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Ecosystems & Communities:Organisms and their Environments
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Ecosystems have living and non-living components
What are ecosystems?
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What is an Ecosystem?• A community of biological organisms plus the non-
living components with which the organisms interact.• Living organisms are not self-sufficient. They need
energy and raw materials.
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What is an Ecosystem?• The biotic environment consists of all the living
organisms within an area and is often referred to as a community.
• The abiotic (aka non-living or physical) environment, often referred to as the organisms’ habitat, consists of:• the chemical resources of the soil, water, and air,
such as carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus• the physical conditions, such as the temperature,
salinity (salt level), moisture, humidity, and energy sources
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Which scenario below exemplifies an ecosystem?1. A group of organisms of the same species living in the
same place at the same time2. Different species interacting together at the same
place and time3. Different species interacting with each other at the
same time in a desert4. A smaller species living on a larger species in a
mutually beneficial relationship
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Take-Home Message• An ecosystem is all of the living organisms in a habitat
as well as the physical environment. • Ecosystems are found not just in obvious places such as
ponds, deserts, and tropical rainforests but also in some unexpected places, like the digestive tracts of organisms or the shell of a beetle.
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Challenge Question• An ecosystem is made of two components: the biotic
environment, or community, consisting of the living organisms within an area, and the physical environment, or the habitat in which these organisms live.
• A habitat consists of its chemical resources of the soil, water, and air as well as its physical conditions. • List some of the aspects that make up the physical
conditions of a habitat.
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Ecosystems have living and non-living components
15.2 A variety of biomes occur around the world, each determined by temperature and rainfall.
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A variety of biomes occur around the world, each determined by temperature and rainfall.• What is the average temperature?• What is the average rainfall (or other precipitation)?• Is the temperature relatively constant or does it vary
seasonally?• Is the rainfall relatively constant or does it vary
seasonally?
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Tropical Rain Forest
• forest of tall trees in a region of year-round warmth• ~ 125 to 660 cm yearly rainfall• temperature ranges from 20 °C - 34 °C• average humidity 77 - 88%• rainfall > 250 cm/year (may be a brief dry season) • almost all rain forests lie near the equator
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Tropical Rain Forest
• < 6% of Earth's land surface• > 50% of all the world's plant and animal species live in
tropical rain forests• produce ~40% of Earth's oxygen• ~70% of the plants in the rainforest are trees• ~25% of all the medicines we use come from rainforest
plants
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Tropical Rain Forest
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Indicator Species
• any biological species that defines a trait or characteristic of the environment• may delineate an ecoregion • could indicate an environmental condition such as
a disease outbreak, pollution, species competition or climate change
• can be among most sensitive species in a region; sometimes act as early warning to monitoring biologists
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Tropical Rain Forest – Indicator Plant Species
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Tropical Rain Forest – Indicator Animal SpeciesGorilla
Gorilla gorilla
Orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus)
Spider MonkeyAteles geoffreyi
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Tropical Rain Forest – Indicator Animal Species2-toed sloth
Cholepus hoffmanni
Three-toed Sloth (Bradypus variegatus) with baby - Costa Rica
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Tropical Rain Forest – Indicator Animal Species
Collared AracariPteroglossus torquatus
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Grasslands (Prairie)
• 2 different types • tall-grass: humid & very wet• short-grass: dry; hotter summers and colder winters
than the tall-grass prairie• found in middle latitudes in the interiors of continents• either moist continental climates or dry subtropical
climates• Argentina - grasslands are known as pampas• grasslands in southern hemisphere tend to get more
precipitation than those in the northern hemisphere
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Grasslands (Prairie)
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Grasslands (Prairie)• temperatures range from -40° F 70° F• growing season and a dormant season
• growing season is when there is no frost and plants can grow (which lasts from 100 to 175 days)• tropical and subtropical grasslands the length of
the growing season is determined by how long the rainy season lasts
• temperate grasslands the length of the growing season is determined by temperature (≥ 50° F)
• dormant (not growing) season: nothing can grow because its too cold
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Grasslands (Prairie)• average rainfall per year ranges from 10 - 30 inches
• tropical and sub-tropical grasslands: average rainfall per year ranges from 25 - 60 inches
• amount of rainfall is very important in determining which areas are grasslands • hard for trees to compete with grasses in places
where the uppers layers of soil are moist during part of the year but where deeper layer of soil are always dry.
