BS Toolegy Sh semester AWS DR.Aleen - Ecology pRoFéssor: DR. ALEEM AHMAD KHAN Composed and designed by: % tn yb ter (2021-2023) + Ecology Ecology is the study of the relationships among living organisms, including humans and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps with the closely related sciences of biogeography, evolutionary_biology, genetic, ethology and natural history. + Biotic Components Biotic components are the living things that have a direct or indirect influence on other organisms in an environment. For example, plants, animals and microorganisms and their waste materials. The biotic component of an ecosystem has been classified into three groups: Us Producers These include all the autotrophs. They use light energy and synthesize food on their own, eg. plants, green algae etc * Consumers These include all the heterotrophs that directly or indirectly depend on producers for their food. Consumers are further categorized as herbivores, carnivores, omnivores and parasites, * Decomposers These include saprophytes which act on dead matter and decay them for their nutrition.> Abiotic Components Abiotic components or ablotle factors are nontiving chemical and physical parts of the environment that affect living organisn the functioning of ecosyste Nomliving components inchide air, water, land, Autecology Synecology Autecslagy § the study of the interaction | Synecology Is the study of interactions among Between individual species with their | two or more species or a population with thelr environment. environment. > itis also called Species Ecology > Itis also called Community Ecology > takes the abundance and distribution | > It takes abundance, demography, cof the species into consideration. distribution and structure of the spectes Into consideration. > It studies individual organisms or an entire species. > It studies two or more species or a whole population. ~& First Law of thermodynamics First Law of thermodynamics states that heat energy cannot be created or destroyed. It can, however, be transferred from one form of energy to another forms of energy. For example, Heat engine. Ina Heat engine, the thermal energy is converted into mechanical energy and the process also is vice versa, Heat engines are mostly categorized as an open system. The basic working principle of a heat engine is that it makes use of the different relationships between heat, pressure and volume of a ‘working fluid which is usually a gas. Sometimes phase changes might also occur Involving a gas to liquid and back to gas. First Law of Thermodynamics Equation The equation for the first law of thermodynamics is given as; AU=q+W Where, aU = change in internal energy of the system, = algebraic sum of heat transfer between system and surroundings, W = work interaction of the system with its surroundings. al& Second Law of Thermodynamics 7 ey states that any spontaneously occurring process will rhe second law of thepmodyna “ahways lead to an escalation in the entropy (5) of the universe. The second law is also known as the Law of Increased Entropy. with 100 per cent efficiency wy # we look at the piston in an engine, the gas is heated to increpée its pressure And drive even as the piston moves, there is always some leftover heat in thé gas that @ be used for carrying out any other work. Heat is wasted and it has to be discarded. In this case. it is done by transferring it to a heat sink or in the case of a car engine, waste heat is discarded bby exhausting the used fuel and sir mixture to the atmosphere. Additionally, heat generated from usable should also be removed from the system. ‘The second law cearly explains that it is impossible to convert heat We to mechanical energy for eu 2 piston, However rally uni ‘frictiog that is gene Second Law of Thermodynamics Equation athematically, the second law of thermodynamics is represented as; BS univ > O where. Sam is the change in the entropy of the universe. Entropy is a measure of the randomness of the system or it is the measure of energy or chaos, within an isolated system. ray cy} oy + Primary Productivi ‘The primary productivity of an ecological system is defined as the rate at which radiant energy is: converted by the photosynthetic and chemosynthetic activity of producer organisms to organic substances. It is important to distinguish the four successive steps in the production process as follows: > Gross Primary Productivity GPP is the total rate of photosynthesis including the organic matter used up In respiration during the period of measurement. This is also known as total photosynthesis. > Net Primary Productivity [NPP Is the rate of storage of organic matter in plant tissues that exceeds the respiratory use by the plants during the period of measurement. This is also termed as net assimilation, GPP=NPP+RR stands for respiration > Net Community Productivity Its the rate of storage of organic matter not used by heteratrophs that is net primary production minus heterotrophic consumption during the perlod under consideration, usually the growing season or a year. > Secondary Productivity The rates of energy storage at consumer levels are referred to as secondary productivity. Because consumers use only food materials already produced with appropriate respiratory losses and convert this food energy to different tissues by one overall process, secondary productivity should not be divided into gross and net amounts. The total energy flow at heterotrophic levels which is analogous to the gross productivity of autotrophs should be designated assimilation and not production. *+ Auxiliary Energy Flow or Energy Subsidy Any energy source that reduces the cost of internal self maintenance of ecosystem and therefore increases the amount of other energy that can be converted to production is called auxiliary energy flow or energy subsidy. For example, tides do the work of bringing nutrients to marsh grass and food to oysters as well as ‘taking away waste products, so the organisms do not have to expend energy for these jobs and can use more of thelr production for growth. ~+ Levels of Organization Hierarchy . ierarchy means an arrangement into a graded serles. A system consists of regularly Interacting and interdependent components forming a unified whole. » Ecosystem LUving organisms and their nonliving environment are inseparably interrelated and interact with each other, Any unit that Includes all the organisms in a given area interacting with the physical environment so that a flow of energy leads to