GENERAL BIOLOGY 1 (BLY 111)

ELEMENTS OF ECOLOGY; HABITATS AND DIVERSITY

BY

MARTIN G. OGBE

DEPARTMENT OF ZOOLOGY

FEDERAL UNIVERSITY LAFIA

OBJECTIVES

At the end of these lectures on the elements of ecology, students would

understand the:

 Fundamentals of ecology and the ecosystem;

 Earth as the habitable planet of the Solar System; and
 Biosphere, atmosphere, habitats and biological diversity.

INTRODUCTION

Ecology (from Greek: oikos, “house”; - loyia, “study of”) is the scientific study of
the relation of living organisms to each other and their surroundings. Ecosystems
are defined by a web, community, or network of individuals that arrange into a
self-organized and complex hierarchy of pattern and process. Ecosystems create a
biophysical feedback between living (biotic) and nonliving (abiotic) components of
an environment that generates and regulates the biochemical cycles of the
planet. Ecosystems provide goods and services that sustain human societies and
general well-being. Ecosystems are sustained by biological diversity (biodiversity)
within them. Biodiversity is the full-scale of life and processes, including genes,
species and ecosystems forming lineages that integrate into a complex and
regenerative spatial arrangement of types, forms and interactions

The scientific discipline of ecology encompasses areas of global processes (Global

Map of Ecological zones), to the study of marine and terrestrial habitat (Coral reef

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and rainforest) to inter-specific interactions such as predation and pollination
(eagle and snake & bee and flower).

Ecology is a sub-discipline of biology, the study of life. The word “ecology”

(“oekologie”) was coined in 1866 by the German scientist Ernst Haeckel (1834-
1919). Haeckel was a zoologist, artist, writer, and later in life a professor of
comparative anatomy. Ancient philosophers of Greece, including Hippocrates and
Aristotle, were among the earliest to record notes and observations on the
natural history of plants and animals; the early rudiments of modern ecology.
Modern ecology mostly branched out of natural history science that flourished in
the late 19th century. Charles Darwin’s evolutionary treatise and the concept of
adaptation as it was introduced in 1859 is a pivotal cornerstone in modern
ecological theory.

Ecology is not synonymous with environment, environmentalist, and natural

history environmental science. Ecology is closely related to the biological
disciplines of physiology, evolution, genetics and behavior. An understanding of
how biodiversity affects ecological function is an important focus area in
ecological studies. Ecosystems sustain every life-supporting function on the
planet, including climate regulation, water filtration, soil formation (pedogenesis),
food, fibres, medicines, erosion control, and many other natural features of
historical, spiritual and scientific value.

ELEMENTS OF ECOLOGY

The "five basic elements" already recognized at the origin of most cultures can
best be described in contemporary scientific terms, as the "basic environmental
elements". It is precisely because they are environmental elements that they have
been observed and considered of great importance by all men in all cultures in
one form or another. Life and death are the main concerns of thinking man and
one may venture to imagine what the mind would perceive as the basis of this
unexplainable phenomenon that is life. Man would see:

EARTH: The solid matter from which comes all food directly or indirectly; all
materials for shelter, clothing and utensils. Hence earth or soil and rocks are

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usually called Mother, or the one who feeds and carries her children before and
after birth, while alive and after death.

WATER: The liquid matter for drinking, indispensable to preserve life but
necessary also as a cleansing agent, for cooking and for extracting substances
from solid matter. Earth and Water are closely related.

AIR: The gaseous matter necessary for respiration and combustion and for the
production of light; earth, water, air are the indissoluble trio without which there
is no life.

FIRE: The transformer of matter into non-matter, is the heat or energy that keeps
everything, living and non-living always on the move.

THE EARTH

Astronomers have discovered dozens of planets orbiting other stars, and space
probes have explored many parts of our solar system, but so far scientists have
only discovered one place in the universe where conditions are suitable for
complex life forms: Earth.

Our solar system formed from a solar nebula, or cloud of gas and dust, that
collapsed and condensed about 4.56 billion years ago. Most of this matter
compacted together to form the sun, while the remainder formed planets,
asteroids, and smaller bodies. The outer planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and
Neptune, condensed at cold temperatures far from the sun. Like the sun, they are
made mostly of hydrogen and helium. In contrast, the terrestrial planets,
Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, formed closer to the sun where temperatures
were too high to allow hydrogen and helium to condense. Instead they contain
large amounts of iron, silicates (silicon and oxygen), magnesium, and other
heavier elements that condense at high temperatures.

Why is Venus so hot? Why is Mars so cold? And why has the Earth remained
habitable instead of phasing into a more extreme state like Mars or Venus? The
key difference is that an active carbon cycle has kept Earth's temperature within a
habitable range for the past 4 billion years, despite changes in the brightness of
the sun during that time. This process of "Carbon Cycling and Earth's Climate" has
made the Earth habitable. Moderate surface temperatures on Earth have created

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other important conditions for life, such as a hydrologic cycle that provides liquid
water.