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Grasslands (Prairie)
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Grasslands– Indicator Plant SpeciesOld Field Habitat, Ohio
Grassland, North Dakota
Ironweed (Vernonia sp.) with Hedge Bindweed
Vine (Calystegia sepium)
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Grasslands– Indicator Plant Species
Ironweed (Vernonia sp.)
Joe Pye WeedEupatorium purpureum
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Grasslands – Indicator Plant Species
Common TeaselDipsacus fullonum Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus carota)
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Grasslands – Indicator Animal Species
Bison (Bison bison) on the range, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota
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Grasslands – Indicator Animal Species
Przewalski's horse (Equus caballus przewalskii), The Wilds, Ohio
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Grasslands – Indicator Animal Species
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Taiga• Russian word for forest • largest biome in the world• Eurasia, North America• located just below the tundra biome• many coniferous trees • aka boreal forest; Boreal was the Greek goddess of the
North Wind
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Taiga• winter temperature range is -54 to -1° C (-65 to 30° F)• summer: -7° C (20° F) to 21° C (70° F)• summers are very short (50 - 100 frost free days) • average yearly precipitation: 30 - 85 cm (12 - 33 in)• main seasons are winter and summer
• spring and autumn are very short • weather is either hot and humid or very cold
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Taiga
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Taiga – Indicator Plant Species
Balsam FirAbies balsamea
Black SprucePicea mariana
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Taiga – Indicator Plant Species
Jack PinePinus banksiana
Paper BirchBetula papyrifera
White PoplarPopulus alba
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Taiga – Indicator Animal Species
American Black BearUrsus americanus
Bald EagleHaliaeetus leucocephalus
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Taiga – Indicator Animal Species
Long-eared OwlAiso otus
Snowshoe RabbitLepus americanus
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Desert• cover about one fifth of Earth's land surface
• hot and dry: near Tropic of Cancer/Tropic of Capricorn• cold: near the Arctic
• temperature• hot & dry: ~ 25° C to ~ 49° C• cold: -2 to 4° C (winter) 21 to 26° C (summer)
• precipitation • hot & dry: very little rainfall and/or concentrated
rainfall in short periods between long rainless periods (< 15 cm/year)
• cold: 15 - 26 cm/year
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Desert
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Desert – Indicator Plant Species
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Desert – Indicator Plant Species
Saguaro Cactus Carnegiea gigantea
Fishhook Cactus Mammillaria microcarpa
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Desert – Indicator Plant Species
Trichomes
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Desert – Indicator Animal Species
Zebratail Lizard - Callisaurus draconides
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Desert – Indicator Animal Species
Rock hyrax (Procavia capensis)
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Desert – Indicator Animal Species
Bactrian Camel, Camelus bactrianus
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Temperate Deciduous Forest
• temperature: 0 - 20 C• precipitation: ~ 50 – 200 cm/year
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Temperate Deciduous Forest
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Temperate Deciduous ForestIndicator Plant Species
Oaks (Quercus sp.)
