and marine ecology.
• Given that most of the Earth is covered in
water, understanding aquatic ecosystems is
very important, especially since water is critical
to the survival of all life on Earth.
• Without water, Earth would be a very different
place, and there probably wouldn't be any
ecologists around to study it.
Subdivisions of Aquatic Ecology
• Freshwater ecology involves rivers, lakes, streams,
seasonal bodies of water, underground water deposits,
and the surrounding areas.
• marine ecology is concerned with the ocean.
• Estuaries, where freshwater meets saltwater, may be
studied by ecologists from either field, and sometimes
both, working cooperatively on projects which require the
expertise of freshwater and marine ecologists.
• Because water systems are interconnected, there is a
great deal of cooperation between professionals working
in various aspects of aquatic ecology, and
between aquatic ecologists and other members of
the ecology profession.
Subdivisions of Aquatic Ecology

• Whether an ecologist works with saltwater or

freshwater, there are a number of topics of
interest in aquatic ecology.
• Aquatic ecologists study natural populations of
organisms in the water, learning about natural
variations and the impact of influences like
temperature, salinity, water depth, location, and
season. Ecologists may be interested specifically
in organisms of economic importance, or in the
biology of an ecosystem as a whole.
Scope of Aquatic Ecology
• Aquatic ecologists are also interested in human
interactions with the environment, and the impact
of human activity on aquatic ecosystems, ranging
from oil spills in the ocean to agricultural runoff in
lakes and streams. Some human activities have
unintended consequences, and these
consequences can take on an epic scale in the
world of aquatic ecology, since all water eventually
drains to the ocean, and the world's oceans are all
connected.
• A microbe in China may end up in a harbor in the
Philippines and ecologists can explore the path
that microbe took to get there, and whether or not
human activities played a role.
Scope of Aquatic Ecology

• There are a huge number of fields of study

available to people working
in aquatic ecology, including water
conservation, environmental preservation,
commercial uses of aquatic resources,
pollution, the history of water use, water
use policies, and the study of unique
organisms in various aquatic environments
all over the world.
Aquatic Resources

- all aquatic flora and fauna

including, but not restricted to,
fish, algae, seaweeds,
coelenterates, mollusks,
crustaceans, echinoderms and
cetaceans.
Definitions/Examples
• Fish-A limbless cold-blooded vertebrate animal
with gills and fins and living wholly in water.
• Seaweed- is the common name for countless
species of marine plants and algae that grow in
the ocean as well as in rivers, lakes, and other
water bodies. Seaweed is a loose colloquial term
encompassing macroscopic, multicellular,
benthic marine algae. The term includes some
members of the red, brown and green algae.
Definitions/Examples

• Mollusks -The molluscs or mollusks, compose

the large phylum of invertebrate animals known
as the phylum Mollusca. Around 85,000 extant
species of molluscs are recognized (oysters,
mussels, abalones, etc.)
• Crustaceans - form a very large group of
arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum,
which includes such familiar animals as crabs,
lobsters, crayfish, etc.
• Coelenterates - group of primitive aquatic
animals that includes jellyfish, corals, and sea
anemones.
Definitions/Examples

• Echinoderms are a phylum of marine

animals. The adults are recognizable by
their radial symmetry, and include such
well-known animals as starfish, sea
urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers.
• Cetaceans include the marine mammals
commonly known as whales, dolphins, and
porpoises.
Ecosystem
- first proposed by the British Ecologist Sir
Arthur G. Tansley (1935)
- Any unit that includes all the organisms
(the biotic community) in a given area
interacting with the physical environment,
so that a flow of energy leads to a clearly
defined biotic structures and cycling of
materials between living (biotic) and non-
living (abiotic) components.
Ecosystem
• An ecosystem is simply an easy way to refer to all the
lifeforms (plant and animal) in a cohesive, relatively
independent area, and their relationship to one another. In a
perfect world, an ecosystem is in balance. That is, the
predator species keep the prey species' population in check
without completely destroying them, and plant life remains
varied without one type predominating and crowding out the
rest.
• Ecosystems are rarely in balance, and this is often cause for
alarm. For instance, pollution runoff from a factory can effect
marine life in a lake, causing the fish population to plummet.
This destabilizes the entire surrounding ecosystem, and
birds and animals that prey on the fish either die off or
migrate to areas with more food.
Ecosystem

• Attempting to counteract damage to an

ecosystem requires a complete
understanding of all the interrelationships
between plants, animals and atmosphere
in the system.
• Since such perfect understanding is rarely
possible, unintended consequences are
often the result.
Ecosystem

• In nature, no ecosystem can be said to be

independent of neighboring ecosystems or
indeed, the global ecosystem, since
ecosystems are open and plants and
animals can move between them.
• All ecosystems are affected by planet-wide
trends that affect the atmosphere, such as
pollution and global warming.
Abiotic Components

Include inorganic and organic

compounds, such as: water,
carbon dioxide, oxygen,
calcium, nitrogen, sulfur, and
phosphorous salts, amino and
humic acids, and others.
Biotic Components

• Producers
• Consumers
• Decomposers
-end of presentation-

Thank You!
Assignment

• Submit :
• Commercially Important Aquatic
Resources
• Fish (F/W, B/W, M/W) (5-5-5)
• Seaweed (R -B-G) (5-5-5)
• Mollusks (5)
• Crustaceans (5)
• Echinoderms (5)
• Cetaceans (5)
Taxonomic Classification

• Kingdom
• Phylum
• Class
• Order
• Family
• Genus
• Species
• Scientific Name
• English Name
• Common Name