Ecology

Other things you need to

know

What is Ecology?
Ecology is the study of interactions

among organisms and between

organisms and their environment.
Biosphere contains the combined
portions of the planet in which life
exists, including land, water, and air
or atmosphere.

Introduction to Ecology
Tertiary
consumers
Microorganisms
and other
detritivores

Detritus

Secondary
consumers

Primary consumers

Primary producers

Heat

Key
Chemical cycling
Energy flow

Figure 54.2

Sun

Levels of Organization
Species is a group of organisms so similar to one

another that they can breed.

Population are groups of individuals that belong
to the same species and live in the same area.
Communities are assemblages of the different
populations that live together in a defined area.
Ecosystem is a collection of all the organisms that
live together in a particular place as well as their
nonliving or physical environment.
Biome is a group of ecosystems that have the
same climate and similar dominant communities.

Energy Flow
Sunlight is the main source of energy for
life on Earth.
Some types of organisms rely on the
energy stored in inorganic chemical
compounds.
Autotrophs (producers) use energy from
the environment to fuel assembly of
simple compounds into complex organic
molecules.

Energy Flow
Autotrophs
The best know autotrophs are those that

harness the power of the sun through

photosynthesis. They use this energy to
convert carbon dioxide and water into
oxygen and glucose.
The second type of autotrophs use
chemical energy to make carbohydrates.
This is performed by several types of
bacteria.

Energy Flow
Consumers
Heterotrophs (consumers) rely on other

organisms for their energy and food.

Herbivores obtain energy by eating plants.
Carnivores eat animals.
Omnivores eat both plants and animals.
Detrivores feed on the remains of plants,
animals and other dead matter.
Decomposers breaks down organic matter.

Feeding Relationships

Feeding Relationships
Energy flow through an ecosystem in one direction,

from the sun or inorganic compounds to autotrophs

(producers) and then to various heterotrophs
(consumers).
Food Chains are a series of linear steps in which
organisms transfer energy by eating or being eaten.
Food webs show the complex interactions within an
ecosystem.
Each step in a food chain or web is called a trophic
level. Producers make up the first step, consumers
make up the higher levels.

Feeding Relationships
Each stage in a food chain is called atrophic

level, and the arrows represent the flow of energy

and matter through the food chain.
Food chains always start with photosynthetic
producers(plants, algae, plankton and
photosynthetic bacteria) because, uniquely,
producers are able to extract both energy and
matter from the abiotic environment.

Feeding Relationships
Energycomes in many different forms (such as

heat, light, chemical, potential, kinetic, etc.)

which can be inter-converted, but energy can
never be created, destroyed or used up.
Mattercomes in three states (solid, liquid and
gas) and again, cannot be created or destroyed.

Feeding Relationships

Ecological Pyramids
An ecological pyramid is a diagram

that shows the relationship amounts

of energy or matter contained within
each trophic level in a food web or
food chain.
There are 3 types

Pyramids Continued
Numbers pyramid shows the number of

species at each trophic level.

Because each trophic level harvests only
about one tenth of the energy from the
level below, it can support only about one
10th the amount of living tissue.

Pyramids Continued
Biomass pyramids show the total amount

of living tissue available at each trophic

level.
The total mass of living organisms (i.e. the
biomass) at each trophic level. The
biomass should be dry mass (since water
stores no energy) and is measured in kg
m-2.

Ecological Pyramids
Pyramids of energy show how much

energy flows into each trophic level in

a given time, so the units are usually
something like kJ m-2 y-1.
Energy Pyramid only 10% of the
energy available within one trophic
level is transferred to organisms at
the next trophic level.

Other things you need to

know

Cycles of Matter
Unlike the one-way flow of energy,

matter is recycled within and

between ecosystems.
These cycles are the water cycle,
Nutrient Cycle, Carbon Cycle,
nitrogen cycle and phosphorus cycle.

 A general model of nutrient cycling

Includes the main reservoirs of elements and
the processes that transfer elements between
reservoirs
Reservoir a
Organic
materials
available
as nutrients
Living
organisms,
detritus

Assimilation,
photosynthesis

Figure 54.16

Reservoir b
Organic
materials
unavailable
as nutrients

Fossilization

Coal, oil,
peat

Respiration,
decomposition,
excretion

Burning
of fossil fuels

Reservoir c

Reservoir d

Inorganic
materials
available
as nutrients

Inorganic
materials
unavailable
as nutrients

Atmosphere,
soil, water

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Weathering,
erosion
Formation of
sedimentary rock

Minerals
in rocks

Carbon Cycle

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THE PHOSPHORUS CYCLE

THE NITROGEN CYCLE

N2 in atmosphere
Rain

Geologic
uplift

Runoff

Assimilation
NO3

Nitrogen-fixing
bacteria in root
nodules of legumes

Decomposers

Ammonification
NH3
Nitrogen-fixing
soil bacteria

Denitrifying
bacteria

Nitrifying
bacteria

Nitrification

Plants

Weathering
of rocks

Consumption
Sedimentation
Soil

Plant uptake
of PO43

Leaching

NO2

NH4+
Nitrifying
bacteria

Figure 54.17
Copyright 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

Decomposition

 Most of the nitrogen cycling in natural

ecosystems
Involves local cycles between organisms and
soil or water

Copyright 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

Nitrogen Cycle

Copyright 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

Nitrogen Cycle
Nitrogen Fixation. 78% of the atmosphere is
nitrogen gas (N2), but this is inert and cant be
used by plants or animals.
Nitrogen fixing bacteria reduce nitrogen gas
to ammonia (N2 + 6H g 2NH3), which dissolves
to form ammonium ions (NH4+ ).
Nitrogen gas can also be fixed to ammonia by
humans using the Haber process,
A small amount of nitrogen is fixed to nitrate by
lightning.
Copyright 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

Nitrogen Cycle
This process uses the enzyme nitrogenase and
ATP as a source of energy.
The nitrogen-fixing bacteria may be free-living
in soil or water, or they may live in colonies
inside the cells of root nodules of leguminous
plants such as clover or peas.
This is an example of mutualism as the plants
gain a source of useful nitrogen from the
bacteria, while the bacteria gain carbohydrates
and protection from the plants.
Copyright 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

Nitrogen Cycle
Nitrification.
Nitrifying bacteria can oxidise ammonia to
nitrate in two stages:
first forming nitrite ions NH4+gNO-2
then forming nitrate ions NO-2gNO-3.

These are chemosynthetic bacteria, which

means they use the energy released by
nitrification to live, instead of using respiration.
Plants can only take up nitrogen in the form of
nitrate.

Copyright 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

Nitrogen Cycle
Denitrification.
The anaerobic denitrifying bacteria convert
nitrate to N2 and NOx, which is then lost to the
air.
This represents a constant loss of useful
nitrogen from soil, and explains why nitrogen
fixation by the nitrifying bacteria and fertilisers
are so important.

Copyright 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

Nitrogen Cycle
Ammonification.
Microbial saprophytes break down proteins in
detritus to form ammonia in two stages:
first they digest proteins to amino acids using
extracellular protease enzymes,
then they remove the amino groups from amino
acids using deaminase enzymes.

Copyright 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

Decomposition and Nutrient Cycling Rates

Decomposers (detritivores) play a key role
In the general pattern of chemical cycling
Consumers

Producers
Decomposers
Nutrients
available
to producers

Abiotic
reservoir

Figure 54.18
Copyright 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Benjamin Cummings

Geologic
processes