Ecosystems

• Ecosystems are composed of all the communities

and their associated physical environments,
including the physical, chemical, and biological
processes.
– Ecosystems may sustain themselves entirely through
photosynthetic activity, energy flow through food
chains, and nutrient recycling.
 Ecosystems
• Abiotic components: non-living chemical and
physical factors
– Temperature, light, nutrients, water

• Biotic components: all living organisms

– Interactions among organisms
 Biotic Components of Ecosystems
Trophic relationships among
organisms determine energy flow
and chemical cycling in an
ecosystem

• Interlocking food webs determine the flow of energy

through the different ecosystem levels.
– Food web made up of interlinking food chains.
 Ecosystem
structure vs. processes
• The structure is the food chain or web (trophic
system)
• Processes = energy production and energy
consumption
• Production is the rate of incorporation of energy
and materials into the body of organisms
• Consumption (Assimilation) is the metabolic use
of organic materials for growth and
reproduction
The Food Web
 Primary Producers

• Plants, algae, and many species of bacteria

• Photoautotrophs, chemoautotrophs
• Limnetic zone of lakes: algae & bacteria
• Littoral zone of fresh and marine ecosystems:
multicellular algae & aquatic plants
• Terrestrial ecosystems: plants
 Primary and Higher-Order
Consumers
• Are opportunistic feeders
• They consume autotrophs, but also
heterotrophs
• Primary consumers feed on producers.
– Secondary consumers feed on primary
consumers, and / or producers.
– Detritivores are consumers that break down
organisms into smaller pieces which are then
available to decomposers
 Decomposers
• Living organisms eventually die
• Recycled, decomposed and returned to the abiotic
environment
• Decomposers break down organic material to
forms that are released back into the ecosystem for
reassimilation by other organisms.
• Decomposers: bacteria and fungi
• Decomposition interconnects all trophic levels
• Detritivores
consume dead
organic matter
• Decomposers
also consume
dead organic
matter, but
decompose it
into plant
nutrients

9
 Trophic levels
• Producers • Autotrophs
• 1° Consumers • Heterotrophs
• Detritivores – Herbivores
•Detritivores
• 2° Consumers
– Omnivores
• 3° Consumers
– Carnivores
• Decomposers – Decomposers
11
The Food Web
The trophic relationships among
organisms is often complex.
 Energy Flow in Ecosystems

• Primary Productivity
• Secondary Productivity
• The flow of energy through the food webs
 Energy Flow in Food Webs
• First law of thermodynamics – energy cannot
be created or destroyed, only transformed
– Can thus construct energy budgets for food
webs that trace energy flow from green
plants to tertiary consumers (and if needed
beyond)
• Second law of thermodynamics – energy
conversions are not 100% efficient and that, in
any transfer process, some energy is lost
 Energy Flow in Food Webs
• Can compare the efficiency of energy transfer
through trophic levels in different types of
food webs
• Two measures of the efficiency of consumers
as energy transformers

1. Production efficiency
2. Trophic-level transfer efficiency
 Primary Productivity
• Defined as the amount of light energy that is
converted to chemical energy (organic
compounds) by the autotrophs
• Global energy budget: only 1-2% of solar
radiation is used by photosynthetic organisms
• Yet they produce 170 million tons of organic
material (biomass) per year
51% of solar energy is absorbed at the
Earth’s surface.

