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Abiotic factors:
• light
• Water
• Wind
• Heat
• Nutrients in soil

Biotic factors:
• Animals
• Humans
• Insects
• Bacteria
• plants

Organism – single identity
Population – number of species eg 100 squirrels
Community – the whole species
Ecosystem – range of different habitats & species in it
Biome – desert, tropics – collection of ecosystems
Biosphere – areas that make the planet
Old People Can’t Eat Baked Beans

• NICHE – specialized adaptation (e
...
hole
in the tree)
• HABITAT – where it lives/area (e
...

woodland)

• MULTIDIMENTIANAL NICHE SPACE –
many aspects that define its niche e
...

food, breeding, temperature
• COMPETITIVE EXCLUSION – two species
overlapping
• FUNDAMENTAL NICHE – total area of a
niche a species can occupy

• INTERSPECIFIC – different species
• INTRASPECIFIC – same species
• SPECIATION – becoming a new species
slowly
• MICROEVOLUTION – becoming a new
species quickly

• ECOLOGICAL NICHE – how an organism
fits into the environment
• REALIZED NICHE – actual area of the
fundamental niche that a species
occupies

COOPERATION:
• Mutualism – both benefit

• Symbiotic – both partners suffer if ended
• Commensalism – only one species benefits but
the other doesn’t suffer either
EXPLOTIVE COMPETITION:

Species interaction – 3 C’s:
• Cooperation
• Competition
• Consumption (dietary
classification)

• Exclusion of other competitors
• Two aspects:
• Scramble: speed of consumption (quickly getting it)
• Pre-emtive: rapid colonisation of an area (getting early)
• Interference – interfenrence/ prevent others from accessing a resource
• Chemical – deterrents
• Overgrowth – rapid growth in numbers
• Encounter – direct aggression
• Territorial – marking + defending

Why survey???
• Data gathering/ collect baseline data
• Comparing findings
• Feedback
• Provide data for development
• Wildlife – population and changes
• Population growth
• Disease
• Pollutants (abiotic)
• Human impact

Bioblitz – getting people together to
do something for/with the local
environment

• Invasive species
• Biodiversity
• Migration patterns
• Phenology (study of when
things are happening)
• Reintroduction
• Management decisions

TROPHIC LEVEL - organisms that can obtain their
energy with the same number of trophic
transfers from plants or detritus
...

FOOD WEB – a group of organisms that are
linked together by multiple pathways between
different tropic levels, linked together by
multiple pathways between different trophic
levels, linking food chains
...

EXTIRPATED – removed from an area – not
extinct eg lynx not in UK but live in other
countries

Food chain levels:
Apex – predator on top
carnivores

Quaternary consumer – (eagle)
Tertiary consumer – (snake)
Secondary consumer – (mouse)

Herbivores/
insectivores

Primary consumer – (lotus)
Primary producer – (grass)

owl

eagle

fox

hawk

blackbird

mouse

Red squirrel

sparrow

nuts

Generalists – polyphagous – fox – (more than one arrow to them)
Specialists – monophagous – owl – (only one arrow to them)

rabbit

snail

grass

Eutrophication
(algae)

Animal
extinction – key
stone species

evolution

Climate
change/weather

Impact on food web

vegetation

Invasive
species/alien
species

Human impact –
hunting,
deforestation

disease

fat
toxic

BIOACCUMULATION – the accumulation of a toxic chemical in the tissue of a particular organism
– artic animals
– a dispose tissue (fat)
BIOMAGNIFICATION – the increased concertation of a toxic chemical the higher an animal is on the
food chain

Build up mercury :
• Can make infertile
• Muscle problems

Polar bear – 10%
Seals – 10%

• 10% rule for energy
• Each trophic level
only makes 10% of
energy available to
the next level
• Energy restricts top predators

Fish – 10%
Zooplankton – 10%

Phytoplankton – 10%

DDT
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Pesticide
70s
1 billion kilo grams into the environment
Affect birds egg shell, birds sit on eggs (eggs getting crushed)
Falcons – top food chain – affected by biomagnification
In water - 150 years to decompose
Becoming less worse but still present (recovery been seen)

mitigation
• Developers need to enhance a
site’s ecological value
• Mitigation – ‘to make milder or
less severe’
• Dormouse and great crested
newt are under law

