ENWC201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Ernst Haeckel, Passerine, Biocoenosis
20 Jan 2021
School
Department
Course
Professor
Prof Kyle McCarthy
ENWC201 Wildlife Conservation & Ecology Notes
Module 1
❖ Defining the Title
➢ Wildlife: wild and alive, non-domesticated
▪ Includes birds, mammals, turtles, etc.
▪ Excludes insects, fish, plants and fungi
➢ Conservation: an ethic of resource use, maintaining the health of the natural world
➢ Ecology: (eco – ology) home study, interactions between organisms
▪ Developed by Ernst Haeckel
❖ Wildlife of the World
➢ Mammalia: mammals have hair, mammary glands, and three ear bones
➢ Carnivora: carnivore species have prominent canines and sharp claws
➢ Birds uniquely have feathers
▪ More than 50% of bird species are in the Passeriformes order
▪ There are about 9,900 bird species in the world; around 2000 in North America and
around 925 in the US
➢ Reptilians
▪ There are about 8,200 species in the world
➢ Amphibians
▪ There are about 6,500 species in the world
❖ Basic Ecology
➢ Ecosystem: a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular
area, as well as nonliving, physical components of the environment with which the
organisms interact such as soil, air, sun, etc.
▪ Ecologists study ecosystems
▪ Carbon Cycle: carbon in our atmosphere, oxygen, photosynthesis, animals get
carbon from plants, cellular respiration, decay, etc.
▪ Nitrogen Cycle: Some plants can fix nitrogen out of the atmosphere
• Nitrogen is the building block of DNA
▪ Energy flows through our ecosystems
• Comes from the sun through light energy
• Rely on plants to create chemical energy for energy and oxygen
• Plants are the critical link between the sun and all other life on Earth
➢ Trophic Levels
▪ Second law of thermodynamics: the transformation of energy is not 100% efficient
▪ First trophic level: Producers/plants take 1% of suns energy (10,000 kcal of energy)
▪ Second level: Primary Consumers/eat the plants, they get about 16% of energy
stored in plants (100kcal)
▪ Third level: Secondary Consumers/eating primary consumers, they get 11% of
energy from primary consumers (100kcal)
Document Summary
Includes birds, mammals, turtles, etc: excludes insects, fish, plants and fungi. Conservation: an ethic of resource use, maintaining the health of the natural world. Ecology: (eco ology) home study, interactions between organisms: developed by ernst haeckel. Mammalia: mammals have hair, mammary glands, and three ear bones. Carnivora: carnivore species have prominent canines and sharp claws. Birds uniquely have feathers: more than 50% of bird species are in the passeriformes order, there are about 9,900 bird species in the world; around 2000 in north america and around 925 in the us. Reptilians: there are about 8,200 species in the world. Amphibians: there are about 6,500 species in the world. Communities: community: the living part of an ecosystem, plant community and animal community = biotic community, can shift in both space and time, biomes, ex. Ecological interactions: natural selection: the process that determines which individuals will pass on their genes to the next generation, steps of natural selection.
