2.1.1-2.1.

5 Ecosystems

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ECOLOGY
The study of the interactions between organisms and their environment.

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ENVIRONMENT = all the factors that affect an organism.

ABIOTIC FACTOR =

non-living factors in an environment.

BIOTIC FACTORS = living factors in an environment.

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Buckminster Fuller on the Environment

Environment to each must be All there is, that isn't me. Universe in turn must be All that isn't me AND ME.

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NICHE = all of the

ways that the organism interacts with everything else in the ecosystem-the role or job of a species in an ecosystem.

HABITAT = place where an organism or population of organisms live.

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Biosphere

Ecosystems

Communities

Populations

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ECOSYSTEM includes all the biotic & abiotic factors in an environment.

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FOOD CHAIN = used to show how matter & energy move through an ecosystem.

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FOOD WEB = shows all the possible food chains in an ecosystem

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Each organism in food chain represents a feeding or TROPHIC LEVEL

3rd Trophic Level 2nd Trophic Level
1st Trophic Level 2o or 3o consumer 1o or 2o consumer

producers

decomposers
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ECOLOGICAL PYRAMIDS
Are graphical models of the quantitative differences that exist between the trophic levels of a single ecosystem. In accordance to the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, there is a tendency for numbers and quantities to biomass and energy to decrease along food chains, therefore the pyramids become narrower toward the top.
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PYRAMID OF NUMBERS represents storages found at each trophic level.

Units vary

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Grassland (summer) Tertiary consumers Secondary consumers Primary consumers Producers

Temperate Forest (summer)

A few large producers (the trees) support a much larger number of Small primary consumers (insects) that feed on the trees.

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PYRAMID OF BIOMASS represent the standing stock at each trophic level.

Units:
J m-2

or
g m-2
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Abandoned Field Tertiary consumers

Ocean

Secondary consumers

Primary consumers

Producers

In open waters of aquatic ecosystems, the biomass primary consumers (zooplankton) can exceed that of producers. The zooplankton eat the Producers (phytoplankton) as fast as they reproduce, so their population is never very large. 5/11/2013 Author-Guru 17
IB/ESS

PYRAMID OF PRODUCTIVITY represents the flow of energy through each trophic level.

Units:

J m-2 yr-1
or

g m-2 yr-1

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 As you move up each trophic level, only 10% of the energy is transferred. The other 90% is used for everyday life functions, metabolism.

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10 J m-2 yr-1

100 J m-2 yr-1

1,000 J m-2 yr-1 producers 10,000 J m-2 yr-1

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Pyramid structure affects the functioning of an ecosystem.

Bioaccumulation

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