CHAPTER 13:

Ecosystems Ecology

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 The Earths Life-
Support Systems

Stratosphere

Troposphere

Hydrosphere

Lithosphere

Biosphere
2
 All Ecosystems consist of 3
basic components
Producers
autotrophs energy capturing green plants, algae, diatoms

Consumers
including decomposers heterotrophs utilise food/energy stored in producers

Inorganic and dead organic matter

plant and consumers in soil matrix and aquatic systems

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Main Processes in Ecosystems

1) Energy flows : through ecosystems

2) Chemical cycling : cycles within
them

4
 Energy flows through an ecosystem
Entering as light and exiting as heat

Tertiary
consumers

Microorganisms
and other
detritivores Secondary
consumers

Detritus Primary consumers

Primary producers

Heat
Key

Chemical cycling Sun

Energy flow
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Figure 54.2
 The two laws of thermodynamics

Heat
co2

+
Chemical
energy H2O

(a) First law of thermodynamics: (b) Second law of thermodynamics:

Energy can be transferred or Every energy transfer or
transformed but neither created transformation
nor destroyed. increases the disorder (entropy) of
the universe.

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 Trophic Relationships
Energy and nutrients pass from :

primary producers - to primary consumers - and then

to secondary consumers

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Connections: Food Webs and Energy
Flow in Ecosystems
Food chains Food webs

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Decomposition
Decomposition
Connects all trophic levels

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 Detritivores, mainly bacteria and
fungi, recycle essential chemical
elements.

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 Types of Decomposer
1. Microflora
i) Bacteria
ii) Fungi

2. Detritivores or detritus feeder

i. soil microfauna: protozoans
ii. soil mesofauna: nematodes
iii. soil macrofauna: earthworm

3. Microbivores - feeding on dead decomposer including

bacteria and fungi

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Ecosystem Energy Budgets

Sets the spending limit for the

energy budget of the entire
ecosystem

13
Why the Global Energy Budget?
Only a small fraction of solar
energy actually strikes
photosynthetic organisms

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The Source of
Energy

15
 Physical and chemical factors limit primary
production

Primary production:
The amount of light energy converted to
chemical energy by autotrophs
Light energy converted to product

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 Gross and Net Primary
Production
GPP is total rate of the photosynthesis or energy
assimilated by the autotroph

Not all of this production

Is stored as organic material in the growing plants
Only NPP is available to consumers

NPP = GPP - R
Net primary
Gross Respiration
productivity
primary by autotroph
productivity

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Secondary Productivity

Amount of production/energy
available to heterotrophs

Energy left from maintenance and

respiration goes into
production and growth of new
tissue and production of young

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 Production Efficiency

The production efficiency of an organism

Is the fraction of energy stored in food that is not used for
respiration

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 Production Efficiency
When a caterpillar feeds on a plant leaf
Only about one-sixth of the energy in the leaf is used for secondary
production (biomass)
Fraction of energy stored in food that will be efficient for the
consumer

Plant material
eaten by caterpillar

200 J

67 J Cellular
100 J respiration
Feces
33 J

Growth (new biomass)

Figure 54.10 20
Limitation in Primary Production
1. Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems: light and
nutrients

2. Terrestrial and Wetland Ecosystems : temperature

and moisture
 2. Nutrient Limitation
1. Nutrient levels in marine ecosystems:
i. N& P are the most limiting nutrients
ii. lack of iron limits growth

2. Nutrient levels in freshwater ecosystems:

i. limiting nutrient is usually P
ii. levels of both N & P can become too high due to sewage
& fertilizer runoff - eutrophication.

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2. Primary Production in Terrestrial
and Wetland Ecosystems
In terrestrial and wetland ecosystems climatic factors such
as temperature and moisture, affect primary production on
a large geographic scale

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 The contrast between wet (wetland) and dry (terrestrial) climates
Represented by evapotranspiration

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 Ecological Pyramids
Trophic
Efficiency
Pyramid of
productivity
Pyramid of
biomass
Pyramid of
numbers
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Trophic Efficiency
Trophic efficiency = percentage of
production transferred from one
trophic level to the next

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 1) Pyramids of Productivity
This loss of energy with each transfer in a food
chain
Can be represented by a pyramid of net production

Tertiary 10 J
Consumers (10%)

Secondary
100 J
Consumers (10%)

Primary 1,000 J
Consumers (10%)

Primary
producers 10,000 J

Figure 54.11 1,000,000 J of sunlight

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 2) Pyramids of Biomass
Show a sharp decrease at successively
higher trophic levels
Dry weight
Trophic level
(g/m2)

Tertiary consumers 1.5

Secondary consumers 11

Primary consumers 37
Primary producers 809

(a) Most biomass pyramids show a sharp decrease in biomass at

successively higher trophic levels, as illustrated by data from a
bog/marshland at Silver Springs, Florida.

