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Human Biology
Sylvia S. Mader

Chapter 18
Global Ecology

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 Overview of Ecology
• Ecology – the scientific study of interactions between
organisms and their environments, focusing on
energy transfer

• Interactions of an organism with its environment (e.g.

other organisms, food supply, pathogens) determine
the distribution of organisms and their abundance

• Global Ecology examines the influence of how the

regional exchange of energy & materials influences
the function and distribution of organisms across
biosphere

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Organizational level

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 Overview of Ecology
• Organism – any unicellular or multicellular form
exhibiting all of characteristics of life, an individual

• Population – group of organisms of one species

living in the same place at the same time that
interbreed and compete with each other for the
resources (e.g. food, mating & shelter)

• Community – several interacting populations that

inhabit a common environment & are
interdependent

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 Overview of Ecology
• Biosphere is the portion of the Earth that
contains living organisms, from the atmosphere
above to the depths of the oceans below and
everything in between.

• Ecosystems - specific areas of the biosphere

where organisms interact among themselves
and with the physical environment

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 Terrestrial ecosystems
• Terrestrial (biomes) - several distinctive major types
of terrestrial based on temperature & waterfall
– Forests – dominated by trees
• Tropical rain forest
• Coniferous forests (tiaga)
• Temperate deciduous forests
– Grasslands – dominated by grass
• Tropical grasslands – supports many types of grazing animals
• Temperate grasslands – receive less rain fall than temperate
forests
– Deserts – characterized by lack of available moisture
• Tundra - Bordering the North Pole which has long winters and a
short growing season
• Deserts – experience warm temperatures & low precipitation
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 Aquatic ecosystems
• Marine
– Seashores
– Oceans
– Coral reefs
– Estuaries
• Fresh water
– Lakes
– Ponds
– Rivers
– streams

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Examples of freshwater and saltwater ecosystems

(a) ocean, and (b) a river. (c) coral reefs and (d) salt marshes.

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 Components of an Ecosystem
• Ecosystems contain both biotic (living) and
abiotic (nonliving) components.

• Abiotic components include the soil type,

water, and weather.

• The biotic components of an ecosystem can

be categorized according to how they obtain
their energy (autotrophs and heterotrophs).

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 Biotic Components of an Ecosystem
• Autotrophs - require only inorganic nutrients and
an outside source of energy to produce organic
nutrients for their own use and for all the other
members of a community (producers - they
produce food)
– Algae of carry on photosynthesis in freshwater and
marine habitats.

– Green plants are the dominant photosynthesizers on

land.

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Biotic Components of an Ecosystem
• Heterotrophs - need a source of organic
nutrients (consumers - they consume food).

– Herbivores are organisms that graze directly on

plants or algae. i.e. Deer, rabbits.

– Carnivores feed on other animals. i.e. snakes and

hawks.
– Omnivores are animals that feed on plants and
animals. Humans are considered omnivores.
– Detritus feeders are organisms that feed on detritus,
decomposing particles of organic matter.
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 Components of an Ecosystem
• Habitat – the place in which an organism
lives out of its life (address)

• Niche – the role of an organism plays in

an ecosystem such as how it gets its food,
what it eats and how it interacts with other
organisms.

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The biotic components of an ecosystem

c. herbivores d. decomposers

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 Concept check
• In an ecosystem, these organisms are
responsible for converting solar energy to the
stored energy found in organic compounds.
– A. herbivores
– B. decomposers
– C. producers
– D. carnivores

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 Concept check

• The role of an organism in an ecosystem is

called its:

– A. species name.
– B. niche.
– C. habitat.
– D. biome.

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 Ecosystem services
• Ecosystem services encompass all
processes through which natural ecosystems
help sustain human life

• Examples of ecosystem services include:

– Purification of air and water
– Detoxification and decomposition of wastes
– Crop pollination, pest control, & soil preservation
– Maintenance of biodiversity

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 Biodiversity
• Biodiversity – the total variety of living
organisms in an ecosystem
• More biodiversity = greater stability

• Many species produce compounds that serve food,

medicine or industrial products. e.g. rosy periwinkle
only grows off African islands, produce chemical
used to treat cancer.

