26 Ecosystems

After you have finished reading this chapter, you should be able to:
Relate energy flow to trophic levels of organisms.
Define biological magnification and explain why it is important.
Explain the importance of biodiversity to human life.

We must protect the forests for our children, grandchildren, and children not
yet born. We must protect the forests for those who can’t speak for themselves
such as the birds, animals, fish and trees.
Qwatsinas (Hereditary Chief Edward Moody), Nuxalk Nation

Introduction
Populations interact with and depend on each other. They also interact
with the physical environment around them. Interaction and interde-
pendence are two important relationships. Because of these relationships,
living organisms and their physical surroundings are often studied
together, as parts of a single unit called an ecosystem. The flow of energy
and matter through ecosystems will now be the focus of our attention.
To begin, let’s imagine ourselves in one of the most impressive of
Earth’s ecosystems—a tropical rain forest. (See Figure 26-1.) Charles Dar-
win described his feelings as he first set foot in a South American rain for-
est in 1832:

The day has passed delightfully. Delight itself, however, is a weak

term to express the feelings of a naturalist who for the first time, has
wandered by himself in a Brazilian forest. The elegance of the grasses,
the novelty of the parasitical plants, the beauty of the flowers, the
glossy green of the foliage, but above all the general luxuriance of the
vegetation, filled me with admiration. A most paradoxical mixture

558
 Chapter 26 / Ecosystems 559

Figure 26-1 A tropical

rain forest in Guatemala.

of sound and silence pervades the shady parts of the wood. The noise
from the insects is so loud that it may be heard even in a vessel
anchored several hundred yards from the shore; yet within the
recesses of the forest a universal silence appears to reign. To a person
fond of natural history, such a day as this brings with it a deeper
pleasure than he can ever hope to experience again.

■■ THE BASIC CHARACTERISTICS OF ECOSYSTEMS

An ecosystem is made up of living (biotic) and nonliving (abiotic) fac-

tors. In other words, biotic factors, such as living organisms, and abiotic
factors, such as water, air, light, or temperature, function together in an
ecosystem. For living organisms to survive, there must be a source of
energy. The energy flowing between organisms and their environment is
a basic characteristic of an ecosystem. Organisms are made up of matter.
The flow of matter between organisms and their environment is another
main characteristic of an ecosystem.
What is the source of energy for a tropical rain forest? As with almost
all ecosystems on Earth, it is the sun. While energy is constantly reach-
560 Interaction and Interdependence

ing Earth from the sun, matter is not. The amount of matter on Earth
remains constant. However, matter moves back and forth between organ-
isms and the environment. As with energy, the cycling of matter can be
seen in all ecosystems.

■■ ENERGY FLOW THROUGH ECOSYSTEMS

In most ecosystems, energy arrives as sunlight. Some organisms are able
to use the energy from sunlight directly. Other organisms use this energy
indirectly. They get their energy by eating other organisms. Scientists
describe and group organisms in an ecosystem based on whether an
organism can make its own food or must eat food made by other
organisms.
Organisms are grouped in a system of trophic levels. Trophic means
“feeding.” On the first level are organisms that use energy directly from
the environment, such as the energy in sunlight. These first-level organ-
isms are called producers. Plants are producers because they use the
process of photosynthesis to make their own food with water, carbon
dioxide, and the energy from sunlight. Both the grass in a field and the
mighty oak trees in a forest are producers. Organisms that feed on pro-
ducers are in the next trophic level. These organisms are called primary
consumers. A caterpillar that eats oak leaves is a primary consumer. In the
next trophic level are the organisms that eat primary consumers. These
organisms are called secondary consumers. A bird that eats the caterpil-
lar is a secondary consumer. A large hawk or a cat that eats the bird is a
tertiary consumer. Each of these steps is called a trophic level because it
describes the source of the organisms’ food. We can describe the flow of
energy in an ecosystem by using trophic levels. (See Figure 26-2.)
Energy enters an ecosystem at the producer level. Energy flows
through an ecosystem by being passed along from an organism in one
trophic level to an organism in a higher trophic level. This transfer of
food energy from one organism to the next is called a food chain. Oak
tree leaf to caterpillar to small bird to hawk is a food chain. In a real
ecosystem, a single, simple food chain like the one described is never
found. Obviously, caterpillars are not the only animals that eat oak
leaves. Other insects, deer, and perhaps rabbits may also eat oak leaves.
Caterpillars are eaten not only by birds but also by frogs and other small
animals. Food chains are interconnected. In reality, food chains make up
a complex pattern in which food energy may be passed in many differ-
ent directions and to many different organisms. This complex pattern
 Chapter 26 / Ecosystems 561

