Ecology cont.

ECOSYSTEM ECOLOGY

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 Ecosystem:
• The organisms in a particular area and the
physical environment with which they
interact.

• All the biotic and abiotic factors in a community.

(Abiotic factors: energy, water, carbon,

nitrogen, phosphorous)
 Energy Flow through Ecosystems

• Energy flows through ecosystems as

organisms capture and store energy, then
transfer it to organisms that eat them.

• These organisms are grouped into trophic

levels...

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Food
Chains
Producers
Herbivore
Primary
consumer
Food
Chains
Carnivore Secondary Consumer
Omnivore
Food Web
Food Web

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Trophic Levels:

Route of energy flow

- food chain

- food web

- pyramid of numbers
Pyramid of Numbers
Question:

“Why are big fierce animals rare?”

Charles Elton, 1927
 Answer:

Because of the way energy flows

through communities...

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Ecosystem Energy Budgets:

Primary Productivity (PP)

Secondary Productivity (SP1, SP2)

 Primary Productivity (PP)
• Rate at which energy or biomass is produced
per unit area by plants (primary producers)

• Photosynthesis powers primary

productivity.

• The annual productivity of an area is

determined primarily by sunlight,
temperature, and moisture.
Secondary Productivity (SP1, SP2…)

• rate of production of new biomass from PP

by heterotrophic organisms
(primary and secondary consumers)

• positively correlated with rainfall...

Fig. 55-10

Tertiary
consumers 10 J

Secondary
consumers 100 J

Primary
1,000 J
consumers

Primary
producers 10,000 J

1,000,000 J of sunlight
 Where does all the energy go???

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Fig. 55-9

Plant material
eaten by caterpillar

200 J

67 J Cellular
100 J respiration
Feces
33 J

Growth (new biomass)

 Biogeochemical Cycles
Nutrients exist in pools of chemical elements

FOUR main reservoirs where these nutrients exist are:

1) Atmosphere - carbon in carbon dioxide, nitrogen in

atmospheric nitrogen
2) Lithosphere - the rocks - phosphates, calcium in
calcium carbonate, potassium in feldspar
3) Hydrosphere - the water of oceans, lakes, streams and
soil - nitrogen in dissolved nitrate, carbon in carbonic
acid
 Atmosphere

Living
Organisms
+
Detritus
Lithosphere Hydrosphere
4) Living Organisms and Nutrient Cycles
• Living organisms are a reservoir in which carbon
exists in carbohydrates (mainly cellulose) and fats,
nitrogen in protein, and phosphorus in ATP
• In studying cycling of water, carbon, nitrogen,
and other chemicals, ecologists focus on four
factors:

– Biological importance of each chemical

– Major reservoirs for each chemical
– Forms in which each chemical is available or used
by organisms
– Key processes driving movement of each chemical
through its cycle
 The Water Cycle
• Water is essential to all organisms

• 97% of the biosphere’s water is

contained in the oceans, 2% is in
glaciers and polar ice caps, and
1% is in lakes, rivers, and
groundwater

• Water moves by the processes of evaporation, transpiration,

condensation, precipitation, and movement through surface and
groundwater
 The Carbon Cycle
• Carbon-based organic molecules
are essential to all organisms

• Carbon reservoirs include fossil

fuels, soils and sediments,
solutes in oceans, plant and
animal biomass, and the
atmosphere

• CO2 is taken up via photosynthesis and released via respiration

• Volcanoes and the burning of fossil fuels contribute CO2 to the

atmosphere
 The Nitrogen Cycle
• Nitrogen is a component of
amino acids, proteins, and
nucleic acids

• The main reservoir of nitrogen

is the atmosphere (N2)

• N2 is converted to NH3 via

nitrogen-fixing bacteria

• Organic nitrogen is decomposed to NH4+ by ammonification, and

NH4+ is decomposed to NO3– by nitrifying bacteria; NH4+ and NO3–
assimilated by plants

• Denitrifying bacteria convert NO3– back to N2

 How Bears Feed Salmon to the Forest

• The run of salmon leads to a major flow of nutrients

into estuaries and coastal watersheds
 • Bears catch salmon in river and consume them in
forest; on average, half the carcass is not eaten.

• Bears’ fat tissue is virtually nitrogen-free, so most of

nitrogen in salmon protein is excreted as urine and feces.
 • Nitrogen 14 from atmosphere
• Nitrogen 15 from salmon

• Measurements of nitrogen isotope ratios in tree rings

shows that nitrogen from salmon is incorporated into
trees and enhances their growth
 END

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