ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE 13e

CHAPTER 3:
Ecosystems: What Are
They and How Do
They Work?
 Rainforest
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ws6m4
6AAbQQ
 Core Case Study
In class assignment

• Tropical Rainforests are Disappearing

• Where are tropical rainforests found?
• How much of the earth’s land surface do they cover?
Studies indicate they contain up to ______ of the world’s
known terrestrial plant and animal species
• Define ecosystems
• About ________ of these forests have been destroyed by
humans
 Core Case Study:
Tropical Rainforests Are Disappearing (2)
• Consequences of disappearing tropical
rainforests
1. __________ as species become extinct
2. ______________: fewer trees to remove
carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
3. _______________: can lead to increase in
tropical grasslands
• Define Ecological Tipping Point-

• What is the ecological tipping point for this

case study?
Satellite image of the loss of tropical rain forest near the Bolivian City of Santa
Cruz. Why is this an example of Natural Capital degradation?

June 1975 May 2003

Fig. 3-1, p. 39
 3-1 What Keeps Us and Other
Organisms Alive?
• Concept 3-1A The four major components
of the earth’s life-support system are the
atmosphere (air), the hydrosphere (water),
the geosphere (rock, soil, sediment), and
the biosphere (living things).

• Concept 3-1B Life is sustained by the flow

of energy from the sun through the
biosphere, the cycling of nutrients within
the biosphere, and gravity.
 Earth Has Four Major Life-
Support Components
• Atmosphere
• Hydrosphere
• Geosphere
• Biosphere
 Vegetation
and animals
Atmosphere

Biosphere
Soil
Rock
Lithosphere Crust

Mantle

Biosphere
(living organisms)

Core Atmosphere
Mantle (air)

Crust
(soil and rock)
Geosphere
(crust, mantle, core) Hydrosphere
(water)
Fig. 3-2, p. 41
 Three Factors Sustain Life on
Earth
1) One-way flow of high-quality energy
from the sun
2) Cycling of matter or nutrients
through parts of the biosphere
3) Gravity
 Solar Energy Reaching the
Earth
• Electromagnetic waves
– Visible light
– UV radiation
– Heat
• Natural greenhouse effect
• Energy in = energy out
• Human-enhanced global warming
 Solar
radiation

Reflected by
atmosphere Radiated by
UV radiation
atmosphere
as heat
Most Lower Stratosphere
absorbed (ozone layer)
by ozone Visible Troposphere
light Heat radiated
Heat by the earth

Absorbed Greenhouse
by the earth effect

Fig. 3-3, p. 41
 Greenhouse Effect Animation

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxUK2
TizQ4g&feature=related
 3-2 What Are the Major
Components of an Ecosystem?
• Concept 3-2 Some organisms
produce the nutrients they need,
others get the nutrients they need by
consuming other organisms, and
some recycle nutrients back to
producers by decomposing the
wastes and remains of organisms.
 Ecology
• How organisms interact with biotic
(pertaining to life) and abiotic environment
(non-living)
• Focuses on specific levels of matter:
– Organisms
– Populations
– Communities
– Ecosystems
– Biosphere
 Which 5 levels does ecology focus on?
Biosphere Parts of the earth's air,water, and soil
where life is found

Ecosystem A community of different species

interacting with one another and with
their nonliving environment of matter
and energy
Community Populations of different species
living in a particular place, and
potentially interacting with each
other
Population A group of individuals of the same
species living in a particular place

Organism An individual living being

_______________________________

The fundamental structural and

Cell functional unit of life

Molecule Chemical combination of two or

more atoms of the same or different
elements

Atom Smallest unit of a chemical element

that exhibits its chemical properties Stepped Art
Fig. 3-4, p. 42
 Living and Nonliving
Components (1)
• Abiotic
– Water
– Air
– Nutrients
– Solar energy
– Rocks
– Heat
 Living and Nonliving
Components (2)
• Biotic
– Plants
– Animals
– Microbes
– Dead organisms
– Waste products of dead organisms
 Oxygen (O2)
Precipitation

Carbon dioxide (CO2)

Producer

Secondary
consumer
(fox)
Primary
consumer
(rabbit)

Producers

Water Decomposers

Soluble mineral
nutrients
Fig. 3-5, p. 43
Trophic Levels (feeding levels)
(1)
• Producers – autotrophs
– Photosynthesis
• Consumers – heterotrophs
– Primary - herbivores
– Secondary - carnivores
– Third-level (tertiary)
– quartenary
• Omnivores
 Trophic Levels (2)
• Decomposers (ex. bacteria and fungi)
– Release nutrients from the dead bodies
of plants and animals
• Detrivores (ex. earthworms, some
insects, vultures)
– Feed on the waste or dead bodies of
organisms
 Detritus feeders Decomposers

Carpenter
Termite and
Bark beetle ant galleries carpenter
engraving ant work Dry rot
Long-horned
beetle holes fungus

