Environmental Systems

Earth's Energy Balance

The Earth’s climate is a solar powered system

71 percent of the total incoming solar energy is absorbed by the Earth system.
 Energy Flow in the Biosphere
• The energy used by organisms must be obtained in
the biosphere and must be constantly supplied for
life to continue.

• When an organism dies, its body is broken down

and the nutrients in it become available for use by
other organisms.

• This flow of energy allows life on Earth to continue

to exist.
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Biological and Nutrient Cycle
Biogeochemical and Nutrient Cycle

The nutrient cycle describes how

nutrients move from the physical
environment into living organisms,
and subsequently are recycled
back to the physical environment.
 Biogeochemical and Nutrient Cycle
The Earth has a limited quantity of chemical elements from when
it was formed; and the only way more elements are obtained is
from occasional meteorites striking the Earth from outer space.
Because the chemicals on Earth function in a closed system,
neither significantly increasing nor decreasing in quantity, they
are recycled throughout the Earth’s biological and geological
cycles. These cycles include both the living biosphere, and the
nonliving lithosphere, atmosphere, and hydrosphere. The main
biogeochemical cycles describe the movement of carbon,
nitrogen and phosphorus.
 Biogeochemical and Nutrient Cycle

In any particular environment, the nutrient

cycle must be balanced and stable if the
organisms that live in that environment
are to flourish and be maintained in a
constant population
Biogeochemical and Nutrient Cycle
How many nutrient cycle you can name?
What is Ecosystem?
 An Ecosystem consists of a
community of organisms together
with their physical environment.

Importance of Mangrove Forests: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhLlqdPB_Rs

 Components of Ecosystem
Abiotic Components
The abiotic components of an ecosystem are all of the nonliving elements. They
include the water, the air, the temperature and the rocks and minerals that make up
the soil. Abiotic components of an ecosystem might include how much rain falls on
it, whether it is fresh water or salt water, how much sun it gets or how often it
freezes and thaws. The biotic components of the ecosystem both live on and
interact with the abiotic components.

Producers at the Base

Producers are the living organisms in the ecosystem that take in energy from
sunlight and use it to transform carbon dioxide and oxygen into sugars. Plants, algae
and photosynthetic bacteria are all examples of producers. Producers form the base
of the food web and are generally the largest group in the ecosystem by weight, or
biomass. They also act as an interface with the abiotic components of the
ecosystem during nutrient cycles as they incorporate inorganic carbon and nitrogen
from the atmosphere.

https://sciencing.com/four-basic-components-ecosystem-9557.html
 Components of Ecosystem
Consumer
Consumers are living organisms in the ecosystem that get their energy from
consuming other organisms. Conceptually, consumers are further subdivided by
what they eat: Herbivores eat producers, carnivores eat other animals and
omnivores eat both. Along with producers and decomposers, consumers are part of
what is known as food chains and webs, where energy and nutrient transfer can be
mapped out. Consumers can only harvest about 10 percent of the energy contained
in what they eat, so there tends to be less biomass at each stage as you move up
the food chain.

Decomposers
Decomposers are the living component of the ecosystem that breaks down waste
material and dead organisms. Examples of decomposers include earthworms, dung
beetles and many species of fungi and bacteria. They perform a vital recycling
function, returning nutrients incorporated into dead organisms to the soil where
plants can take them up again. In this process they also harvest the last of the
sunlight energy initially absorbed by producers. Decomposers represent the final
step in many of the cyclical ecosystem processes.

https://sciencing.com/four-basic-components-ecosystem-9557.html
Food chain is a linear sequence of organisms through which nutrients
and energy pass as one organism eats another.
Producers make their own organic food. Consumers get food and
energy by eating other organisms, Decomposers, are that break down
dead organic material and wastes.
 Food web consist of many interconnected food chains and are more realistic
representation of consumption relationships in ecosystems.

https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/ecology/intro-to-ecosystems/a/food-chains-
food-webs
 Ecosystem services
Ecosystem services are the benefits
people obtain from ecosystems.

These include provisioning services such as food and

water; regulating services such as regulation of floods,
drought, land degradation, and disease; supporting
services such as soil formation and nutrient cycling;
and cultural services such as recreational, spiritual,
religious and other nonmaterial benefits.