Ecosystems

Structural & Functional aspects

Atom
C, N, P chief constituents of building blocks of life
Molecule
A molecule of DNA
Organelle
Mitochondria
Cell
Nerve cell
Levels of organization
Tissue
Nervous tissue
Organ System
Nervous system
Organism
Fish
Population
Group of same type of Fish say Salmon Fish
Community
Complete under water sea life
Ecosystem
Complete ocean including living and non-living
matter

Basics

Ecosystem
A community of organisms and its corresponding abiotic
environment through which matter cycles and energy flows

Types
Natural / wild
Managed / artificial

Common features
Energy flow
Nutrient cycling

Biosphere
The sum total of all the
ecosystems on the planet

Biome
Areas of predominant flaura & fauna

Ecotone
Areas of transition

Basics

Food chain
Path of energy exchange
through..

Food webs
Interconnected feeding
relationships in an
ecosystem

Trophic level
Feeding relationships
Individuals position

Ecological pyramid
Recyclers of biosphere

Energy flow in an
ecosystem
Primary Productivity
Secondary productivity

GPP (Gross Primary

Productivity)
NPP (Net Primary
Productivity)
Rs (Respiration)
NPP = GPP Rs
Biomass: Reflection of
Secondary productivity

What is A Niche?

Setofconditions
withinwhichanorganism
canmaintainaviable
population

Multidimensional
withasmany

dimensionsasthere
arelimitingconditions

lightintensity

ecological
niche

okay
salinity

temperature

The Niche

Ecological niche:
The sum total of an
organisms use of biotic
& abiotic resources in
its environment with
unique ecological role

Fundamental Niche
Realized Niche
Co-existance vs
Identical niches

Nutrientswhat are they?

The basic chemical building blocks of all life

Recycled in a living system.
Key nutrients - 95% of all living matter.

Factors effecting Nutrient cycling

&/or availability

Transformation / cycling oxidation or

reduction reactions
Metabolism related
Mineralization
Immobilization
Rates of decomposition
Presence of nitrogen fixers
Microbial activity
Fire
Precipitation patterns
Soil drainage
Soil temperature, moisture

Residence Time
Length of time taken for a nutrient to be completely decomposed
or recycled from the forest floor

Nutrient Use Efficiency (NUE)

Selective advantages in low nutrient conditions

NUE = A / L
A the nutrient productivity (dry matter production per unit
nutrient in the plant)
L nutrient requirements per unit of plant biomass

Types of relationships
based on Nutrient
limitations

A - Production independent of
resource availability

B - Production - a
linear function of
resource availability

C - At some point,
another resource

Nutrient Pools and Nutrient Flux

Nutrient pool a specific

component or compartment where
a nutrient resides
Can be a single organism, a population,
a community, a trophic level, and an
abiotic feature (e.g., lake, soil,
atmosphere, etc.)

Nutrient flux the rate of exchange

(e.g., unit of material per unit time)
of nutrients between pools

Biogeochemical Cycling

Vernadsky 1934

The cycling of nutrients through ecosystems via

food chains and food webs, including the
exchange of nutrients between the biosphere
and the hydrosphere, atmosphere and
geosphere (e.g., soils and sediments)

Biotic / Organic phase

Abiotic phase
Reservoir
Major categories

slowest-changing pool(=reservoir):

Sedimentary phase
Atmospheric phase

Features

Biological & Chemical processes

Nutrient transformation by Oxidation, Reduction
reactions
Linked
Metabolism related transformations
Global impact

Hydrologic cycle
Medium for introducing
nutrients
Means of thermal regulation
Means of removal/transportlocal ecosystems

Route of water escape

Evapotranspiration

Average rainfall-81.1cm
Land precipitation>evaporation
(84% vs.77%)
Rapid cycling

Surface runoff

Erosion, weathering

Ground water

Catchment area, Springs, Aquifer

Water cycle

Relative percentage in
atmosphere 0.03
Route of escape into
atmosphere
Photosynthesis /
respiration
Fermentation
Methane
Aquatic form
Carbonic acid,
Bicarbonate,
Carbonate

Carbon cycle

P: photosynthesis, PR: plant respiration, SR: soil respiration, SF:

Soil formation, FFF: fossil fuel formation, FFB: fossil fuel
burning, DEF: deforestation, W:weathering, V: Volcanic
eruption, E: evaporation, D: dissolution

Carbon cycle

Key steps
Nitrogen fixation
Nitrification
Denitrification
Mineralization

Nitrogen cycle

Nitrogen Fixation
Biological or chemical process where gaseous nitrogen
is converted into solid forms of nitrogen.
Biological fixation
N 2 + 8e - + 8H + + ATP -----> 2NH 3 + H 2 + ADP + Pi

Organisms

Free living
Symbionts

Enzymes for nitrogen fixation require anoxic conditions

Chemical fixation
N 2 + H 2 2 NH

Physical process in Nature

NITRIFICATION

The biochemical oxidation of ammonium to nitrite and

nitrite to nitrate.
Microbes
Chemoautotrophs
Aerobes
Nitrifiers: Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter

Reactions

Nitrification I:
NH4 + 1 O2 NO2- + H2O + Energy
Nitrification II:
NO 2 - + O

Requirements

Oxic
N abundancy

NO3- + Energy

DENITRIFICATION

Denitrification
Reduction of nitrate (NO3-) to nitrogen
gas or to organic nitrogen compounds.