Wood
reduced Mushroom
to powder

Time
progression Powder broken down by
decomposers into plant
nutrients in soil
Fig. 3-6, p. 44
Production and Consumption of
Energy
• Photosynthesis
• Carbon dioxide + water + solar energy
glucose + oxygen
6CO2 + 6H2O + solar E C6H12O6 + 6O2
• Aerobic respiration (opposite)
• Glucose + oxygen  carbon dioxide
+ water + energy
 Energy Flow and Nutrient
Recycling
• Ecosystems sustained through:
– One-way energy flow from the sun
– Nutrient recycling
Main components of
Solar
an ecosystem energy
Abiotic chemicals
Heat (carbon dioxide,
oxygen, nitrogen,
minerals)

Heat Heat

Decomposers Producers
(bacteria, fungi) (plants)

Consumers
(herbivores,
Heat carnivores) Heat

Fig. 3-7, p. 45
3-3 What Happens to Energy in
an Ecosystem?
• Concept 3-3 As energy flows through
ecosystems in food chains and webs,
the amount of chemical energy
available to organisms at each
succeeding feeding level decreases.
 Energy Flow in Ecosystems
• Trophic levels
• Food chain
– Sequence of organisms, each of which
serves as a source of food for the next
• Food web
– Network of interconnected food chains
– More complex than a food chain
 Food chain

First Trophic Second Trophic Third Trophic Fourth Trophic

Level Level Level Level
Producers Primary Secondary Tertiary
(plants) consumers consumers consumers
(herbivores) (carnivores) (top carnivores)
Heat Heat Heat Heat

Solar
energy

Heat

Heat Heat

Decomposers and detritus feeders

Fig. 3-8, p. 46
 Humans

Antarctic Blue whale Sperm whale

Food Web
Elephant
seal
Crabeater
seal Killer
whale

Leopard
seal
Adelie Emperor
penguin penguin

Squid
Petrel

Fish

Carnivorous
plankton

Krill Herbivorous
zooplankton

Phytoplankton
Fig. 3-9, p. 46
Usable Energy by Trophic Level
• Energy flow follows the second law of
thermodynamics – energy lost as
heat
• Biomass decreases with increasing
trophic level
• Ecological efficiency – typically 10%
• Pyramid of energy flow
 Usable energy available
at each trophic level
Heat
(in kilocalories)
Tertiary
consumers 10
(human) Heat

Secondary
consumers 100
(perch) Heat Decomposers Heat

Primary
consumers 1,000
(zooplankton) Heat
10,000
Producers
(phytoplankton)

What happens to amount of usable energy as you go up each level?

Fig. 3-10, p. 47
 Two Kinds of Primary
Productivity
• Gross primary productivity (GPP): the
rate at which an ecosystems producers convert
solar E into chemical E in the form of biomass found
in their tissues
• Net primary productivity (NPP)- rate at
which producer’s use photosynthesis to produce
and store chemical E minus the rate at which they
use some of this stored E thru aerobic respiration
• Planet’s NPP limits number of consumers
• Humans use, waste, or destroy 10-55% of earth’s total
potential NPP
• Human population is less than 1% of total biomass of
earth’s consumers
Terrestrial Ecosystems
Swamps and marshes
Tropical rain forest
Temperate forest
Northern coniferous
forest (taiga)
Savanna
Agricultural land
Woodland and shrubland
Temperate grassland
Tundra (arctic and alpine)
Desert scrub
Extreme desert
Aquatic Ecosystems
Estuaries
Lakes and streams
Continental shelf
Open ocean

800 1,600 2,400 3,200 4,000 4,800 5,600 6,400 7,200 8,000 8,800 9,600
Average net primary productivity (kcal/m2/yr)

Fig. 3-11, p. 48
 3-4 What Happens to Matter in
an Ecosystem?
• Concept 3-4 Matter, in the form of
nutrients, cycles within and among
ecosystems and in the biosphere, and
human activities are altering these
chemical cycles.
 Biogeochemical Cycles
• Nutrient cycles
• Reservoirs- temporary storage sites for nutrients
• Connect all organisms through time
 Hydrologic Cycle
• Water cycle is powered by the sun
1. Evaporation
2. Precipitation
3. Transpiration - evaporates from plant
surfaces
• Water vapor in the atmosphere comes
from the oceans – 84%
• Over land, most of water reaching the
atmosphere comes from transpiration
 Climate
change
Ice and Condensation
Condensation snow

Precipitation Transpiration Evaporation Evaporation

to land from plants from land from ocean

Surface runoff Increased Precipitation

Runoff flooding to ocean
from wetland
destruction
Lakes and Reduced recharge of
reservoirs aquifers and flooding
from covering land Point
with crops and source
Infiltration buildings pollution
and percolation
into aquifer
Surface
runoff
Groundwater Ocean
movement (slow) Aquifer
depletion from
overpumping
Processes
Processes affected by humans
Reservoir
Pathway affected by humans
Natural pathway

Fig. 3-12, p. 49
Science Focus: Water’s Unique
Properties (1)
• Holds water molecules together –
hydrogen bonding
• Liquid over a wide temperature range
• Changes temperature slowly
• Requires large amounts of energy to
evaporate
Science Focus: Water’s Unique
Properties (2)
• Dissolves a variety of compounds
• Filters out UV light from the sun
• Adheres to a solid surface – allows
capillary action in plants
• Expands as it freezes
 Carbon Cycle
• Based on carbon dioxide (CO2)
• CO2 makes up 0.038% of atmosphere
volume
• Major cycle processes
– Aerobic respiration
– Photosynthesis
– Fossil fuel combustion and deforestation
• Fossil fuels add CO2 to the atmosphere
and contribute to global warming
 Carbon dioxide
in atmosphere

