ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

Hand-out No. 2: Ecology

Hand-out No. 2 ECOLOGY Time Frame: 3 hours

Learning Objectives
 Discuss the concepts used in ecology and how it is the study of relationships between organisms and their
environment.
 Explain the different biogeochemical cycles
 Discuss the different types of ecosystem

Content Outline
1. Useful Definitions
2. Functional Concepts of Ecology
3. Ecosystem
4. Biogeochemical Cycles
5. Biodiversity

Ecology can be defined as the study of living organisms like plants and animals in relation to each other and
the non-living environment in which they live. It has been derived from two Greek words ‘oikos’ meaning house
habitat or place of living, and ‘logos’ meaning study.

The environment has been classified as:

 Living or biotic environment: It consists of plants, animals and micro-organisms.
 Physical or abiotic environment: It consists of external physical factors like temperature, water, minerals,
wind, gases and many types of radiations.
This abiotic environment influences the biotic one and the living beings change, influence or deteriorate the
non-living ones. For example we consume the food and after extraction of energy out of it we defecate the fecal
material. That putrescible organic matter decomposes and gets stabilized into inorganic matter. This organic
matter is taken up by the plants, trees in the form of minerals, nutrients, micro-nutrients and again they make the
food for us. So there is a chain or a cycle in which the living and non-living beings are tied with each other.

USEFUL DEFINITIONS
 Species: It is a group of animals or plants subordinate in classification to genus and having members that
can interbreed and that differ only in minor details.
 Community: A set of population living together in an environment.
 Niche: The role of each species in an ecosystem is fixed and that is known as its Niche. Role means what it
does, what it eats, who eats it where does it go i.e. the total range of its interaction with other species is the
niche.
 Habitat: It is the requirement of residence item, i.e. range of temperature, moisture etc. It is the abiotic
environment within a certain range of tolerance.
 NOTE: According to E P. Odum, habitat is the organism’s address and niche is its profession.
 Ecosystem: An ecosystem is defined as a natural functional ecological unit comprising of living organisms
(biotic community) and their non-living environment that interact to form a stable self - sustaining system.
 Population: It is the total assemblage of interbreeding individuals of a given species found in any ecosystem
under study. A species may have many populations.
 Environment: Environment comprises of the several interrelated and dynamic factors, some of which
become critical in the growth, development and multiplication of the organisms.
 Organisms: The different types of organisms living in a particular environment are not only independent and
mutually reactive but also react with the environment. The organisms have sufficient plasticity to modify
themselves according to changing environment by modifications in somatic (physical) structures (ecads) or
genetic characters (ecotypes).
 Succession: The changing environment leads to the exit of pre-existing species when it does not suite
them, and invasion of new and more vigorous species, resulting in plant succession. The process continues
till the development of a new stable and adjustable for equilibrium community. The final stage of developed
community is called a climax community.

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Hand-out No. 2: Ecology

 Biome: The complex of several communities in any area, some at climax and others at different stages of
succession, under same climatic conditions is known as a biome.

FUNCTIONAL CONCEPTS OF ECOLOGY

 Ecosystem: The basic structural and functional units of nature are ecosystems.
 Ecological niche: Every biological community consists of a number of organisms or populations, which
occupies a specific volume of the habitat circumscribed by the interaction of various factors and tropic levels
of the organisms. This is called as the ecological niche.
 Biogeochemical cycling: The chemical components of the ecosystem move in defined cycles, which are
regulated by the biological cycles.
 Limiting factors: Successful growth of the organisms is governed by limiting factors. For this an organism
requires various essential factors from its environment. The levels of tolerance for all ecological factors of a
species vary seasonally, geographically and according to the age of the population.

