Ecological Systems

What is Ecology?
• Ecology is the study of
relationships between living
things and between living things
and their environment.
Figure 55.2
 What is an ecosystem?
• Ecosystem is a system of living things
that interact with each other and
with the physical world.
• A Biome is a collection of related
ecosystems.
 What is an Ecosystem?

• A bounded ecological system

consisting of all the
organisms in an area and the
physical environment with
which they interact (Chapin
et al. 2002)
• The sum of all of the
biological and non-biological
parts of an area that interact
to cause plants to grow and
decay, soil or sediments to
form, and the chemistry of
water to change (Aber &
Melillo 2001)
 What is an Ecosystem?
• A community and its environment
treated together as a functional
system of complementary
relationships, and transfer and
circulation of energy and matter
(Whittaker 1975)
• Any unit that includes all of the
organisms (i.e., “the community”) in
a given area interacting with the
physical environment so that the
flow of energy leads to clearly
defined trophic structure, biotic
diversity, and material cycles (i.e.,
exchange of materials between
living and nonliving parts) within the
system (E. Odum 1971)
 Main Ecosystems:
• Desert • Tundra
• Rainforest • Chaparral
• Ocean • Grassland
• Taiga • Temperate Forrest
Green:Grassland Purple: Taiga Orange:Tundra
Black:Temperate Forrest Yellow:Desert
Brown:Chapparal White:Ocean
 Simple ecosystem model

Key Attributes:
•Biotic and abiotic processes
•Pools and fluxes
 What is Ecosystem Ecology?
• the study of the interactions
among organisms and their
environment as an integrated
system (Chapin et al. 2002)
• the study of the movement of
energy and materials,
including water, chemicals,
nutrients, and pollutants, into,
out of, and within ecosystems
(Aber & Melillo 2001)
 Ecosystem
Structure &
Function
• Ecosystem Structure –
The vertical and
horizontal distribution of
ecosystem components
(e.g., vegetation ht.,
distribution of plant
biomass above and
below ground, etc.)
• Ecosystem Function –
processes that are
conducted or evaluated
at the ecosystem scale
(e.g., NPP, nutrient
uptake, actual
evapotranspiration, etc.)
 Abiotic Factors
Are nonliving physical factors of an
environment.

• Abiotoic Factors include amount of water and

oxygen, temperature, amount of sunlight and
water pressure.
 Biotic Factors
• Are the living, physical factors
of an environment.

• Examples of Biotic Factors are parasitism,

disease and predation.
 Balance
• Ecosystems will fail if they do not remain
in balance.
• No community can carry more
organisms than its food, water and
shelter can accommodate.
 How do they stay balanced?
• To succeed in an ecosystem, plants and
animals have special structures and
behaviors called adaptations.
• Ex) Chameleon
Polar Bear
Interdisciplinary
1) ecosystem processes
are controlled by factors
traditionally in the
purview of separate
disciplines, and
2) questions in ecosystem
ecology cross broad
scales in space and time

The unique
contribution of
ecosystem ecology is
its focus on biotic and
abiotic factors as
interacting components
of a single integrated
system
Spatial
scale
 Ecosystem components
• Plants
• Decomposers
• Animals
• Abiotic components
– Water
– Atmosphere
– Soil minerals
 Feedbacks

• Negative feedbacks ( homeostatic) – when two

components of a system have opposite effects on
each other
– i. predator – prey
– ii. thermostat
• Positive feedbacks – when two components of a
system have the same effect (positive or negative) on
each other
– runaway greenhouse effect – rising CO2 increases
temperature, increasing respiration, increasing CO2
• Negative feedbacks are key to maintaining
ecosystems in a given state, because they resist
change
• Positive feedbacks, if unchecked, have the potential
to shift ecosystems from one state to another
• Ecosystem dynamics involve two main processes:
energy flow and chemical cycling
• Energy flows through ecosystems
• Matter cycles within them
• Physical laws govern energy flow and chemical cycling
in ecosystems
– Conservation of Energy (first law of thermodynamics)
– Energy enters from solar radiation and is lost as heat
– Conservation of matter - Chemical elements are continually
recycled within ecosystems
• Ecosystems are open systems, absorbing energy and
mass and releasing heat and waste products
 Ecosystem processes: transfers of energy
and materials from one pool to another

• Can be transfers within the

ecosystem, or, transfers between
the ecosystem and its surroundings
(e.g., atmosphere)
– Photosynthesis is a key ecosystem
process, converting atmospheric
CO2 to organic matter, and thereby
providing the energy feeding the
entire system
– Respiration – another key
ecosystem process; oxidizes
organic matter to CO2, consuming
the energy provided by
photosynthesis, and thereby returns
CO2 to the atmosphere
– Other examples of ecosystem
processes: Weathering,
Evaporation, Nutrient uptake, Death
& decomposition, Herbivory
 Energy, Mass, and Trophic Levels
• Autotrophs build molecules themselves using
photosynthesis or chemosynthesis as an energy source
• Heterotrophs depend on the biosynthetic output of
other organisms
• Energy and nutrients pass from primary
producers (autotrophs) to primary
consumers (herbivores) to secondary
consumers (omnivores & carnivores) to
tertiary consumers (carnivores that feed
on other carnivores)
• Detritivores, or decomposers, are
consumers that derive their energy from
detritus
• Prokaryotes and fungi are important
detritivores
• Decomposition connects all trophic levels
 Figure 55.4