Respiration

Photosynthesis
Burning
Forest fires fossil fuels
Diffusion Animals
(consumers)

Deforestation

Plants Carbon
Transportation Respiration (producers) in plants
(producers)
Carbon
in animals
Carbon dioxide
(consumers)
dissolved in ocean
Decomposition Carbon
Marine food webs in fossil
Producers, consumers, fuels
decomposers

Carbon
in limestone or Compaction
dolomite sediments
Processes
Reservoir
Pathway affected by humans
Natural pathway
Fig. 3-13, p. 51
 Nitrogen Cycle
• Multicellular plants and animals
cannot utilize atmospheric nitrogen
(N2)
• Nitrogen fixation
• Nitrification
• Ammonification
• Denitrification
 Processes
Nitrogen
Reservoir in atmosphere
Pathway affected by humans
Natural pathway
Denitrification
Electrical by bacteria
storms Nitrogen
Nitrogen oxides in animals
from burning fuel Volcanic (consumers)
activity
Nitrification
by bacteria

Nitrogen
in plants
Nitrates (producers)
from fertilizer
runoff and
decomposition Decomposition Uptake by plants

Nitrate
in soil

Nitrogen Nitrogen
loss to deep in ocean Bacteria
ocean sediments sediments Ammonia
in soil

Fig. 3-14, p. 52
 Phosphorus Cycle
• Does not cycle through the
atmosphere
• Obtained from terrestrial rock
formations
• Limiting factor on land and in
freshwater ecosystems
• Biologically important for producers
and consumers
Processes
Reservoir
Pathway affected by humans
Natural pathway
Phosphates Phosphates
in sewage in fertilizer Plate
Phosphates tectonics
in mining waste Runoff Runoff

Sea
birds
Runoff Phosphate
in rock
Erosion
(fossil bones,
guano) Ocean
Animals food chain
(consumers)
Phosphate Phosphate
dissolved in in shallow
water ocean sediments
Phosphate
in deep
Plants ocean
(producers) sediments

Bacteria

Fig. 3-15, p. 53
 Sulfur Cycle
• Most sulfur stored in rocks and minerals
• Enters atmosphere through:
– Volcanic eruptions and processes
– Anaerobic decomposition in swamps,
bogs, and tidal flats
– Sea spray
– Dust storms
– Forest fires
 Sulfur dioxide
in atmosphere
Sulfuric acid
and Sulfate
deposited as
acid rain

Burning Refining
Smelting
coal fossil fuels
Sulfur
Dimethyl in animals
sulfide (consumers)
a bacteria
byproduct

Sulfur
in plants
(producers)
Mining and Uptake
extraction Decay by plants
Sulfur
in ocean Decay
sediments

Processes Sulfur
in soil, rock
Reservoir
and fossil fuels
Pathway affected by humans
Natural pathway
Fig. 3-16, p. 54
 3-5 How Do Scientists Study
Ecosystems?
• Concept 3-5 Scientists use field
research, laboratory research, and
mathematical and other models to
learn about ecosystems.
 Field Research
• Collecting data in the field by
scientists
• Remote sensing devices
• Geographic information systems
(GIS)
 Laboratory Research
• Simplified model ecosystems
– Culture tubes
– Bottles
– Aquariums
– Greenhouses
– Chambers with controllable abiotic factors
• How well do lab experiments correspond
with the greater complexity of real
ecosystems?
 Scientific Studies of
Ecosystems
• Models
– Mathematical
– Computer simulations
• Models need to be fed real data
collected in the field- baseline data
• Models must determine relationships
among key variables
 Baseline Data to Measure
Earth’s Health
• Needed to measure changes over
time
• Lacking for many ecosystems
• Call for massive program to develop
baseline data
 Core Case Study
In class assignment

• Tropical Rainforests are Disappearing

• Where are tropical rainforests found? Near equator
• How much of the earth’s land surface do they cover? No more than 6%
Studies indicate they contain up to _50%__ of the world’s known
terrestrial plant and animal species
• Define ecosystems: communities of organisms interacting with one
another and with the physical environment of matter and energy in which
they live
• About _half__ of these forests have been destroyed by humans
 Core Case Study:
Tropical Rainforests Are Disappearing (2)
• Consequences of disappearing tropical
rainforests
1. Decreased biodiversity as species become
extinct
2. Accelerated global warming: fewer trees to
remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
3. Changes regional weather patterns: can lead
to increase in tropical grasslands
• Ecological tipping point- Point in development of an
environmental problem where a threshold level is
reached, causing an irreversible shift in the behavior of a
natural system.
• What is the ecological tipping point for this case study?
Once the tropical rain forests are cleared, local weather
patterns change so that rainforests can no longer be
supported; areas become much less diverse tropical
grasslands