ECOSYSTEM

• ECOSYTEM

  • any unit that includes all the living things in an area, interacting w/ the physical environment
• Ecosystem

  • basic unit of study in Ecology
• Components of the ecosystem

  1. BIOTIC = living things

  2. ABIOTIC = non-living things; physical environment w/ interacting components
• Ecosystem

  • consists of the biological community that occurs in some locale, andthe physical and chemical factors that make up its nonliving or abiotic environment.
• Ecosystem - The study of ecosystems mainly consists of the study of certain processes that linkthe living, or biotic components.
• An ecosystem is a geographic area where plants, animals, and other organisms, aswell as weather and landscape, work together to form a bubble of life
• Levels of the Biosphere

  Ecosystem

  Community - is composed of many populations of species inhabiting an area.

  Population - is a group of one species of organism.

  Species - group of genetically similar organisms that can interbreed w/ one another
• Ecosystem is a more or less independent part of the biosphere, it may be the smallest pond, a forest, lake, river, grassland and an ocean
• A pond in recreational parks is an artificial ecosystem while an agricultural farm isconsidered a managed ecosystem.
• Ecosystems may also differ in composition, species diversity, abundance andvariation in borders of habitat but all these ecosystems have the same ecologicalprocesses such as nutrient cycling and feeding relationship.
• Biosphere - The region on earth where there is life.


  -It extends high into the atmosphere, to the bottom of the ocean, and deep down intocaves.

  -It includes the oceans, rivers, solid sediments, the atmosphere and other areaswhere living organisms can be found.
• Ecosystem are conveniently divided into habitat and the living things or the community
• Habitat

  -A place in which you find animals and plants

  -Space that the organism inhabits, the place where it lives.

  -The kinds of animals and plants that can live in a habitat obviously depend uponwhat the habitat is like and on the climatic and edaphic factors (resulting from orinfluenced by the soil rather than the climate)

  -This also depends upon what other animals and plants that live there.

  -Large plants like acacia trees may provide shelter for animals against extremes ofclimate, but they could also prevent some plants from getting enough light forphotosynthesi
• Community

  -Interacting groups of different species

  -Consists of all the animals and plants living in one habitat

  -Different animals and plants will affect each other by competition, predation, grazing,sheltering, etc

  -Population of all plants, animals and microorganisms living and interacting togetherin one area at a particular time
• Hierarchy in an Ecosystem

  1. Species
  2. Population
  3. Community
• Biome = a discrete community that is conveniently recognized (i.e. by their dominantvegetation as in terrestrial biomes) eg. grassland biome, rainforest biome, coniferous forestbiome.
• Biotic Components

  -Made up of biological components consisting of living and dead plants, animals andmicroorganisms

  -The Major Biological Components of Ecosystem
• Biotic Components

  1. Producers
  2. Consumers
• • Producers - also called Autotrophs. Produce their own food by photosynthesis
• Consumers- also called Heterotrophs
• Producers (Autotrophs)(self-feeders)


  Make their own food from compounds that are obtained from their environment
• Producers are the source of all food in an ecosystem
• Producers on land

  • Green plants
• Producers in freshwater and marine ecosystems

  • Algae
  • Plants
• Dominant producers in open water

  • Phytoplankton (most of them microscopic) that float or drift in the water
• Photosynthesis


  Producers capture sunlight to make carbohydrates (such as glucose)
• Chemosynthesis


  A process where a few specialized bacteria can convert simple compounds from their environment into more complex nutrient compounds without sunlight
• Consumers (Heterotrophs)


  Get their energy and nutrients by feeding on other organisms or their remains
• Types of consumers

  • Primary consumers (herbivores)
  • Secondary consumers (carnivores)
  • Tertiary & other consumers
  • Omnivores
  • Decomposer or Detritivores
• Primary consumers

  • Eat producers (plants) as a source of food
• Secondary consumers or carnivores


  • Eat other animals
• Tertiary & other consumers


  • Eat the secondary & other consumers
• Omnivores


  • Have mixed diet that include both plants and animals
• Decomposer or Detritivores


  • Mostly certain types of bacteria and fungi that are specialized consumers that recycle organic matter in ecosystems
  • They do this by breaking down (biodegrading) dead organic material to get nutrients and releasing the resulting simple inorganic compounds into the soil and water, where they can be taken up as nutrients by producers
• Detritus


  Consisting of parts of dead organisms and cast-off fragments and wastes of living organisms
• Functional Components of the Ecosystem

  1. Energy Flow
  2. Food Chain & Food Web
  3. Biogeochemical Cycle
  4. Diversity and Cycle
  5. Cybernetics
• FOOD CHAIN = Linear series of food getting in the trophic levels
• ENERGY FLOW = Circuit of energy in ecosystem componentS
• FOOD WEB =Interlocking pattern of food chains
• BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES = Nutrient cycling in the ecosystem