Ecosystems

• Ecosystems are composed of all the

communities and their associated
physical environments, including the
physical, chemical, and biological
processes.
– Ecosystems may sustain themselves
entirely through photosynthetic activity,
energy flow through food chains, and
nutrient recycling.
 Ecosystems
• Abiotic components: non-living
chemical and physical factors
– Temperature, light, nutrients, water

• Biotic components: all living

organisms
– Interactions among organisms
 Biotic Components of Ecosystems
Trophic relationships
among organisms
determine energy flow
and chemical cycling in an
ecosystem
• Interlocking food webs determine the flow
of energy through the different ecosystem
levels.
– Food web made up of interlinking food chains.
 Ecosystem
structure vs. processes
• The structure is the food chain or
web (trophic system)
• Processes = energy production and
energy consumption
• Production is the rate of
incorporation of energy and
materials into the body of organisms
• Consumption (Assimilation) is the
metabolic use of organic materials
for growth and reproduction
The Food Web
 Primary Producers
• Plants, algae, and many species of
bacteria
• Photoautotrophs, chemoautotrophs
• Limnetic zone of lakes: algae &
bacteria
• Littoral zone of fresh and marine
ecosystems: multicellular algae &
aquatic plants
• Terrestrial ecosystems: plants
 Primary and Higher-
Order Consumers
• Are opportunistic feeders
• They consume autotrophs, but also
heterotrophs
• Primary consumers feed on
producers.
– Secondary consumers feed on primary
consumers, and / or producers.
– Detritivores are consumers that
break down organisms into smaller
pieces which are then available to
decomposers
 Decomposers
• Living organisms eventually die
• Recycled, decomposed and returned to
the abiotic environment
• Decomposers break down organic
material to forms that are released back
into the ecosystem for reassimilation by
other organisms.
• Decomposers: bacteria and fungi
• Decomposition interconnects all trophic
levels
• Detritivores
consume
dead organic
matter
• Decomposers
also consume
dead organic
matter, but
decompose it
into plant
nutrients

9
 Trophic levels
• Producers • Autotrophs
• 1° Consumers • Heterotrophs
• Detritivores – Herbivores
•Detritivores
• 2° Consumers
– Omnivores
• 3° Consumers
– Carnivores
• Decomposers – Decomposers
11
The Food Web
The trophic relationships among
organisms is often complex.
 Energy Flow in
Ecosystems

• Primary Productivity
• Secondary Productivity
• The flow of energy through the food
webs
 Energy Flow in Food Webs
• First law of thermodynamics –
energy cannot be created or
destroyed, only transformed
– Can thus construct energy budgets
for food webs that trace energy
flow from green plants to tertiary
consumers (and if needed beyond)
• Second law of thermodynamics –
energy conversions are not 100%
efficient and that, in any transfer
process, some energy is lost
 Energy Flow in Food Webs
• Can compare the efficiency of energy
transfer through trophic levels in
different types of food webs
• Two measures of the efficiency of
consumers as energy transformers

– Production efficiency
– Trophic-level transfer efficiency
 Primary Productivity
• Defined as the amount of light
energy that is converted to chemical
energy (organic compounds) by the
autotrophs
• Global energy budget: only 1-2% of
solar radiation is used by
photosynthetic organisms
• Yet they produce 170 million tons of
organic material (biomass) per year
 51% of solar energy is
absorbed at the Earth’s
surface.