How unique are the conditions that allowed life to develop and diversify on
Earth? Some scientists contend that circumstances on Earth were extremely
unusual and that complex life is very unlikely to find such favorable conditions
elsewhere in our universe, although simple life forms like microbes may be very
common. Other scientists believe that Earth's history may not be the only
environment in which life could develop, and those other planets with very
different sets of conditions could foster complex life. What is generally agreed,
however, is that no other planet in our solar system has developed along the
same geologic and biologic path as Earth. Life as we know it is a direct result of
specific conditions that appear thus far to be unique to our planet.

BIOSPHERE

The biosphere is the global sum of all ecosystems. It can also be termed the zone
of life on Earth, a closed system (apart from solar and cosmic radiation and heat
from the interior of the Earth), and largely self-regulating. By the most general
bio-physiological definition, the biosphere is the global ecological system
integrating all living beings and their relationships, including their interaction with
the elements of the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere.

The variety of life on Earth, its biological diversity is commonly referred to as

biodiversity. The number of species of plants, animals, and microorganisms, the
enormous diversity of genes in these species, the different ecosystems on the
planet, such as deserts, rainforests and coral reefs are all part of a biologically
diverse Earth. Appropriate conservation and sustainable development strategies
attempt to recognize this as being integral to any approach. Almost all cultures
have in some way or form recognized the importance that nature, and its
biological diversity has had upon them and the need to maintain it. Yet, power,
greed and politics have affected the precarious balance.

Our biosphere is divided into a number of biomes, inhabited by fairly similar flora
and fauna. On land, biomes are separated primarily by latitude. Terrestrial biomes
lying within the Arctic and Antarctic Circles are relatively barren of plant and
animal life, while most of the more populous biomes lie near the equator.

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Terrestrial organisms in temperate and Arctic biomes have relatively small
amounts of total biomass, smaller energy requirements, and display prominent
adaptations to cold, including world-spanning migrations, social adaptations,
homeothermy, estivation and multiple layers of insulation.

WATER

Water covers 71% of the Earth's surface. It is vital for all known forms of life. On
Earth, 96.5% of the planet's water is found in seas and oceans, 1.7% in
groundwater, 1.7% in glaciers and the ice caps of Antarctica and Greenland, a
small fraction in other large water bodies, and 0.001% in the air as vapor, clouds
(formed of solid and liquid water particles suspended in air), and precipitation.
Only 2.5% of the Earth's water is freshwater, and 98.8% of that water is in ice and
groundwater. Less than 0.3% of all freshwater is in rivers, lakes, and the
atmosphere, and an even smaller amount of the Earth's freshwater (0.003%) is
contained within biological bodies and manufactured products.

Water on Earth moves continually through the water cycle of evaporation and
transpiration (evapotranspiration), condensation, precipitation, and runoff,
usually reaching the sea. Evaporation and transpiration contribute to the
precipitation over land. Water used in the production of a good or service is
known as virtual water.

Safe drinking water is essential to humans and other life forms even though it
provides no calories or organic nutrients. Access to safe drinking water has
improved over the last decades in almost every part of the world, but
approximately one billion people still lack access to safe water and over 2.5 billion
lack accesses to adequate sanitation. There is a clear correlation between access
to safe water and Gross domestic product per capita. However, some observers
have estimated that by 2025 more than half of the world population will be facing
water-based vulnerability. A report, issued in November 2009, suggests that by
2030, in some developing regions of the world, water demand will exceed supply
by 50%. Water plays an important role in the world economy, as it functions as a
solvent for a wide variety of chemical substances and facilitates industrial cooling
and transportation. Approximately 70% of the fresh water used by humans goes
to agriculture.

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ATMOSPHERE

The atmosphere is a critical system that helps to regulate Earth's climate and
distribute heat around the globe. In this section, you learn about the fundamental
processes that cause atmospheric circulation and create climate zones and
weather patterns, and learn how carbon cycling between atmosphere, land, and
ocean reservoirs helps to regulate Earth's climate.

Earth's atmosphere is a critical system for life on our planet. Together with the
oceans, the atmosphere shapes Earth's climate and weather patterns and makes
some regions more habitable than others. But Earth's climate is not static. How
variable is it, and how quickly does it change? What physical factors control
climate, and how do they interact with one another?

Today human actions are altering key dynamic balances in the atmosphere. Most
importantly, humans are increasing greenhouse gas levels in the troposphere,
which raises Earth's surface temperature by increasing the amount of heat
radiated from the atmosphere back to the ground. The broad impacts of global
warming have resulted in “Earth's Changing Climate," but it should be noted here
that climate change will alter factors that are key determinants of environmental
conditions upon which ecosystems depend. As would be seen, changing global
surface temperatures and precipitation patterns will have major impacts on
Earth's climate and weather.