Tertiary
consumer

Secondary
consumer

Primary
consumer

Figure 26-2 The trophic

levels in an ecosystem
Producer
describe the energy flow.

formed by food chains in an ecosystem is known as a food web. (See

Figure 26-3 on page 562.)
However, no matter how complex a food web is, energy always moves
LIVING ENVIRONMENT BIOLOGY, 2e/fig. 26-2 s/s
in one direction—from a lower to a higher trophic level. Energy does not
get recycled. As energy moves through each trophic level, some of it is
used and some of it is lost when it is changed to heat during energy trans-
fer and conversion. The greatest amount of energy is present at the low-
est trophic level (the producers); the least is present at the highest level
(upper-level consumers). For this reason, additional energy must con-
stantly enter an ecosystem. In other words, for life on Earth to continue,
the sun must continue to shine.
Ecologists use a pyramid to describe the flow of energy through an
ecosystem. The wide base of the pyramid represents the amount of usable
energy in all of the producers. The energy gathered from the sun and
stored in all of the plants in the forest is represented by this level. The
next step up in the pyramid shows the energy that primary consumers get
562 Interaction and Interdependence

Producers Herbivores Carnivores

Tadpole
Algae Raccoon

Worm

Frog

Grasshopper
Grass Snake

Decomposers

Bacteria Molds

Figure 26-3 The interconnection of food chains forms a food web.

LIVING ENVIRONMENT BIOLOGY, 2e/fig. 26-3 s/s

from producers. This layer is smaller than the layer that represented the
energy present in the producers. The passing of energy from one level to
the next is actually not a very efficient process. Only about 10 percent of
all energy gets passed from one level to the next. This is true as we move
up the pyramid from primary consumers to secondary consumers and
then to the top level. (See Figure 26-4.)
A pyramid of energy can provide an important lesson in how to feed
the ever-increasing human population. Leaves such as spinach, and seeds
such as rice and beans, come from plants, which are producers. Cattle, a
source of meat for human consumption, are consumers. Throughout the
world, much more food energy is present at the producer level than at
the consumer level. Which type of food is more abundant and available
for everyone? Which type of food makes a more efficient use of energy
sources—spinach with rice and beans or hamburgers?
Scientists also show the flow of energy through an ecosystem in two
other types of pyramids. Usually there are more individual organisms at
the producer level. At each higher trophic level, the number of organisms
decreases. Therefore, a pyramid of numbers can be made. A pyramid of
 Chapter 26 / Ecosystems 563

Tertiary
consumers
.1%
Energy 1%
from Second
sun consum ary
ers
10%
Prim
consumary
ers

10
Produ 0%
cers Figure 26-4
Pyramid of energy
flow.

numbers shows that fewer organisms are supported at each higher trophic
level in an ecosystem.
LIVING Also,BIOLOGY,
ENVIRONMENT if the total
2e/fig.mass of all organisms at each
26-4 s/s
trophic level is measured, a pyramid of biomass can be drawn. Once
again, the lowest trophic levels usually have the largest biomass; the high-
est levels have the smallest biomass. (See Figure 26-5.)

■■ A HIDDEN DANGER IN A FOOD CHAIN

It is a wonderful thing to go for a walk in the country and perhaps dis-

cover a small stream. The water sparkles like diamonds as sunlight plays
on its surface. The stream makes gurgling sounds as it flows over and
around rocks. In water as clear as glass you can even see some small fish
as they dart along the stream’s rocky bottom. The following food chain
might be found in this stream: The stream’s microorganisms are eaten by
se

