Ecosystems

An ecosystem is the community of living plant, animal and micro-organism species in an area (biotic) and
how they interact with each other and with non-living (abiotic) elements of the environment, like rocks,
soil and water.

- It includes different habitats. The larger the ecosystem, the greater their number
- A habitat: the location within an ecosystem that meets the living needs of particular plant or
animal species (shelter, water, food)
- Within the community, competition arises for resources and so every living thing evolves to
inhabit its own ecological nice within it. This refers to the unique way in which it is adapted to
living in the habitat, like the type of food it eats, its shelter requirements, etc.

Every organism occupies one of 5 trophic or feeding levels within a food chain. It represents a succession
of organisms that eat another organism and are, in turn, eaten themselves.

1) Producers: Plants or algae that can manufacture their own food from nutrients in soil or water
such as nitrates or through photosynthesis.
- Word equation for photosynthesis is: carbon dioxide + water -------------- sugar + oxygen
- Pollination: transfer of pollen grains through agents of pollination such as insects or the wind

2) Primary consumers: Animals are unable to manufacture their own food and need to eat other
organisms. Primary consumers are herbivores that feed on primary producers.
- They use aerobic respiration to release energy from food they consume. This occurs in
mitochondria cells where enzymes control the release of energy when glucose reacts chemically
with oxygen.

3) Secondary consumers: Animals that eat other animals or both plants and animals and obtain
their energy from food by way of aerobic respiration.

4) Tertiary consumers: These are organisms at the top of the food chain with no predators and are
capable of feeding on both primary and secondary consumers

5) Decomposers: Include worms, fungi and micro-organisms such as bacteria that feed on dead
matter and waste. They break down complex substances into simpler inorganic chemicals that
return to the abiotic environment as recycled mineral nutrients for producers to use again.

A food web is a better representation of the feeding relationships in an ecosystem and it shows how
living things are interconnected and interdependent.

Producers store the sun’s energy in chemical compounds such as proteins and carbohydrates. Herbivores
gain this store of energy when they eat plants. They use some of this energy in respiration and store the
remainder. In turn their energy store is ingested by primary and tertiary consumers who store the rest.
 - Stores of energy are greatest at the first trophic level and diminish steadily through the food
chain, as shown in a pyramid of energy.

Nutrient and chemical elements are transferred

between biotic and abiotic parts of an ecosystem. In
the carbon cycle, CO2 in the atmosphere is converted
to compounds such as carbohydrates for plants in
photosynthesis.

-This is known as carbon fixation: the

incorporation of carbon into organic
compounds by living organisms, chiefly by
photosynthesis in green plants.

Respiration in plants returns back some of this fixed

carbon back to the atmosphere as CO2. At each stage of the food chain more CO2 is released at different
levels through respiration of compounds like glucose.

Plants and oceans are known as carbon sinks, since CO2 is soluble in water dissolved under pressure.
Coral reefs bleach as water becomes acidic due to CO2 getting absorbed.

Examples of how organisms interact with each other are:

1) Competition: shortage of resources causing aggression

2) Predation: One organism preying on another as source of food
3) Pollination: pollen containing sperm cells is transported to female reproductive organs
4) Mutualism: Interaction involving both individuals benefitting from the activity of another
through a symbiotic relationship.

Ecosystems under threat: due to human activities

Loss of species result in a loss on the gene pools of individual species. Genes are found in nucleus and
provide description of the animal. It is passed down through inheritance from one generation to the
next.

A gene pool is the set of all the genes or genetic information of a particular species. As a species declines
in number so does its gene pool or genetic diversity.

- This results in inbreeding and problems adapting to new environments

Decline in biodiversity is also due to natural habitat loss. This is due to increased natural resource
exploitation, human actions and the conversion of land to farming.

DEFORESTATION:

It is the clear-cutting or permanent destruction of forests and woodlands.

