Ecology

Ecology

Standar Kompetensi
Menganalisis hubungan antara komponen ekosistem, perubahan materi
dan energi serta peranan manusia dalam keseimbangan ekosistem

Kompetensi Dasar
Mendeskripsikan peran komponen ekosistem dalam aliran energi dan
daur biogeokimia serta pemanfaatan komponen ekosistem bagi
kehidupan

2
Indikator

• Menguraikan komponen ekosistem dari hasil pengamatan.

• Mendeskripsikan hubungan antara komponen biotik dan
abiotik, serta biotik dan biotik lainnya
• Menganalisis jika terjadi ketidakseimbangan hubungan
antar komponen (karena faktor alami dan akibat perbuatan
manusia)
• Menjelaskan mekanisme aliran energi pada suatu
ekosistem.
• Membuat charta daur biogeokimia, seperti air, karbon,
nitrogen, sulfur, posfor.
• Menjelaskan peran mikroorganisme/organisme dalam
berbagai daur biogeokimia.
Indikator

• Menguraikan komponen ekosistem dari hasil pengamatan.

• Mendeskripsikan hubungan antara komponen biotik dan
abiotik, serta biotik dan biotik lainnya
• Menganalisis jika terjadi ketidakseimbangan hubungan
antar komponen (karena faktor alami dan akibat perbuatan
manusia)
• Menjelaskan mekanisme aliran energi pada suatu
ekosistem.
• Membuat charta daur biogeokimia, seperti air, karbon,
nitrogen, sulfur, posfor.
• Menjelaskan peran mikroorganisme/organisme dalam
berbagai daur biogeokimia.
K.D.4.2 Menjelaskan keterkaitan antara kegiatan manusia dengan
masalah perusakan/pencemaran lingkungan dan pelestarian lingkungan

Indikator
• Menemukan faktor-faktor penyebab terjadinya perusakan
lingkungan.
• Membuat usulan alternatif pemecahan masalah kerusakan
lingkungan.
• Mengenali perilaku manusia yang tidak ramah lingkungan.
• Memberikan contoh bahan-bahan polutan.
• Menjelaskan dampak suatu bahan polutan terhadap kelangsungan
hidup makhluk hidup.
• Menjelaskan pemahamnnya tentang hidup ber-etika lingkungan.
• Membuat usulan rencana perbaikan/pelestarian lingkungan rumah
masing-masing.
K.D 4.3 Menganalisis jenis-jenis limbah dan daur
ulang limbah
Indikator
• Membuat data jenis-jenis limbah rumah tangga
berdasarkan pengamatan.
• Mengklasifikasi limbah organik dan anorganik
dan sumbernya.
• Menjelaskan jenis limbah bahan beracun
berbahaya (limbah B3)
• mengidentifikasi jenis limbah yang mungkin
dapat di daur ulang.
Ecology is….

• derived from the Greek words oikos meaning “home”

and logos meaning “to study.”

• the scientific study of how organisms interact with one

another and their environments.

• Important cause of evolution of environments and

organisms.
Environments

2 components

Abiotic- nonliving chemical and physical factors.

Ex. Temperature, light, H20 and nutrients
-distribution of organisms limited by abiotic conditions
that the organisms can tolerate.

Biotic- living organisms in any individual’s environment.

Ex. A lizard living in the desert.
 Environments …

• Ecology is separated into 4 levels of study

• Organismal - behavioral, physiological and morphological

ways in which individual organisms adapt to their abiotic
environments.
• Population – a group of organisms of the same species,
living in a particular geographical area.
 Mainly deals with factors affecting population
composition and size.
Community – organisms that inhabit a particular area.
Consists of populations of different species.
Environments…

Ecosystem - includes abiotic and biotic factors. Sometimes

concerns energy flows and chemical cycles affecting
abiotic and biotic factors.