Carn
ea

iv ore Hawk
cr
de

Ca
of

rn ivo e
n

Snak
io

re
ct
re

Ca
Di

rni
vo g
re Fro
He
rbi r
vo ppe
re
as sho
Pr Gr
od
uc
er ass
Gr

Figure 26-5 Pyramid of decreasing

numbers and mass.
564 Interaction and Interdependence

insects. The insects are eaten by small fish; these small fish are eaten by
larger fish. Finally, fish-eating birds such as eagles or osprey eat the larger
fish. This is a typical food chain.
Now suppose this stream runs next to a farmer’s field. In the past, U.S.
farmers used the chemical DDT to protect crops from insect damage.
When it rained, some of the DDT washed off the fields and entered the
stream. In the water, the DDT entered the microorganisms, which became
food for the insects. As organisms in each trophic level fed on organisms
in the previous level, DDT was passed on. In addition, the DDT became
more concentrated. You can think of it in this way. Each microorganism
contained a tiny bit of DDT, but the insects eat a great many microor-
ganisms, so the tiny bit of DDT in each became a more concentrated level
of DDT when it was stored in the insects. (See Figure 26-6.)
This is true for organisms at each trophic level. The level of DDT in
each organism increases as the DDT is moved along the food chain. The
little fish contain more DDT, the larger fish even more, and finally, the
birds the most. This process is known as biological magnification. Years
ago, when this happened to eagles and osprey, the high levels of DDT
interfered with the proper buildup of calcium in the shells of their eggs.
Egg shells contaminated with DDT are very fragile. The eggs usually broke
before the developing birds hatched. Although they still laid eggs, few
birds were able successfully to produce young. This was especially true of
bald eagles and osprey, birds whose diet consists mostly of fish. In parts
of the United States, populations of these birds began to diminish quickly.
It is only since the use of DDT has been banned in this country that these
magnificent fish-eating birds have reestablished their populations. The
bald eagle has recently been removed from the endangered species list—
a great success story in wildlife management. Although no longer used in
the United States, DDT is still used in some parts of the world, where it
continues to enter various natural food chains.

Check Your Understanding

Why is a food web more accurate than a food chain in portraying the
relationships that exist among organisms in an ecosystem?

■■ THE RECYCLING OF MATERIALS IN ECOSYSTEMS

In many parts of the United States, people are now required to recycle
certain consumer wastes. Paper, glass, metal, and plastic are often recycled
instead of being discarded. Recycling, although a new idea for people, is
 Chapter 26 / Ecosystems 565

DDT in fish-eating
birds 25 ppm

DDT in large
fish (pike)
2 ppm

DDT in small
fish (minnows)
0.5 ppm

DDT in water
0.003 ppb

DDT in zooplankton
0.04 ppm

Figure 26-6 The level of DDT in each organism increases through

biomagnification as the chemical moves along the food chain.
LIVING ENVIRONMENT BIOLOGY, 2e/fig. 26-6 s/s (rev.10/22/03)

not a new idea in nature. (See Figure 26-7 on page 566.) Natural ecosys-
tems have recycled materials since life began on Earth. Life would not
continue without this recycling of materials. Why is this so?
All substances are made up of chemical elements. There are about 90
chemical elements that occur in nature. Of these, only a relatively small
number of elements are found in significant amounts in organisms. These
566 Interaction and Interdependence

Figure 26-7 These

teenagers are helping to
recycle newspapers.

include carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, sulfur, and nitrogen. The

amount of these elements on Earth today is approximately the same as
when the planet formed. Because they are needed by living things, and
their supply does not increase, these elements need to be reused, or recy-
cled, again and again. The atoms of these elements that are present today
in your body may have been present in other organisms before. You may
have atoms in you that were once part of a tree that grew in an ancient for-
est, or in a dinosaur that walked through that forest. (See table.)

SOME ELEMENTS IN LIVING MATTER

Percentage of Percentage of
Atomic Earth’s Crust Human Body
Symbol Element Number by Weight by Weight

Ca Calcium 20 3.6 1.5

C Carbon 6 0.03 18.5
Cl Chlorine 17 0.01 0.2
H Hydrogen 1 0.14 9.5
Mg Magnesium 12 2.1 0.1
N Nitrogen 7 Trace 3.3
O Oxygen 8 46.6 65.0
P Phosphorus 15 0.07 1.0
K Potassium 19 2.6 0.4
Na Sodium 11 2.8 0.2
S Sulfur 16 0.03 0.3

The Carbon Cycle. How do these elements get recycled in the nat-
ural world? Let’s look at the element carbon. All organisms are made of
molecules that contain carbon. This carbon is obtained from carbon diox-
ide in the air. Producers such as grasses, trees, and other plants take in
 Chapter 26 / Ecosystems 567

carbon dioxide from the air during photosynthesis. They use the carbon
from the CO2 gas to build carbohydrates—sugars and starches. Con-
sumers, including humans, obtain carbon from producers and sometimes
from other consumers that serve as food. To complete carbon’s recycling,
plants and animals return carbon to the atmosphere. This occurs through
respiration as we breathe out carbon dioxide.
Recycling of carbon also occurs after an animal or plant dies. Another
very important part of the recycling process occurs through the actions
of decomposers. Decomposers are heterotrophs—organisms that are
unable to make their own food. They get their food by feeding on dead

