Ecosystems – how do they function?

• Ecosystems are the basic functional units of

ecology

• Ecosystems are living, dynamic systems

encompassing all organisms and communities, their
biotic and abiotic components and exchanges within
and between each of these

• How do these exchanges take place ?

 Trophic relationships in ecosystems
• Food chain - pathway along which food (and energy and materials) is transferred from one trophic level to the next

• a trophic level is a feeding level

Simple food chain Miller Ch 4 Fig 4.14

Most organisms have
more than one food
type, so food chains
are linked into more
complex food webs

Primary productivity - the

energy base for the
ecosystem

Food webs - how the

ecosystem is structured
by energy flow

Miller Ch 4 Fig 4.15

 Food chains

• Grazing food chain - directly dependent on

green plants
(important in rangelands, grasslands)

• Detritus food chain - primary food base is

detritus (e.g. breakdown of leaf litter via soil arthropods)
(important in forest ecosystems).
 Detritus pathway in food webs
• Detritus - dead and decaying matter (Miller Ch 4
Fig 4.12)

• Detritus food chains

– occur in all ecosystems, in parallel with the grazing
food chain
– much of the primary production (plant material) is
not consumed directly but dies and enters the
detritus pool
– contribute to recycling of materials as well as to
flow of energy
 Lengths of food chains
• Food chains are short, typically 3 or 4 trophic
levels (rarely more than 5)

• Insect and detritivore-dominated food chains

may be longer

• Why so short?

• Reduction of energy as one moves up the chain

- but then would expect different lengths in ecosystems
with different productivity?
• Materials cycles involve both
– the biotic component of ecosystems (producers,
consumers, decomposers)
– the abiotic component (gases, water, soil etc)

• These are called biogeochemical cycles

• global cycles - those involving gases in atmosphere
(e.g. CO 2,SO2, N) (Miller Ch4 Fig 4.23,
4.26)
• local cycles - involving less mobile elements
(e.g. P, K, Ca, Mg) (Miller Ch4 Fig 4.25)
Water cycling (hydrological cycle) in
ecosystems

Active pools (Miller Ch 4 Fig 4.22)

Atmosphere
Soil moisture
Stream channels
Freshwater lakes
Saline lakes
Ocean
Storage
Icecaps and glaciers
Ground water
The global water cycle
 Cycling of water
Bulk of the water in the oceans (97%)
Major circulation between oceans and atmosphere
through evaporation and precipitation
Soil moisture, ground water are two substantial pools
– deep drainage from soil moisture to ground water
– direct evaporation from soil surface to atmosphere
– transpiration through plants into atmosphere

Eventually, most water precipitated over land

returns to oceans - via run-off and stream flow
• Water not equally available in all
ecosystems

• At local level, water effectively flows

through the system (like energy) rather than
being recycled - replenished only by new
input ie. most lost from local ecosystems through
run-off, evaporation, transpiration
Tropical Areas – eg. SE Asia
Australia particularly dry by world standards
– two-thirds desert
– variability of rainfall high

Because water is a limiting factor, it is a key

influence on primary productivity

Infrequent, unpredictable rainfall (in deserts)

means productivity is ‘pulsed’ rather than
regular or seasonal
 Deforestation and changes to water cycles
• Deep-rooted perennial plants - major users of soil
moisture
• Taken up by roots, transpired to atmosphere from foliage
• Clearing - more moisture can drain into ground water
• Ground water ‘recharged’ and rises
• Ground water discharges as surface seeps, or drains
into streams
• PROBLEMS - soil can become saturated resulting in
mud slides (tropical areas) or rising water-tables can
bring salt from subsoil to soil surface (arid areas)
 Carbon Cycling

Most of the world’s carbon (C) exists in

relatively inaccessible storage pools
- carbonate in rocks (e.g. chalk, limestone, marble)
- fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) (Miller Ch 4 Fig 4.23)

Carbon in the atmosphere - only a tiny amount

BUT the atmospheric pool is most active
 Carbon cycle
• Carbon dioxide withdrawn from the atmosphere
during photosynthesis (rate determined by primary
productivity of the ecosystem)

• Carbon dioxide returned by cellular respiration

(ie use of sugars/carbohydrates for energy and
decomposition)

• Atmospheric carbon dioxide also dissolves in

the oceans, the largest active pool, and is
available to marine plants
 Exchange between active and storage
pools of carbon
• Until recently, exchanges between storage pools
(rocks, fossil fuels) and active pool (atmosphere)
was very low - eg. weathering of carbonate rocks

• BUT increased use of fossil fuels has greatly

increased the return to the atmosphere

• Carbon dioxide returned to atmosphere faster

than it can be cycled - net increase in CO2 in
atmosphere, and implications for climate change