Abiotic components:
- include temperature, water and the water cycle,
sunlight, wind, rocks, soil, periodic disturbances, and
climate.
Climate

• Global Climates and seasonal changes are established

by solar energy (sun hitting the Earth) and the Earth
revolving around the sun.
• The sun’s warming effect on the atmosphere, land and
water establishes temperature variations, cycles of air
movement and evaporation of water, which are all
responsible for the variations in climate.
• Temperature, water, light and wind are all major
components of climate.
• Climate affects the location of different biomes as do
these abiotic factors.
 Climate…

• Ocean currents and land exchanging heat and cool air

(day-cool air over ocean, night-cool air over land)

• mountains affect temperature and rainfall

• southward facing slopes in the Northern Hemisphere--
>more sunlight (drier and warmer) than north facing
slopes

• Rain shadow
 Seasonal Change

• Earth is tilted on a 23.5˚ axis relative to its plane of

orbit around the sun and this causes “seasonal
variation” in the intensity of solar radiation.

• When North Pole tilted most

toward the sun, the Northern
Hemisphere (summer)
• begins June 21-22 (Summer
Solstice).
•Sun's energy is more concentrated
on the Northern Hemisphere
where
its rays hit Earth directly and are
more intense.
biome
Aquatic Biomes

Benefits
• evaporation of seawater makes most rainfall
• photosynthetic bacteria and marine algae---
>Earth’s Oxygen, consuming Nitrogen

• Freshwater ---> less than 1% salt concentration

• Marine---> 3% salt concentration
Aquatic Biomes…

• Increases water flow speed and climate

• Light intensity decreases with water depth
• water is “stratified”

Components
Photic - sufficient light for photosynthesis
Aphotic - little light penetrates
Thermocline - narrow layer of quick temperature change
that separates upper layer (warm water) from lower layer
(cold water)
Benthic - bottom of aquatic biome
- composed of sand, organic and
- inorganic sediments
Aquatic Biomes…

Benthic zone continued

• occupied by communities of organisms (benthos)

• detritus--> major food source for benthos

• detritus comes from surface waters of photic zone in

lakes and oceans
Freshwater Biomes

• Still bodies of water, ex. lakes and ponds

-distribution of plants and animals by depth

Components

Littoral - shallow, well-lit, near shore

- floating and rooted plants found here

Limnetic - well-lit, open surface waters, farther from shore

- variety of phytoplankton (algae and
cyanobacteria)
- zooplankton (ex. small crustaceans eat
phytoplankton)
- small fish eat zoopankton
- larger fish eat the smaller fish
- turtles, birds, etc. eat the fish
Freshwater Biomes…

Profundal - aphotic
- small organisms from limnetic zone die and
sink here
- microbes use oxygen for cellular respiration to
decompose detritus
Three Types of Lakes

Oligotrophic - deep, nutrient-poor

- phytoplankton in limnetic zone not very
productive

Eutrophic - more shallow, high nutrient concentration

- phytoplankton very productive
- murky water

Mesotrophic - between oligotrophic and mesotrophic

- moderate amounts of phytoplankton
activity and
nutrients
Moving Bodies of Water

• ex. Streams, rivers

• cold, clear water

• little sediment, few mineral nutrients

• narrow channel with swift current

• other streams join to form river

Marine

• Intertidal zone - land meets water-

• Neritic zone - beyond intertidal, shallow over
continental shelves (underwater extension of coastal
plain)
• Oceanic zone - past continental shelves, very deep
• Plagic zone - open water
• Benthic zone - seafloor
• Bathyal zone - region along upper continental slope
between edge of continental shelf and abyssal benthic
region.
 Marine…

• Continental shelf - underwater

extension of coastal plain
• Continental slope - edge of
continent, descends from
continental shelf and depth
increases more rapidly than
continental shelf.
• Epipelagic zone- upper pelagic
zone of ocean, based on daytime
distribution of animals, sufficient
light exists
• Mesopelagic Zone - middle
pelagic zone
• Bathypelagic - deep pelagic zone,
beneath mesopelagic zone.
Intertidal

- exposed by two cycles of tides causing variation in

seawater and temperature
- rocky
- suspension feeding (filter feeding) worms, crustaceans

and clams bury themselves in sand or mud to wait for

tide to bring food.