Green
plants
Photosynthesis

Carbon
dioxide Oxygen
(in air and food
or water)

Burning
Decay
Respiration Animals
and Figure 26-8 Carbon is recycled via
fungi photosynthesis, respiration, decay (or
decomposition), and burning.

organisms.
LIVING The most
ENVIRONMENT common
BIOLOGY, decomposers
2e/fig. 26-8 s/s are bacteria and fungi. As
they carry out their life processes, they too release carbon as CO2 into the
atmosphere. (See Figure 26-8.)

The Oxygen Cycle. Oxygen, another element, also moves between

living organisms. All animals need oxygen for respiration. Respiration is
the process that releases the chemical energy stored in food. Land ani-
mals obtain oxygen for respiration from the air they breathe. Fully aquatic
animals like fish get the oxygen they need from the water they live in.
(Oxygen can dissolve in water, and this is the oxygen that fish use.)
Almost all the oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere originally came from the
metabolic activities of plants. During the process of photosynthesis,
plants give off oxygen as a waste product. So we are breathing in a waste
gas given off by plants. This is natural recycling.
568 Interaction and Interdependence

The Nitrogen Cycle. Nitrogen is an element that is used by organ-

isms when they make proteins. Nitrogen is the most abundant gas in the
air; approximately 78 percent of the atmosphere is nitrogen. So it would
seem that there is plenty of it around. The problem is that most living
things cannot use free nitrogen, the nitrogen present in air.
How do plants obtain the nitrogen they need? Plants can take in and use
nitrogen in the form of nitrates. Nitrate compounds are combinations of
nitrogen, oxygen, and some other element. One way that nitrates are
formed naturally is during lightning storms. These nitrates fall to the
ground and enter the soil. Plants get their nitrates from the soil by absorb-
ing them through their roots. The nitrogen in plants is passed on to pri-
mary, secondary, and tertiary consumers when these consumers eat plants
or organisms that eat plants. Each of these organisms releases nitrogen back
to the environment in the form of nitrogenous wastes. Decomposers also
recycle nitrogen when they digest proteins into amino acids, then ammo-
nia, and even into another form, nitrites. Finally, nitrites are converted into
nitrates, which can be used by plants. Special kinds of bacteria are involved
in each of the steps of this conversion process. (See Figure 26-9.)
One remarkable step in the recycling of nitrogen takes place in the
roots of a special group of plants. These plants are called legumes.
Legumes include peas, beans, peanuts, alfalfa, and clover. A special type
of bacteria lives inside nodules on the roots of legumes. These bacteria are
able to take free nitrogen from the air and change it into nitrates. The

Atmospheric
Fertilizer Denitrification nitrogen fixation
production (via denitrifying bacteria)

Animals

Plants
Crops

Nitrogen-fixing
bacteria
Decomposers

Ammonia, nitrates,
nitrites

Figure 26-9 The nitrogen cycle.

LIVING ENVIRONMENT BIOLOGY, 2e/fig. 26-9 s/s

 Chapter 26 / Ecosystems 569

Nodules formed
by bacteria

Roots Figure 26-10 Nitrogen fixation in

the nodules on the roots of legumes is
a good example of mutualism.

process is called nitrogen fixation. The nitrates are used by plants to

grow,
LIVING and the plants
ENVIRONMENT provide
BIOLOGY, 2e/fig.nutrients
26-10 s/s for the bacteria. This is a won-
derful example of mutualism. It is also very important to life on land. Soil
in which legumes live becomes richer because the bacteria add more
nitrates to it. In turn, this natural fertilizer helps other plants grow. (See
Figure 26-10.)
Long ago, farmers realized that by sometimes growing legumes in a
field, they could improve the growth of other crops in other years. For
example, corn is an important food crop. However, because corn needs a
great deal of nutrients, it can be grown in a field for only a few years. By
planting clover one year, farmers made the soil ready to grow more corn
the following year. Farmers were allowing the nitrogen-fixing bacteria to
recycle necessary nitrates into the soil from the air. This kind of crop rota-
tion allows nature to replace soil nutrients and is much less expensive
than the continuous application of fertilizers that would be needed to
produce corn year after year in the same field.

