ECOSYSTEM AND ITS

COMPONENTS

 Environment
 Ecological Cycles
 Structure Of An Ecosystem
Ecosystem
What is an ecosystem
An ecosystem is a grouping of
organisms that interact with each other
and their environment in such a way as
to preserve the grouping.
There is a great variety of ecosystems
in existence, all of them are
characterized by general structural and
functional attributes.
Abiotic components
They form the environment and
determine the type / structure of
ecosystem.
Sunlight (temperature)
Nutrients
• Rainfall, minerals, carbon, nitrogen,…..
Type of ecosystems:
Tropical rainforest, Desert, Tundra,
Grassland,…..
Limiting factors of an environment
Light
Temperature
Water
Wind
Topography
Soil
Biotic Factors
Light
Light is an very important environment
factor:
Source of energy for ecosystem
Control factor for reproduction and migration.
Light
Quality of light:
• Red and blue light: green plants (photosynthesis)
• Green light: plants in woods or deep water
• Ultraviolet light: retards plant growth
Duration of light
• Affect the behaviour of plants and animals (flowering,
migration, mating….)
Intensity of light:
• Controlling factor for rate of photosynthesis
• Net productivity is the function of photosynthesis and
respiration.
Temperature
Very important factor affecting
Directly effects on organisms
Indirectly effects in modifying other environmental
factors such as relative humidity and water availability.
Each species has its own minimum, maximum
and optimum temperatures for life. (vary with age
and water balances in the body)
Aquatic life has narrower tolerance ranges for
temperature than those which live on land.
Tropical plants: > 15oC,
Temperate cereals: >-2oC,
Coniferous forests: withstand many degrees below
freezing.
Water
Water restrict ecosystem development
because ,most organisms need large amounts
of water to survive.
Water requirement for plants will vary both
with environmental conditions and among
different species.
Actual rate of transpiration is the function of
relative humidity
Air movement
Size of leaves
Size of stomata
Water
Plants classification by water requirement.
Xerophytes: plants can survive in extremely arid areas.
Halophytes: plants can survive in saline conditions
Hydrophytes: plants live in water or in moist soil.
Wind
Wind can act as an environmental factor
Directly by causing mechanical damage to plants
Indirectly affecting relative humidity and
evaporation rates.
High wind speed increases the rate of
transpiration.
Mountain summits, coasts and open plains
vegetation may be dwarfed as a result of
wind action.
Topography
Topography can influence ecosystem
development in three major ways.
Direct effects of altitude on temperature
• normal lapse rate (-6.5oC/km)
The combination of changes in temperature
and relative humidity
• an altitudinal zonation of ecosystems.
Slope orientation and angle
• South-facing slopes (in the northern hemisphere)
are warmer and drier than north-facing slopes.
• Angle of slope will be a critical factor in soil
formation and drainage.
Topography
Topography
Soil
Attributes of soils, such as texture, pH,
soil climate and organic content operate
in a closely inter-related fashion to
exert control on
rates of decomposition
nutrient cycling,
plant distribution
productivity.
Biotic Factors
Biotic factors are the interactions that occur
between living things.
Some species are beneficial or even essential for
the existence of others, whereas some may be
harmful.
The dominant plants will grow tallest and modify the
light conditions for the rest of the community.
Plants struggle for light will influence root development
and the competition for water and nutrients in the soil.
Many plants rely on animals for pollination and seed
dispersal.
Many animals are directly dependent on plants for food.
Biotic Factors
Man is by far the most important biotic
factor.
Man modifies of ecosystems by fire, hunting
and agriculture,…...
Industrialization and the intensification of
agriculture, man has obliterated large areas
of natural systems and caused pollution of
both terrestrial and aquatic habitats.
Biotic components
Producers (Autotrophs):
All green plants. They use solar energy,
chlorophyll, inorganic nutrients and water to
produce their own food. (Photosynthesis)
Consumers:
They consume the organic compounds in plant
and animal tissues by eating.
• Herbivores (plant feeders) Primary consumers
• Carnivores (meat eaters) Secondary consumers
• Omnivores (general feeders)
Biotic components
Decomposers
They are tiny organisms includes bacteria and
fungi, which turn organic compounds in dead
plants and animals into inorganic materials.
They cause the continual recirculation of
chemicals within ecosystem (nutrient cycle)
The Water Cycle
Water never leaves the Earth. It is constantly
being cycled through the atmosphere, ocean,
and land. This process, known as the water
cycle, is driven by energy from the sun. The
water cycle is crucial to the existence of life on
our planet.
The Water Cycle
 During part of the water cycle, the sun heats
up liquid water and changes it to a gas by the
process of evaporation. Water that evaporates
from Earth’s oceans, lakes, rivers, and moist soil
rises up into the atmosphere.
The process of evaporation from plants is called
transpiration. (In other words, it’s like plants
sweating.)
 As water (in the form of gas) rises higher in the
atmosphere, it starts to cool and become a liquid again.
This process is called condensation. When a large
amount of water vapor condenses, it results in the
formation of clouds.
When the water in the clouds gets too heavy, the
water falls back to the earth. This is called
precipitation.
 When rain falls on the land, some of the water is
absorbed into the ground forming pockets of water
called groundwater. Most groundwater eventually
returns to the ocean.
Other precipitation runs directly into streams or
rivers. Water that collects in rivers, streams, and
oceans is called runoff.
Carbon Cycle and Oxygen Cycle
Nitrogen Cycle
 Nitrogen cycle
Nitrogen cycle can be affected by man in five
major ways:
Fertilizer production (mainly nitrates and ammonium
salts) to grow more food by increasing yields, and
replenishing lost nitrogen from the soil.
Burning of fossil fuels in cars, power plants, and heating
which puts nitrogen dioxide into the atmosphere.
Increasing animals wastes (nitrates) from more people
and from livestock and poultry grown in ranches.
Increased sewage flows from industry and urbanization.
Increased erosion of and runoff nearby streams, lakes
and rivers from cultivation, irrigation, agricultural
wastes, mining, urbanization and poor land use.
 5 LEVELS OF Environmental Organization