Two types
Dissimilative

Returns nitrogen atoms to the atmosphere

by reducing nitrate to nitrogen gas.

NO3- NO2- NO N2O N

Facultative anaerobes: Pseudomonas,

Bacillus, and Micrococcus spp.
Oxygen for respiration
Assimilative.

Conversion of nitrate to ammonium ion

MINERALIZATION / AMMONIFICATION

Organic nitrogen from decaying plant and animal

residues (proteins, nucleic acids, amino sugars,
urea) is converted to ammonia (NH3) and
ammonium (NH4+)

In Dry soils
Proteins Amino acids NH3 NH3
Moist soils
Proteins Amino acids NH3 NH3+H2O
NH4+OH- NH4+ + OH-

Microbes: Bacillus, Clostridium, Streptomyces

Nitrogen fixing bacteria &

enzymes they produce
Nitrogenase
(Fe, Mo or V)

Nitrite reductase
(Fe)

N2

Nitrogen
NO2-

Denitrifying
bacteria

NH4+

Nitrifying
bacteria

NO3Nitrate reductase
(Fe, Mo)

All the major N assimilation enzymes require Fe.

Nitrogen fixation

Ammonium oxidation

NH4+

Nitrite Ammonification

Denitrification

NO

NO2-

Ammonium
assimilation

N2O
Ammonification

Amino groups
in cell protein

R-NH2
Assimilatory
NO3- reduction

NO3-

NO2ANAEROBIC
PROCESSES

AEROBIC
PROCESSES

Nitrite oxidation

N2

Dissimilatory NO3- reduction

Sulfur in soil
90% - Organic

50% as C-O-S linkages (sulfate esters)

20% as S-amino acids
20% other compounds

Sulfur cycle

In living tissue
S-containing amino acids and sulfate esters

Phosphorous
cycle

Changes in the
amounts of tracer
phosphorous being
exchanged within an
aquatic food web

Component

Input to soil

Loss from soil

The Potassium Cycle

Crop
harvest

Plant
residues

Animal
manures
and biosolids

Mineral
fertilizers

Runoff and
erosion
Plant
uptake

Exchangeable
potassium

Soil solution
potassium (K+)
Leaching

Mineral
potassium

Fixed
potassium

Bioaccumulation & Biomagnification

Bioaccumulation:
Increase in concentration
of a pollutant from the
environment to the first
organism in a food chain
Biomagnification:
Increase in concentration
of a pollutant from one
link in a food chain to
another
DDT has a half-life of 15 years
This means, if you use 100 kg
of DDT today (consider this
the zero time), it will break
down in such a manner that
after 100 years from now,
there will still be over a pound
of DDT in the environment. If
it does bioaccumulate and
biomagnify, much of the DDT
will be in the bodies of
organisms
DDT has brought in the "age
of resistance" - a high price to
pay to have no mosquitoes.

Year

Amount
Remainin
g

100kg

15

50kg

30

25kg

45

12.5kg

60

6.25kg

75

3.13kg

90

1.56kg

105

0.78kg

120

0.39kg

Gaia Hypothesis

James Lovelock, Lynn Margulis - 1970

Our planet functions as a single organism that
maintains conditions necessary for its survival.
A complex entity involving the Earth's biosphere,
atmosphere, oceans, and soil; the totality constituting
a feedback or cybernetic system which seeks an
optimal physical and chemical environment for life on
this planet.
Life, regulates or maintains the climate and the
atmospheric composition at an optimum for itself.
Gaia, therefore, can be viewed as a study of the
physiology of the Earth, where the oceans and rivers
are the Earth's blood, the atmosphere is the Earth's
lungs, the land is the Earth's bones, and the living
organisms are the Earth's senses.

Ecosystem services - UNEP

The UNEP programme focuses on
ecosystem services comprising:
Regulating services: climate,
water, natural hazard and disease
regulation, water purification and
waste treatment, which are often
strongly affected by the overuse
of provisioning services;
Provisioning services:
freshwater, energy (especially the
emerging issues around biofuel
production) and capture fisheries;
Cultural services: Recreation
and ecotourism service;
Supporting services: nutrient
cycling and primary production
which underlie the delivery of all
the other services but are not
directly accessible to people.

Ecosystem services

For detailed information on biogechemical cycles

and information related to the slides in this lecture,
refer to:

Chapter 4 Ecology from the text book

Environmental Studies by Benny Joseph
Unit 3 Ecosystems from the text book
Environmental Studies by Erach Bharucha