ECOSYSTEM
Every ecosystem has the following components:
1. Abiotic environment
The non-living environment such as the air water soil and the basic elements and compounds. These
non-living substances enter the body of living organisms, take part in metabolic activities and come out.
This portion of the ecosystem can be further divided in three parts:
(i) The climatic regime and physical factors like temperature humidity etc.
(ii) Inorganic substances such as water, carbon, nitrogen etc.
(iii) Organic substances like fat, proteins, carbohydrates etc. which are the part of living bodies
and are the links between the biotic and abiotic components.
2. Producers: The energy transducers which convert solar energy into chemical energy with the help of
water and carbon dioxide and organic substances such as enzymes are called as producers. These
producers are autotrophic means self-nourishing.
3. Consumers: These are the heterotrophic (hetero = others, trophic = nourishing) organisms mainly the
animals including the human beings.
Consumers are called as herbivores if they are plant eaters and carnivores if they are flesh eaters like
lion tigers etc.
4. Decomposers: These are also heterotrophic organisms but depend upon dead animals (organic
matter) for their food.
They are mainly microorganisms like bacteria, and fungi. They break down complex organic matter like
cellulose, proteins etc. found in the plant and animal body into simple substances used by the
producers.

Any self- sustaining unit of the nature can be recognized as ecosystem if it has these four components,
namely abiotic substances, producers, consumers and decomposers.
The ecosystems are smaller than the biomes as a biome can be considered as a group of many similar
ecosystems. However the ecosystem may be as large as the Sahara desert and as small as a puddle (small dirty
pool of rain water).

BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES
Earth is a closed system as far as mass is concerned. Energy is open system, everyday added up,
depending upon the distance from equator. These are the main components of the cyclic operations in an
ecosystem:
 Geophysical
 Hydrological
 Chemical
 Biological

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Geophysical Cycle
The earth’s physical cycles are the geophysical cycles. The core of the earth is a molten mass and the
crust has land, sea and ice. Figure 2.1 shows the geological cycle of the earth.

Figure 2.1 The Geological Cycle (Gaur, 2008, p. 125)

Hydrological Cycle
The hydrological cycle or water cycle, driven by the sun’s energy, provides continual regeneration of
fresh water by evaporation from land and sea. Snow and rain condense from this evaporated water. Figure 2.2
shows the major movements of water through the natural environment.

Figure 2.2 The Hydrologic or Water Cycle (Berthouex, 2013, p. 36)

Figure .3 shows that 99% of all water on earth is not directly available for human use. About 97% of the total is
saline (oceans). Almost 68.7% of the fresh water on earth exists as ice in glaciers and icecaps and 30.1% is
groundwater. That leaves 0.9% of the total as surface water. Of this small fraction, only 2% is in rivers, 87% is in
lakes, and 11% is in swamps. Almost one-quarter of the world’s population, 1.7 billion people, lives in regions
where groundwater is being used up faster than it can be replenished.

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Figure 2.3 Distribution of the Earth’s water (Berthouex, 2013, p. 37)

The industrial water cycle, shown in Figure 2.4, takes in clean water, uses and reuses it, and discharges
wastewater. Water from a river, lake, or well usually must be treated before use in boilers, condensers,
manufactured product formulation, or washing. Wastewater is treated for reuse or discharge.

Figure 2.4 The Industrial Water Cycle (Berthouex, 2013, p. 39)

An important use of water in industry is cooling. Cooling water may be used once and discharged, but
recirculation and reuse is more common. Figure 2.5 shows a recirculating cooling water system. The cooling is
caused by evaporation of a small amount (1—2%) of the circulating water.
One hundred percent closed-loop recirculation is not possible even in a system as simple as a cooling
water loop. The freshwater addition is called make-up water. The water that is removed, called blowdown, must
be discharged to a sewer or treated before discharge.

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Figure 2.5 Cooling water loop showing make-up water being added and blowdown being removed. (Berthouex, 2013, p. 40)

CHEMICAL CYCLE
There are many chemical cycles like carbon, nitrogen, etc.

Carbon Cycle
The Natural Carbon Cycle
Living organisms synthesize carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen into carbohydrates, fats and
proteins. Green plants consume carbon dioxide (CO2) and produce oxygen. When living organisms die, cellular
components are decomposed by microorganisms into smaller and simpler compounds. The decomposed
compounds may be mineralized to carbon dioxide and water, or to organic compounds such as methane or
acetic acid.
Oxygen and carbon are inextricably linked through the carbon cycle, as shown in Figure 2.6. Carbon is
removed from the atmosphere by photosynthesis and returned by respiration, mainly by bacteria and fungi that
decompose organic matter, and in lesser amounts are returned by the combustion of coal, wood, and petroleum.
The respiration of plant and animal life releases much smaller amounts of carbon dioxide.