Only 1-2% of solar radiation is used by photosynthetic organisms

 Primary Productivity
• Influences on primary
production
– Water
• In terrestrial systems,
linear relationship
with annual
precipitation
– Temperatures
• transpiration rate can
predict aboveground
primary production
 Primary Productivity
• Influences on
primary production
– Nutrients (nitrogen
and phosphorus)
• Can be limiting
factor
• Liebig’s law of the
minimum – species
biomass or
abundance is limited
by the scarcest
factor
 Primary productivity varies
• Highest in tropical rainforests
• Decreases progressively toward the poles
• May cause the polar-equatorial gradient of
species richness
• Greatest marine production occurs on coral
reefs where temperature is high and light is
not limiting
Net Primary Production in Ecosystems
 Energy production in ecosystems
• Gross primary productivity (GPP) = plant production
or carbon fixed during photosynthesis
• R = energy lost in plant cellular respiration
• Net primary productivity = GPP- R
– Amount of energy available to primary consumers
– Measured in calories
– Use dry weight (mainly carbon compounds)
 Productivity and Efficiency
• Assimilation:
– the total energy consumed as biomass that has
accumulated over a given time span. The amount
an organism consumes.
• Net productivity:
– the amount of chemical energy of the food they
eat converted into their own new biomass
• Production Efficiency: The percentage of
energy assimilated by an organism that
becomes incorporated into new biomass
 Energy flow through a food web
(a)Energy lost as heat in a single trophic level
(b)Energy lost in the conversion between one trophic
level and the next
Production efficiency = net productivity/ assimilation x 100

• Production efficiency
– Percentage of energy assimilated by an organism
that becomes incorporated into new biomass
– Invertebrates average 10-40%
– Example: A caterpillar consumes 1000 J of energy
• 320 J lost to cellular respiration
• 500 J lost as feces
• 180 J used for growth and development

Production efficiency =
[180 J/ 1000 J] x 100 =
18%
• Production efficiency
– Vertebrates have lower
production efficiencies
• Fish (ectotherms) around
10%
• Birds and mammals
(endotherms) 1-2%

Production efficiency =
[16J/ 1000J] x 100= 1.6%
 Trophic level transfer efficiency
– Amount of energy at one trophic level that is
acquired by the trophic level above and
incorporated into biomass
– Examines energy flow between trophic levels, not
just individual species
– Averages around 10% with much variation
• Some marine food chains exceed 30%
– Low for 2 reasons
• Many organisms cannot digest all of their prey
• Much assimilated energy lost as heat
– Limits number of trophic levels in a food web
 Energy flow through a food web
(a)Energy lost as heat in a single trophic level
(b)Energy lost in the conversion between one trophic
level and the next
 Example in a freshwater lake:
100 g/m2 phytoplankton, trophic level n-1
14 g/m2 of zooplankton trophic level n

Trophic level transfer efficiency =

[14 g/m2 of zooplankton /
100 g/m2 phytoplankton] x 100 = 14%
 Pyramid of Numbers
• Number of individuals decreases at each trophic level
• Trophic-level transfer efficiencies expressed as an
Eltonian pyramid
• Elton’s analysis of trophic levels in a pond

• Holds up for many ecosystems

• Grasslands and marshes
• What about forests?
 Inverted Pyramids
• Inverted pyramids – single producer supports
hundreds of herbivores and thousands of predators
– Oak tree supports beetles, caterpillars, and their
predators
• Still makes sense when using a pyramid of
biomass

• In forests, insects out number plants

• But the biomass of the plant community is still greater
than the total biomass of insects and vertebrates
 Inverted Pyramids
• Can still occur even in pyramid of biomass
– Small phytoplankton standing crop supports
higher biomass of zooplankton by
processing large amounts of energy
– Use pyramid of energy

• The amount of free energy produced by the

phytoplankton is greater than the zooplankton
• More “bang for your buck”
• The production efficiency of zooplankton is lower
• The laws of thermodynamics ensure that the
highest amounts of free energy are found at
the lowest trophic levels
 Biomagnification
• The tendency for
certain chemical
elements to accumulate
or build up in food
chains.
• Biomagnification in a
Michigan Lake food
chain
 Biomagnification
• Tendency of certain
chemicals to
accumulate or build up
within food chains
• Dichlorodiphenyltrichlo
roethane (DDT)
• Interferes with eggshell
formation resulting in
thin shelled eggs that
break
• US banned DDT in early
1970s
• Still used in other
countries
 Energy flow in Ecosystems:
Water Cycle
• The water cycle is largely a process of evaporation
and precipitation
– Amount remains relatively stable.
• Some percentage of rainfall percolates down through the soil to the
water table, while other water is taken up by plants, or evaporated
back into the atmosphere.
• Water also evaporates from the soil surface, plants, animals, and
the lower atmosphere.
• More than 90% of the water entering a plant passes
into leaf air spaces and then evaporates through the
stomata into the atmosphere
– Usually less than 5% of water escapes through
the cuticle.
The Water Cycle

