Systems and Models

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 Concept and characteristics of a system

• A system is sets of components that function together and form

integrated units.

• Although we tend to isolate systems by delimiting the

boundaries, in reality such boundaries may not be exact or even
real. Furthermore, one systems is always in connection with
another system with which it exchanges both matter and energy.

• Does this hold true for the Universe?

 System B
Boundary Relationships

E3

E1

Systems A E2
Elements
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• The concept of a system can be applied to a
range of scales:
– Environmental systems
– Social systems
– Economic systems

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 Types of Systems
• Open
• Closed
• Isolated

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Open System

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 Coral Reef
Ecosystem

Most diverse
aquatic ecosystem
in the world

-------

Open systems
exchange matter
and energy with
the surroundings
Closed System
Closed System

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• Most examples of
closed systems are
artificial/ constructed
for experimental
purposes

http://www.thegeoexchange.org/carboncycle/model-ecosystem.html

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British man grows garden in sealed bottle
not watered in over 40 years

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcjOE
Wm8uS4

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Closed systems exchange energy but not matter.
– don’t naturally occur on earth

Biosphere II Built as self sustaining closed system in 1991 in Tuscon,

AZ
Experiment failed when nutrient cycling broke down
• The earth can be
thought of as an
“almost” closed
system.

https://www.pexels.com/search/earth/

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Isolated System
Isolated System

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Isolated systems exchange neither matter nor
energy with the surroundings

Only possible though

unproven example is
the entire cosmos
 Leaf System ( Is it Open, Closed or Isolated System?)

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RW Christopherson. Geosystems 5ed.
• Open, close and isolated systems
exist in theory though most living
systems are open systems.

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 Components of systems

• A system is comprised of storages and

flows
• The flows provide inputs and outputs of
energy and matter
• The flows are processes that may be
either transfers or transformations
 Components of systems
• Storages = within a system, where matter,
energy, information can accumulate for a
length of time (stocks)
• Storages are usually represented as rectangular
boxes and flow as arrows, with the direction of
each arrow indicating the direction of each
flow.
• The size of the boxes and the arrows may
represent the size/magnitude of the storage or
flow.
 Transfer and Transformation Processes

• Transfers normally flow through a system from one compartment to

another and involve a change in location, but does not involve a
change of form or state.

For example,
• Precipitation involves the change in location of water from
clouds to sea or ground.
• Liquid water in the soil is transferred into the plant body through
roots in the same liquid form.
• Run-off

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 Transfer and Transformation Processes

• Transformations lead to an interaction within a system in the

formation of a new end product, or involve a change of state.
For example
• Evaporation of sea water involves the absorption of heat energy
from the air so it can change into water vapour.
• In cell respiration, carbon in glucose changes to carbon in carbon
dioxide.
• During photosynthesis carbon in the form of CO2 is changed into
carbon in the form of Glucose (C6H12O6).

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 Transfer and Transformation Processes

Examples:
• Dead organic matter entering a lake is an
example of a transfer process; decomposition of
this material is transformation process
• Solar energy is transformed into chemical energy
by photosynthesis and chemical energy to kinetic
and heat energy by respiration; but the
movement of material through living organism
(biomass being passed on as consumers eat
organisms further down the food chain) is a
transfer process 21
 Condensation
Rain clouds

Transpiration
Precipitation Transpiration
from plants
Precipitation
Precipitation Evaporation
to ocean

Evaporation Surface runoff (rapid)

From
ocean
Runoff

Infiltration and
Surface runoff percolation
(rapid) Groundwater movement (slow)

Ocean storage

Groundwater movement (slow)

What type of System is this?

Name the inputs, outputs, transfers and transformations

What can you identify in a
plant?

• Transfer:

• Transformation

• Flows

• Storage:
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 Models of Systems
• A model is a simplified version of the real thing. It is
an artificial construction designed to represent the
properties, behaviour or relationships between
individual parts of the real entity being studied in
order to study it under controlled conditions and to
make predictions about its functioning when one or
more elements and /or conditions are changed.
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 Quantitative Model
Transfer, transformation, flows and storages

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• http://bcs.whfreeman.com/thelifewire/content/chp58/5802001.html
 A qualitative model
Transfer, transformation, flows and storages

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 The Carbon Cycle

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• http://bcs.whfreeman.com/thelifewire/content/chp58/5802002.html
 Strength of models
• Easier to work with than complex reality
• Can be used to predict the effect of a change
of input
• Can be applied to other similar situation
• Help us see pattern
• Can be used to visualize really small things
(atoms) and really large things (solar
system)
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 Weakness of models
• Accuracy is lost because the model is
simplified
• If our assumptions are wrong, the model
will be wrong
• Predictions may be inaccurate

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 Gaia – a model of the Earth
• Page 25
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44yiTg
7cOVI

