4.1. Species, communities, and ecosystems.

- Species
These are groups of organisms that can potentially interbreed to produce fertile offspring.
Different types of organisms with characters that are different from those of other types are
called species. When two members of the same species mate and produce offspring they are
interbreeding. Occasionally members of different species breed together. This is called
cross-breeding. Offspring produced by cross-breeding between species is almost always
infertile, which prevents the genes of two species from becoming mixed.
- Populations
Members of species may be reproductively isolated in separate populations. A population is a
group of organisms of the same species who live in the same area at the same time. If two
populations live in different areas they are unlikely to interbreed with each other. If two
populations never interbreed they may gradually develop differences in characteristics. They are
considered the same species until they can’t interbreed and produce fertile offspring.
- Autotrophic and heterotrophic nutrition
Some organisms make their own carbon compounds from CO2 and other simple substances,
they are autotrophic (plants and algae)
Some organisms obtain their carbon compounds from other organisms, they are heterotrophic.
Some unicellular organisms use both methods of nutrition.
● Some plants and algae (around 1%) do not fit the trend of making their own carbon
compounds by photosynthesis because they do not contain chloroplasts. They grow on
other plants so they are parasitic.
Types of heterotrophs:
- Consumers
Heterotrophs that feed on living organisms by ingestion. Consumers can feed off other
organisms that are still alive or dead. They take undigested material from other organisms and
ingest It. They digest It and absorb products from digestion.
- Detritivores
Heterotrophs that obtain nutrients from detritus by internal digestion. Their source of nutrition
is dead organic matter that accumulates in ecosystems. Detritivores ingest dead organic matter
and then digest It internally and absorb products of ingestion.
- Saprotrophs
Heterotrophs that obtain organic nutrients from dead organic matter by external digestion.
Saprotrophs secrete digestive enzymes into the dead organic matter and digest it externally.
They then absorb the products o digestion.
 - Communities
A community is formed by populations of different species living together and interacting with
each other. All species are dependent on relationships with other species or their long-term
survival. For this reason a population o one species can never live in isolation.
- Ecosystems
A community forms an ecosystem by its interactions with the abiotic environment. The living
organisms depend on their non- living surroundings o air, water, soil or rock (abiotic
environment).
- Sometimes the abiotic environment influences organisms, for example rock types
detemine if there are places where birds can nest.
- Sometimes living organisms can influence abiotic factors, for example some plants
growing in wind-blown sand in dunes break the wind and encourage more sand to be
deposited.
- Inorganic nutrients
Autotrophs and heterotrophs obtain inorganic nutrients from the abiotic environment. Carbon,
hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and phosphorus are needed to make carbohydrates, lipids and
other carbon compounds. Autotrophs obtain all the elements needed from the abiotic
environment, but heterotrophs obtain them from their food, and other nutrients like sodium or
potassium from the abiotic environment.
- Nutrient cycles
The supply of inorganic nutrients is maintained by nutrient cycling. Chemical elements are
endlessly recycled. . Organisms absorb the elements that they require as inorganic nutrients
rom the abiotic environment, use them and then return them to the environment with the
atoms unchanged.
- Sustainability of ecosystems
Ecosystems have the potential to be sustainable over long periods of time. Something is
sustainable i it can continue indefnitely. Human use o ossil uels is an example o an
unsustainable activity. There are three requirements or sustainability in ecosystems:
- Nutrient availability
- Detoxification of waste products
- Energy availability
Nutrients can be recycled indefnitely but energy cannot be recycled, so sustainability depends
on continued energy supply to ecosystems. Most energy is supplied to ecosystems as light rom
the sun.
- Mesocosm
Mesocosms are small experimental areas that are set up as ecological experiments. Fenced-o
enclosures in grassland or forest could be used as terrestrial mesocosms. Ecological experiments
can be done in replicate mesocosms, to fnd out the eects o varying one or more conditions.
4.2. Energy flow.

- Sunlight and ecosystems

Most ecosystems rely on a supply of energy from sunlight. Producers (autotrophs that carry out
photosynthesis) can harvest this energy by photosynthesis. Heterotrophs do not use light
directly, but they are indirectly dependent on It. The energy in carbon compounds they use as
food comes from photosynthesis.
- Energy conversion
Light energy is converted to chemical energy in carbon compounds by photosynthesis.
Producers absorb sunlight using chlorophyll and other photosynthetic pigments. This converts
the light energy to chemical energy, which is used to make carbon compounds.

- Producers can release energy from their carbon compounds by cell respiration and then
use it or cell activities. Energy released in this way is eventually lost to the environment
as waste heat.
- The largest part of carbon compounds remains in cells and tissues of producers which
energy is then available to heterotrophs.
- Energy in food chains
Chemical energy in carbon compounds flows through food chains by menas of feeding. A food
chain is a sequence of organisms, each o which feeds on the previous one. Producers are always
the first as they make their own food. Then primary consumers feed on producers and
secondary consumers feed on primary producers. Consumers obtain energy rom the carbon
compounds in the organisms on which they feed.
- Respiration and energy release
Energy released by respiration is used in living organisms and converted to heat. Living
organisms need energy for cell activities. ATP supplies energy or these activities. Every cell
produces its own ATP supply by cell respiration. In this process carbon compounds undergo an
exothermic reaction called oxidation and so they release energy. This is done because carbon
compounds energy cannot be directly used but chemical energy ATP can.

