Cesar Oliva 12/13/14 Chaparral Ecosystem Study Many people think of the chaparral as a dry and dead place. The chaparral is actually home for many organisms. It is true the chaparral is a very dry and hot place, but it is also a place with mild, cool, rainy, winters and lots of life. As an any other ecosystem, the chaparral is made out of many abiotic and biotic factors. An ecosystem includes all organism including nonliving things in a given area. Abiotic factors are non living things like wind, sun light, temperature, etc. Biotic factors are living things or once living, like animals, plants, bones, scat, etc. Biodiversity and Abundance When studying the chaparral and trying to find organisms, 125 organisms were identified. There is a lot more than just 125 organisms, but that was how much organisms were found during the study period . Biodiversity is the assortment or variety, of living things in a ecosystem. As you can see in the bar graph, there is a large biodiversity of insects and plants in the Chaparral. There were about 50 different types of insects species, while there was only two different species of amphibians. One of the reason of why there is a larger biodiversity of insects and plants is because, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles are harder to find because they usually hide or they go away from people. Insects mainly interact with plants, since there is so many species of plants and there are very abundant in the chaparral, a larger number of insects can live their, therefore making it possible to be many different species of insects. Abundance is the quantity or amount of something. As you can see in the pie chart, again plants and insects are the most abundant. Mainly for the same reasons but also it is harder for an mammal, birds, or amphibians, to adapt and survive in dry conditions. What affects abundance and biodiversity of organisms in an ecosystem is biotic and abiotic factors.In our study, the organism that was most abundant was the earwig(Euborellia annulipes) and the honey bee (Apis millifera). The organisms with the least abundance where mammals and birds. Some of them were the coyote(Apis mellifera), southern alligator lizard(Elgaria multicarinata), and the funnel web spider(Atrax robustus). Many of those species are often found in hot and dry conditions. Interactions Between Organisms Interactions between organisms are very important. The reason for this is that some organisms depend on others organism to survive, and for other reasons such as reproduction, some plants need insects in order to reproduce. For example bees are attracted to flowers and plants by their bright colors or nectar, when they land on a flower or plant pollen stick to them and they fly aways to another flower or plant. Interactions with the Environment Interactions between organisms and their environment are also important very important. Each organisms have an impact in their environment that they live in. For example the way that insects help plants reproduce. Also organisms are part of the food web in that environment. Some organisms are specialist meaning that they have a strict diet, they only eat one or two types of organisms. Many plants in the chaparral are consider specialists, like the Chaparral prickly pear(Opuntia oricola) they eat only the nutrients they get from the soil or sunlight. Other organisms are generalist, meaning that they have a wide varied diet. An example of an generalist in the chaparral is a coyote(Canis latrans) because it eats any small animals that they can capture and also they eat grass fruits and berries from trees and plants. Interactions with People Interactions between organisms and people are almost never good. The way people interact with organisms is by destroying their homes by pollution or by over development. People also sometimes kill animals while driving. Not all of the interactions between people are bad, people also help restoring the chaparral, by planting endangered plants and there is many other good interactions between the chaparral and people. Why is it Important? It is always good to know what is in our backyard. There are people that see the chaparral every single day. Many of those people think of the chaparral as a dry and dead place, where there's no life. The only reason of why they say this is because they don’t know about all the abundance and biodiversity of life in the chaparral. It is important to teach people about the chaparral in order to change their perspective on it.