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 How humans affect biodiversity
• 1. Habitat alteration – changing the area
where organisms live, i.e.
– Deforestation
– Clearing land for farming
– Habitat fragmentation – breaks lands into small
pieces

• 2. Overhunting
– For meat, fur, hides
– Some people believe that animal body parts have
medicinal properties

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 How humans affect biodiversity
• 3. Pollution – introducing toxic compounds into
food web.

– DDT, a pesticide, is non-biodegrable and is stored in

body tissue.

– When plants take in DDT, animals that eat plants

concentrate that DDT.

– Animal that eat plant-eaters consume DDT

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 Energy Flow and Chemical Cycling
• 1. Energy flow begins when producers absorb
solar (and in some cases, chemical) energy.

• 2. Nutrient cycling, occurs when producers take in

inorganic chemicals from the physical
environment.
– producers make organic nutrients that can be used
by them as well as by the other populations of the
ecosystem.

– Energy flow occurs when nutrients pass from one

population to another.
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Energy Flow and
Chemical Cycling

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The fate of food
energy taken in
by an herbivore.

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 Concept check
• A fungus consuming dead plant matter would be
considered an …………….
– A. omnivore
– B. herbivore
– C. detritus feeders
– D. carnivore
– E. autotroph

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 Energy flow
• Food web – describes who eats whom
• grazing food web:
– leaves → caterpillars → mice → hawks
• detrital food web:
– begins with wastes and the remains of dead organisms.
Detritus is food for decomposers and soil organisms
such as earthworms.
– detritus → earthworms → beetles → shrews

• Trophic Level - composed of all the organisms

that feed at a particular link in a food chain.
• Producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers

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 Energy flow
• Ecological Pyramid – reflects the loss of energy
between trophic levels.
– Only about 10% of the energy of one trophic level is
available to the next trophic level.

– if an herbivore population consumes 1,000 kg of plant

material, only about 100 kg is converted to herbivore
tissue, 10 kg to first-level carnivores, and 1 kg to
second-level carnivores.

– This general 10% rule explains why so few carnivores

can be supported in a food web

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Fig. The influence of trophic level on biomass

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 Concept check
• Generally, energy _________ an ecosystem and
nutrients ______ an ecosystem.
– A. cycles within; cycle within

– B. cycles within; flow through

– C. flows through; cycle within

– D. flows through; flow through

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 Concept check

• The form of a food web that begins with waste

materials and the remains of dead organisms.
– A. aquatic

– B. detrital

– C. grazing
– D. atmospheric

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 Biogeochemical Cycles
• Biogeochemical cycles - the pathways by which
chemicals circulate through ecosystems involve
both living (biotic) and nonliving (abiotic)
components.
• Chemical cycling involves the components of
ecosystems.
– Water cycle
– Carbon Cycle
– Nitrogen cycle
– Phosphorous cycle

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 Biogeochemical Cycles
• Reservoir - a source of chemicals normally
unavailable to producers, such as the
carbon found in calcium carbonate shells
on ocean bottoms.

• Exchange pool - a source from which

organisms generally have the ability to take
chemicals, such as the atmosphere or soil.
Chemicals move along food chains in a biotic
community.

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 Biogeochemical Cycles
• Human activities remove various chemicals
from reservoirs and exchange pools and
make them available to the biotic community.

• Human activities upset the normal balance of

nutrients in the environment, resulting in
pollution.

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The cycling of nutrients between biotic
communities and biogeochemical reservoirs.