nly 1-2% of solar radiation is used by photosynthetic organism

 Primary Productivity
• Influences on
primary
production
– Water
• In terrestrial
systems, linear
relationship with
annual
precipitation
– Temperatures
• transpiration rate
can predict
aboveground
primary
 Primary Productivity
• Influences on
primary
production
– Nutrients
(nitrogen and
phosphorus)
• Can be limiting
factor
• Liebig’s law of
the minimum –
species biomass
or abundance is
limited by the
 Primary productivity varies
• Highest in tropical rainforests
• Decreases progressively toward the
poles
• May cause the polar-equatorial
gradient of species richness
• Greatest marine production occurs
on coral reefs where temperature is
high and light is not limiting
Net Primary Production in
Ecosystems
 Energy production in
ecosystems
• Gross primary productivity (GPP) = plant
production or carbon fixed during
photosynthesis
• R = energy lost in plant cellular respiration
• Net primary productivity = GPP- R
– Amount of energy available to primary
consumers
– Measured in calories
– Use dry weight (mainly carbon compounds)
 Productivity and Efficiency
• Assimilation:
– the total energy consumed as biomass
that has accumulated over a given time
span. The amount an organism
consumes.
• Net productivity:
– the amount of chemical energy of the
food they eat converted into their own
new biomass
• Production Efficiency: The percentage
of energy assimilated by an organism
that becomes incorporated into new
 Energy flow through a food
web
(a)Energy lost as heat in a single trophic level
(b)Energy lost in the conversion between one
trophic level and the next
 Production efficiency = net productivity/
assimilation x 100
• Production efficiency
– Percentage of energy assimilated by an
organism that becomes incorporated into
new biomass
– Invertebrates average 10-40%
– Example: A caterpillar consumes 1000 J of
energy
• 320 J lost to cellular respiration
Production
• 500 J lost as feces
efficiency
• =growth and development
180 J used for
[180 J/ 1000 J] x 100
=
18%
• Production
efficiency
– Vertebrates have
lower production
efficiencies
• Fish (ectotherms)
around 10%
• Birds and mammals
(endotherms) 1-2%
Production efficiency =

[16J/ 1000J] x 100=

1.6%
 Trophic level transfer
efficiency
– Amount of energy at one trophic level
that is acquired by the trophic level
above and incorporated into biomass
– Examines energy flow between trophic
levels, not just individual species
– Averages around 10% with much
variation
• Some marine food chains exceed 30%
– Low for 2 reasons
• Many organisms cannot digest all of
their prey
• Much assimilated energy lost as heat
– Limits number of trophic levels in a food
 Energy flow through a food
web
(a)Energy lost as heat in a single trophic level
(b)Energy lost in the conversion between one
trophic level and the next
 Example in a freshwater lake:
100 g/m2 phytoplankton, trophic
level n-1
14 g/m2 of zooplankton trophic
level n
Trophic level transfer efficiency
=
[14 g/m2 of zooplankton /
100 g/m2 phytoplankton] x
100 = 14%
 Pyramid of Numbers
• Number of individuals decreases at each
trophic level
• Trophic-level transfer efficiencies
expressed as an Eltonian pyramid
• Elton’s analysis of trophic levels in a pond

• Holds up for many ecosystems

• Grasslands and marshes
• What about forests?
 Inverted Pyramids
• Inverted pyramids – single producer
supports hundreds of herbivores and
thousands of predators
– Oak tree supports beetles, caterpillars,
and their predators
• Still makes sense when using a
pyramid of biomass

• In forests, insects out number plants

• But the biomass of the plant community is
still greater than the total biomass of
insects and vertebrates
 Inverted Pyramids
• Can still occur even in pyramid of
biomass
– Small phytoplankton standing crop
supports higher biomass of
zooplankton by processing large
amounts of energy
– Use pyramid of energy

• The amount of free energy produced by

the phytoplankton is greater than the
zooplankton
• More “bang for your buck”
• The production efficiency of zooplankton is
• The laws of thermodynamics ensure
that the highest amounts of free
energy are found at the lowest
trophic levels
 Biomagnification
• The tendency for
certain chemical
elements to
accumulate or
build up in food
chains.
• Biomagnification in
a Michigan Lake
food chain
 Biomagnification
• Tendency of
certain chemicals
to accumulate or
build up within
food chains
• Dichlorodiphenyltri
chloroethane (DDT)
• Interferes with
eggshell formation
resulting in thin
shelled eggs that
break
• US banned DDT in
early 1970s
• Still used in other
countries
Energy flow in Ecosystems:
Water Cycle
• The water cycle is largely a process of
evaporation and precipitation
– Amount remains relatively stable.
• Some percentage of rainfall percolates down through
the soil to the water table, while other water is taken
up by plants, or evaporated back into the atmosphere.
• Water also evaporates from the soil surface, plants,
animals, and the lower atmosphere.
• More than 90% of the water entering a
plant passes into leaf air spaces and then
evaporates through the stomata into the
atmosphere
– Usually less than 5% of water escapes through
The Water Cycle