Dutchman's-BreechesDicentra cucullaria
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Temperate Deciduous ForestIndicator Plant Species
SassafrasSassafras albidum
RedbudCercis canadensis
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Temperate Deciduous Forest – Succession• orderly succession of communities to a climax
community (biome)• two main types of succession:
• primary succession: begins with bare rock exposed by geologic activity
• secondary succession: begins on soil from which previous community has been removed (by fire, agriculture, etc.)• secondary succession can proceed much faster
because the soil has been prepared by the previous community
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Temperate Deciduous ForestIndicator Animal Species
American ToadBufo americanus
Box Turtle
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Temperate Deciduous ForestIndicator Animal Species
Eastern Chipmunk Tamias striatus
Eastern Gray SquirrelSciurus carolinensis
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Temperate Deciduous ForestIndicator Animal Species
Yellow-breasted chatIcteria virens
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Tundra• annual average temperature < 5 C• precipitation (mostly in the form of snow) < 100 mm/year• summer is brief
• temperatures above freezing last only a few weeks at most
• "warm" summer coincides with periods of almost 24 hour daylight, so plant growth can be explosive
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Tundra
Anaktuvuk Pass, Alaska
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Tundra – Indicator Plant Species
Arctic Tundra Wildflowers - Alaska
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Tundra – Indicator Plant Species
Lichen
Polytrichum Moss(photographed in Ohio, not on the
Tundra)
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Tundra – Indicator Animal Species
Reindeer Rangifer tarandus
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Tundra – Indicator Animal Species
Caribou On Autumn Tundra Denali National Park Alaska
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Savanna• rolling grassland scattered with shrubs and isolated trees
• found between a tropical rainforest and desert biome• not enough rain falls on a savanna to support forests• found in a wide band on either side of the equator on
the edges of tropical rainforests• warm temperature year round• very long dry season (winter): ~ 10 cm rain; none at all
from Dec - Feb• very wet season (summer): ~ 35-65 cm rain
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Savanna
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Savanna – Indicator Plant Species
BaobabAdansonia digitata
Umbrella Thorn AcaciaAcacia tortillis
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Savanna – Indicator Animal Species
Savanna ElephantLoxodonta africana
Black MambaDendroaspis polylepis
LionPanthera leo
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Chaparral• winter: mild and moist, but not rainy• summer: very hot and dry. • annual temperature range: between -1° and 38° C• annual precipitation: ~ 25-45 cm, mostly in the winter
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Chaparral
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Chaparral – Indicator Plant Species
Blue OakQuercus douglasii
Common SagebrushArtemisia tridentata
Olive TreeOlea europaea
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Chaparral – Indicator Animal Species
Black-tailed JackrabbitLepus californicus
Golden JackalCanis aureus
Spotted SkunkSpilogale gracilis
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The Freshwater Biome• low salt concentration — usually less than 1%• plants and animals in freshwater regions are adjusted to
the low salt content and would not be able to survive in areas of high salt concentration (i.e., ocean)
• 3 different types of freshwater regions:• ponds and lakes• streams and rivers• wetlands
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The Freshwater Biome – Ponds and Lakes
From left: a view across Manzanita Lake toward Mt. Lassen, California; a forest pond near Donnelly, Idaho; a Great Blue Heron; Paranagat Lake, southeastern Nevada.
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The Freshwater Biome – Streams and Rivers
From left: McArthur-Burney Falls State Park, California; trout; Green River, Utah; Brooks River, Alaska.
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The Freshwater Biome - Wetlands
From left: Pescadero Marsh, California; coastal marsh at Umpqua Dunes, Oregon; trees and bogs on Esther Island, Alaska.
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The Marine Biome• cover about three-fourths of the Earth's surface • marine algae supply much of the world's oxygen supply
and take in a huge amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide
• evaporation of the seawater provides rainwater for the land
• 3 different types of marine regions:• oceans• coral reefs• estuaries
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The Marine Biome - Oceans
From left: mussels, worms, and a spider crab at a hydrocarbon seep community in the Gulf of Mexico; a sea fan and brain coral in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary; a school of Atlantic amberjack off North Carolina.
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The Marine Biome – Coral Reefs
From left: reef life in the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea; a reef at Fanning Island atoll in the central Pacific; a reef in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
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The Marine Biome - Estuaries
From left: Mangrove roots, south Florida; wetlands and tidal streams in the Ashe Island area, ACE Basin National Estuarine Research Reserve, South Carolina; a salt marsh in Winyah Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, South Carolina.
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Ecological Notes
These are the biomes, in order of their productivity (highest first)
1. estuaries and tropical rain forest (highest)2. temperate forest3. agricultural land4. temperate grassland5. lakes and streams6. coastal zone7. tundra8. open ocean9. desert (lowest)
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Ecological Notes
In order to be productive and have a lot of living material standing around (biomass), an ecosystem has to have 4 basic necessities for plant life to thrive (if there are enough plants, the ecosystem will also support a lot of animals). The four things are:
1. Sunlight2. Nutrients3. Warm temperatures4. Water
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Take-Home Message• Biomes are the major ecological communities of earth,
characterized mostly by the vegetation present. • Different biomes result from differences in temperature
and precipitation, and the extent to which they vary from season to season.
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Challenge Question• Terrestrial biomes are determined by the temperature
and precipitation amounts as well as whether those factors are constant or vary by season.
• By contrast, how are aquatic biomes determined?
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Energy and chemicals flow within ecosystems
Energy flows from producers to consumers.