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 The Water Cycle
• The water (hydrologic) cycle include:
– Evaporation - the sun’s rays cause fresh water
to evaporate from seawater, leaving the salts
behind. Water also evaporates from land and
from plants.
– Condensation - a gas is changed into a liquid.
The condensed water may then fall as
precipitation (e.g. rain, snow) over the oceans
and the land.

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 The Water Cycle

• The water that precipitates over the land

may have a number of different routes.

– land lies above sea level, gravity eventually

returns all fresh water to the sea.

– Some of the water remains temporarily within

standing waters (lakes and ponds) and flowing
water (streams and rivers) sources.

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The water (hydrologic) cycle
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 Human Activities
• Humans interfere with the water cycle in
three ways.
– 1. withdraw water from aquifers.
– 2. Clear vegetation from land and build roads
and buildings that prevent percolation and
increase runoff.
– 3. Interfere with the natural processes that
purify water and instead add pollutants such as
sewage and chemicals to water.

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 The Carbon Cycle

• The carbon dioxide (CO2) in the

atmosphere is the exchange pool for the
carbon cycle.

• In this cycle, organisms in both terrestrial

and aquatic ecosystems exchange carbon
dioxide with the atmosphere.

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 The Carbon Cycle
• On land, plants take up carbon dioxide from
the air. Through photosynthesis, they
incorporate carbon into nutrients used by
autotrophs and heterotrophs.

• When organisms conduct cellular respiration,

carbon is returned to the atmosphere as
carbon dioxide. Therefore, carbon dioxide
recycles to plants by way of the atmosphere.

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 The Carbon Cycle
• In aquatic ecosystems, the exchange of
carbon dioxide with the atmosphere is
indirect. Carbon dioxide from the air
combines with water to produce bicarbonate
ion (HCO3−).

• This is a source of carbon for aquatic

producers that create food for themselves
and for heterotrophs.

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The carbon cycle
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 Reservoirs Hold Carbon
• Living and dead organisms contain organic
carbon and serve as one of the reservoirs for
the carbon cycle.

• The world’s biotic components, such as trees,

contain over 800 billion tons of organic carbon.

• An additional 1,000 – 3,000 billion tons are

estimated to be held in the remains of plants
and animals in the soil. Decomposition of plants
and animals returns CO2 to the atmosphere.

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 Human Activities
• Today the amount of carbon dioxide
released into the atmosphere is about
twice the amount that remains in the
atmosphere.
• CO2 and Climate Change - Large
amounts of carbon dioxide and other
gases are being emitted due to human
activities. i.e. nitrous oxide (N2O) and
methane (CH4).
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 Human Activities
• Burning of fossil fuels and the destruction
of forests adds CO2 to the atmosphere
faster than its being removed.

• CO2 and other gases (N2O and CH4) are

being emitted due to human activities.
These gases are called green house gases
because they trap heat, this contributes to
the global warming.

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 Nitrogen Cycle
• 78% of the atmosphere is nitrogen gas (N2)
but plants cannot use this form.
• Nitrogen fixing bacteria convert nitrogen
gas to ammonium ion (NH4+) which can be
used by the plants.
• Nitrifying bacteria convert ammonium into
nitrate (NO3-)
• Bacteria convert nitrate back to nitrogen
gas through a process called denitrification.
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The nitrogen cycle
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 Human Activities
• Fertilizers which contain phosphate, often
runs off into lakes and rivers. This results in
an overgrowth of algae and rooted aquatic
plants, a process called eutrophication. This
result is a massive fish kill.

• Acid deposition- occurs because nitrogen

oxides and sulfur dioxide enter the
atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels.

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 The Phosphorus Cycle
• Phosphate ions (PO43–) become available to
living things by the slow weathering to rocks.

• Phosphate is limiting nutrient in ecosystems.

• Molecules requiring phosphate include

phospholipids, ATP, and the nucleotides that
become a part of DNA and RNA.

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 Human Activities

• Human activities that interfere:

– Run off phosphate due to fertilizer and
discharge from sewage treatment plants
result in eutrophication.

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