Ecosystems

Ecosystems
All the organisms living in a community
as well as all the abiotic factors with
which they interact.
Both energy and
matter move
through ecological
communities
Energy flow (dotted
red lines) is
unidirectional. Energy
changes form and
dissipates.

Nutrients change form

and cycle through
ecosystems (solid blue
lines).
 Energy review
• First law of thermodynamics
– Energy cannot be created or destroyed
– It can be converted to other forms
 Energy review
• Second law of thermodynamics
– There is loss of energy with conversion,
usually in the form of heat
– The heat energy still exists, but cannot be
used
 Energy on Earth
• Most of Earth’s energy
comes from the sun

• Some of Earth’s inhabitants

have adapted to convert
solar energy to chemical
potential energy (in carbon
bonds).
 Energy on Earth
• Most of Earth’s energy
comes from the sun

• Some of Earth’s inhabitants

have adapted to convert
solar energy to chemical
potential energy (in carbon
bonds).
The primary producers
 Energy on Earth
• Most of Earth’s energy
comes from the sun

• Some of Earth’s inhabitants

have adapted to convert
solar energy to chemical
potential energy (in carbon
bonds).
The primary producers
gross primary production (GPP)-the total amount of biomass produced by all
autotrophs in the community
net primary production (NPP) – GPP less biomass the autotrophs use to meet
their own metabolic needs
 What controls primary
productivity?
Global trends in primary
production

•Terrestrial ecosystems are more

productive (101 X 10 ^9 tons of fixed
carbon v. 61 X 10^9 tones in aquatic
ecosystems)

•There is generally higher productivity in

the tropics
 What controls primary
productivity?
Terrestrial primary production
generally increases with moisture
and temperature

•Rosenwitz studied net primary

production across biomes

•Compare NPP to actual

evapotranspiration
 What controls primary
productivity?
Terrestrial and aquatic primary
production is also limited by nutrient
availability
From primary to secondary
productivity
From primary to secondary
productivity
The amount of
chemical energy in
a consumers food
that is converted to
their own new
biomass
From primary to secondary
productivity
On average only
10% of the energy
from one level will
reach the level
above it (trophic
efficiency)
 From primary to secondary
productivity
Transfer efficiencies
are low because
energy is lost due to
cellular respiration
and when food
cannot be
assimilated
What’s missing?
What’s missing?
Decomposers-
consumers who get their
energy from detritus.
They are important
nutrient cyclers (help
return nutrients to plants)

Energy flows, nutrients

cycle
 The cycling of nutrients
within ecosystems

• Life on Earth depends on recycling

essential chemical elements.

• Biogeochemical cycles move elements

between the atmosphere, hydrosphere,
lithosphere, and biosphere.
 General nutrient cycle model

Nutrients cycle
between abiotic and
biotic components of
the ecosystem

They can be available

or unavailable
 The water cycle
• Water is essential to
all living things
• Typically found in
oceans, lakes, rivers,
ice caps, groundwater
(small amount in
atmosphere)
• Cycles via
sublimation,
precipitation,
evaporation,
condensation,
consumption,
transpiration
 The carbon cycle
• Carbon is essential to
building organic
molecules
• Can be found in the
atmosphere (CO2),
plants, animals, fossil
fuels, soils, sediments
• Cycles via
photosynthesis,
respiration,
combustion,
consumption
 The nitrogen cycle
• Nitrogen is part of
important biological
molecules and limits plant
growth
• Found in the atmosphere
(it is 80%N2), soils,
sediments, water,
organisms
• Nitrogen cycles via
nitrogen fixation,
ammonification,
nitrification, and
denitrification
 The phosphorous cycle
• Important
component of many
biological molecules
(nucleic acids, ATP)
• Huge stores of P in
rocks, some in soils,
water
• Cycles through
weathering, taken
up by organisms,
sedimentation
 Human impacts on ecosystems
Agriculture
• Displaces communities
• Moves nutrients around
• After soils are depleted
of nutrients, fertilizer
must be added
• Huge source of
nitrogen to the Earth
– Has led to
eutrophication
 Human impacts on ecosystems
Burning of fossil is
altering the carbon
cycle
•More CO2 in the
atmosphere
•Plants growing
differently with elevated
CO2

Also affecting other

cycles through climate
change
 Summary
• You should understand how energy flows and
nutrients cycle through ecosystems
• You should understand what limits primary
productivity
• You should understand why energy is lost at
as you move up each trophic level
• You should understand how humans have
impacted the carbon and nitrogen cycles