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 Energy flow in Ecosystems
The Carbon Cycle
• Carbon dioxide is the most important gas
• Carbon enters plants, etc., as CO2
– Bacteria process carbon in a fashion that allows it to be
recycled.
– Obtain energy from the molecules, and convert
carbohydrates to carbon dioxide as a result of respiration.
• Cellular respiration, combustion, and erosion of
limestone return CO2 to the environment
– Burning of fossil fuels has significantly increased the
amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere.
Carbon cycle
 Carbon Sources
(availability)
• Atmosphere (0.3%)
• Biomass of organisms, living or
dead
• Carbon moves through the food
chain through the consumption of
organisms
The Carbon Cycle
 Carbon Sinks
(where carbon is stored)
• Wood, other durable
organic material
• Coal
• Oil
• Peat
• Marine biomes CaCo3
• Calcium carbonate forms
limestone sediments
• Geologic uplift exposes the
carbon to erosion which
returns it to the biotic
environment
 Carbon Cycle Summary
1. Photosynthesis removes carbon from the abiotic
envirnoment (fixes carbon into organic molecules)
2. Carbon moves through food chain through
consumption of one organisms by another
3. Cellular respiration, combustion, and erosion of
limestone return carbon to the atmosphere, water
and abiotic environment
 Seasonal Fluctuations of CO2
• Northern hemisphere
– Lowest in the summer
– Higher in the winter
– More land, more plants,
in the north
– More photosynthesis
taking Carbon out of the
atmosphere
– The burning of fossil fuels
has greatly increased CO2
levels and temperatures
 Global Warming
• The Greenhouse Effect occurs because certain
gases, greenhouse gases, allow sunlight to
pass through the atmosphere, but trap the
heat radiation given off after the ground
absorbs the solar energy.
– Carbon Dioxide, Methane, Nitrous oxide, Ozone,
CFCs
• Act similar to the glass panels on a greenhouse.
1. Burning of fossil fuels has
significant effects on the
content of carbon
dioxide in the
atmosphere.
– Releases carbon stored in
the fossil fuels.
2. Deforestation eliminates
photosynthesizing
organisms that remove
carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere.
 Probable Effects of Global Warming

1. Sea level rise

2. Precipitation patterns
will change
– Droughts
– Flooding
– Changing biomes
3. Range of organisms will
change
4. Affect on Agriculture
 The Nitrogen Cycle
• Nitrogen is crucial for all
organisms
– Nucleic acids
– Proteins
– Chlorophyll
• Atmosphere is 78%
nitrogen
• N2 is very stable and must
be broken apart by
organisms, combined with
other atoms into a usable
form
The Nitrogen Cycle
1. Nitrogen fixation
2. Nitrification
3. Assimilation
4. Ammonification
5. Denitrification
The nitrogen cycle
 1. Nitrogen Fixation
• Conversion of N2 → NH3
– Combustion
– volcanic action
– Lightning
– Industrial processes (making fertilizer)
• Bacteria
– Nitrogenase enzyme
– Leghemaglobin binds oxygen
– Need an anaerobic environment
• Nodules
• heterocysts
 Anabaena, living. LM.

