Ch 55 Lecture Notes

Ecosystem
Biotic community of organisms in an area plus the abiotic environment affecting that
community
Ecosystems ecology
Concerned with movement of energy and material through organisms and their
communities
Ecosystems ecology: movement of energy and materials
Food chain: linear depiction of energy flow
In terrestrial food chains, plants usually producers
In aquatic food chains, phytoplankton usually producers
Food web: more realistic and more complex
Loss of energy with each trophic level can be viewed as a pyramid
Abundance and biomass usually follow a similar pattern with trophic level
Food webs and energy flow
Primary producers form base of food chain
Autotrophs
Harvest light or chemical energy
Store energy in carbon bonds
Consumers eat other organisms
Primary consumers eat primary producers (herbivores)
Secondary consumers eat primary consumers (carnivores)
Detritivores or decomposers eat detritus – unconsumed remains of animals,
plants, and waste products
Second Law of Thermodynamics
Energy conversions are not 100% efficient
In any transfer process some energy is lost
Energy is lost as it moves through food webs in two ways:
Production efficiency: energy lost within single trophic level
Trophic-level transfer efficiency: energy lost as it is transferred from one trophic
level to the next
Length of food chains limited by loss of energy with each level
Production efficiency: proportion of E incorporated into new biomass
Varies widely from ectotherms to endotherms
Energy lost to heat and in feces
Trophic-level transfer efficiency
Amount of energy at on trophic level acquired by trophic level above and incorporated
into biomass
Energy flow
Pyramid pattern
Usually applies to:
1. Numbers of organisms: the number of individuals per trophic level usually
decreases as you move to higher trophic levels
 2. Biomass: the amount of biomass per trophic level usually decreases as you
move to higher trophic levels
3. Energy flow: the rate of energy flow per trophic level must decrease as you
move to higher trophic levels
Energy flows through ecosystems
Nutrients are recycled
Decreased biomass near top of food chain can lead to biomagnification
Some chemicals accumulate in tissues of organisms
Concentrations magnified up food chain
Primary production
Gross Primary Productivity (GPP): carbon fixed during photosynthesis
Net primary productivity
GPP – R
R: energy lost during plant cellular respiration
Amount of energy available to primary consumers
Calculating primary production
GPP = carbon fixed through photosynthesis (gC/m2/year)
Net primary productivity (NPP) = GPP – E lost in plant cellular respiration
Primary production varies with location
Terrestrial ecosystems: mostly influenced by annual precipitation and temperature
Nutrients important locally
Aquatic systems: limited by light and nutrients
Influences on primary production
Water
Terrestrial systems: positive relationship between annual precipitation and
primary production
Temperature
Rate of evapotranspiration can predict above-ground primary production
Nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus)
Can be limiting
Species biomass or abundance limited by scarcest factor
Water
Positive relationship between annual precipitation and primary production
Temperature
Amount of water evaporation from plants dependent on water and temperature
Nutrients
Primary producers need carbon
And nitrogen, phosphorus, other elements
Influences on primary production
Aquatic ecosystem primary productivity limited by light and nutrient availability
Deep (no light) and open ocean (no nutrients) have low primary productivity
Secondary production: gain in biomass of heterotrophs and decomposers
Limited by primary production and transfer efficiency
Decomposers important in recycling materials and making nutrients available for primary
producers
Biogeochemical cycles
Movements of chemicals through ecosystems
Involves biological, geological, and chemical transport mechanisms
Phosphorus cycles locally between biological and geological pools
Phosphorus is limiting in most freshwater ecosystems
Eutrophication – elevated nutrient levels, which leads to overgrowth of algae
Nitrogen cycle is global and strongly influenced by biological processes
N2 abundant in atmosphere but few species can use it
Decomposers are very important to return nutrients to soil
Carbon cycles among biological, geological, and atmospheric pools
Water cycle: largely physical process of evaporation and precipitation
Deforestation can strongly affect the water cycle
Leads to
Desertification
Soil erosion
Affects patterns of water runoff