Figure 54.12a
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 Certain aquatic ecosystems
Have inverted biomass pyramids
Trophic level Dry weight
(g/m2)

Primary consumers (zooplankton) 21

Primary producers (phytoplankton) 4

(b) In some aquatic ecosystems, such as the English Channel, small standing crop of
primary producers (phytoplankton) supports a larger standing crop of primary
consumers (zooplankton).

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 3) Pyramids of Numbers
Represents the number of individual organisms
in each trophic level

Trophic level Number of

individual organisms

Tertiary consumers 3

Secondary consumers 354,904 (human)

Primary consumers 708,624 (herbivore e.g. cow)

Primary producers 5,842,424 (green plant)

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 The Green World Hypothesis
Proposed by Hairston, Smith and Slobodkin in 1960.

The world is green

because herbivores are held in check by their predators,
parasites, and diseases such that they cannot consume
all the plant biomass.

Figure 54.15 31
 The green world hypothesis proposes several factors that
keep herbivores in check

1. Plants have defenses against herbivores

2. Nutrients usually limit herbivores
3. Abiotic factors (temperature, moisture, light) limit
herbivores
4. Intraspecific competition can limit herbivore numbers
5. Interspecific interactions check herbivore densities

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 Biogeochemical Cycles
THE WATER CYCLE

Transport
over land

Solar energy

5. Net movement of
water vapor by wind

1a. Precipitation
1b. Precipitation Evaporation
4b. Evaporation 4a. Transpiration over land
over ocean from ocean
From the sea from land

2. Percolation
Through soil
3. Runoff and
Groundwater

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The carbon cycle

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 THE NITROGEN CYCLE

N2 in atmosphere

Assimilation

Denitrifying
NO3 bacteria
Nitrogen-fixing
bacteria in root
Decomposers
nodules of legumes Nitrifying
Nitrification Ammonification bacteria

NH3 NH4+ NO2

Nitrogen-fixing Nitrifying
soil bacteria bacteria

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 1. Nitrogen Fixation
The ability to fix nitrogen is found only in certain bacteria and
archaea.

Some live in a symbiotic relationship with plants of the legume

family (e.g., soybeans, alfalfa).

Some establish symbiotic relationships with plants other than

legumes (e.g., alders).

Some establish symbiotic relationships with animals, e.g., termites

and "shipworms" (wood-eating bivalves).

Some nitrogen-fixing bacteria live free in the soil.

Although the first stable product of the process is ammonia, this is

quickly incorporated into protein and other organic nitrogen
compounds.
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 Since most soils are acidic:
- NH3 released to soil, picks up ion (H+)
- form ammonium (NH4+)
- NH4+ can be used directly by plants

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 2. Decay

Breaking down of molecules of dead organisms into ammonia.

The release of ammonium (NH4+) from decaying organic

material is called ammonification

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 3. Nitrification
2 steps:

i. Bacteria of the genus Nitrosomonas, oxidize ammonia (NH3) to nitrites

(NO2).
ii. Bacteria of the genus Nitrobacter , oxidize the nitrites to nitrates (NO3).

These two groups of autotrophic bacteria are called nitrifying bacteria.

Soil and ocean = contain archaeal microbes, that convert ammonia to

nitrites. Abundant than nitrifying bacteria .

Many legumes, in addition to fixing atmospheric nitrogen, also perform

nitrification

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 4. Denitrification
Denitrification reduces nitrates to nitrogen gas, thus
replenished the atmosphere.

Once again, bacteria are the agents.

They live deep in soil and in aquatic sediments where conditions

are anaerobic.

They use nitrates as an alternative to oxygen.

Thus they close the nitrogen cycle.

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 THE PHOSPHORUS CYCLE

Phosphate -recycles among soil, plants and consumers

8. Weathering Rain
of rocks

7. Geologic Plants
uplift
Runoff

1. Plant uptake 2. Consumption

6. Sedimentation of PO43

4. Mineralization
5. Leaching Into the soil

3. Decomposition

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 Phosphorus cycle
Do not involve atmosphere.

1. Plants absorb phosphorous in the form of PO43- (phosphate)

from the soil

2. transferred to consumers (snail) in organic form

3. added back to soil by excretion of phosphate by animals (snail)

and by the action of bacteria and fungi decomposers

4. Mineralization into the soil

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 Phosphorus cycle
5. Leaching process of the soil will deposit the phosphate into
the ocean

6. Sedimentation- is the process of letting suspended material

settle by gravity.

7. Incorporated in rocks via geological uplift

8. Weathering and erosion of rocks- breakdown the rock and add

phosphate to soil

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