Ecosystems:

What are they and how do they

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work?
Earth’s Major
Life Support
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Components
How do they support life?

•Atmosphere
• Troposphere – air we breath
• Stratosphere – filters 95% of the sun’s UV radiation
•Hydrosphere – all of earth’s water
•Lithosphere – source of nutrients and fossil fuels
• Nutrient cycling and fuel
•Biosphere – all living organisms
• Food, medicine, etc
3 factors that sustain life

1. One way flow of high-quality energy from the sun

• Energy source for living organisms
• Interaction with the atmosphere warms the planet (Greenhouse effect)
2. Cycling of matter and nutrients through parts of the
biosphere
• Allows for reuse of limited resources
3. Gravity
• Holds atmosphere and allows movement of air, water, soil and organisms
Ecosystems
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Levels of matter
organization in nature
Biotic and Abiotic components of the
biosphere and its ecosystems
• Abiotic – non living
• Heat
• Soil
• Water
• Nutrients
• Biotic – living
• Plants
• Animals
• Fungi
• Bacteria
Different Trophic (feeding) Levels
Plants are called Producers (or autotrophs) since they produce their own
food through a process called photosynthesis
Consumers (heterotrophs) that
get their nutrients by eating
other organisms

1. Primary consumers
• herbivores
2. Secondary consumers
• carnivores
3. Tertiary consumers
• Carnivores that feed on
both primary and
secondary
Omnivores –
consumers that can feed
on both producers and
consumers

Detritivores –
consumers feed on dead
body and organic wastes

Decomposers –
consumers that release
nutrients from organic
materials in the process of
obtaining nutrients for
themselves
Production and
Consumption of Energy
Aerobic respiration – the process of converting
sugar to energy in the presence of oxygen
Energy Flow
through
Ecosystems
• Food webs and Food chains
Energy Flow
through
Ecosystems

Food pyramid of energy

flow
• Gross primary
productivity (GPP)
• Net primary
productivity (NPP)
Biogeochemical
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Cycles