Ecology of the Bellarmine Campus

Introduction
In our latest lab, we conducted a survey of the ecosystem--at Bellarmine! Our objective was to track and classify types of organisms based on their ecological function and niche (e.g. primary producer, herbivore, etc.) Through this lab, we learned of the vast diversity of life on campus and how life came together to form an ecosystem. To do this, we simply walked around campus identifying various types of species with our iPads.


Without ado, let's dive into the species we observed around campus!

Species Observed



Producer

Common name: grass

Description: green (indicating of photosynthesis), blade-like

Location found: growing in the quad

Primary Consumer

Common name: chicken

Description: These chickens mainly feed on grain and corn that put them snugly in the place of primary consumers.

Location found: garden

Secondary Consumer

Common name: cat

Description: Sporting retractable claws, this feline hunts for prey such as mice. It rarely attacks adult chickens. 

Location found: dumpster near Bellarmine

Tertiary Consumer 

Common name: human
Description: Able to eat almost anything, humans are at the top of the food chain with no natural predators.
Location found: on campus

Herbivore

Common Name: squirrel

Key traits: Padded paws that allow the squirrel to quickly climb trees and grab fruits and nuts to eat.

Location found: climbing on a tree near the quad

Carnivore

Common name: dog (pitbull)

Description: sharp teeth ideal for tearing meat (not shown), indicating that this species is carnivorous

Location found: sidewalk near Lokey

Omnivore

Common name: crow

Description: with their versatile beaks, crows eat almost anything; from worms, to nuts and seeds.

Location found: Liccardo roof

Decomposer

Common name: earthworm

Description: This little critter that breathes through its skin is actually an earthworm. Its ideal body structure helps it burrow through the soil, feeding on dead organic matter and mixing up the soil!

Location found: ground near the chapel

Pollution Source

Common name: airplane

Key traits: This man made device goes around the campus burning gasoline fuel and serves as a source of noise pollution as well as producing lots of carbon dioxide from the fuel!

Location found: sky above campus

Threatened Species

Common name: grizzly bear

Description: Due to hunting and natural competition, the grizzly bear is going extinct in some parts of the United States, which poses a serious threat to the ecological balance in the Arctic.

Location found: flagpole on the grass

Endangered species

Common name: honey bee

Key traits: This lovable critter that goes around pollinating plants is endangered due to pesticides that cause colony collapse disorder.

Location found: ground near chapel

Non-native species

Common name: Kamchatka horsetail

Description: green (indicating of photosynthesis)

Location found: growing near Liccardo

Discussion questions

1. Define and differentiate between ecology and environmental science and discuss the 

Bellarmine campus in the context of both.

Ecology is a science that seeks to understand the relationship between organisms and their environment, while environmental science is a more general concept that deals with all aspects of the environment--such as biotic, abiotic, chemical, and physical factors. In the context of Bellarmine, ecology would be studying the numerous organisms such as squirrels present on campus and how they affect each other and their environment. However, environmental science would be the study of the complete zone of the Bellarmine campus--such as the soil's nitrogen content, the sources of pollution, etcetera. 

 2. define and describe any population, community, ecosystem, biome and aquatic zone that you 

find on campus; and discuss the biotic and abiotic factors that contribute to that ecosystem.

Population: At Bellarmine, there is a sizable population of a few chickens in the garden. This population thrives because they have ample feed (from humans) and have no external sources of competition. 

Community: In addition to the chickens, a community would be found in the garden at Bellarmine. Many species such as the chicken, the earthworm in the soil, and the roses (photosynthesis) share a habitat and interact with each other constantly. 

Ecosystem: The entire campus of Bellarmine would form a complex ecosystem. Some abiotic factors found in this ecosystem include the rich soil, which has many nutrients and just the right amount of water (which allows for growth of various deciduous trees and a wide variety of foliage), and the strong sunlight year-round, which serves in the benefit for plants carrying out photosynthesis. Some biotic factors affecting the ecosystem would be the predator-prey relationship between numerous species on campus, such as the birds that eat worms; and birds of prey that eat squirrels. In addition, another biotic factor is the issue of human-introduced pollution. 

Biome: From observing the species found on campus, I can conclude that Bellarmine is found in a deciduous forest biome. This comes primarily with the climate on campus (well-defined rain seasons), with the foliage (deciduous trees). In addition, There are more deciduous trees than coniferous trees on campus. 

Aquatic Zone: There is not much water on campus, other than the swimming pool. However, some plants on campus have adapted in order to survive partially being drenched under water, due to heavy rains. 

3. construct and discuss a food chain, a food web, and an ecological pyramid based on the 

trophic levels that you observe.

Food Chain

This picture depicts a food chain. A food chain is simply a linear progression of consumption, beginning from the producer to intermediary consumers. For example, in this food chain, the chicken will eat the grass, but the chicken is in turn eaten by a human. 

This image depicts a food web, a sequence of events that is more complex than a food chain. This food web involves most of the organisms in a given ecosystem. For example, in this food web, the grass is consumed by multiple organisms (squirrel and chicken). In addition, the chicken is then consumed by a cat, but it also can be consumed by a human.

This image is an ecological pyramid. It depicts the relative energy that each organism has at each stage of the food chain. The producers, at the very bottom of the food chain, have the most energy, since they derive it straight from the sun. However, the primary consumers that eat these producers lose some of the energy and have to eat more of these plants because the plants do not have much stored energy. In turn, the secondary consumer and tertiary consumer lose more and more biomass and energy at the top of the pyramid, and need to eat more in order to maintain their metabolism. 

4. investigate and discuss any endangered, threatened, and invasive species on campus.

A large endangered species present at Bellarmine would be the honey bee. The honey bee is in danger of extinction across the nation because of pesticides that cause colony collapse disorder. Yet, bees are extremely important to the balance of the environment--because in places such as on the Bellarmine campus they are pollinators that help spread the pollen of plants to help them reproduce. Another threatened species observed on campus (not exactly physically present) would be a grizzly bear, present on the flag of California that flies near the quad. Because of hunting and natural competition, the grizzly bear is rapidly losing its dominance in the United States. Already, the California grizzly, depicted on the flag, has gone extinct. If the grizzly bear were to be pushed into being endangered, salmon that the bears help keep in check would probably grow more plentiful and throw river ecosystems out of proportion through their rapid breeding and proliferation. 

5. Define pollution, and describe and discuss the various types that you observe on campus.

Pollution is the presence of harmful substances on campus that damage the environment or the organisms present in the environment. One of the largest sources of pollution would be pollution from burning fossil fuels, which generates carbon dioxide--which is toxic to many organisms and contributes to global warming. This occurs on the Bellarmine campus through such man-made objects such as cars and airplanes in the sky. However, there is also sound pollution as well--from things such as the cement plant next to Bellarmine. While it may not be detrimental to most organisms, it is extremely annoying to listen to for humans.