The second law o thermodynamics states that energy transormations are never 100% efcient.
Not all of the energy from the oxidation of carbon compounds in cell respiration is transferred
to ATP, the remain is converted to heat.
- Heat energy in ecosystems
Living organisms cannot convert heat to other forms of energy. But they can:
- Light energy to chemical energy in photosynthesis.
- Chemical energy to kinetic energy in muscle contraction.
- Chemical energy to electrical energy in nerve cells.
 - Chemical energy to heat energy in heat-generating adipose tissue.
- Heat losses from ecosystems
According to the laws of thermodynamics, heat passes from hotter to cooler bodies, so heat
produced in living organisms is all eventually lost to the abiotic environment.
- Energy losses and ecosystems
Energy losses between trophic levels restrict the length of food chains and the biomass of
higher trophic levels. Biomass is the total mass of a group of organisms, including cells and
tissues, and it contains energy in the form of carbon compounds. Ecologists measure energy
added per year by organisms in different trophic levels, with results calculated per square meter
of the ecosystem. A consistent trend is observed: energy added to biomass decreases with each
successive trophic level.
The reason for this trend is the loss of energy between trophic levels. Most energy in food is
released through respiration, and only the chemical energy in unused compounds passes to the
next trophic level.
- Organisms in a trophic level are not entirely consumed, and energy in uneaten material
passes to saprotrophs or detritivores.
- Not all ingested food is digested; indigestible material is egested in feces, and the
energy in feces does not move up the food chain.
Due to these losses, only a small proportion (often around 10%) of the energy in one trophic
level becomes part of the next trophic level. Energy loss occurs at each stage in a food chain,
resulting in less energy available to successive trophic levels.
- Pyramids of energy
Quantitative representations of energy fow using pyramids of energy. This is a type o bar chart
with a horizontal bar or each trophic level. The amounts o energy should be per unit area per
year. Oten the units are kilojoules per metre squared per year (kJ m-2 yr-1). The pyramid should
be stepped, not triangular, starting with the producers in the lowest bar. The bars should be
labelled producer, frst consumer, second consumer and so on. I a suitable scale is chosen, the
length o each bar can be proportional to the amount o energy that it shows.

4.3. Carbon cycling.

- Carbon fixation
Autotrophs convert carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and other carbon compounds. This has
the effect of reducing the carbon dioxide concentration of the atmosphere. The mean CO2
concentration of the atmosphere is currently approximately 0.039% , but it is lower in parts
where photosynthesis rates have been high.
 - Carbon dioxide in solution
In aquatic habitats carbon dioxide is present as a dissolved gas and hydrogen carbonate ions. It
can either remain in water as a dissolved gas or it can combine with water to orm carbonic acid
(H2CO3). Carbonic acid can dissociate to orm hydrogen and hydrogen carbonate ions (H+ and
HCO-3 ). This explains how carbon dioxide can reduce the pH o water. This H2CO3 and CO2 are
absorbed by autotrophs in water to make carbon compounds.
- Absorption of carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide difuses from the atmosphere or water into autotrophs. Use of CO2 in carbon
compoun production reduces the concentration of CO2 inside autotrophs and sets up a
concentration gradient between cells in autotrophs and the air or water around. CO2 therefore
difuses from the atmosphere or water into autotrophs.
- Release of carbon dioxide from cell respiration
Carbon dioxide is produced by respiration and difuses out of organisms into water or the
atmosphere .Carbon dioxide produced by respiration difuses out of cells by aerobic cell
respiration and passes into the atmosphere or water that surrounds these organisms.
- Methanogenesis
Methane is produced from organic matter in anaerobic conditions by methanogenic archaeans
and some diffuses into the atmosphere. Three different types of anaerobic prokaryotes are
involved:
- Bacteria that convert organic matter into a mix of organic acids, alcohol, H2 and C2O.
- Bacteria that uses the organic acids and alcohol to produce acetate, H2 and CO2.
- Archaeans that produce methane from CO2, H2 and acetate. They do this reactions:
𝐶𝑂2 + 4𝐻2 → 𝐶𝐻4 + 2𝐻2𝑂 𝐶𝐻3𝐶𝑂𝑂𝐻 → 𝐶𝐻4 + 𝐶𝑂2
Archaneans are methanogenic and they carry out methanogenosis in many anaerobic
environments:
- Mud along the shores and in the bed o lakes.
- Swamps, mires, mangrove forests and other wetlands where the soil or peat deposits
are waterlogged.
- Guts of termites and of ruminant mammals such as cattle and sheep.
- Landfill sites where organic matter is in wastes that have been buried.
- Oxidation of methane
Methane is oxidized to carbon dioxide and water in the atmosphere. Molecules o methane
released into the atmosphere persist there on average or only 12 years, because it is naturally
oxidized in the stratosphere.
- Peat formation
Peat forms when organic matter is not fully decomposed because of anaerobic conditions in
waterlogged soils. Sapotrophs cannot thrive in these conditions so dead organisms are not fully
decomposed. So, acidic conditions tend to develop inhibiting sapotrophs and methanogens.
 - Fosilized organic matter
Partially decomposed organic matter from past geological eras was converted into oil and gas in
porous rocks or into coal.