1. Biosphere
2. Ecosystem
3. Community
4. Population
5. Organism
 ORGANISM:
Organism: an individual animal, plant,
or single-celled life form.
 POPULATION:
Population: A group of organisms of
the SAME species that live together.
 COMMUNITY:
Community: A
group of
organisms living in
the same place
and sharing the
same
characteristics.
 ECOSYSTEM:
Ecosystem: made up of a community of
organisms and the abiotic environment
of the community.
An ecologist studying the ecosystem could
examine how organisms interact as well as
how temperature, precipitation, and soil
affects the organisms.
 BIOSPHERE:
Biosphere: part of Earth where life exists.
Extends from deepest parts of ocean to high in
the air where plant spores drift.
Ecologists study the biosphere to see how
organisms interact with the abiotic environment
– Earth’s atmosphere, water, soil, and rock.
 Biome
BIOME is any large geographical region with a
characteristic climate. A biome is dominated by a
characteristic plant and animal populations. These
populations may occur in many communities
throughout the biome.
Example: A desert is a biome. It may consist of a
sand plain community, a sand dune community, an
oasis community and others. Each community has its
own desert organism populations.
Biotic components and food chain
 An organism’s niche
Habitat: the actual place
an organism lives
Niche: both living and non-
living parts of an
ecosystem that determines
an organism’s role in the
ecosystem.
If two species share the
same niche, they will have
various interactions.
How can species interact?
These relationships are complex. Each population
of species interacts with other species, or biotic
factors, as well as with the all of the abiotic
factors.
The niche of an organism and it’s interactions is
determined by where it stands in the ecological
structure of the ecosystem.
-Producers
-Consumers
-Decomposers
-Scavengers
 Producers
Producers are autotrophic
organisms that make their
own food.
Phototrophic organisms use
photosynthesis and contain
chlorophyll
(Carbon Dioxide + Water +
Sunlight =Sugar +
Oxygen)
Chemotrophic organisms use
chemicals other than H20,
such as H2S
PRODUCERS!!!
 Consumers
 Consumers are heterotrophic organisms that cannot
make their own food. They must ingest (eat) other
organisms.
-Herbivores feed on vegetation (producers).
-Carnivores feed on herbivores or on other
carnivores.
 Secondary carnivores feed on herbivores,
 Tertiary consumers feed on other carnivores
-Omnivores feed on both producers and consumers
-Scavengers feed on dead or decaying organisms
CONSUMERS!!!
Scavengers feed on CARRION (dead or injured
animal corpses) and dead plant biomass.
Scavengers reduce the size of dead organic
matter…Decomposers will finish the job!
DECOMPOSERS are heterotrophs that recycle small,
often microscopic bits of dead organic matter into
inorganic nutrients availbe for plants to take up from the
soil. Decomposers RECYCLE nutrients!

BACTERIA and FUNGI are decomposers…most worms

are plant scavengers!
Ecological Pyramid
Remember
scavengers and
decomposers can
enter at any level!

Tertiary Consumers= CARNIVORE

EATING OTHER CARNIVORES

Secondary Consumers= CARNIVORES

EATING HERBIVORES

Primary Consumers= HERBIVORES

PRODUCERS = Autotrophic Plants

 Ecological Pyramids
Relative amounts of energy are represented in an
ecological pyramid: a diagram that shows the
relative amounts of energy in different trophic
levels in an ecosystem. An ecological pyramid can
show energy, biomass, or the number of organisms in a
food web.
 Food Chains
A Food CHAIN is a
series of organisms
that transfer food
between the trophic
levels of an ecosystem
using only one species
at each level…a
simple chain.
• The arrows represent
the flow of energy
from one organism to
the next.
• The arrow points
toward the organism
doing the ‘eating’.
 Food Webs
Ecosystems are not as simple
as shown and not often
explained by a single food
chain… Food WEBS more
accurately show the
network of food chains
representing the feeding
relationships among
organisms in an
ecosystem.
• Most organisms feed on
more than one type of
organism at different
trophic levels.
 Relationships in the ecosystem

Predator/Prey: One organism (predator) will

actively hunt and consume another (prey).

Competition: two or more organisms of same

or different species compete to use the same
limited resources or basic needs
 Symbiotic Relationships

Parasitism: an organism
(parasite) lives in or on another
(host) and feeds on it without
immediately killing it

Mutualism: a cooperative
partnership between two
species (both benefit)

Commensalism: a relationship
where one species benefits and
the other remains unaffected