• Mitigation examples:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Make new habitat
Move to another area
Make a reserve
Corridors
Relocate
Different time + season
Environmentally friendly ( green
roofing)
• Translocating species

Biological reading
Why?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

To keep track of changes
For information/ to compare
To spot issues
Monitoring population changes (phenology)
Past events
Historical values
Anthropogenic impacts
Secondary data
Species preferences
Invasive species
Issues, climate change

• ‘A biological record is information on the
location and status of habitats and species’
• National scientific standards of what has to be
in records – 4W’s:
•
•
•
•

Who – the observer
Where – location seen as accurate as possible
When – the date
What – identification of the species

• + why, how, weather, season, if the species
are relevant can also be included
Motivation of recording:
•
•
•
•
•
•

Economic
Legislative
Academic interest
Environmental monitoring
Social
conservation

record centres:
• 73 covering UK
• South is east is covered
• Feed records into the NBN gateway

KMBRC – (Kent & Medway Biological
Records Centre)
• Set up may 2003
• Records entered in October 2003
• Officially launched June 2005

Main issues:
• Misidentification: if a recorder misidentifies
a species and confuses it with a rare species,
they will ‘waste’ our resources and the
conservation efforts
...

• Data input errors: wrong data entered
• Not recording absences: absence is as
important than presence

Data shared with:
•
•
•
•

Local authorities
Planners (e
...
consultancies)
Conservation groups
Schools, university's, researchers

NBN – national biodiversity

ispot

network
• Online species and site
mapping and reporting
• Species data downloads
• Originally developed for
conservation organisations
• Over 30 million records

• Identification website

Phase 1 surveys
• Entirely field based
• Uses objects from 1:10000 or 1:25000
scale maps
• Only one level of detail
• Target notes used when objects are to
small

Who was phase 1 developed by?
• Nature conservancy council (NCC)

What was the reason behind developing this?
• To provide a standardised system of classifying and mapping semi-natural vegetation and
wildlife habitats over large areas of countryside in GB

What could you use before you start the practical data collection?
• Desktop surveys / aerial photography & satellite imagery

What is a phase 2 survey?
• Provides a more detailed description of species composition and abundance than phase 1

What is a phase 3 survey?
• Usually undertaken on smaller areas and involve even more detailed surveys of the extent
and distribution of plants and animal species on site

How can these surveys be used?
• Used to assist effective nature conservation and provide a clear defined baseline for
monitoring change – helps planning for the future

How many habitats are counted?
• Around 90 specified types

• Why would you put a target note?
• Sites that need further survey
• Conservation evaluation
• Information on sites too small to map

What should be finished product?
• A report that presents the results of the survey

Why can phase 1 be considered inaccurate?
• Accuracy
• Scale
• Boundary
• Always changing

Fresh water management
• 67% water (earth)
• 2
...
05% of this is locked in ice caps and glaciers
• 0
...

2
...

4
...

6
...

8
...

10
...

12
...

14
...


Peak district (1951)
Lake district (1951)
Snowdonia (1951)
Dartmoor (1951)
Prenbrokshire coast (1952)
North York moors (1952)
Yorkshire dales (1954)
Exmoor (1954)
Northumberland (1956)
Brecon beacons (1957)
The broads (1988)
New forest (2001)
Loch lomand (2002)
Caingorms (2003)
South downs (2011)

cairngorms

Loch lomand

Northumberland
North York moors

Lake district

Yorkshire dales

Snowdonia

Peak district

Brecon beacons
Pembrokeshire coast
Exmoor
New forest South downs
Dartmoor

The broads

• 8
...
Conserve and enhance the natural
beauty, wildlife and cultural
heritage
2
...
Seek to foster the economic and
social well being of local
communities within the national
park
Now moving towards sustainable
management of the land

Tourism
Environment and ecological
How to manage these issues:
• Appropriate restrictions – speed limits lots
• Legislation – protected species
• Public transport
• Awareness – eg countryside code
• Sustainable local produce – reduce food miles
• Replanting
• Signage away from certain areas
• Zones for certain activities

SSSI
• 4000 in England
• 26000 separate owners + land
managers
~under the wildlife and countryside
act 1981 the government has a duty
to notify as an SSSI any land which in
its opinion is of special interest by
reason of any of its flora, fauna,
geological or physiological features~

Two categories
• Biological
• Geological
SSSIs are legally protected and are
naturally important for wildlife
...