Issue: - oil pollution has reduced species diversity

- increased oil resistant species
Neritic

• Currents and waves feed organisms in reefs

• sunlight allows for photosynthesis

• cnidarians secrete external skeleton of calcium

carbonate

• limestone added to coral reefs by multicellular algae

• coral animals eat microscopic organisms and debris

Oceanic Pelagic

• Mixed by ocean currents

• Nutrient concentration lower than in coastal areas due

to plankton sinking to benthic zone

• plankton grow and reproduce quickly

• increases amount of free swimming animals

• marine mammals eat one another or plankton

• organisms feed in photic area of pelagic zone

Benthos

• Light and temperature decline greatly with depth

• nutrients reach seafloor in form of detritus

• inhabitants---> fungi, seaweed, algae

• abyssal zone - 3 degrees Celsius, really cold

- high water pressure
- almost no light if any
- low nutrient concentrations
Wetlands

• area covered with water that supports aquatic plants

• periodically flooded to permanently saturated soil (soaked)
• hydrophytes (water plants) grow in these conditions
• richest of biomes
• diverse invertebrates
• herbivores dwell here (crustaceans, muskrats, etc.)

Basin - shallow depression

Duration - frequency, depth, flooding season determines type of

plants grown there

**provide water storage basins that reduce intensity of flooding

**improve water quality by filtering pollutants
Estuaries

• Often bordered by mudflats and salt marches (coastal wetlands)

• supply semi-aquatic vertebrates with food (waterfowl)

• river nutrients enrich estuaries, making them “the most

biologically productive environments on Earth.”

• Major producers--->salt march grasses, algae and phytoplankton

• Inhabitants---> worms, oysters, crabs, etc.

Biomes
Biotic environments - include 9 biomes

- Tropical Forest - Chaparral - Tundra

- Savanna - Grassland
- Desert - Deciduous Forest
Extreme Desert - Taiga
 Biomes

• Location of different
biomes
Tropical Rainforest

• Africa, Southeast Asia, Australia

and Central and South America
• canopy, found in areas with long
dry seasons or scarce rainfall
• trees make up topmost stratum
• trees covered with epiphytes
(plants that grow on other plants,
not in soil) ex. orchids
• little light reaches ground
• poor soil
• 50 to 260 inches (125 to 660 cm.)
of rain falls yearly
• Inhabitants-monkeys, frogs,
jaguars, snakes, birds
• most biodiversity of biomes
 Savanna
• grassland with scattered trees
• dominant plants are grasses and
scattered trees (dominant plant is fire
adapted since fire is a major abiotic
factor)
• Droughts follow 1 or 2 rainy seasons
•fires during dry season (ground layer
of grasses withstand dry conditions)
• migratory or seasonal grazing
•organisms include large herbivores
and their predators (dominant
herbivores-ants and termites)
•ex. zebra, antelope, and giraffes
 Desert

• Scarce rainfall (less than

10% precipitation)
• Major deserts formed by
dry, descending
subtropical air
• formed from rain shadow or
high plateau
effect
• cacti or deep rooted plants
• inhabitants - pocket mice,
kangaroos, rats,
grasshopper mice, and
reptiles
 Extreme Desert
• Less than 3 inches of
precipitation
• some plants near water
• some animals appear near
water or plants
(most of the time these are
insects)
• support little, if any, plant

or animal life
• Rockies in western Canada,
in Greenland, in Tibet, Mexico,
and South-central Africa.
Chaparral

• hot and dry

• west coast of U.S., South
America, South Africa, Australia,
and Mediterranean
• plants have large, hard leaves
that hold moisture
• plants well adapted to fires and
root systems designed absorb a
lot of water
• inhabitants--->coyotes, jack
rabbits, mule deer, lizards,
 Grasslands