Causes:
 - To farm land
- To get wood, which is important source in construction, furniture and paper manufacturing
- Remove forests to extract valuable rocks and minerals like gold deposits
- Rapid growth of cities
- Construction of new transport links

Impacts:

1) Habitat loss and depletion of biodiversity and gene pool diversity: impacts are greater in the
tropical rainforest since it is most productive and diverse ecosystem.
2) Global warming and climate change: Forests are huge carbon stores since CO2 is taken up from
the atmosphere during photosynthesis and used to produce chemical compounds that make up
the trees. Burning trees releases it, increasing temperatures as it’s a greenhouse gas.
3) Soil erosion: removal of the top layer of the soil which is the most fertile. Due to excess rainfall,
plants cannot grow as soil loses its nutrients, eventually changing into deserts with more sand
particles known as
4) Desertification: overgrazing is a cause of it and soil erosion

Functions:

- Carbon sinks, stores: tropical forests currently absorb CO2 released from burning of fossil fuels.
- Maintaining the water cycle: Energy from the sun heats the surface of the oceans, and water
evaporates as water vapour. Eventually falls as rain through precipitation. Trees take up water
through their roots. Water also evaporates through transpiration, from water exchange in the
stomata. When forests cut down, rainfall declines and results in droughts.
- Prevention of soil erosion. Trees protect soil from heavy rain, roots also create a strong
stabilizing network which binds it in place, preventing compaction.
- Biodiversity and genetic gene pools
- Food and industrial raw materials
- Ecotourism: brings income and create jobs

Measuring and managing biodiversity:

Managing these are important as they help us in a lot of things since each of them does a certain job. It
is important to converse biodiversity as they will go extinct or endangered.

Biodiversity is estimated through sampling several small locations to represent the whole community
and the data obtained is extrapolated (assumption or judgement)

It is important to use sampling methods to find out:

- Richness or total number of different species found in a community

- Diversity or variation between and within different species that make up this number.
- Distribution and density of different species across the habitat.

Quadrats
It consists of a square frame that may be subdivided into smaller squares and are used to identify the
number, variety and spread of living things within the frame.

A commonly used quadrat is one square metre. You find the mean/average per msq. You find that
number and multiply by the total number of msqs in the field.

Line transect

Laying a measuring tape or rope with marked points across the habitat. Continuous sampling is carried
out

Pooters

Small jars used for collecting insect species with two long tubes. The insect is sucked into the jar and fine
mesh prevents the person from swallowing it.

Pitfall traps

Buried and covered container, insects fall and are unable to climb back out.

Caution must be used when samples obtained using these techniques are extrapolated. Its validity will
be limited due to:

- Sample size: changes if 50 pooters were used rather than 10 within a habitat
- Sampling frequency: the experiment is done more than once
- Human error

Conserving biodiversity and genetic resources:

Sustainability of human life depends on the functioning of ecosystems

Sustainable harvesting of wild plant and animal species:

- Wild plants and animal species are required for food, research, cross-breed and crops
- Carefully regulated collection of leaves, plants, trees and animals in a manner that ensures the
long-term viability of the ecosystem by leaving the resources in place from which it will
continually regenerate.
- Not uprooting plants, taking only limited number of leaves and fruits and hunting outside of the
breeding season
- Creating artificial forests
- Taxidermy: preparing, stuffing and/or mounting an animal for display or study. It usually involves
arranging an animal's real skin over a fake body. It is a way of preserving the body.
- Sustainable forestry ensures that as trees are felled, they are replaced with seedlings that
replace the harvested trees.

Designating protected areas:

Establishing national parks, wildlife reserves to conserve biodiversity and protect landscapes. This
enhances the economic and social conditions of local communities
Biosphere reserves seek to demonstrate how a balance can be achieved in designated areas between
the conservation of biodiversity and improving the wellbeing of people through sustainable
development.

- Layout of the Biosphere:

1) Core Area: no one is allowed, most endangered, very protected. Monitoring can be done
2) Buffer zone: specifically for research, only some are allowed with permission
3) Transition Area: human activities, recreation and tourism can be done here

Extractive reserves: Land is owned by the government but responsibility for its use is allocated only to
the local people. Forest managers ensure balance between conserving biodiversity, exploitation of
resources and family-based agriculture.

This has succeeded in increasing economic prosperity and independence for local communities.

Seed banks:

Seeds of endangered plant species are collected

They protect biodiversity in case natural reserves are destroyed or reduced by disasters.