• Created in Lundy first
• Created under the wildlife and
countryside act 1981
• 3 UK:
• Lundy marine nature reserve at
Lundy island
• Skomer
• Stanford lough

MCZ
• Specific marine life
• Lundy – managed by the
national trust no take zone
• 27 sites across the UK
• The marine act 2009
•
•
•
•

Seals
Puffins
Lundy pony
Sea fans and coral

Ramsar

• The convention on wetlands
• Started 1975 and as august 2006
had 152 parties
• 2010 159 parties
• Many migratory birds stay at these
– Iran, Ramsar agreed in 1971
• UK has the highest number of sites
at 168, migratory birds stop here
• Wetlands under Ramsar: marshes +
lakes, coral reef, rat forest,
temporary pools, under ground
caves

• At least 12% of all globally
threatened birds (146 species)
depends on wetlands
• Wetlands make up a high percentage
of important bird areas (IBA)
• 69% of all European IBAs contain
wetlands
• To be a Ramsar site:
• Vulnerable, endangered, or critically
endangered
• Regularly supports 1% of the individuals
in a population
• If it supports a significant proportion of
indigenous fish subspecies
• Spawning ground or migratory path

World heritage sites
• UNESCO
• Special cultural or physical
significance

• UK sites include:
•
•
•
•
•

Canterbury cathedral
Jurassic coast
Stonehenge
St Kida
Kew gardens

Ecological economics and ecosystem services
Issues
• Finite resources (finite = limited)

Five capital model forum for future:
1
...


Hubbert curve

Social capital – social resources (networks, social claims,
social relations, affiliation, associations)

3
...


Manufactured (physical) capital – infrastructure
(buildings, roads), production equipment and
technologies

5
...

• Biosphere reserves attract academic and government research activity that addresses local issues and
problems
...

HIGHER LEVEL – tailored to the
specific farms/areas environmental
improvements beyond hedges etc
are suggested and implemented
ORGANIC ENTRY LEVEL – same as
entry, just specific to organic
farming
...
9m ha

The key idea of r/K selection theory
is that evolutionary pressures tend
to drive animals in one of two
directions:

Towards quickly reproducing
animals whose speciality is to adopt
as many niches as possible using
simple strategies

Slowly reproducing animals who are
strong competitors in crowded
niches and invest substantially in
their offspring

r selected because they rely on
growth

K selected because they restrict
themselves to effectively exploiting
the existing carrying capacity of the
environment

Life history feature

r-selected species

K-selected species

Development

Rapid

Slow

Reproductive rate

High

Low

Reproductive age

Early

Late

Body size

Small

Large

Length of life

Short

Long

Competitive ability

Weak

Strong

Survivorship

High mortality of young

Low mortality of young

Population size

Variable

Fairly constant

Dispersal ability

Good

Poor

Habitat type

Disturbed

Not disturbed

Parental care

low

high

r-selected species
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Common frog
Jellyfish
Flys
Rabbits
Rats
Mice
stick insects

K- selected species
• Elephants
• Hippos
• Horse
• Black widow
• Lions
• rhinos

Population growth equation

N=b–d+i-e
What the results may suggest:
• Extinction
• Natural disaster
• Dip + dive/ boom + bust
• r or K selected species
• Steady rate

Sampling methods
Random sampling:
• Miss important things + areas
• Results not really accurate
• Biased views on where to do it

Stratified sampling:
• ‘Strata’ meaning ‘layered’
• A stratified sampling is made up of different
‘layers’ of the population, for example
selecting samples from different age groups, or
different areas

Systematic:
• Thought through (using a quadrate)
• gridded

Simpsons equation

D = 0
...

Therefore finally Simpson’s Diversity Index = 0

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