■■ CHANGE AND STABILITY IN POPULATIONS AND

COMMUNITIES: THE IMPORTANCE OF BIODIVERSITY
Biologists have long wondered what causes populations to change rather
than remain the same. For example, why do rabbits in England get larger
over a long period of time, while rabbits in the United States remain the
same size? Remember that all the characteristics that are passed from one
generation to the next in a population are determined by genes. Biolo-
gists wondered under what conditions the genes in a population would
remain the same from generation to generation. A mathematician, God-
frey Harold Hardy, and a physician, Wilhelm Weinberg, answered this
570 Interaction and Interdependence

Restoring the River of Grass

The Everglades is a vast, wide freshwater marsh that covers much of the
southern part of Florida. The Everglades begins at the northern edge of
Lake Okeechobee, with the overflow of rainwater out of the lake, and
extends all the way to the southern tip of the state just before the Florida
Keys. Although some cypresses, mangroves, palms, and oaks grow in
scattered clumps, the vast majority of the Everglades is covered by a dense
growth of saw grass. A very slow, steady flow of water moves through the
saw grass from north to south. To your eyes, the Everglades looks like a
huge swampy area of tall, sharp-edged grass; but in many ways it is really a
wide river because of the water that flows through it. The Everglades is
therefore called a “River of Grass.”
One hundred years ago, the Everglades was considered a wasteland. In
1906, construction projects built drainage canals that altered the flow of
this water that had moved unchallenged for centuries. After the land was
drained, huge areas were turned over to agriculture. By the 1980s,
continued growth of sugarcane farms, housing developments, and highway
construction had reduced the Everglades ecosystem of grass marshes to
about one-half its original size.
Voices of alarm were raised for many years. The survival of many plant and
animal species was threatened. Finally, it was noticed that the quantity and
quality of the entire underground freshwater supply on which humans in
southern Florida depend were being placed at risk.
In 1996, the federal government endorsed the Everglades restoration
project. The project will be one of the largest ecological restoration efforts

question. According to the Hardy-Weinberg Law, five conditions must

occur for a population not to change:

◆ There must be no mutations.

◆ There must be no arriving (immigration) or leaving (emigration) of
individuals to or from the population.
◆ The population must be large.
◆ All individuals must have the same chance of surviving.
◆ The matings of individual organisms must be random; no mates can
have preferences.

Once these conditions were described by Hardy and Weinberg, evolu-

tion made more sense. It was clear that most of the time, for most popu-
lations, some of these conditions are not met. As a result, populations
change. Size of individuals, shape, structure, coloring, behavior, and any
other inherited characteristic may change from generation to generation.
 Chapter 26 / Ecosystems 571

anywhere in the world. Hundreds of millions of dollars will be spent on

protecting the fragile Everglades ecosystem. Included in the plan is the
removal from sugarcane production of 100,000 acres of farmland in
ecologically sensitive areas.
Much of the water that flows through the Everglades has become
contaminated by pesticides and fertilizers that are used to increase crop
yields on farms in the area. One of the main goals of the restoration project
is to let large areas of land act as natural water filters to remove some of
the waterborne contaminants. Today, there are too many farms and too
few natural areas in the Everglades. The restoration project will help restore
the balance. Six large wetlands are being constructed between Lake
Okeechobee and the Everglades. One of these projects, for example, was
begun in 2001 and is scheduled for completion in 2009. These areas,
called storm-water treatment areas, will use naturally occurring biological
processes to reduce the levels of phosphorus carried by the water that
moves through the Everglades.
Another important part of the Everglades project will restore the natural
north-south flow of water. The natural pattern of water flow through the
Everglades was disrupted by the canals, pumping stations, and water-
control structures that were built to create flood-control and water-supply
systems for southern Florida. In fact, these unnatural attempts to control the
Everglades’ water flow have been harmful to the entire ecosystem. Today,
planning is under way to find alternatives that can meet flood-control and
water-supply needs while ensuring the long-term health of the Everglades.