The atmosphere is composed of nitrogen, oxygen; argon, water vapor, and a

number of trace gases. This composition has remained relatively constant
throughout much of Earth's history. Chemical reactions maintain the ratios of
major constituents of the atmosphere to each other. For example, oxygen is
released into the atmosphere by photosynthesis and consumed by respiration.
The concentration of oxygen in the atmosphere is maintained by a balance
between these two processes:

Photosynthesis: CO2 + H2O + light → “CH2O" + O2

Respiration: “CH2O” + O2 → CO2 + H2O + energy

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"CH2O" denotes the average composition of organic matter. Many gases play
critical roles in the atmosphere even though they are present in relatively low
concentrations.

Many Green House Gases (GHGs), including water vapor (the most important),
ozone, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, are naturally present in the
atmosphere. Other GHGs are synthetic chemicals that are emitted only as a result
of human activity. Anthropogenic (human) activities are significantly increasing
atmospheric concentrations of many GHGs.

NICHE AND HABITAT – ECOLOGICAL NICHE AND HABITAT

There are many definitions of the niche dating back to 1917, but Evelyn
Hutchinson made conceptual advances in 1957 and introduced the most widely
accepted definition: “The niche is the set of biotic and abiotic conditions in which
a species is able to persist and maintain stable population sizes. The ecological
niche is a central concept in the ecology of organisms and is sub-divided into the
fundamental and the realized niche. The fundamental niche is the set of
environmental conditions under which a species is able to persist. The realized
niche is the set of environmental plus ecological conditions under which a species
persists. The Hutchisonian niche is defined more technically as an “Euclidean
hyperspace” whose dimensions are defined as environmental variables and
whose size is a function of the number of values that the environmental values
may assume for which an organism has positive fitness.

Termite mounds with varied heights of chimneys regulate gas exchange,

temperature and other environmental parameters that are needed to sustain the
internal physiology of the entire colony are good examples of a niche.

The habitat of a species is related but distinct concept that describes the
environment over which a species is known to occur and the type of community
that is formed as a result. More specifically, “habitats can be defined as regions in
environmental space that are composed of multiple dimensions, each
representing a biotic or abiotic environmental variable; that is, any component or

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characteristic of the environment related directly (e.g. forage biomass and
quality) or indirectly (e.g. elevation) to the use of a location by the animal. For
example, the habitat might refer to an aquatic or terrestrial environment that can
be further categorized as montane or alpine ecosystems.

Bio-geographical patterns and range distributions are explained or predicted

through knowledge and understanding of a species traits and niche requirements.
Species have functional traits that are uniquely adapted to the ecological niche. A
trait is a measurable property, phenotype, or characteristic of an organism that
influences its performance. Genes play an important role in the development and
expression of traits. Resident species evolve traits that are fitted to their local
environment.

Biodiversity of a coral reef is good example of adaptation in a habitat of

organisms. Corals adapt and modify their environment by forming calcium
carbonate skeletons that provide growing conditions for future generations and
form habitat for many other species.

BIODIVERSITY

The variety of life on Earth, its biological diversity is commonly referred to as

biodiversity. The number of species of plants, animals, and microorganisms, the
enormous diversity of genes in these species, the different ecosystems on the
planet, such as deserts, rainforests and coral reefs are all part of a biologically
diverse Earth. Appropriate conservation and sustainable development strategies
attempt to recognize this as being integral to any approach. Almost all cultures
have in some way or form recognized the importance that nature, and its
biological diversity has had upon them and the need to maintain it. Yet, power,
greed and politics have affected the precarious balance.

Why is Biodiversity important? Does it really matter if there are not so many
species? Biodiversity boosts ecosystem productivity where each species, no
matter how small, all have an important role to play.

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For example, a larger number of plant species means a greater variety of crops;
greater species diversity ensures natural sustainability for all life forms; and
healthy ecosystems can better withstand and recover from a variety of disasters.
And so, while we dominate this planet, we still need to preserve the diversity in
wildlife.

In addition to the utilitarian reasons, there are also non-utilitarian reasons to

preserve biodiversity. Part of the beauty of nature comes from the copious
diversity of life. Most would agree that a marked reduction in the Earth’s
biodiversity would make it a much poorer planet. Related to both the utilitarian
and the non-utilitarian reasons is that biodiversity is essentially irreplaceable. The
creation of new species by the natural process of speciation usually occurs in time
spans of many thousands of generations, far exceeding human lifetimes. The
biodiversity that disappears on our watch will be lost not only for our children and
their children, but will remain lost for countless generations to follow. In human
terms, extinction is forever. Is it moral for humans to cause the irrevocable loss of
other species if we can avoid it?

STUDY QUESTIONS

1. What is ecology and what does the study encompass?

2. What are the basic environmental elements?
3. What is the key difference between the Earth and other terrestrial planets?
4. What are the fundamental processes that occur in the atmosphere?
5. Distinguish between ecological niche and habitat giving examples.
6. Why is biodiversit important?