UNIT 1: intro – EVS – ecology

Components of an Ecosystem
 Ecosystems have biotic and abiotic components
 The location of a biome depends on climate and limiting factors
o The most important factor are precipitation and temperature
 Population of organisms interact in different ways
 Different biotic and abiotic factors influence population size
 Energy flows through ecosystems and most is last to system as heat
 Humans manipulate ecosystems to get to the greatest productivity from them

Terms
 Biotic factors – the living components of an ecosystem, organisms or their products that
directly or indirectly affect an organism in its environment
 Abiotic factors – the non-living, physical and chemical
components of an ecosystem
 Limiting factors – factors that prevent a community, population,
or organism growing larger
 Species – particular type of organism
 Population – group of individuals of the same species living in
the same area ate the same time
 Habitat – environment where a specie normally lives
  Ecological niche – how an organism makes a living and its role in an ecosystem. It
includes every relationship that organism may have (abiotic and biotic factors – habitat,
the response to available resources, predators, competitors). No two species can inhabit
the same ecological niche at the same place at the same time, but many species may
live together because they have different needs and responses; they are not in the same
niche.
 Community – group of population living and interacting with each other in a common
habitat.
 Ecosystem – community of independent organisms and the physical environment in
which they inhabit
 Biome – collection of ecosystems sharing common climatic conditions
 Biosphere – that part of the Earth inhabited by organisms. The thin layer that extends
from the upper part of the atmosphere down to the deepest parts of the oceans.

Species Interaction
 May involve occasional or indirect contact
o Predation – one species kills and eats another
o Competition – interactions between organisms at species in which both are
harmed
 Symbiosis – a variety of interactions involving close species contact
o Parasitism – relationship between 2 different organisms where on of the
organisms actually harms the other through the relationship
o Mutualism – ecological interaction between 2 or more species where each
species has a net benefit
o Commensalism – long-term biological interaction in which members of one
species gain benefits while those of the other species neither benefit nor are
harmed

Ecosystem Structure
Food chain:

 A food chain shows the flow of energy from one organism to the next
 It shows the feeding relationship between species in ana ecosystem
Biotic factors – it is possible to classify the way organisms obtain energy:

 Producers or autotrophs (green plants) – which manufacture their own food from
simple inorganic substances
  Consumers or heterotrophs – which feed on autotrophs or other heterotrophs to obtain
energy (herbivores, carnivores, omnivores detritivores and decomposers)
 Decomposers – obtain energy from dead organisms as a food source (bacteria and
fungi). All food chain end with decomposers.
o Detritivores – derive their food from detritus or decomposing organic material.
They increase the area of organic material by shredding it into smaller pieces
then decomposers can attack it (snails, slugs, blowfly maggots, vultures).
Trophic levels:

 Every ecosystem has a trophic level structure

 Trophic levels are feeding levels in which species are divided into trophic levels based on
their sources of nutrition
 Food chains only illustrate a direct feeding relationship between one organism and
another in a single hierarchy.
 Species are divided into trophic kevels based on their sources of nutrition
 ex: seaweed → fish → seal → shark
*the arrow points to the consumer
 Consumers are ranked according to the trophic level they occupy (1 st, 2nd…)
 The organism whose food is obtained through the same number of links belong to the
same trophic level
trophic level 1 → producer (plants - ultimately supports all other levels)
trophic level 2 → primary consumer (herbivore)
trophic level 3 → secondary consumer (carnivore)
trophic level 4 → tertiary consumer (top carnivore)
Food webs:

 Shows many food chains linked together

 Realistic description of an ecosystem
 Feeding relationships where organism are involved in more than one food chain
Ecological pyramids:

 They are graphical models of the quantitative differences between the amounts of living
material stored at each level of a food chain
 Allow to easily examine energy transfers and losses
 Gives an idea of what feeds on what and what organism exist ate the different trophic
levels
 Help to demonstrate that ecosystems are unified systems, that they are in balance
 They illustrate:
 o Changes in the numbers
o Biomass (weight)
o Energy content of organisms at each level
 Each of the three kinds listen above shows something different about the flow of energy
and movement of materials between one trophic level and the next
Pyramid of numbers:

 Show the number of organisms at each trophic level in a food chain

 The length of each bar gives a measure of the relative numbers
 Pyramids have producers at the bottom, usually in the greatest number but there are
exceptions.
 Advantage:
o Gives an overview
o Good for comparing changes in population numbers over different times or
season
 Disadvantage:
o All organisms are included regardless of their size (narrow base and get larger as
it goes up the trophic levels – ex: oak tree)
o Do not allow for juveniles or immature forms so numbers can be too great to
represent accurately
o The problem of assigning a species to a particular trophic level (omnivores)

Pyramid of biomass:

