Nama : Rika Rahma Putri

NIM : 16116062
Assignment 2

Here are illustration of a tropical forest and the Bandung urban environment.
1. Explain why they are called systems.
2. Compare and contrast the two systems in terms of elements, function, and interconnection
3. What will happen if there are no decomposer in these systems?
4. What will happen if most of the trees in the systems are cut down?

Answer :

1. Tropical forest and the Bandung urban environment are called system because they have
elements in following key components: inputs from the environment, flows or throughputs
of matter and energy within the system, and outputs to the environment with different
function which is an embedded property of a system. They become a set of components with
interconnection each other.

2. a. Tropical forest
Basic Elements of System
1) Input
Input of things as matter, energy, of information into the system. Sunlight is the
ultimate energy input.
2) Flow
Throughputs of matter, energy, or information within the system at certain rates.
Flows in tropical forest can be found in many kind of cycles, as example hydrological
cycle. Forests have a role as preventing erosion and flooding and water management
regulator. In carrying out these functions, the forest and environment interaction is
strongly associated with the hydrological cycle that occurs. In the hydrological cycle,
evaporation of water from plants, soil, and water (sea, lakes, rivers, and open water
etc.), which is also called evapotranspiration, then the water evaporates into the
atmosphere in the form of water vapor and condensed in the air to form clouds and
then it rains or can also be called precipitation. Rainwater can be instantly fell to the

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 ground, causing runoff and can also fall through the tree canopy (throughfall) then
flows through the stem (stemflow) and absorbed into the ground (infiltration) into
subsurface flow (sub-surface runoff) and stored in the soil into ground water (ground
water storage). Complete hydrological cycle can be seen in Figure 1.

Figure 1
Hydrological cycle in Tropical Forest

3) Stock
Storage areas, within a system where energy, matter, of information can accumulate
for various lengths of time before being released. Tree has rooting media that can
store energy temporarily. Energy is stored in the bonds of sugar molecules and
minerals.
4) Output
Output of certain forms of matter, energy, or information that flow out the system into
sink in the environment. In Hydrological cycle, outputs are ways in which water can
leave a system.

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 Element component
Abiotic Component Biotic Component

a. Sunlight (the ultimate energy input ) a. Plants (large canopy trees)

b. Precipitation b. Animals
c. Temperature c. Bacteria
d. Nutrients d. Fungi, etc
e. Water, etc

Interconnection
1) Symbiotic organisms
ex: Mutualism
Birds, bats & insects who visited plants for a number of reasons and in the process
picked up pollen, allowed those plants a greater opportunity for genetic diversity. If
enhanced out-crossing lead to higher reproductive success, those plants who
encouraged visitors with enticements of nectar, pollen or pseudo-mating opportunities
naturally increased in frequency over time.
2) Predator-prey relationship
Ex: The Eastern Chipmunk is prey to the predator The Bald Eagle.

Function
1) Biodiversity
Tropical forests cover only twelve percent of the land-area of the Earth, yet they are
home to between 50 and 90 percent of the world's species. Because of tropical
deforestation, at least one species is disappearing every day. This rate of extinction is
now 400 times faster than at any other period in the history of the planet.
2) Medicines
Tropical forests are a vital source of medicines. Today, less than 1 percent of the
worlds tropical forest plants have been tested for pharmaceutical properties, yet a
quarter of all modern medicines came originally from tropical forest. Most were first
discovered and used by indigenous people.

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 3) Food Diversity
Tropical forests also offer a bounty of foods. Foods that we use today which originated
in tropical forest include coffee, cocoa, many fruits and nuts, spices, rice, and other
products such as rubber, gums, resins, dyes, tannins and cane.
4) Climate
Tropical forests regulate global and regional climate-systems by acting as heat and
water pumps. They release moisture into the atmosphere which returns to the ground
as rain.

b. Bandung Urban Environment

Basic Elements of System
1) Input
Input of things as matter, energy, of information into the system. Sunlight is the
ultimate energy input.
2) Flow
Flows in Bandung urban environment also can be found in many kind of cycles, as
example carbon cycles. Various compounds of carbon circulate through the
biosphere, the atmosphere, and parts of the hydrosphere, in the carbon cycle shown in
Figure 2. This simplified model illustrates the circulation of various chemical forms of
carbon in the urban environment carbon cycle, with major harmful impacts of human
activities shown by the red arrows.