• Found in all continents except

Antarctica
• Light rainfall
• Fires are common and
essential for life cycle of
many plant species
• Tall and short grass
• Most of land converted to
agriculture and is among most
fertile soils of world
• Inhabitants: bison, antelope,
prairie dog, coyote, and badgers
Deciduous Forest

• Eastern North America, Europe,

Australia, Japan and tip of South
America

• trees – maple, basswood, oak,

hickory

• Inhabitants found: gray squirrels,

wild
wild turkeys, black bears, deer
 Taiga

- known as boreal forests

- north of Tundra biome
- North America and Euroasia
- 50 to 100 inches of rain per
year
- Needle-leafed evergreen trees
such as pine, firs, redwoods
- Inhabitants: squirrels,
beavers,
birds, bobcats, black bears,
porcupines
Tundra
Two types: Alpine and Arctic
Tundra’s:
• Extremely cold climate
• Low biotic diversity
• Simple vegetation structure
• Short season of growth and

reproduction
• Energy and nutrients in the
form
of dead organic material
• Large population oscillations
• frost-molded landscapes
• little precipitation Alpine Tundra atop Mount Washington
Tundra…
• poor nutrients (detritus matter is a major source of nutrients)
• two major nutrients - nitrogen (created by biological fixation) and
phosphorus (created by precipitation)
Arctic tundra
• located in the northern hemisphere, around north pole
• known for cold, desert-like conditions
• growing season is 50 to 60 days
• average winter temperature: -34° C (-30° F)
• average summer temperature: 3-12° C (37-54° F) allowing
for life
• Rainfall may vary in different regions of the arctic
•Plants - short, group together to resist the cold temperatures -
protected by snow during winter
Tundra…

Arctic tundra continued

 Herbivorous mammals: lemmings, voles, caribou,

arctic hares and squirrels
 Carnivorous mammals: arctic foxes, wolves, and polar
bears
 Migratory birds: ravens, snow buntings, falcons, loons,
ravens, sandpipers, terns, snow birds, and various
species of gulls
 Insects: mosquitoes, flies, moths, grasshoppers,
blackflies and arctic bumble bees
 Fish: cod, flatfish, salmon, and trout
Tundra

Alpine tundra

Alpine Tundra atop Mount Washington

Biosphere

What is the biosphere?

The global ecosystem-Earth

Major Abiotic Factors of biosphere:

-temperature -rocks and soil
-water -periodic disturbances
-sunlight
-wind
Our Biosphere continued

Temperature
-affects organism distribution because few organisms
can maintain an adequately active metabolism at
extreme temperatures

-most organisms cannot maintain body temperatures

extremely different from their atmospheric temperature.
Biosphere…
• Water
Marine and freshwater organisms-submerged aquatic
environment.
- issue of water balance if their intracellurlar *osmolarity does not
match the surrounding water’s.
-desiccation risk
-evolution depended on requirements for obtaining and
conserving adequate water supplies.

Osmolarity - measure of osmotic pressure exerted by a

solution across a perfect semi-permeable membrane
compared to pure water.
Biosphere…

Sunlight

-provides energy, fueling all ecosystems

-important in development and behavior of may plants and animals

sensitive to *photoperiod
photoperiod-lengths of day and night; reliable indicator for
indicating seasonal events
Biosphere…

Wind
-increases heat loss by means of evaporation and
convection

-increases evaporation rate and transpiration in plants and

contributes to water loss in organisms

-can affect structural growth of plants

Biosphere…

Rocks and Soil

-mineral composition of rocks and soil, physical structure, and pH

limit distribution of plants and their predators

ex. composition in streams can affect water chemistry, thereby affecting

plants and animals
Biosphere…

Periodic Disturbances

-catastrophic disturbances, ex. hurricanes, volcanic

eruptions and
tornadoes

-when catastrophic disturbances occur, the organisms that

once lived in that environment have to re-colonize or
repopulated and the community may undergo a series of
changes during the re-colonization or re-population.
Population Ecology
Population Dynamics
Definition:
• Measure the changes in population size and composition.
– Identifies the ecological and evolutionary causes of
those changes
Characteristics of Populations