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 Energy flow in Ecosystems
The Carbon Cycle
• Carbon dioxide is the most important gas
• Carbon enters plants, etc., as CO2
– Bacteria process carbon in a fashion that
allows it to be recycled.
– Obtain energy from the molecules, and convert
carbohydrates to carbon dioxide as a result of
respiration.
• Cellular respiration, combustion, and
erosion of limestone return CO2 to the
environment
– Burning of fossil fuels has significantly
increased the amount of carbon dioxide
released into the atmosphere.
Carbon cycle
 Carbon Sources
(availability)
• Atmosphere (0.3%)
• Biomass of organisms, living
or dead
• Carbon moves through the
food chain through the
consumption of organisms
The Carbon Cycle
 Carbon Sinks
(where carbon is stored)
• Wood, other durable
organic material
• Coal
• Oil
• Peat
• Marine biomes CaCo3
• Calcium carbonate
forms limestone
sediments
• Geologic uplift
exposes the carbon to
erosion which returns
it to the biotic
 Carbon Cycle Summary
1. Photosynthesis removes carbon from the
abiotic envirnoment (fixes carbon into
organic molecules)
2. Carbon moves through food chain
through consumption of one organisms
by another
3. Cellular respiration, combustion, and
erosion of limestone return carbon to the
atmosphere, water and abiotic
environment
 Seasonal Fluctuations of CO2
• Northern
hemisphere
– Lowest in the
summer
– Higher in the winter
– More land, more
plants, in the north
– More photosynthesis
taking Carbon out of
the atmosphere
– The burning of fossil
fuels has greatly
 Global Warming
• The Greenhouse Effect occurs
because certain gases, greenhouse
gases, allow sunlight to pass through
the atmosphere, but trap the heat
radiation given off after the ground
absorbs the solar energy.
– Carbon Dioxide, Methane, Nitrous oxide,
Ozone, CFCs
• Act similar to the glass panels on a
greenhouse.
• Burning of fossil
fuels has significant
effects on the
content of carbon
dioxide in the
atmosphere.
– Releases carbon
stored in the fossil
fuels.
• Deforestation
eliminates
photosynthesizing
organisms that
remove carbon
dioxide from the
 Probable Effects of Global Warming

1. Sea level rise

2. Precipitation
patterns will change
– Droughts
– Flooding
– Changing biomes
3. Range of organisms
will change
4. Affect on
Agriculture
 The Nitrogen Cycle
• Nitrogen is crucial
for all organisms
– Nucleic acids
– Proteins
– Chlorophyll
• Atmosphere is 78%
nitrogen
• N2 is very stable and
must be broken
apart by organisms,
combined with other
atoms into a usable
form
The Nitrogen Cycle
1. Nitrogen
fixation
2. Nitrification
3. Assimilation
4. Ammonificatio
n
5. Denitrification
The nitrogen cycle
 1. Nitrogen Fixation
• Conversion of N2 → NH3
– Combustion
– volcanic action
– Lightning
– Industrial processes (making fertilizer)
• Bacteria
– Nitrogenase enzyme
– Leghemaglobin binds oxygen
– Need an anaerobic environment
• Nodules
• heterocysts
 Anabaena, living. LM.