This is evolution in action. The Hardy-Weinberg Law shows, by looking

at the genes of a total population, how the environment interacts with a
population to produce evolutionary change.
Do entire communities in an ecosystem stay the same? What causes a
particular community to change? Is the number of species that make up
a community critical? These important questions are now being studied
by ecologists. The amount of variety in a community is called species
diversity or biodiversity. A community with only a few species of plants
and animals has low biodiversity. The Great Salt Lake, because of its high
salinity, has few species that are adapted to living there. A community
with many species has great biodiversity. A tropical rain forest community
may have the greatest biodiversity of any community on Earth.
Biodiversity is one major concern of ecologists today. In fact, at the
1992 Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, it was hoped that all
countries attending the conference would sign The Biodiversity Treaty.
Although 167 nations have signed the treaty since 1992, some large
572 Interaction and Interdependence

nations, including the United States, have not. Why is biodiversity such
a great concern to scientists? One in five known species present on Earth
when you were born is already extinct. For the most part, human actions
are the cause of these extinctions. As species disappear, biodiversity
decreases. Scientists are concerned about the effects of diminished biodi-
versity on ecosystems. They have learned that there is a great deal of inter-
action and interdependence in ecosystems. Does a community in an
ecosystem need a certain number of species interacting with each other
to remain viable? How many species can a community afford to lose with-
out being harmed? The ability of an ecosystem to continue and to remain
healthy is called its stability. If all the insects in a forest died, would the
forest survive? Would the plants that the insects ate grow too quickly?
Would these plants interfere with the growth of trees? Would bird popu-
lations suffer with no insects to eat?
Many studies that investigate biodiversity and stability in specific com-
munities are currently being conducted. In the 1960s, the ecologist Robert
Paine studied the animals that live along a stretch of rocky seashore. In
this community, there were 15 species of small animals, including bar-
nacles, clams, and one large predator species, a sea star. In one experi-
ment, Paine removed all the sea stars. After a time, the biodiversity
decreased greatly. Instead of the original 15 species present before the sea
star was removed, only eight species of smaller animals remained. Seven
species had disappeared. The population of one type of mussel had
increased dramatically. The community had changed a great deal. Stabil-
ity no longer existed. Paine realized that by removing the sea star—a pred-
ator—the interactions among the smaller animals had changed. The sea
star had kept the density of other populations low. Without the predators,
competition among the other animals increased for the limited space.
Only a few species survived and increased their numbers.
How much loss of biodiversity can occur before Earth’s ecosystems
stop functioning properly? This is a very serious concern of many people.
It is also an important concern for all species that depend on Earth’s
ecosystems. We are one of those species.

■■ HABITAT DESTRUCTION

There is one main reason why biodiversity is decreasing. Many species

are disappearing because of habitat loss. Humans are using and changing
many places where organisms formerly lived. For example, in the Mid-
west, many fields contained low-lying areas. These low places remained
filled with water all year long. Many birds, such as ducks and geese, found
 Chapter 26 / Ecosystems 573

food in these bodies of water. Although the birds did not live in the ponds
all year, they visited these same places during their migrations each spring
and fall. The birds were flying between their winter feeding grounds and
summer breeding grounds and were able to rest and find food here on
their long journeys.
However, the farmers could not grow crops in these wet places. Wheat
and corn need drier land. As a result, most of these wet places were filled
in. This was a critical loss of habitat for the migrating water birds. Over
time, the populations of geese and ducks decreased. Some species even
became extinct. Biodiversity was reduced. This is only one example of the
loss of a habitat affecting biodiversity. In many other places, habitat loss
has also occurred. Most of the forests in the eastern United States are gone,
replaced by farms and cities. Habitat loss occurs on a river when a dam is
built. Fish that can survive only in moving water die in the still water of
the lake that forms behind a dam. Today, the greatest habitat destruction
is occurring in the world’s tropical rain forests. It is estimated that 70 to
90 percent of Earth’s biodiversity will be lost if the rain forests are
destroyed. Sadly, this is happening while scientists are trying to identify
and classify the many organisms still being discovered in these forests. In
addition, many fear that species containing substances that could prove
to be extremely valuable medicines are being lost forever before even
being discovered. (See Figure 26-11.)

Figure 26-11 This rain-forest habitat has been destroyed to make room for a
banana plantation.
 LABORATORY INVESTIGATION 26
What Role Do Mushrooms
Play in Ecosystems?

