INTRODUCTION TO

ECOSYSTEM SCIENCE
CONCEPTS
 Ecology
Ecology is the science that examines the
interrelationships, distributions, and
abundance of all organisms and their
connections with the living and non-living
environment.
The processes that determine ecosystem
functions and change over time are also
studied.
Introduction to Environmental Science in the Mekong River Basin 2
 The study of the distribution and
abundance of organisms,
AND
the flows of energy and materials
between abiotic and biotic
components of ecosystems.
Ecology is the study of:
1. the distribution of organisms
2. the abundance of organisms
3. how organisms interact with other
organisms
4. how organisms interact with their
 Population Ecology
Population ecology is the study of the growth,
abundance, and distribution of populations. Population
abundance and distribution are described by the
following terms:

1. The size of a population, symbolically represented by

N, is the total number of individuals in the population.
2. The density of a population is the total number of
individuals per area or volume occupied. There may be
100 buffalo/km2 or 100 mosquitos/m3.
3. Dispersion describes how individuals in a population
are distributed. They may be clumped (like humans in
cities), uniform (like trees in an orchard), or random (like
trees in some forests).
The following terms provide
a foundation for the study of
ecology & ecosystem:
 A Population

is a group of individuals all of the

same species living in the same
area.
 A Community

A community is a group of
populations living in the same
area.
 The Biosphere

is composed of all the regions of the

earth that contain living things. This
generally includes the top few meters
of soil, the oceans and other bodies
of water, and the lower ten
kilometers of the atmosphere.
 Niche vs habitat
A habitat is where an organism lives. The
habitat must provide a source of food, water
and shelter for the organism.
Niche: The role of the organism. This is
largely to do with the trophic level of the
organism.
for example: plants produce food for the rest
of the food chain. Tigers keep herbivore
populations under control.
 The Habitat
Habitat of an organism is the type of
place where it usually lives.
A description of the habitat may include
other organisms that live there (often
the dominant vegetation) as well as the
physical and chemical characteristics of
the environment (such as temperature,
soil quality, or water salinity).
 The Niche
In ecology, a Niche - is a term describing the relational position
of a species or population in its ecosystem to each other.

Niche maybe define as how an organism makes a living.

The ecological Niche describes how an organism or population

responds to the distribution of resources and competitors
(e.g., by growing when resources are abundant, and when
predators, parasites and pathogens are scarce), and,
how it in turn alters those same factors (e.g., limiting access to
resources by other organisms, acting as a food source for
predators and a consumer of prey).
 The Niche
The Niche of an organism describes all the
biotic (living) and abiotic (nonliving)
resources in the environment used by an
organism. When an organism is said to
occupy a particular Niche, it means that
certain resources are consumed or certain
qualities of the environment are changed in
some way by the presence of the organism.
The Ecosystem
An Introduction
 Ecosystem
A community of interdependent organisms and
the interactions with the physical environment
in which they live.

It can also be defined as the abiotic and biotic

factors and the interactions between them.

The interaction between organisms and the

environment is the key!
 An ecosystem consists of all the organisms
living in a community as well as all the abiotic
factors with which they interact.
The dynamics of an ecosystem involve two
processes: energy flow and chemical cycling.
Ecosystem ecologists view ecosystems as
energy machines and matter processors.
We can follow the transformation of energy
by grouping the species in a community into
trophic levels of feeding relationships.
 A network of functional interactions
involving living and non-living
elements in a manner that sustains
life (e.g., forest ecosystem, marine
ecosystem)
Living organisms borrow oxygen,
carbon dioxide and nutrients from
the ecosystem and then return these
materials through the processes of
respiration, excretion and
decomposition

Introduction to Environmental Science in the Mekong River Basin 17

 Ecosystem Example
Hawk Sun

Wolf

Fox Rabbit

Water
Buffalo

Grasshopper
Chicken
Mouse
Grass

Decomposers

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 Ecosystem Components
Biotic: the living part of the ecosystem
(e.g., plants, animals)
Abiotic: the non-living part of the
ecosystem (e.g., air, water, soil)
Functional: processes occurring within the
ecosystem which are essential to biotic life
(e.g., hydrological cycle)
Introduction to Environmental Science in the Mekong River Basin 19
 Abiotic and Biotic factors
Biotic Factor: A living, biological factor that
may influence an organism or a system.
example: predation, disease, competition