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 Laws of
Thermodynamics
• 1st Law of
Thermodynamics
• Conservation of energy
“energy can not be created
nor destroyed but it is
transformed from one form
into another”.
First Law of Thermodynamics

ENERGY 2
PROCESS
ENERGY 1 (WORK)

ENERGY 3
 Photosynthesis and the First Law of
Thermodynamics

Heat Energy
Light Energy Photosynthesis

Chemical Energy
Energy at one level must come from
previous level

Sun

Producers (rooted plants)

Producers (phytoplankton)
Primary consumers (zooplankton)
Secondary consumers (fish)

Dissolved
chemicals Tertiary consumers
(turtles)

Sediment

Decomposers (bacteria and fungi)

Using the first law of thermodynamics explain why the energy
pyramid is always pyramid shaped (bottom bigger than top)
 The 2nd Law of
Thermodynamics
• Entropy (the amount
of disorder) of a
system tends to
increase over time.
• Dissipation of energy
(lost to the
environment as heat
energy) that is then
not available to do
work.
 The Second Law of Thermodynamics can also be stated in the
following way:
• The energy transformation is not 100 %
efficient, part of it is lost (dissipated) as heat
which, can not be used to do work (within
the system).
• In fact, for most ecosystems, processes are
on average only 10% efficient (10%
Principle), this means that for every energy
passage (transformation) 90% is lost in the
form of heat energy, only 10% passes to the
next element in the system.
• As energy is transformed or passed along
longer chains, less and less energy gets to
the end. This posts the need of elements at
the end of the chain to be every time more
efficient since they must operate with a very
limited amount of energy.
• In ecological systems this problem is solved
by reducing the number of individuals in
higher trophic levels.
 First Trophic Second Trophic Third Trophic Fourth Trophic
Level Level Level Level
Producers Primary Secondary Tertiary
(plants) consumers consumers consumers
(herbivores) (carnivores) (top carnivores)

Heat Heat Heat Heat

Solar
energy

Heat Heat

Heat Heat

Detritivores Heat
(decomposers and detritus feeders)
The Second Law of Thermodynamics
in numbers: The 10% Law
For most ecological process, theamount of energy that is passed from one
trophic level to the next is on average 10%.

Heat Heat Heat

900 J 90 J 9J

Energy 1 Process 1 Process 2 Process 3

1000 J 100 J 10 J 1J

J = Joule SI Unit of Energy

1kJ = 1 Kilo Joule = 1000 Joules
 Consumers and the How efficient is the cow
2nd law of Thermodynamics in the use of the food it
takes daily?

Respiration
2000 kJ.day-1

10% for growth

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2850 kJ.day-1 kJ.day-1
Food Intake Urine and
Faeces
Complexity and Stability
• Most ecosystems are very complex, consist
of many flows and storages.
• A high level of complexity makes for a
more stable system that can withstand
stress and change as another pathway can
take over if on is removed.

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43
 Equilbrium
• Equilbrium – the Population Growth - Logistic Model

tendency of a 1200

1000
system to return

Number of individuals
800
to an original 600

state following 400

disturbance. 200

0
0 5 10 15
Time / month

Nt1(actual) Nt1(sim) Nt2(sim) Nt3(sim) N4(sim)

• Steady state equilibrium- the condition of an open system in which
there are no changes over the longer term, but in which there may be
oscillations in the very short term.
• Static equilibrium means no change at all – condition to which most
natural systems can be compared but this does not exist

Static Equilibrium

Steady State

TIME
 Equilbrium

• As an open system, an ecosystem will

normally exist in stable in steady-state
equilibrium.
 Feedback loops
• Self regulation of natural systems is achieved by the
attainment of equilibrium through feedback systems
• Change is a result of feedback loops but there is a
time lag since responses in ecosystems are not
immediate.
• Feedback occurs when one change leads to another
change which eventually reinforces or slows the
original change.
• Or…
• Outputs of the system are fed back into the input
 Positive Feedback
• Positive feedback results in a Sun
further increase or decrease in
the output that enhances the
change in a system. It is
destabilized and pushed to a Atmosphere
new state of equilibrium. Water Vapour
+ +
• For example, due to Global
Warming high temperatures Global
increase evaporation leading Evaporation Heat
to more water vapour in the Energy
atmosphere. Water vapour is Warming
a greenhouse gas which traps + +
more heat worsening Global
Warming.
Oceans
Positive Feedback - Example
Increased temperature through global
warming melts more of the ice in the polar ice
caps and glaciers, leading to decrease in the
Earth’s albedo (reflection from the Earth’s
surface) – the Earth absorbs more of the Sun’s
energy which makes the temperature increase
even more, melting more ice.