Population: organisms of a specific area that occupy the same specific area
Organisms…

1.Needs same resources

2. Influenced by the same environmental factors
3. Interact with each other

– A population’s characteristics can be shaped by interactions

between individuals and their environments on both ecological
and evolutionary time scales, and natural selection cam modify
the population’s characteristics.
Important Characteristics of Populations are….

• Population size = number of individuals that make up a

gene pool.
– Varies with species type, environmental conditions, etc.
**Population is estimated by indirect indicators**
– .Numbers of nest or borrows
– .Signs of dropping or tracks
– .Mark-Recapture Method
N= # marked x total caught 2nd time
# marked recaptured
 Important Characteristics…

• Density = Number of individuals living in a specific

area or volume
– EX. # of grape vines per km2 in the San Joaquin County
– Density is caused by numerous factors
 Carrying capacity, diseases, etc.
Types of Dispersion

• All areas don’t provide the same suitable habitat and results in
dispersion.
1. Clumped = individuals in certain areas that grow
together because of certain factors.
Ex. Plants and Soil conditions
2. Grain = the spatial variation or enrivonment separation of
individual organisms.
Coarse-grained environment
Fine-grained environment
3. Uniform = evenly spaces pattern of dispersion
4. Random = pattern less dispersion
Factors that affect growth and decline of populations

• Age Structure = relative number of individuals of each age

Number of individuals in reproductive group
• Birthrate / Fecundity = number of offspring produced during a
certain amount of time.
• Death rate = number of organisms who die per year, month, etc.
• Generation time = average span between the birth of individuals and
the birth of their offspring.
• Sex Ratio = proportion of individuals of each sex.
***To represent an individual of a given age life expectancy, one
uses life tables***

• Cohort = a group of individuals of the same age, from birth to

death.
• Survivorship Curve = a plot of the numbers in a cohort still alive at
each age.
1. High Survivorship: late in life and then increase in
death
2. Constant Death: rates at all ages

3. High Death Rate: at early age

Population Growth
1. Intrinsic rate of increase = maximum population growth rate. r max
2. Zero population growth (ZPG) = birth and death rate are equal.
3. Exponential Population Growth = population increase under a
certain conditions
4. Carrying Capacity (k) = maximum population size that a particular
environment can support with no net increase or decrease over a
relatively long period of time.
·        Logistic growth: population grows slowly at first, followed
by rapid growth, leveling off as carrying capacity is reached.
·        Equilibrial populations: populations that are likely to be living at
a density near the limit imposed by their resources.
Population Growth…
Opportunistic populations: populations that are likely to be
found in variable environments in which population densities
fluctuate, or in open habitats where individuals are likely to face
little competition.
 Population limiting factors

• Intraspecific competition: the reliance of individuals of the same species on

the same limited resources.
• Density Dependent Control = controls on a population that are directly
related to the density of that population.
·        Predators
·        Parasites/diseases
Space
Food and nutrients
• Density Independent Controls = controls that are unrelated to population
size.
Weather
·        Pesticides
Pollution/waste
Community Structure Vocabulary
• Community: groups of
populations of different
organisms in a specific time
and location.
• Community Ecology:
encompasses the groups of the
populations within the
community
Species richness: the number of
species they contain.
• Relative abundance: Some
communities contain few
common species and many
rare ones, while others contain
the same number of species,
but consists of all common
species.
• Species diversity: the number
and relative abundance of
species in a biological
community
Interactions Between Populations of Different Species