- Coal is formed when deposits of peat are buried under other sediments. The peat is
compressed and heated, gradually turning into coal.
- Oil and natural gas are formed in the mud at the bottom o seas and lakes. Conditions are
usually anaerobic and so decomposition is often incomplete. As more mud or other
sediments are deposited the partially decomposed matter is compressed and heated.
Chemical changes occur, which produce complex mixtures o liquid carbon compounds or
gases called oil and natural gas.
- Combustion
- Carbon dioxide is produced by the combustion of biomass and fossilized organic matter.
Organic matter, when heated in the presence of O2, undergoes combustion releasing
CO2 and H2O.
- Periodic fires in some regions occur naturally, releasing CO2 during biomass combustion.
Trees and organisms in fire-pome areas are adapted to fires and communities regenerate
quickly.
- Human activities like burning sugar cane before harvesting can also cause fires.
- Coal, oil and natural gas are used as fuels, releasing CO2 into the atmosphere.
- Carbon atoms in the released carbon dioxide may have been sequestered by plants
during photosynthesis hundreds of millions of years ago.
- Limestone
Animals such as reef-building corals and molluscs have hard parts that are composed of calcium
carbonate and can become fossilized in limestone (CaCO3).

4.4. Climate change.

- Greenhouse gases
Carbon dioxide and water vapour are the most signicant greenhouse gases. The greenhouse
gases that have the largest warming effect on the Earth are carbon dioxide and water vapour.
- Carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere by cell respiration in living organisms
and also by combustion of biomass and fossil.
- Water vapour is formed by evaporation from the oceans and also transpiration in plants.
It is removed from the atmosphere by rainfall and snow.

Other gases including methane and nitrogen oxides have less impact.
 - Methane is the third most signicant greenhouse gas. It is emitted from marshes and
other waterlogged habitats and from landfill sites where organic wastes have been
dumped. It is released during extraction of fossil fuels and from melting ice in polar
regions.
- Nitrous oxide is another significant greenhouse gas. It is released naturally by bacteria in
some habitats and also by agriculture and vehicle exhausts.
- Assessing the impact of greenhouse gases
The impact of a gas depends on its ability to absorb long-wave radiation as well as on its
concentration in the atmosphere. Two actors together determine the warming impact of a
greenhouse gas: how readily the gas absorbs long-wave radiation; and the concentration of the
gas in the atmosphere which depends on the rate at which it is released into the atmosphere
and how long on average it remains there. .
- Long-wavelength emissions from Earth
The warmed Earth emits longer-wave radiation. The warmed surface of the Earth absorbs
short-wave energy from the sun and then re-emits it, but at much longer wavelengths.
Longer-wave radiation is reabsorbed by greenhouse gases which retains the heat in the
atmosphere. 70-75% of solar radiation reaches the Earths surface and much of this is converted
to heat. Between 70% and 85% is captured by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. This
energy is re-emitted, some towards the Earth producing global warming.
- Greenhouse gases and climate patterns
Global temperatures and climate patterns are infuenced by concentrations of greenhouse
gases. Greenhouse gases increases result in more frequent and intense heat waves. Higher
temperatures increase ocean evaporation, leading o more frequent and prolonged rain periods.
Intense rains, thunderstorms and hurricanes become more frequent with higher temperatures.
Predictions about climate pattern changes are uncertain but a few degrees of warming can have
big effects.
- Industrialization and climate change
There is a correlation between rising atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide since the
start of the industrial revolution two hundred years ago and average global temperatures.
During warm interglacial periods they rose as high as 300 ppm. The rise during recent times to
concentrations nearing 400 ppm is thereore unprecedented in this period. Atmospheric carbon
dioxide concentrations were between 260 and 280 ppm until the late 18th century.
- Burning fossil fuels
Recent increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide are largely due to increases in the combustion
of fossilized organic matter. Increases in the burning of fossil fuels were most rapid rfom the
1950s onwards and this coincides with the period of steepest rises in atmospheric carbon
dioxide.
 - Coral reefs and carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide reacts with water to form carbonic acid, which dissociates into hydrogen and
hydrogen carbonate ions. Hydrogen ions react with dissolved carbonate ions, reducing their
concentration. If carbonate ion concentrations drop it is more dificult or free-building corals to
absorb them to make their skeletons. Dissolved carbon dioxide makes the carbonate
concentration even lower as a result o some interrelated chemical reactions.
+ −
𝐶𝑂2 + 𝐻2𝑂 → 𝐻2𝐶𝑂3 → 𝐻 + 𝐻𝐶𝑂3
+ 2− −
𝐻 + 𝐶𝑂3 → 𝐻𝐶𝑂3