clearly defined biotic structures and cycling of ‘materials between living and non-living components Is an ecological system or ecosystem. The term ecosystem was first proposed in 1935 by the British ecologist Sir Arthur G. Tansley, + Ener ith In Food Chains and Food Webs The transfer of food energy from Its source In autotrophs through a serles of organisms that consume and are consumed ls termed as the food chain,90 percent) of the potential energy Is lost as fhe organisms to the producer trophic level « The quantity of energy declines with each ech transer, 2 proportion (often as high as 80 or a hevetore, the shorter the food chain or nearer “ that population. the greater the energy available to ar the quality or concentration of the energy that is transferred increases. a Food chain are of two basic types: @ Grazing Food Chain “This chaia starts from a green plant base goes to grazing herbivores and on to carnivores. @ Detritus Food Chain ‘This chain goes from nonliving organic matter to microorganisms and then to detritus feeding organisms and their predators. Food chains are not isolated sequences, they are interconnected. The interlocking pattern is often spoken of as the food web. * Trophic Levels of Food Chain 12x natural communities, orgsnisms whose nourishment is obtained from the Sun through umber of steps are said to belong to the same trophic level. @ Green plants occupy the first level (the producer trophic level) 2 Plant eaters (herbivores) occupy the second level (the primary consumer level) @ Primary carnivores occupy the third level (the secondary consumer trophic level) @ Secondary carnivores occupy the fourth level (the tertiary consumer trophic level) This trophic classification is one of function and not one of species as such. A given species population may occupy one or more trophic levels according to the source of energy actually cmilated @ Ecological Efficiencies ‘The ratios between energy flows at different points along the food chain are of considerable ecological interests. Such ratios when expressed as percentages are called ecological efficiencies. 6 Basic Types of Biogeochemical Cycles The chemical elements including all the essential elements of life tend to circulate In the biosphere in characteristic pathways from environment to organisms and back to environment. These more of less circular pathways are known as blogeochemical cycles. The movement of these elements and inorganic compounds that are essential to life can beconveniently designated as nutrient cycling. Each nutrient cycle can also be conveniently divided Into two components or pools. © The Reservoir Pool The large, slow moving, generally non biological component. * Labile or Cycling Pool A smaller but more active portion that Is exchar ‘organisms and thelr immediate environment. ng (moving back and forth) rapidly between ‘Many elements have multiple reservoir pools and some (such as nitrogen) have multiple labile pool, From the viewpoint of the ecosphere as a whole, biogeochemical cycles fall into two basic groups. * Gaseous Types {In which the reservoir is in the atmosph or the hydrosphere © Sedimentary Type: |In which the reservoir is in the crust of Earth. The dissipation of energy in some form is always snecessry to drive material eyeles. fa > exsonbier + Concept of(iimiting Factors > “wukaenl > ‘The Liebig Law of the Minimum The success of an organism, a group organisms or a whole biotic community depends on a complex of conditions. Any condition that approaches or exceeds the limits of its tolerance Is sald to be a limiting factor or limiting condition, Under stable conditions, the essential constituents available In amounts most closely approaching the minimum need tends to be the limiting one, a concept termed the Liebig law of the minimum. The concept is less applicable under transient state conditions, when the amounts and hence the effects of many constituents are rapidly changing. ‘The Idea that an organism Is no stronger than the weakest link In Its ecological chain of requirements was first clearly expressed by Baron Justus won Llebig in 1840, Extensive work since the time of Liebig has shown that two subsidiary principles must be added to the.concept if tls to be useful In practice, The frst ls a constraint that the Liebig law of the minimum Is strltly applicable only under relatively stable conditions that ls when the average Inflows of energy and material balance the outflows over an annual cycle. Melabeltc yale = Energy Wolizakion-4 The second important consideration is factor interaction. “Thus, a high concentration or availability of some substance or the action of some factor other than the minimum constituent may modify the rate of use of the limiting factor. Sometimes organisms can substitute, at least in part, a chemically closely related substance for one that is deficient in the environment. Thus, where strontium is abundant, mollusks can partially substitute strontium for calcium in their shells, Some plants have been shown to require less zinc when growing in the shade than when growing in full sunlight, therefore, a low concentration of zinc in ‘the soil would less likely be limiting to plants in the shade than to plants under the same conditions in full sunlight. : + Metabolism and Size of Individuals v ‘The standing crop biomass which can be supported by a steady flow of energy in a food chain depends to a considerable extent on the size of the individual organisms. The smaller the organism, ‘the greater its metabolism per gram (on per Calorie) of biomass. Consequently, the the smaller the mailer the biomass which can be supported at a°particular trophic level in the ecosystem" Conversely, the larger'the 0 i@ organism, the larger the standing.crop bi \ding crop biomass. Thus, the oui ry much smaller than the crop of fish or ‘mammals even though the ene:gy utllzation was the same for both ero ~+ Homeostasis of the Ecosystem Ecosystems are capable of self maintenance and self regulation as are their component populations and organisms. Thus, cybernetics, the science of control has important application in ecology especially since man increasingly tends to disrupt natural controls or attempts to substitute artificial mechanisms for natural ones. Homeostasis (homeo=same, stasis=standing) is the term generally applied to the tendency for biological systems to resist change and to remain in a state of equilibrium. HASSAN SHERAZ ROLL NO. 25 MSc Z0NLOGY 3° SEMESTER (2021-2023)ey “& Nitrogen Cycle*— Phosphorous Cycle