Abiotic factor: A non-living, physical factor

that may influence an organism or a system
examples: Temperature, salinity, pH, light
 BIOTIC components
The biotic components of an ecosystem
can be classified according to their mode of
energy acquisition.
In this type of classification, there are:
Autotrophs and Heterotrophs
Organisms that produce their own food
from an energy source, such as the sun,
and inorganic compounds.
Organisms that consume other organisms
as a food source.
 Abiotic components:
ABIOTIC components:
a. Solar energy provides practically all the
energy for ecosystems.
b. Inorganic substances, e.g., sulfur, boron,
tend to cycle through ecosystems.
c. Organic compounds, such as proteins,
carbohydrates, lipids, and other complex
molecules, form a link between biotic and
abiotic components of the system.
 Limiting factors
An abiotic factor can limit the population
size if there is too much or too little of it.
Even if there is the right amount of other
factors
examples to consider:
Sunlight
Precipitation
Salinity
Nutrients in the soil
 Scientific Disciplines
A basic knowledge of several different
scientific disciplines is necessary to
understand the complex physical,
chemical and biological relationships.
Biology
Ecology
Hydrology
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 Biology
Biology is the study of all living things,
from the basic level of the cell, up to a
natural system as complex.
Biology examines how living things
harness non-living energy sources
(water, oxygen, carbon dioxide) and use
this energy for growth, survival, and
reproduction

Introduction to Environmental Science in the Mekong River Basin 25

 The laws of physics and chemistry apply
to ecosystems
The law of conservation of energy applies to
ecosystems.
We can potentially trace all the energy from its
solar input to its release as heat by organisms.
The second law of thermodynamics allows us to
measure the efficiency of the energy
conversions.
 Energy
All life processes require some form of
energy
Nearly all energy comes from the sun and is
harnessed by plants through the process of
photosynthesis
Most living creatures obtain their energy
either by consuming plants, or by eating
organisms that eat plants
Introduction to Environmental Science in the Mekong River Basin 27
Energy flow and material cycling
Energy transfer in a food chain:
First law of thermodynamics
The First Law of Thermodynamics
Also called the Law of Conservation of
Energy.
States that matter can neither be created
nor destroyed; the energy needed to do
work within an organism cannot be
generated from nothing
Organisms must obtain energy from an
outside source, such as through the
consumption of plant material or other
organisms
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 The Second Law
of Thermodynamics
Waste head (Qc) is in any kinds of reaction.
When work is done there is always be
some inefficiency; that is, some portion of the
energy put into the process will end up as
waste heat.
In the universe as a whole, the total amount of
energy available to do work is declining, in
other words, the supply of energy to support
life is not limitless
Introduction to Environmental Science in the Mekong River Basin 31
 Second Law of Thermodynamics
There is a tendency for numbers and
quantities of biomass and energy to
decrease along food chains.

The pyramids become smaller at the top

because around 90% of the energy is lost
between each level and only 10% is
available in the body of the organism for
transfer to the next level.
 Food Chains
The producers, consumers, and
decomposers of each ecosystem make
up a food chain.
There are many food chains in an
ecosystem.
Food chains show where energy is
transferred and not who eats who.
Example of a Food Chain
 Food Chains
The general sequence of who FOOD CHAIN
eats whom can be illustrated
with a food chain
herbivores eat plants and
carnivores eat herbivores, and
sometimes other carnivores

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Food Chains
 Food Web
A food web is a network of crossing,
interlinked food chains which
include primary producers (e.g.,
grass) and a variety of consumers
(e.g., birds) and decomposers (e.g.,
bacteria, fungi, insects)
Establishes pathways by which
nutrients flow through the ecosystem,
eventually returning to the physical
environment

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 Food Webs
All the food chains in an area make up the food web of the area.
Food web of a hot spring

2003 John Wiley and Sons Publishers

Fig 6.5 Food web of the harp seal.

2003 John Wiley and Sons Publishers

 Food webs

show energy flow through an

ecosystem
An ecosystems trophic structure
determines energy flow and nutrient
cycling
Food
webs
 Food Web Example

Introduction to Environmental Science in the Mekong River Basin 43

 Trophic levels
Ecostems are often broken up and described
according to feeding relationships.