Anabaena, a gram-negative,
oxygenic, photosynthetic,
filamentous Cyanobacterium
(prokaryote). The larger cells in
the filament called heterocysts
are involved in nitrogen fixing.
SEM X660.
Nitrogen-fixing nodules on Soybean roots (Glycine max), 3-6 mm.
2. Nitrification: NH3 → NO3
• Soil bacteria convert in a two step process
3. Assimilation: Roots absorb NH3, NH4, or NO3
and incorporate them into nucleic acids and
protein
4. Ammonification: Amino acids and nucleotides
are broken down into waste products NH3 or
NH4
5. Denitrification: the reduction of NO3 to N2
• Denitrifying bacteria return some of the nitrogen
to the atmosphere
 Human activities have changes the
global nitrogen budget
1. Nitrogen fertilizers used in agriculture cause
excess nitrogen to enter aquatic biomes
• Decline of coastal fisheries
• Algal blooms
• Oxygen depletion of marine and aquatic
environments
 Human activities have changes the
global nitrogen budget

1. Combustion of gases
converts N2 →N2O
• Photochemical smog
• Acid rain (nitric acid)
• Global warming and
ozone depletion
 The Phosphorus Cycle

• The only cycle that does

not have a gaseous
state
• Inorganic phosphate
PO43- is released from
rocks and sediments
through the action of
erosion.
 Phosphate Cycle
• Soil PO43- is absorbed by
plants and incorporated
into nucleic acids,
phospholipids and ATP
• Animals obtain most of
their PO43- by consumption
of other animals and from
water
• PO43- is released to the soil
again by decomposers
• Dissolved PO43- gets
absorbed by algae and
aquatic plants Phosphorous Cycle in
• Cycling by consumption Aquatic Ecosystems
• Decomposers break down
waste and returns PO43- to
sediments on the seabed
• Some returns to terrestrial
environment through
geologic processes
• Some returns to the
terrestrial environment via
seabirds. Guano
 Human effects on the natural cycling
of phosphorous
• Cycling of PO43- from aquatic to terrestrial
environments is very slow
• Human activities accelerate the long-term loss
of PO43- from the terrestrial environment
– Mining
– Fertilizers and agricultural run-off
– Sewage
Abiotic Factors in the Biosphere

• Sunlight
• Temperature
• Water
• Wind
• Rocks and soil
• Periodic disturbance
 Abiotic Factors in the Biosphere
• Sunlight
• Provides energy that drives all ecosystems
• Intensity and quality of light determines
distribution of organisms
• Photoperiod affects development and
behavior
– Migration, flowering, mating, mood
Solar
radiation
and latitude
• Input of
Solar
Energy
• Earth’s
movement
in space
Abiotic Factors in the Biosphere

• Temperature
• Inability of most organisms to regulate
internal temperature
• Cells rupture and freeze below O C
• Proteins denature above 45 C
• Extraordinary adaptations enable some
organisms to survive outside of this range.
 Abiotic Factors in the Biosphere

• Water
• Availability varies
dramatically
among habitats
• Adaptations to
life on land
Major surface ocean currents determine
climate
Ocean Currents
 Abiotic Factors in the Biosphere
• Wind
• Amplifies the effects
of temperature
• Heat and water loss
due to evaporation &
transpiration
• Can affect the growth
form of plants
Wind Effects: Flagging
 Abiotic Factors in the Biosphere
• Rocks and Soil
Physical structure, pH,
mineral composition

• Periodic Disturbances
– Fires, hurricanes,
volcanic eruptions,
tornadoes
– Recolonization of
disturbed area and
succession
• Effect of fire on certain
ecosystems
– Fire frees the nutrient
minerals locked in
organic matter,
removes plant cover,
and increases erosion
– Many ecosystems, such
as savanna, chaparral,
grasslands, and certain
forests, contain fire-
adapted organisms
 Climate has a direct effect on the
biology of organisms

Components of Climate
• Temperature*
• Water*
• Light
• Wind
 Climate is determined by:
• Input of Solar Energy
• Earth’s movement in space
• Temperature
• Water
• Light
• Wind