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First Stop: Primary Producers
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First Stop: Primary Producers• ecosystem: producers or consumers
• primary producers: plants, algae (some), bacteria • convert light energy from sun into chemical energy
through photosynthesis• chemical energy = food
• consumers eat or absorb their food• energy stored in chemical bonds of carbohydrate,
protein, and lipid molecules is captured and harnessed for consumers’ own movement, reproduction, and growth
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Second Stop: Primary Consumers – the Herbivores
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Third Stop: Secondary Consumers – the Carnivores
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Fourth Stop: Tertiary Consumers – the “Top” Carnivores
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Food Chain
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Food Web
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Food Web
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Food Chains & Food Webs• A change in one link in a food chain will affect the other
links. • The table on the next slide gives one example of a food
chain and the trophic levels represented in it:
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Food Chains & Food Webs
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GRASS
GRASSHOPPER
TOAD
SNAKE
HAWK
BACTERIA
IN GENERAL,
AUTOTROPHS (PRODUCERS)
HERBIVORES(PRIMARY
CONSUMERS)
CARNIVORES(2, 3, ETC.)
DECOMPOSERS
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Chain Reaction Game
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Energy Flows through a Food Web• Losses at every “step” in a food chain
• Inefficiency of energy transfers
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A grasshopper eats a plant. A mouse eats the grasshopper. A snake eats the mouse. A hawk could eat the snake or the mouse. In this food web, how would we categorize the hawk?
1. Producer2. Primary consumer3. Secondary consumer4. Tertiary consumer5. Quaternary consumer6. 4 and 5
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Take-home message• Energy from the sun passes through an ecosystem in
several steps. • First, it is converted to chemical energy in
photosynthesis. • Herbivores then consume the primary producers, the
herbivores are consumed by carnivores, and the carnivores, in turn, may be consumed by top carnivores.
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Take-home message• Detritivores and decomposers extract energy from
organic waste and the remains of organisms that have died.
• At each step in a food chain, some usable energy is lost as heat.
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Energy and chemicals flow within ecosystems
Energy pyramids reveal the inefficiency of food chains.
Biomass• biomass: total weight of all living organisms in a given
area• only about 10% of the plants in an ecosystem is
converted into biomass• Food Energy Pyramid
• flow of energy through a food chain• trophic level: position that an organism occupies in a
food chain - what it eats, and what eats it• African savannas and grasslands sustain more species
of higher-order carnivores than any other terrestrial ecosystem
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Food Energy Pyramids• flow of energy through a food chain• trophic level: position that an organism occupies in a
food chain - what it eats, and what eats it
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You go out to eat at a fancy restaurant. You have a salad, salmon, and for dessert ice cream! Which part of the meal was the most energy efficient food for you to eat?
1. Salad 2. Salmon3. Ice cream 4. 2 and 3
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Take-home message• Energy from the sun passes through an ecosystem in
several steps known as trophic levels. • Energy pyramids reveal that the biomass of primary
producers in an ecosystem tends to be far greater than the biomass of herbivores.
• The biomass transferred at each step along the food chain tends to be only about 10% of the biomass of the organisms being consumed, due to energy lost in cellular respiration.
• As a consequence of this inefficiency, food chains rarely exceed four levels.
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Energy and chemicals flow within ecosystems
Essential chemicals cycle through ecosystems.
Chemical Reservoirs• Each chemical is stored in a non-living part of the
environment.
• Organisms acquire the chemical from the reservoir, a non-living part of the environment.
• The chemical cycles through the food chain (biogeochemical cycles).
• Eventually, the chemical is returned to the reservoir.
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The Most Important Chemical Cycles
1) Carbon2) Nitrogen3) Phosphorus4) Sulfur
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Fossil Fuels• created when large numbers of organisms die and are
buried in sediment lacking oxygen• In absence of oxygen, at high pressures, and after very
long periods of time, organic remains are ultimately transformed into coal, oil, and natural gas
• burning coal, oil, and natural gas releases large amounts of carbon dioxide• increases average CO2 concentration in the
atmosphere• current level of CO2 in the atmosphere is the highest it
has been in almost half a million years
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Global CO2 levels are rising in general, but they also exhibit a sharp rise and fall within each year – why?
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Fertilizers• Because it is necessary for the production of every plant
protein, and because all nitrogen must first be made usable by bacteria, plant growth is often limited by nitrogen levels in the soil.