Figure 2.6 The natural carbon cycle is linked to the oxygen cycle. (Berthouex, 2013, p. 41)

The Industrial Carbon Cycle

The carbon cycle is at the heart of discussions about the environment in the 21st century because of the
increasing atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2). CO2 is a green house gas. Scientists understood
that carbon dioxide, as well as methane and a few other gases, act to retain heat within the earth’s atmosphere
long before global warming became a critical issue.

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Another fact is that the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere has been increasing. The level today
has reached 400 parts per million by volume (ppmv) and is increasing by about 2.5 ppmv per year. (400 ppmv
measured at the Mauna Loa Observatory in May 2013.)
Burning coal, petroleum and natural gas emits roughly 73 billion metric tons of carbon per year. The
U.S. emissions are 29 tons/person (in 2006), which adds up to about 22% of the world total emissions. This
closely follows China, the current leader in CO2 emissions.

Nitrogen Cycle
Nitrogen of the atmosphere cannot be used by the plants directly. It has to be combined with other
elements (fixed) and then used by the plants. Important processes in the nitrogen cycle is shown in Figure 2.7.

Figure 2.7 The Nitrogen Cycle. (Berthouex, 2013, p. 45)

Nitrogen fixation is the process wherein N2 is converted to ammonium, or NH4+. This is the only way that
organisms can attain nitrogen directly from the atmosphere; the few that can do this are called nitrogen-fixing
organisms.
N2 → NH4+
In addition to nitrogen-fixing bacteria, high-energy natural events such as lightning, forest fires, and even hot lava
flows can cause the fixation of smaller, but significant, amounts of nitrogen. The high energy of these natural
phenomena can break the triple bonds of N2 molecules, thereby making individual N atoms available for
chemical transformation.
Nitrogen uptake happens when the ammonium (NH4+) produced by nitrogen-fixing bacteria is usually quickly
taken up by a host plant, the bacteria itself, or another soil organism and incorporated into proteins and other
organic nitrogen compounds, like DNA.
When organisms nearer the top of the food chain eat, we are taking up nitrogen that has been fixed initially by
nitrogen-fixing bacteria.
NH4+ → Organic N
When a plant or animal dies or an animal expels waste, the initial form of nitrogen is organic. Bacteria or fungi
convert the organic nitrogen within the remains back into ammonium (NH 4+), a process called ammonification
or mineralization.
Organic N → NH4+
Some of the ammonium produced by decomposition is converted to nitrate (NO 3-) via a process called
nitrification. The bacteria that carry out this reaction gain energy from it. Nitrification requires the presence of
oxygen, so nitrification can happen only in oxygen-rich environments like circulating or flowing waters and the
surface layers of soils and sediments.
NH4+ → NO3-
Denitrification is the reduction of nitrates back into the largely inert nitrogen gas, completing the nitrogen cycle.
NO3- → N2

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Phosphorus Cycle
All plants and animals need phosphorus to grow so every food contains phosphorus. No phosphorus,
no food! It is that simple.
Phosphorus is mined to make fertilizer that is spread on farmland in generous quantities and carried into
waterways by erosion and storm runoff. One consequence is over stimulation (eutrophication) of algal and weed
growth in lakes, reservoirs, and estuaries.
There is no gaseous form of phosphorus to move from water to land through the atmosphere.
Phosphorus is carried by sea birds back to the land, or by human harvesting of fish or aquatic plants. Figure 2.8
shows the phosphorus cycle.

Figure 2.8 The natural cycle of Phosphorus in water. (Berthouex, 2013, p. 47)

The Sulfur Cycle

The atmosphere is an important part of the sulfur cycle, shown in Figure 2.9. The major form of sulfur in
the atmosphere is sulfur dioxide (SO2), which can originate from natural causes (e.g. volcanoes), but mainly
comes from the combustion of coal and petroleum products. Sulfur dioxide reacts with water vapor in the air to
form sulfuric acid (H2SO4). Sulfide readily forms hydrogen sulfide (H2S), a smelly, toxic, and corrosive gas. It also
oxidizes to form sulfite (SO32-), or sulfate (SO42-). These forms can be reduced back to sulfide. So, like carbon
and nitrogen, sulfur can move freely between the air, biota, water, and soil.