• Interspecific interactions:
interactions that occur between
populations of different species living
together within a community.
• These interspecific interactions can be
strong selection factors in evolution
– example- peppered moth
• Coevolution: mutual influence on the
evolution of two different species
interacting with each other and
reciprocally influencing each other’s
adaptations.
– Example- hummingbirds
Characteristics of Species

• Type of Species
– native species
– immigrant/introduced
– indicator species
• indicate biome
• indicate healthiness of ecosystem/environment
• indicate degredation
– Key Species
• effects many other species in ecosystem
Niche

Definition- way of life of a species its role in the ecosystem

– includes all physical, chemical, and biological conditions species
needs to survive and reproduce.
– Generalists- stable
– specialist- unstable
• Ecological niche: sum total of the organism’s use o the biotic and
abiotic resources.
– How it fits into an ecosystem
• Fundamental Niche: the set of resources a population is
theoretically capable of using under idea circumstances
• Realized niche: the resources a population actually uses
Specie Interaction

Symbiotic Relationship: a variety of interactions in which two species,

a host and its symbiont, maintain a close association.

• Mutualism
• Commensalisms
• Parasitism
Parasitism

• Parasitism: a symbiotic relationship where

one organism benefits at the other’s expense.
– Parastoidism- where insects lays their
eggs on a living host, where it’s larvae
then hatch and devour the host.
• Endoparasites: organisms that live within
their hosts
– tapeworm
• Ectoparasites: parasites that feed on the
external surface of a host
– mosquitoes
• Natural selections favors parasites that are
best able to locate hosts and feed on them.
• Reverse is also true for potential hosts and
their ability to combat the parasite.
 Predation

• Predaton: Where a predator eats it’s prey

• Herbivory- where an animals eats a plant.
Considered a type of predation.
• Most predators have acute senses and traits that
enable them to locate and identify, and capture
potential prey.
– Example- claws, teeth, stingers, fangs,
poison, smell.
– Rattle snakes are other pit vipers locate
their prey with special heat sensing organs.
Kill their prey with toxins.
• Some keystone species can affect the
community structure
– #’s of Predators affects #’s of prey. Vice
Versa
• exotic species- an introduced species that will
usually compete with native community
structure.
 Defenses against Predation

• Prey Defenses= example of coevolution

• Plants against herbivores
– thorns, microscopic crystals in tissue, hooks,
spines.
– Make feeding difficult for the predator.
– Chemicals- such as morphine from opium poppy
and nicotine.
– Distasteful chemicals- peppermint, cinnamon,
cloves.
– Some plants produce insect hormones that cause
defects in insect development.
• These defenses can act as selective agents to provoke
the evolution of counteradaptations in the herbivore
populations.
Defenses…
• Animal Defenses
– hiding, fleeing, alarm calls
– mobbing
– distraction displays
• Cryptic Coloration: a passive defense that
makes potential prey difficult to spot
against it’s background. Camouflage
– countershading
– disruptive-zebra
– deceptive markings- fake eyes, false heads
• Mechanical and Chemical defenses -
Skunks and porcupines.
• Aposomatic Coloration: bright
colorations of organisms that act as a
warning to predators.
Defenses…

• Mimicry: another organism bears

resemblance to another species.
– Involves aposematic models
• Batesian mimicry: a harmless
species mimics another harmful
model.
– Monarch butterfly
• Mullerian Mimicry:
– two or more harmful
aposematically colored species
resemble each other
Mutualism

• A symbiotic relationship in which

both organisms benefit
– Example- digestions of cellulose
by microorganisms in the
digestive systems of termites.
• Usually coevolve together
• may evolve from predator-prey or
host-parasite interactions
Commensalism

• Symbiotic relationship in which one organism benefits while the

other is unaffected.
– Barnacles and whales
• Sometimes one organism can be affected
– turtles
– cow birds
Interspecific Competitions