INTRODUCTION
Mushrooms and molds are members of the fungus kingdom. Organisms
in this kingdom lack chloroplasts and so are unable to carry on photo-
synthesis. Fungi, like animals, are heterotrophs—organisms that cannot
make their own food. They are thus dependent on other organisms for
their energy. Unlike animals, which digest their food by using enzymes
they produce in their digestive system, fungi secrete enzymes into the
food on which they grow. Fungi then absorb the nutrients.
In ecosystems, fungi play a very important role. As decomposers, fungi
return nutrients from dead plants and animals to the soil. This investi-
gation focuses on a particular decomposer available in a grocery store,
the edible mushroom.

MATERIALS
Edible mushrooms, cardboard, scalpels, spore prints prepared in advance,
compound and dissecting microscopes, glass slides, water, coverslips

PROCEDURE
1. Observe a mushroom. Draw the structures of the mushroom that you
can see with your unaided eyes. Label as many of the structures as you
can.
2. Place the mushroom on a piece of cardboard so that it rests on its flat
side. Use a scalpel to slice the mushroom in half. Make another draw-
ing of the internal structures that are now exposed. Label the struc-
tures you observe.
3. Observe a spore print. Compare this print to the structures of the
mushroom you have just observed.
4. Place the mushroom under the dissecting microscope and record any
new structures that become visible under magnification.

574 Interaction and Interdependence

5. Use the scalpel to prepare thin sections of the mushroom from various
parts. Try to make slices from the stem, cap, and gills. Place a thin slice
on a glass slide. Add a drop of water and a coverslip. Place the slide on
your compound microscope and examine it using the low-power
objective. Draw what you observe. Make notes of any similarities and
differences you observe in the various structures.
6. Prepare a wet mount of spores from the gills. Observe the spores under
the high-power objective. Draw what you observe.

INTERPRETIVE QUESTIONS
1. Study the structures and life cycle of a mushroom from reference mate-
rials. Describe the function of the structures of the mushroom you
observed. List the parts of the mushroom you found in the reference
materials that you were not able to observe in your specimen.
2. What parts of the mushroom are involved in obtaining nutrients? How
do these parts obtain nutrients?
3. What parts of the mushroom are involved with reproduction? How
does a mushroom reproduce?
4. Why is reproduction by spores considered to be an example of asex-
ual reproduction?
5. Why are the actions of fungi, and other decomposers, essential for the
continuation of life on Earth?

Chapter 26 / Ecosystems 575

576 Interaction and Interdependence

■■ CHAPTER 26 REVIEW

Answer these questions on a separate sheet of paper.

VOCABULARY
The following list contains all of the boldfaced terms in this chapter. Define
each of these terms in your own words.

biodiversity, biological magnification, decomposers, ecosystem, food

chain, food web, legumes, nitrogen fixation, primary consumers,
producers, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers, trophic levels

PART A—MULTIPLE CHOICE

Choose the response that best completes the sentence or answers the question.

1. The source of energy for almost all ecosystems on Earth is

a. the sun b. geothermal forces c. photosynthesis
d. cellular respiration.
2. The organisms on the first trophic level are a. primary consumers
b. tertiary consumers c. heterotrophs d. producers.
3. During the process of nitrogen fixation, a. animals release
nitrogen back to the environment in the form of nitrogenous
wastes b. the nitrogen in nitrates is used to make plant proteins
c. bacteria take free nitrogen from the air and change it to nitrates
d. lightning breaks down nitrates to form nitrogen gas.
4. A clam that feeds on the phytoplankton it filters from the water
is eaten by a walrus, which is in turn eaten by a polar bear. In
this example, the primary consumer is the a. clam
b. photoplankton c. walrus d. polar bear.
5. Which of these communities has the highest biodiversity?
a. the Great Salt Lake in Utah b. a deciduous forest in upstate
New York c. the open ocean off the shore of California
d. a rain forest in Costa Rica.
6. The series of events in which food energy is transferred from
an organism at one trophic level to an organism at a higher
trophic level, and from that organism to the next, forms
a. a feeding pyramid b. a food web c. a food chain
d. an ecological succession.
7. The interacting biotic and abiotic factors in an area make up
a. a trophic level b. an ecosystem c. biodiversity
d. a food web.
 Chapter 26 / Ecosystems 577