Figure 2.9 The Sulfur Cycle. (Berthouex, 2013, p. 50)

MAJOR ECOSYSTEMS OF THE WORLD

Sea as an Ecosystem
About 70% of the earth is covered by the major oceans namely Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic and
Antarctic. Waves, tides currents, temperatures and pressures etc. determine the biological community in each
ocean. These factors decide about the bottom sediments and the gases in solution. The food chain of the sea

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comprises of small autotrophs to large creature like whale. The seas are the largest and thickest of ecosystems
since every square meter of sea has so many types of life forms and even the deep sea contains life.

Estuaries
The portion between the seas and continents is known as the estuary. So the estuary is an area at the
mouth of a river where it meets the sea. They have a diverse ecosystem of their own which is different than the
both. Salinity and temperature are the most important physical features. As it has an advantage of both
conditions so it has such species that are neither there in the sea nor in fresh water.

Streams and Rivers

They are the flowing fresh water bodies. Though a very small amount of the total water (0.0001%) flows
in the rivers, they are the lifelines for the human civilization. All the early civilizations started on the banks of
rivers. Although the total area of the rivers is much smaller than the seas, they are the most useful ecosystems
for the human beings.

Lakes and Ponds

These are the stagnant bodies of fresh water (sweet, surface water). The lakes and ponds are
comparatively younger in age. The abiotic factors of a pond or lake depends upon location and the surrounding
ecosystem. Generally, the species diversity is low in fresh water system.

The terrestrial Formations

Deserts
These are the biomes with less than 250 mm of annual rainfall. Deserts have about 17% of the total land
area on the earth. The rain fall in deserts is low and the evaporation rate is high. Generally, there are four
distinctive life forms in the deserts:
1. The annuals like cheat grass that avoids drought by growing only when there is sufficient moisture.
2. The desert shrub with numerous branches and small thick leaves. Sometimes with deep roots to absorb
moisture and store it before wilting.
3. The succulents, such as cacti that store water in their tissues.
4. Microflora such as mosses, lichens and blue green algae that remain action less in the soil in want of
favorable conditions.

Tundras
Tundras are barren grounds with very less biological productivity because of the cold conditions.
Rainfall is also low but not limiting factor for the less production as the evaporation is also low because of the low
temperature. The number of species is surprisingly higher as they have evolved remarkable adaptations to
survive the cold. They lie near the Arctic Ocean and the polar icecaps.

Grasslands
Tropical grassland may have 1500 mm rainfall in a wet season followed by a long dry spell. In the
grassland the dominant plant life are the grasses that range from tall species (1.5 m to 2.4 m) to short ones like
20 cm only.

Forest
The forests are complete ecosystems as are the seas. Some of the major types of forests are as
follows:
 Taiga forests: The taiga or boreal forests include the northern coniferous forests with cold climates at
high altitude. The rainfall is 100 mm to 350 mm and the average temperature varies from 6°C to 20°C
throughout the year.
 Temperate forests: They are found in slightly warmer climates. The annual rainfall is between 750 mm
to1500 mm.
 Tropical rainforest: This ecosystem is located in the equatorial regions where the average annual
temperature is more than 18°C and annual rainfall exceeds 1400 mm. They cover about 8% of the
earth’s surface and more than 50% of earth’s flora and fauna. Biodiversity is high.

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 Temperate shrub forest: These Mediterranean shrub forest are with drier climates and lower (winter)
rainfall followed by drought for rest of the year. The most important biome of this category is chaparral.
It is a miniature woodland dominated by dense stands of shrubs that seldom exceed a few meter of
height.
 Tropical savannah: These tropical seasonal forests occur where rainfall is high (1000 mm to 1500 mm)
but seasonal. They are warm climate plains with coarse grass and scattered trees.

BIODIVERSITY
It is the species diversity. If one species is removed from an ecosystem other that is dependent on it will
also go off. In an ecosystem nature has provided so many verities of plants, animals and micro-organisms that
live in harmony and dependence to each other. If some of them are extinct the whole system gets disturbed. The
system tries to adjust itself and succeeds many times but, may fail also.
In nature, prey-predator relationship should be maintained. Nature has planned everything in a
systematic and cyclic manner. Once, in U. S. A. wolf hunting became a fashion. Thousands of wolves were killed
in want of their skin, tail etc. This increased the population of deer and goats. As they moved around, the soil
near the rivers was eroded and filled in the rivers and its flood level increased very much.
This means a diverse community is required to sustain. If there are 5 earning members in a joint family
and all of them are say doctors. There is one more family in which one is doctor, one is engineer, one is a lawyer,
one is a businessmen and one is in police department. If the first family needs some medical help it is well and
good. But in case of any other emergency or help it is useless because everybody is a doctor only. Whereas the
second family shall stand even in case of any type of emergency and even otherwise shall make more progress.
So a diversified community is more strong and sustainable.