• When populations of two or more species in a community rely on

similar limiting resources, they may be subject to interspecific
competition
• Interspecific Competition: competitions between two different
species
– It can occur in two different ways
• Interference competition: actual fighting
• Exploitative competition: consumption or use of similar resources
• population growht of a species may be limited by the density of
competing species as well as by the density of its own population.
– Birds feeding on seeds in a forest
– species may compete for nesting sites, shelters, or other
resources in short supply
Competitive Exclusions Principle

• It is the theory that two species with similar requirements could not
coexist in the same community.
• One species would get more of the resources and reproduce more
efficiently, driving the other species to extinction.
• Even slight reproductive advantages would lead to elimination of
the inferior competitor and an increase in the density of the superior
one.
Succession

• Succession: a process of change that results from disturbance in

communities (fire)

• Primary succession: begins in a virtually lifeless area where soil has

not yet formed.
– pioneer species: adapted to flourishing in habitats unsuitable to
most species
• example- small plants with short life spans and produce many
seeds
– Colonization of barren ground
– New volcanic island
– once soil is present the lichens and mosses are usually first
Succession…

• Secondary successions; occurs where an existing community has been

cleared by some disturbance that leaves the soil intact.
– Ponds shallow lakes and abandoned fields
– Beings to return to it’s original state.
– Plants from windblown seeds
– sometimes woody shrubs
– eventually forest trees

• Climax Community: stable form of ecosystem (last succession)

Ecosystems
Trophic Relationships

• Trophic structure: the different feeding relationships in an

ecosystem that determines the route of energy flow and the pattern
of chemical cycling
• species are divided into trophic levels
– Trophic levels: the division of species in an ecosystem on the basis
of their main nutritional source
Trophic Levels

• Primary Producers- supports all others in an ecosystem consists of

autotrophs.
– Photosynthetic
– includes- plants, algae, cyanobacteria
• Primary consumers- organisms that eat the primary producers
– Herbivores
– cow
• Secondary consumers- carnivores that eat primary consumers and
can eat primary producers
– omnivores
– people
Trophic Levels….

• Tertiary consumers: carnivores that eat other carnivores

– snakes
• Quaternary consumers: have a specific diet
– eagles, osprey, owls
• Detritivores- derive their energy from non living organic material
from all trophic levels
– feces, fallen leaves, remains of dead organisms
– called detritus matter
– break organic material down into SPONCH
– bacteria, fungus
Food Chain and Food Web

• Food Chain: The

pathway along which
food is transferred from
trophic level to trophic
level
– Starts with primary
producers
• Food Web: The feeding
relationship in an
ecosystem woven into
elaborate webs
Energy Flow in Ecosystems

• All organisms require energy for growth, maintenance,

reproduction, and locomotion.
• This focuses on how energy enters an ecosystem, flows within it,
and then exits
• it begins with primary productivity
– Primary productivity: amount of light energy converted to
chemical energy during a given period of time
• Total primary productivity is gross primary productivity (GPP)
• Net primary productivity (NPP)
– equal to the GPP minus the energy used by the producers in
respiration
Biomass

• Primary Productivity can be expressed in terms of energy per unit

area per unit time (J/m2/yr) or as Biomass (weight)
• Biomass: weight of vegetation added to the ecosystem per unit area
per unit time (g/m2/yr)
• An ecosystem’s primary productivity should not be confused with
the total biomass of photosynthetic autotrophs present at a give
time, called Standing crop biomass.
– A forest may have a large standing crop biomass, but its
primary productivity may actually be less than that of some
grasslands
 Energy Pyramid

• Ecological efficiency: the

percentage of energy
transferred from one trophic
level to the next
• The percent varies among
organisms from 5-20%, but
usually 10%
• The higher the organism on
the trophic level, the less
energy they receive.
• Plants would be the most
efficient
The Water Cycle
The Carbon Cycle
The Nitrogen Cycle
The Phosphorus Cycle

• M-mining
F-fertilization
W-weathering
B-burial
D-decay
G-growth