8. During the oxygen cycle, oxygen is released into the atmosphere by

a. producers during the process of photosynthesis
b. decomposers during the process of fermentation
c. consumers during the process of respiration
d. bacteria during the process of nitrogen fixation.
9. Which condition is necessary for a population not to change?
a. mutations b. movement of individuals into and out of the
population c. individuals having different chances of surviving
d. random matings.
10. In an ecological pyramid, the most food energy is found
a. at the top of the pyramid b. in the middle of the pyramid
c. at the bottom of the pyramid d. none of these.
11. Scientists have found very few fossils of Tyrannosaurus rex and
comparatively large numbers of the dinosaurs on which T. rex
fed. The best explanation for this fact is that a. energy is lost
with each successive link in the food chain b. there are fewer
individual organisms at each successive level of an ecological
pyramid c. consumers do not form fossils as readily as
producers d. scientists have not been searching in the best
places to find T. rex fossils.
12. The complex pattern of interlocking food chains in an
ecosystem forms a a. biomass pyramid b. food chain
c. biogeochemical cycle d. food web.
13. The main reason for loss of biodiversity is a. disease
b. the limited number of crop and livestock varieties used in
modern agriculture c. habitat loss d. hunting and fishing.
14. Biological magnification involves a. an increase in the number
of individuals at successive levels of an ecological pyramid
b. the increasing concentration of harmful chemicals at each
successive step of a food chain c. the viewing of microscopic
life-forms with special equipment d. the increasing amount of
energy represented by a unit of biomass at each successive level of
an ecological pyramid.
15. The organisms that break down dead plants and animals, thereby
releasing CO2 into the atmosphere, are a. decomposers
b. autotrophs c. producers d. consumers.
578 Interaction and Interdependence

PART B—CONSTRUCTED RESPONSE

Use the information in the chapter to respond to these items.

Air

B C

D Animal Corn
waste plants

Dead
plants
Legumes
E

Soil organisms
Soil

16. The events in the diagram show that materials are cycled between
a. living things only b. heterotrophs only c. the living and
nonliving parts of the environment d. the nonliving parts of the
LIVING ENVIRONMENT BIOLOGY, 2e/fig. 26-Q16 s/s
environment through evaporation, condensation, and
precipitation.
17. What process does this diagram illustrate? Identify the type of
nitrogen compounds found at the points lettered A, B, C, D, and E.
18. Explain why a farmer may plant a field with alfalfa rather than
corn every few years.
19. Why is it ecologically wise to eat “lower on the food chain”?
20. What is the Hardy-Weinberg Law? How does it tie ecology to
evolution?

PART C—READING COMPREHENSION

Base your answers to questions 21 through 23 on the information below and
on your knowledge of biology. Source: Science News (October 26, 2002): vol.
162, p. 269.

Insects, Pollen, [and] Seeds Travel Wildlife Corridors

In an unusual test of a conservation strategy called wildlife corridors,
strips of habitat boosted insect movement, plant pollination, and seed
dispersal among patches of the same ecosystem.
 Chapter 26 / Ecosystems 579

Theory predicts that adding such corridors enhances the benefits of

otherwise isolated preserves, says Joshua Tewksbury of the University of
Washington in Seattle. He and his colleagues tested that strategy in
South Carolina pine forests.
At eight locations, the researchers cleared mature vegetation and cre-
ated open habitat on five 1-hectare plots—arranged as a central plot
with four satellites. In each case, a 150-meter-long corridor connected
the central plot to one outlier, while the others remained isolated. The
unlinked patches had dead-end corridors or additional area so they
matched the habitat area of another patch and its connecting corridor.
Thus, scientists could distinguish between effects of biological entities’
ease of movement and of extra habitat.
Butterflies, pollen, and seeds all moved most often between the
corridor-connected patches, the researchers report in an upcoming Pro-
ceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Variegated fritillary and
common buckeye butterflies that the researchers captured, marked, and
released in the central patch proved two to four times as likely to show
up in connected patches as in unconnected ones.
When researchers placed male holly plants in the center patches,
females in connected patches showed an average increase in seed pro-
duction of nearly 70 percent, compared with that of female hollies in
unconnected patches. Also, bird droppings in connected patches har-
bored more berries from shrubs in the center patches than did drop-
pings in patches not connected to the central patch.
This is the first test of a corridor’s effect on plant-animal interactions,
says Tewksbury.

21. Explain how (at all eight locations) three of the test plots were
made different from the central and fourth plots.
22. State the difference that was observed in the number of butterflies
(released from the central plot) that showed up in the connected
plots as opposed to those that showed up in the isolated plots. How
would you explain this difference?
23. Why did researchers study the droppings of birds in these test
plots, and what was their conclusion from this study?