 Contains the biomass (weight) at each trophic level

 Biomass (mass of each individual x number of individual) – it is the quantity of (dry)
organic material in an organism, population, a particular trophic level or an ecosystem.
 Pyramid shaped but there is some exceptions
 Units for a pyramid of biomass:
o Grams per square metre (g m-2)
o Grams per cube meter (g m-3)
 o Energy content: joules (J)
 Advantage:
o Overcomes the problems of pyramids of number
o More accurate reflection of energy available to next level
 Disadvantage:
o It only uses samples from population, so it is impossible to measure biomass
exactly
o Organisms must be killed to measure dry mass
o The time of the year that biomass is measured affect the result
o The pyramid will not show the period of time it takes (years or a few days) for an
organism to accumulate their biomass
o The problem of assigning a species to a particular trophic level (omnivores)

Pyramid of productivity:

 Contains the flow of energy through each trophic level over time
 It shows the energy being generated and available as food to the next trophic level
during a fixed period of time
 Trophic efficiency: 10% of the energy in 1 level is passed to another while 90% of the
energy is used in respiration by the organism which is finally lost as heat in the
environment (÷10 OR x 0,10 to calculate energy flow when moving up in the pyramid)
 Unit for a pyramid of productivity:
o Joules per square meter per year (Jm-2yr-1)
 Advantage:
o Shows the actual energy transferred and allows for rate of production
o Allows comparison of ecosystems based on relative energy flow
o Pyramids are not inverted
o Energy from solar radiation can be added
  Disadvantage:
o It is very difficult and complex to collect energy data as the rate of biomass
production over time is required
o The problem of assigning a species to a particular trophic level (omnivores)

Consequences of pyramids and ecosystem function

Concentration of chemical in food chain:

 Bioaccumulation – is the absorption (ingest or inhale) of chemicals at a faster rate than

their elimination (excrete or egest). Over time it will accumulate, and when the
concentration is high enough, it will cause disease or death.
 Biomagnification - is the increase in the concentration of a chemical from one trophic
level to the next. The concentration of the chemical may not affect organisms lower in
the food chain; however, the top trophic level may take in so much that it causes
disease or death as there is less biomass for each successive trophic level.
 Biomagnification is connected to bioaccumulation.
 Chemicals such as pesticide and insecticide have different levels of persistence, some
decompose into harmless chemicals (glyphosate) while other do not break down (DDT,
dieldrin, and aldrin) so they enter the food web and get stored in the fat of the animals.
Vulnerability of top carnivores:

 It is often the top carnivore that is the most susceptible to alterations in the
environment.
 Most of the time the top carnivore has a limited diet so a change in their food prey has
cumulative effect.
  Their population numbers are low because of the decrease in energy along the food
chain, therefore their ability to withstand negative influences is more limited than
species lower in the food chain with larger populations.
Limited length of food chain:

 Energy is lost because herbivores destroy more plant material than they actually
consume by trampling on it or rejecting it, and some material is not eaten at all or it
dies/decomposes before they are even consumed.
 Top carnivores are vulnerable because of the loss of energy from each trophic level;
there is so much energy available which is why large top predators are rare.

Sampling Populations:
 True census – counting all of the individuals in an area
 Sample census – an educates estimate of the population (sample) in a given area
o Quadrats – used on slow moving or sessile (does not move) organisms
o Mark-release-recapture – used on mobile species
o Grid sampling – by air usually on large mammals (whales)
o Transect sampling – lines are drawn across a map and organisms occurring along
the line are sampled
 Population density – number of individuals per unit area or volume

EVS – environmental value systems

 Different societies hold different environmental philosophies which explains why they
make different choices
 EVS are influenced by cultural, religious, economic and socio-political context
 The environment or any organism can have its own essential value regardless of its
value to humans. How we measure the value it has towards us is a key to understanding
the value we place on our environment.
Classification of environmental philosophies:

 Ecocentric worldview (earth-centered) – puts ecology and nature as central to

humanity. It uses the study of ecology to demonstrate the importance of non-living
elements (abiotic factors) and ecosystems of the environment while also giving a value
to species.
o Self-reliant and soft ecologist – ecocentrists – emphasize a less materialistic
approach to life, a greater self-sufficiency of societies and the action of
individuals making a difference
 o Deep ecologists – extreme ecocentrists – put more value on nature than
humanity. They would like policies to be altered therefore a decrease in human
population and less consumption.
o Biocentric (life-centered) – it focuses and values are placed on living elements
(biotic factors) of the environment.
 Anthropocentric worldview (human-centered) – believes humans must sustainably
manage the global system through the use of taxes, environmental regulation and
legislation. Humans do not depend on nature or other living beings but benefits from it
to achieve human goals.
 Technocentric worldview (technology-centered) – believes that technological
developments can provide solutions to environmental problems
o Environmental managers – technocentrists – stewardship worldview, hold the
view that humans can manage the earth for their benefit to make sustainable
economy, but that they have an ethical responsibility to be caring and
responsible managers to protect the environment.
o Cornucopians – extreme technocentrists – think that through technology,
humans can solve any environmental problem and continually improve the living
standards since they think the world has infinite resources.

 Many in the industrial world have an anthropocentric or technocentric worldview.

 Humans are seen as the dominant specie on Earth and they can manage the
environment to suit their needs, other species only have value if they are useful to
them.
 Another way to look at environmental value systems is to consider them as nurturing
(ecocentric) and intervening or manipulative (technocentric/anthropocentric).