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 Figure 2
Carbon cycle in Urban Environment

3) Stock
Some carbon atoms take a long time to recycle. Decomposers release the carbon stored
in the bodies of dead organisms on land back into the air as CO2, that can be stored
as insoluble carbonates in bottom sediment.
4) Output
In this cycle, complex carbohydrates such as glucose (C6H12O6) is the output.
Because carbon is the basic building block of the carbohydrates, fats, proteins, DNA,
and other organic compounds necessary for life.

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 Element component
Abiotic Component Biotic Component

a. Sunlight (the ultimate energy input ) a. Human

b. Precipitation b. Plants (City Park)
c. Temperature c. Animals
d. Building d. Bacteria
e. Water, etc

Interconnection
Symbiotic organisms
Ex: Humans and bacteria coexist in different types of symbiotic relationships.
Not all bacteria are pathogenic and most are beneficial to humans.
Function
In urban areas this relates to the purpose of a land use for residential areas, recreation,
industry etc. The city is jointly a place of production, distribution and consumption of
material goods and will thus generate material flows.

As explanation of the above, there are similarities between Tropical Forests and Bandung
Urban Environment: such as elements are used and the flow of energy in the form of a cycle.
Differences of both are found in the the human involvement in the Bandung Urban
Environment that dominates and also the function of each systems are different.

3. Decomposers are consumers that, in the process of obtaining their own nutrients, release
nutrients from the wastes or remains of plants and animals and then return those nutrients to
the soil, water, and air for reuse by producers.
Without decomposer, organic nutrients would no longer get cycled properly. For
example, naturally healthy soil is made from the cycle of organic matter. Plants, animals,
bacteria and fungus with the help of some erosion break down rock into minerals. They also
die, and their bodily materials end up mixed in with the rock bits. This mixture is further
broken down and decomposed by bacteria, fungus, worms and other bugs that live in it. The
final product is rich in easily absorb-able nutrients, is properly aerated by micro-organisms so

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 nutrients can flow properly, and is really a living thing. It supports biodiversity of bacteria,
fungus and insects that keep it cycling organic matter functionally. Without all this, organic
matter would eventually seize to exist. In addition, an imbalance of the food chain in these
system will occur.

4. In Tropical forest, the worlds flora and fauna lives there. As trees get cut down, plant
and animal populations dwindle, which endangers the livelihood of the human population that
depends on the forests for food, medicine and other products. In certain parts of Southeast
Asia, deforestation has led to migration and social conflicts.
Cutting down trees disrupts ecosystem, the water cycle, because tree roots normally
ground the water and release it into the atmosphere. The balance of water cycle, river flow
and precipitation degrades without trees.
Trees normally mitigate the effects of air pollution caused by the emission of carbon
dioxide and other greenhouse gases. As trees get cut down, the burning of fossil fuels required
to operate wood-cutting machinery and large transportation vehicles further exacerbates the
pollution.
Soil loses its cohesiveness and becomes susceptible to drying out if there are no tree roots
to anchor it. Once that happens, the soil can no grow food. Through soil erosion, water
sources, such as lakes and rivers, get polluted by silt, which decreases the quality of water and
leads to health-related problems and a lack of drinkable water.
In Bandung urban environment, trees play an important role in ecology system of
human habitats in many ways: they filter air, water, sunlight, provide shelter to animals and
recreational area for people. Cutting down trees will disrupt local climate, as temperatures
climb, the formation of ozone increases, thus potentially increasing the number of unhealthful
ozone days that plague major cities in peak summer months.

Source:
Living in the Environment (17th Edition) by G. Tyler Miller & Scott Spoolman.