Sun Key
Chemical cycling
Heat Energy flow

Primary producers

Primary Detritus
consumers

Secondary and Microorganisms

and other
tertiary consumers
detritivores

Arrows represent energy flow so they go from prey TO predator

 Production Efficiency
• When a caterpillar feeds on a leaf, only about one-
sixth of the leaf’s energy is used for secondary
production
• An organism’s production efficiency is the fraction of
energy stored in food that is not used for respiration
 Figure 55.10

Plant material
eaten by caterpillar

200 J

67 J Cellular
100 J respiration
Feces
33 J

Not assimilated Growth (new biomass; Assimilated

secondary production)
Interesting Energy production facts:
• Birds and mammals have efficiencies in the range of
13% because of the high cost of endothermy
• Fishes have production efficiencies of around 10%
• Insects and microorganisms have efficiencies of 40%
or more
Trophic Efficiency and Ecological Pyramids
• Trophic efficiency is the percentage of production
transferred from one trophic level to the next
• It is usually about 10%, with a range of 5% to 20%
• Trophic efficiency is multiplied over the length of a
food chain
• Approximately 0.1% of chemical energy fixed by
photosynthesis reaches a tertiary consumer
• A pyramid of net production represents the loss of
energy at each level
Tertiary
consumers 10 J

Secondary
consumers 100 J

Primary 1,000 J
consumers

Primary
producers 10,000 J

1,000,000 J of sunlight
• In a biomass pyramid, each level represents the dry
mass of all organisms in each level
• Most biomass pyramids show a sharp decrease at
successively higher trophic levels
Role of Humans in Energy flow:
• Dynamics of energy flow in ecosystems have important
implications for the human population
• Eating meat is a relatively inefficient in terms of
utilizing photosynthetic production
• Worldwide agriculture could feed many more people if
humans ate only plant material
• Fossil fuels used to
Produce foods
 Biological and geochemical processes
cycle nutrients and water in ecosystems

• Life depends on recycling chemical elements

• Nutrient cycles in ecosystems involve biotic
and abiotic components and are often called
biogeochemical cycles
 Biogeochemical Cycles
• Gaseous carbon, oxygen, sulfur, and nitrogen occur in
the atmosphere and cycle globally
• Less mobile elements include phosphorus, potassium,
and calcium
• These elements cycle locally in terrestrial systems but
more broadly when dissolved in aquatic systems
Figure 55.13
Reservoir A Reservoir B
Organic materials Organic
available as materials
nutrients unavailable
as nutrients
Fossilization Peat
Living
organisms,
Coal
detritus

Oil
Respiration,
decomposition,
excretion
Burning of
fossil fuels

Assimilation,
photosynthesis
Reservoir D Reservoir C
Inorganic materials Inorganic materials
unavailable available as
as nutrients nutrients
Weathering, Atmosphere
erosion
Minerals Water
in rocks
Formation of Soil
sedimentary
rock
The Carbon Cycle
• Carbon-based organic molecules are essential to all
organisms
• Photosynthetic organisms convert CO2 to organic
molecules that are used by heterotrophs
• Carbon reservoirs include fossil fuels, soils and
sediments, solutes in oceans, plant and animal
biomass, the atmosphere, and sedimentary rocks
• CO2 is taken up and released through photosynthesis
and respiration
• Volcanoes and the burning of fossil fuels also
contribute CO2 to the atmosphere
Figure 55.14b

CO2 in
atmosphere
Photosynthesis

Photo- Cellular
synthesis respiration

Burning
of fossil
fuels and
wood Phyto-
plankton
Consumers

Consumers

Decomposition
• In studying cycling of water, carbon, nitrogen, and
phosphorus, ecologists focus on four factors
– Each chemical’s biological importance
– Forms in which each chemical is available or used by
organisms
– Major reservoirs for each chemical
– Key processes driving movement of each chemical
through its cycle
Figure 55.UN03
The Nitrogen Cycle
• Nitrogen is a component of amino acids, proteins, and
nucleic acids
• The main reservoir of nitrogen is the atmosphere (N2),
though this nitrogen must be converted to NH4+ or
NO3– for uptake by plants, via nitrogen fixation by
bacteria
Figure 55.14c

N2 in
atmosphere

Reactive N
gases
Industrial
fixation

Denitrification

N fertilizers
Fixation

Dissolved Runoff
NO3– organic N Terrestrial N2
NO3 – cycling
NH4+
Aquatic
cycling Denitri-
fication
Decomposition
and Assimilation
Decom-
sedimentation
position
NO3–
Fixation Uptake
in root nodules of amino
acids
Ammonification Nitrification
NH3 NH4+ NO2–
The Phosphorus Cycle
• Phosphorus is a major constituent of nucleic acids,
phospholipids, and ATP
• Phosphate (PO43–) is the most important inorganic
form of phosphorus
• The largest reservoirs are sedimentary rocks of
marine origin, the oceans, and organisms
• Phosphate binds with soil particles, and movement is
often localized
 Wind-blown
dust

Geologic Weathering
uplift of rocks
Runoff

Consumption
Decomposition
Plant
Plankton Dissolved uptake
PO43– of PO43–
Uptake Leaching

Sedimentation

Decomposition