• For this reason, most fertilizers contain nitrogen in a form usable by plants.
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Sulfur Cycle• component of protein • cycles in both a gas and sedimentary cycle• source : earth's crust• enters the atmosphere as hydrogen sulfide (H2S)
during fossil fuel combustion, volcanic eruptions, gas exchange at ocean surfaces, decomposition
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Sulfur Cycle• H2S is immediately oxidized to sulfur dioxide (SO2) • SO2 + water vapor H2SO4 (falls to earth in rain) • sulfur in soluble form is taken up by plant roots,
incorporated into amino acids such as cysteine• travels through food chain • eventually released through decomposition
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How is carbon recycled back to the atmosphere in the carbon cycle?
1. It is “fixed” by bacteria.2. It is a product of cellular respiration.3. Burning of fossil fuels.4. 2 and 3.5. All of the above.
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Why do commercial fertilizers usually contain usable forms of nitrogen and phosphorous?
1. These chemicals are not efficiently recycled in the soil.
2. Nitrogen and phosphorous need to be “fixed” by bacteria or the plant.
3. Nitrogen and phosphorous are found at high levels in the atmosphere but not in the soil.
4. Nitrogen and phosphorous only enter the soil through erosion.
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Take-home message• Chemicals essential to life—including carbon,
nitrogen, and phosphorus—cycle through ecosystems.
• They are usually captured from the atmosphere, soil, or water by growing organisms; passed from one trophic level to the next as organisms eat other organisms; and returned to the environment through respiration, decomposition, and erosion.
• These cycles can be disrupted as human activities significantly increase the amounts of the chemicals utilized or released to the environment.
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Symbiotic Relationships• Symbiosis: close relationship between organisms of
two different species• At least one participant gains some sort of benefit
(usually nutritional)• Types of symbiosis:
• Parasitism• Commensalism• Mutualism• Predation
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Parasitism• Parasite derives nutrition from the host• This harms the host but a true parasite does
not usually kill its host (directly)
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Ectoparasites
Remain outside the hostTicks, fleas, leeches
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Endoparasites
Live inside the host’s bodyTapeworms, malarial parasites
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Parasite Transmission• Many parasites live on or in a single organism• Some will alternate between 2 or more host species
• Vertical transmission – from mother offspring• Horizontal transmission – between members of a
population• Direct contact (head lice)• Vectors (mosquitos)
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Commensalism• Neither species is totally dependent on the other• One benefits – no effect on the other• Feeding or protection• Porcelain anemone crabs and anemones
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Mutualism• Both species benefit• Food or shelter• Examples:
• Plants and microbes (rhizobium in root nodules)• Plants and fungi (orchids and mycorrhizae) • Protists and fungi (lichen)• Plants and insects (pollination)• Animals and bacteria (ruminants)• Animals and other animals (crocodiles and plover
birds)
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Rhizobium
Rhizobium in root nodules of certain plants convert nitrogen in soil to usable form.
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Orchid/ Mycorrhizae
Fungi aid the plant in the uptake of nutrients.Fungi ingest some of the food from plant photosynthesis 136
Lichen
Most of the lichen is composed of fungal filaments, but living among the filaments are algal cells, usually from a green alga or a cyanobacterium.The lichen fungus provides its partner(s) a benefit (protection) and gains nutrients in return.
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Ruminants
Ruminants are characterized by their four-chambered stomach and "cud-chewing" behavior. Cud is a food bolus that is regurgitated, rechewed, and reswallowed. The rumen is a large fermentation vat containing billions of microorganisms, including bacteria and protozoa, which allow ruminants to digest fibrous feeds such as grass and hay that other animals cannot efficiently utilize. 138
Crocodiles & Plover Birds
The bird gets into the crocodile's mouth and picks out the tiny bits of food stuck in his teeth, then eats it (the tiny bits). This cleans the crocodile's teeth and keeps his mouth fresh and free from infections.
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THANK YOU TO…• http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org• http://www.marietta.edu/~biol/biomes/biome_main.htm• http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/exhibits/biomes/• http://www.tburg.k12.ny.us/mcdonald/foodch1.htm• http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/F/FoodChain
s.html• http://
www.slideshare.net/musselburghgrammar/symbiotic-relationships• http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/scic/ReferenceDetailsPage/
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