Anabaena, a gram-negative,
oxygenic, photosynthetic,
filamentous Cyanobacterium
(prokaryote). The larger cells in
the filament called heterocysts
are involved in nitrogen fixing.
SEM X660.
Nitrogen-fixing nodules on Soybean roots (Glycine max), 3-6 mm.
• Nitrification: NH3 → NO3
• Soil bacteria convert in a two step
process
• Assimilation: Roots absorb NH3, NH4,
or NO3 and incorporate them into
nucleic acids and protein
• Ammonification: Amino acids and
nucleotides are broken down into
waste products NH3 or NH4
• Denitrification: the reduction of NO3
to N2
• Denitrifying bacteria return some of the
Human activities have changes
the global nitrogen budget
1. Nitrogen fertilizers used in
agriculture cause excess nitrogen to
enter aquatic biomes
• Decline of coastal fisheries
• Algal blooms
• Oxygen depletion of marine and
aquatic environments
Human activities have changes
the global nitrogen budget
• Combustion of gases
converts N2 →N2O
• Photochemical
smog
• Acid rain (nitric
acid)
• Global warming
and ozone
depletion
 The Phosphorus Cycle

• The only cycle that

does not have a
gaseous state
• Inorganic
phosphate PO43- is
released from
rocks and
sediments through
the action of
erosion.
 Phosphate Cycle
• Soil PO43- is absorbed
by plants and
incorporated into
nucleic acids,
phospholipids and ATP
• Animals obtain most
of their PO43- by
consumption of other
animals and from
water
• PO43- is released to the
soil again by
decomposers
• Dissolved PO43- gets
absorbed by algae and Phosphorous Cycle
aquatic plants in Aquatic
• Cycling by Ecosystems
consumption
• Decomposers break
down waste and
returns PO43- to
sediments on the
seabed
• Some returns to
terrestrial
environment through
geologic processes
• Some returns to the
 Human effects on the natural
cycling of phosphorous
• Cycling of PO43- from aquatic to
terrestrial environments is very slow
• Human activities accelerate the long-
term loss of PO43- from the terrestrial
environment
– Mining
– Fertilizers and agricultural run-off
– Sewage
Abiotic Factors in the
Biosphere
• Sunlight
• Temperature
• Water
• Wind
• Rocks and soil
• Periodic
disturbance
 Abiotic Factors in the
Biosphere
• Sunlight
• Provides energy that drives all
ecosystems
• Intensity and quality of light
determines distribution of
organisms
• Photoperiod affects development
and behavior
– Migration, flowering, mating, mood
Solar
radiation
and latitude
• Input of
Solar
Energy
• Earth’s
movement
in space
 Abiotic Factors in the
Biosphere
• Temperature
• Inability of most organisms to
regulate internal temperature
• Cells rupture and freeze below O C
• Proteins denature above 45 C
• Extraordinary adaptations enable
some organisms to survive outside
of this range.
 Abiotic Factors in the
Biosphere
• Water
• Availability
varies
dramatically
among
habitats
• Adaptations
to life on land
Major surface ocean currents determine
climate
Ocean Currents
 Abiotic Factors in the
Biosphere
• Wind
• Amplifies the
effects of
temperature
• Heat and water
loss due to
evaporation &
transpiration
• Can affect the
growth form of
plants
Wind Effects: Flagging
 Abiotic Factors in the
Biosphere
• Rocks and Soil
Physical structure,
pH, mineral
composition

• Periodic
Disturbances
– Fires, hurricanes,
volcanic
eruptions,
tornadoes
– Recolonization of
disturbed area
and succession
• Effect of fire on
certain
ecosystems
– Fire frees the
nutrient minerals
locked in organic
matter, removes
plant cover, and
increases erosion
– Many ecosystems,
such as savanna,
chaparral,
grasslands, and
certain forests,
contain fire-
adapted organisms
 Climate has a direct
effect on the biology of
organisms
omponents of Climate
• Temperatur
e*
• Water*
• Light
• Wind
 Climate is
determined by:
• Input of Solar Energy
• Earth’s movement in
space
• Temperature
• Water
• Light
• Wind