Trophic level:
The position of an organism in a food
chain
A group of organisms that occupy the
same place in a food chain
Trophic levels
 Trophic levels in food chains
Be able to give an example of each!
Primary producers (autotrophs)
Primary consumers (herbivores)
Secondary consumers (carnivores)
Tertiary consumers (top carnivores)
Decomposers
Detrivores
Scavengers
Pyramid of biomass
 Producers
Most producers are photosynthetic
(e.g. algae, mosses, diatoms, some bacteria,
plants etc.) but some are chemosynthetic (e.g.
hydrothermal vent bacteria)
(H2)
 Consumer
Heterotroph - other + feed
An organism that obtains its nutrition by eating
other organisms
Primary consumer (herbivore) - eats producers e.g.
sea urchin, copepod
Secondary consumer (carnivore) - eats primary
consumers e.g. wolf eel, herring
Tertiary consumer - eats secondary consumers e.g.
sea otter, seal
Quaternary consumer - eats tertiary consumers e.g.
killer whale
 Consumers
The role of the consumer is to transfer
energy from one trophic level to the next.
Notice that consumers have different names,
depending on what they eat:
Herbivores: plant eaters
Carnivores: meat eaters
Omnivores: eat plants and animals
 Decomposer
An organism that obtains energy by breaking down
dead organic matter, including dead plants, dead
animals and animal waste, into more simple
substances. examples include: bacteria and fungi.
- Interconnects all trophic levels since the organic
material making up all living organisms is eventually
broken down
- Role of decomposers is to return valuable nutrients to
the system so they can be used again.
Compare detritus feeders to
decomposers:
 Important Ecological Processes
Biological Process
food chains and webs
Physical Process
hydrological cycle
Bio-Physical Process
nutrient cycling and eutrophication
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 Carrying Capacity
The concept of carrying capacity is
fundamental to understanding how
wildlife populations develop.
Carrying capacity refers to the number of
healthy organisms of all species within
an ecosystem that can survive in that
ecosystem without degrading its quality

Introduction to Environmental Science in the Mekong River Basin 54

 Carrying Capacity (Contd)
The environment has finite sources (i.e.,
resources) and finite sinks which sustain
ecosystems (i.e., processes for assimilating
wastes and pollutants)
Recognizing these limits, carrying capacity
refers to the ability of the environment to
support and maintain ecosystems

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 Carrying Capacity (Contd)
Upper Lim it of
Carrying Capacity

Population Size
Population

Time

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 Nutrient Cycle
A repeating cycle in which nutrients
(e.g., nitrogen, carbon) flow through the
ecosystem
Nutrients include:
carbon, nitrogen, magnesium, calcium, iron and
phosphorous
Plants use nutrients in many ways, such as:
nitrogen to make proteins
magnesium in the manufacture of chlorophyll -
a substance used to capture the suns energy
Introduction to Environmental Science in the Mekong River Basin 57
 How Nutrients Cycle
Many things contribute to how nutrients move through
an ecosystem
rainwater washes nutrients through soil from one place to
another
trees draw nutrients from the soil through their roots and
into their leaves, which fall, decompose, and leave nutrients
in a new place
animals eat green plants, deposit nutrients in their wastes,
and transfer nutrients when they are consumed by other
animals

Introduction to Environmental Science in the Mekong River Basin 58

 Nutrient Cycle Example

Introduction to Environmental Science in the Mekong River Basin 59

Another Nutrient Cycle Example

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 Disruptions in Nutrient Cycling
Many things can disrupt nutrient cycling
within an ecosystem
acid rain can change the chemistry of soil
and change the form of certain nutrients
clear-cutting a forest often causes
erosion, which washes away soil nutrients,
reducing nutrient availability for future
plants
Introduction to Environmental Science in the Mekong River Basin 61
 Hydrology
Hydrology is the study of waters
movement through the hydrologic cycle
The hydrologic cycle is the repeating cycle
in which water evaporates from land,
oceans, lakes and rivers, returns in the
form of precipitation and replenishes
surface and groundwater
Sources of water:
precipitation, surface run-off, groundwater
seepage

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 Hydrology (Contd)
Water loss:
evaporation, flow through a surface outlet,
flow through a sub-surface outlet into
groundwater, evapotranspiration from aquatic
plants

Changes in water storage and retention

within the river basin results from alterations
between input rates from sources of water
and rates of water loss
Introduction to Environmental Science in the Mekong River Basin 63
 Hydrology (Contd)
The hydrologic cycle is the most fundamental principle
of hydrology
water evaporates from the oceans and land surface
water precipitates as rain or snow
water is intercepted by trees and plants
water provides run-off on the land surface
water infiltrates into soils and recharges
groundwater
water discharges into rivers and streams
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 Hydrologic Cycle
Condensation

Transpiration
Precipitation
Evaporation

Well

Overland Water Flow

Lake, Pond, Ocean

Groundwater Recharge

Aquifer

Introduction to Environmental Science in the Mekong River Basin 65

 The water cycle is more of a physical process than a
chemical one.