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Positive Feedback - Example

temperature

increases
increases

Carbon dioxide and

methane released permafrost
into atmosphere increases
thaw

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Negative Feedback
Population of
• Negative feedback Lynx
(stabilizing) tends to
damp down, neutralize - + -
or counteract any
deviation from an Population of
equilibrium, and Hare
promotes stability. In this example, when the Hare population increases,
the Lynx population increases too in response to the
• Self regulating method increase in food offer which illustrates the Positive
Feedback.
of control leading to the However, when the Lynx population increases too
maintenance of a steady much, the large number of lynxes will pray more
hares reducing the number of hares. As hares
state equilibrium. become fewer, some lynxes will die of starvation
regulating the number of lynx in the population. This
illustrates negative Feedback regulation.
.
Negative feedback: an example of
population control

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 Positive Feedback Example
• You are lost on a high snowy mountain. When your
body senses that it is cooling below 37 C, various
mechanism such as shivering help to raise your body
core temperature again. But if these are insufficient
to restore normal body temperature, your metabolic
processes start to slow down, because the enzymes
that control them do not work so well at lower
temperatures. As a result you become lethargic and
sleepy and move around less and less, allowing your
body to cool even further. Unless you are rescued at
this point, your body will reach a new equilibrium:
You will die of hypothermia. 53
 Negative Feedback Example
• Your body temperature starts to rise above 37 C
because you are walking in the tropical sun and the
air temperature is 45 C. The sensors in your skin
detect that your surface temperature is rising so you
start to sweat and go red as blood flow in the
capillaries under your skin increases. Your body
attempts to lose heat.

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 Positive or Negative?
1. As the Earth warms, ice cover melts, exposing
soil or water. Albedo decreases (albedo is the
fraction of light that is reflected by a body or
surface). More energy is absorbed by the Earth’s
surface. Global temperature rises. More ice
melts.
2. As the Earth warms, upper layers of permafrost
melt, producing waterlogged soil above frozen
ground. Methane gas is released into the
environment. The greenhouse effect is
enhanced. The Earth warms, melting more
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permafrost.
 Positive or Negative?
3. As the Earth warms, increased evaporation
produces more cloud. Clouds increase albedo,
reflecting more light away from the earth. The
temperature falls. Rates of evaporation fall.
4. As the Earth warms, organic matter in soil is
decomposed faster, more carbon dioxide is
released, the enhanced greenhouse effect occurs,
the Earth warms further and rates of
decomposition increase.

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 Positive or Negative?
• If a pond ecosystem • A good supply of grass for
became polluted with rabbits to eat will attract
nitrates, washed off more rabbits to the area,
agricultural land by which puts pressure on the
surface runoff, algae grass, so it dies back, so the
would rapidly grow in the decreased food supply leads
pond. The amount of to a decrease in population
dissolved oxygen in the because of death or out
water would decrease, migration, which takes away
killing the fish. The the pressure on the grass,
decomposers that would which leads to more growth
increase due to the dead and a good supply of food
fish would further which leads to a more
decrease the amount of rabbits attracted to the area
dissolved oxygen and so which puts pressure on the
on... grass and so on and on....
 Positive & Negative Feedback

Most systems Positive feedback

change by a
combination of
positive and Food Population
negative feedback
processes
Negative feedback
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 A simplified model on how the
ecosystem works

• For an entire
ecosystem to be in
steady state, or for
one of its
components to be
in steady state, the The Steady State condition:
following must be
achieved:
 inputs   outputs 59
 Resilience of a system

• The ability of a system to return to its initial

state after a disturbance
• If a system has a low resilience, it will enter
a new state

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Resilience of a system
https://howlingpixel.com/wiki/Eucalyptus
Example:
In eucalypt forest in
Australia, fire is seen as a
major hazard. But eucalypts
have evolved to survive
forest fires. Their oil is
highly flammable and the
trees produce a lot of litter
which also burns easily. But
the trees regenerate quickly
after a fire because they
have buds within their
trunks and plants that would
have competed with them
are destroyed. The
eucalypts are resilient.
 Resilience of a system
Example:
Pathogenic bacterium causing a fatal disease
could be very resilient to antibiotics which
means it will kill many people.

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 Resilience of a system
• Diversity and the size of storages within systems can
contribute to their resilience and affect their speed of
response to change (time lags).
• Humans can affect the resilience of systems through
reducing these storages and diversity.

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 TIPPING POINT

• A tipping point is the

small amount of change
within a system that will
destabilize it, causing it to
reach a new equilibrium
or stable state.

http://www.socc.edu/careercenter/live-it/885-many-cool-bits-of-info

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 TIPPING POINT

Examples of human impacts and possible tipping

points:
• Lake Eutrophication
• Extinction of a keystone species
• Coral reef death
• Climate Change ?

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