STU Ch 15 Ecosystems [Read-Only] · 2011. 9. 1. · In an ecosystem, • Chemicals cycle –...
Transcript of STU Ch 15 Ecosystems [Read-Only] · 2011. 9. 1. · In an ecosystem, • Chemicals cycle –...
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Ecosystems
Chapter 15
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Levels of ecological study• Remember how a population is defined?
• A community is
• An ecosystem is
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An ecosystem then, has two parts
• Biotic and abiotic factors – biotic
– abiotic
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Biomes• The largest of Earth’s ecosystems; they cover
huge geographic areas of land or water• Terrestrial biomes:
• Aquatic biomes:
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Terrestrial biomes
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Aquatic biomes
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In an ecosystem,• Energy flows
– energy from the sun is captured & converted to chemical energy by photosynthesis
– captured energy is transformed again & again by living organisms as it passes through an ecosystem (as organisms eat one another)
– trophic structure is the pattern of feeding relationships consisting of several levels
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Trophic levels• Producers: the plants
• Primary consumers: the herbivores
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Trophic levels, cont.• Secondary consumers: the carnivores
• Tertiary consumers: the “top carnivores”
• The path of energy from producer to consumer is called a food chain
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Food chains
• What do the arrows represent?
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Food webs
• Food chains are a helpful tool for ecologists, but they are an oversimplification of an ecosystem’s trophic structure
• A food web, a network of interconnecting food chains, provides a more realistic view of trophic structure
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Food webs
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A simplified ( ! ) food web of the NW Atlantic
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Missing from most food chain & food web diagrams. . .
• Detritivores: organisms that get their energy from detritus
• Decomposers: organisms that convert organic material to inorganic forms
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Inefficiency of food chains• Energy flows through all the trophic levels,
but energy is lost as heat at each level – 5 lbs. of plants does not equal 5 lbs. of new body
weight– only about 10% of what an herbivore eats is
converted into its own tissue; same for carnivore consuming an herbivore, and so on
• 90% lost to fueling metabolic processes & as feces– this is called the 10% rule
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10% rule limits length of food chain• How much plant biomass is
necessary to produce a single 1200 lb. cow?
• This is why there are not too many top carnivores; they require a huge geographic area to support themselves
• AND, this is why there are so many more plants than animals; it takes a whole lot of plants to support just a few animals
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Biomagnification• When a chemical
becomes more & more concentrated in organisms at successively higher trophic levels
• Very low levels of toxins can be lethal over time
• Pollutant or chemicals share 2 characteristics
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In an ecosystem,• Chemicals cycle
– chemicals just cycle around & around using the same pathway as energy– the food chain
– plants take up molecules from the air or soil which move into animals as consumed
– when plants & animals die, detritivores & decomposers return chemicals to the environment
– **chemicals cycle through both living and non-living components of the ecosystem
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Carbon cycle• Carbon is necessary for plants to make sugar
(& feed the world!)• Primary reservoir is
• Most carbon released back to reservoir by
• Carbon also released into atmosphere from
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Carbon cycle
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Nitrogen cycle• Nitrogen is necessary for making proteins• Primary reservoir is
• Nitrogen returns to atmosphere when waste & dead bodies are broken down by other bacteria that convert it back to N2
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Nitrogen cycle
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Phosphorus cycle• Phosphorus is needed for every molecule of
ATP & DNA• Primary reservoir is• Plant growth is limited by phosphorus levels
in soil• Most fertilizers contain phosphorus &
nitrogen
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Phosphorus cycle
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The last word about ecosystems
• Keep this straight:
• energy FLOWS• chemicals CYCLE
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Summary• Biomes are the largest ecosystems.• Ecosystems are all the living and non-living
elements in an area.• Energy flows through an ecosystem. Each
ecosystem has its own trophic structure.• Food chains & food webs illustrate trophic
structure and include producers, consumers, detritivores & decomposers at all levels.
• Chemicals cycle in an ecosystem through the trophic structure, going between the living and non-living components of the ecosystem.