Basic Laws of Biodiversity

1. Greater is the stability of resources greater is the diversity. The ecosystem having all required
components for the production, sustaining and progress of the species has more potential of supporting
so many varieties (diversity).
2. Diversity increases as a function of climax. Whenever there is a climax, some other species come
forward to face that climax and remains there even after the elapse of that problem, thus increases the
diversity. For example if there is fixed temperature, dissolved oxygen and other conditions in a fishery,
only one set of fish shall flourish. If the conditions are changed most of them will die except a few that
can resist the changed conditions. These second type shall flourish until the conditions are normalized
and at the original favorable conditions again the first type shall flourish (with the remaining of second
type). So the climax increases the diversity.
3. The biomass production is proportional to the diversity. The production of biomass depends upon
the availability of resources like food water and shelter (mate).
4. Greater is the diversity greater is the stability. A system having a large number of species is more
stable. Think of a word without scavengers. In maintaining the ecosystem with respect to temperature,
moisture, salt balance (nutrients) diversity is necessary. As explained above only the diversified
community can survive against the adverse conditions, so they are stable.
5. Diversified communities exploit less diversified ones. In an ecosystem, evolution i.e. natural
change continues. Mutation, i.e. cross breeding, natural or forced is also there. The community that is
not able to adapt is automatically ruled out. In evolution survival of the fittest in species takes place.
Less strong does not reproduce. Only who can stand the challenge can survive. This is the basic theory
of evolution. So a community that is strong because of its diversity rules over the other which is not
diversified.

ACTIVITY: Write your answer on a short bondpaper. Only HANDWRITTEN answers will be accepted.

1. What is the effect of pollution in the hydrologic cycle?

2. Discuss which type of ecosystem is most affected by pollution.

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Hand-out No. 2: Ecology

3. Discuss further what is biodiversity and its importance in the environment.

Reference:

Gaur, R. C. (2008). Basic Environmental Engineering. 1st Edition

Berthouex, P.M., Brown, L.C. (2013) Pollution Prevention and Control: Part I. 1st Edition

Rubric No. 2 Assessing and Grading of Written Reports or Essay

1.0 2.0 3.0 5.0
Level Does not meet
Criteria* Exceeds expectations Meets expectations Needs improvement
expectations
The introduction is The introduction clearly The introduction clearly There is no clear
inviting, states the states the main topic and states the main topic or introduction of the main
main topic and position position and previews position but does not topic, position or
Introduction
and previews the the structure for the adequately preview the structure of the paper.
(10%)
structure for the paper. paper but is not structure of the paper nor
particularly inviting to the is it particularly inviting to
reader. the reader.
There is a clear, well- Answer is clear, but the Answer is somewhat The answer is not
focused answer to the supporting information is clear but there is a need clear. There is a
problem. The answer general. for more supporting seemingly random
Content
stands out and is information. collection of
(50%)
supported by detailed information which does
information. not relate at all to the
answer.
Writing has a Writing has a beginning, Writing is organized but Writing is aimless and
Organization/
compelling opening, an middle and an end. It is sometimes gets off topic. disorganized.
Conclusion
informative middle and organized but could be
(5%)
satisfying conclusions. more compelling.
Writer makes no errors Writer makes 1-2 errors Writer makes 3-4 errors Writer makes more
Grammar & in grammar or spelling in grammar or spelling in grammar or spelling than 4 errors in
Spelling that distracts the that distract the reader that distract the reader grammar or spelling
(5%) reader from the from this content. from the content. that distracts the
. content. reader from the
content.
The output is The output is The output is submitted The output is
Timeliness submitted on time. submitted a day after two days to a week submitted eight days
(30%) the set deadline. after the set deadline. after the set
deadline.

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