Introduction to Ecosystems

Ecology - the study of the interactions of organisms with their environment.

Variables Affecting Organisms

1. Biotic factors - encompasses all living organisms in a given area
2. Abiotic factors - Refers to non-living components of the environment, including physical
and chemical factors

Levels of Environmental Interaction

● Organism - individual
● Population - group of individuals
● Community - all organisms in an area
● Ecosystem - all organism and abiotic factors

Biosphere
● extends from the atmosphere to the depths of the oceans
● is all of the Earth that is inhabited by life

Solar radiation varies with latitude.

● Equatorial regions receive sunlight more directly
● Higher latitudes receive sunlight at more of a slant

Earth’s tilt causes seasons.

● June - Northern Hemisphere tips toward the sun
● December - Northern Hemisphere tipped away from the sun

Southern Hemisphere experiences opposite seasons.

The tropics are around the equator between latitudes 23.5 north and 23.5 south.

Uneven heating of the Earth causes rain and winds

● The direct intense solar radiation in the tropics near the equator has an impact on the
global patterns of rainfall and winds.
● The tropics experience the greatest annual input and least seasonal variation in solar
radiation.

Temperate zones are between the tropics

● Arctic circle in the north
● Antarctic circle in the south
● Have seasonal variations and moderate temperatures

Ocean currents - river-like flow patterns in the oceans

● Influenced by prevailing winds, the planet’s rotation, unequal heating of surface waters, and
the location and shapes of the continents

Climate and abiotic factors control global organism distribution.

● Result in biomes occupying broad geographic regions of land and water.
Aquatic biomes are shaped by the availability of light and nutrients.

Within the oceans

● Pelagic realm: open water.
● Benthic realm: seafloor.
● Aphotic zone: insufficient light for photosynthesis.
● Photic zone: sufficient light for photosynthesis.
○ Phytoplankton and coral reefs occur
○ Zooplankton - abundant in pelagic photic zone

Marine environment includes distinctive biomes where ocean meets land or freshwater.
● Intertidal zones are
○ pounded by waves during high tide
○ exposed to sun and drying winds during low tide
● Estuaries are productive areas where rivers meet the ocean.
● Wetlands are transitional between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.

Sunlight and substrate are key factors in the distribution of marine organisms.

Freshwater Biomes
● Current, sunlight, and nutrients are important abiotic factors
● cover less than 1% of Earth,
● contain less than 0.01% of its water,
● harbor 6% of all described species.
● include lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, and wetlands.

2 broad groups of Freshwater biomes

● standing water biomes (lakes and ponds)
● flowing water biomes (rivers and streams).

Terrestrial Biomes
● reflect regional variations in climate.
● grouped into nine major types distinguished primarily by their predominant vegetation.
● The distribution of plants and terrestrial biomes largely depends on climate factors like
temperature and precipitation.

Tropical Forests
● cluster near the equator
● experience warm temperatures, long days year-round, and variable rainfall
● complex biomes with enormous species diversity
● human destruction of tropical rain forests endangers many species

Savannas
● warm year-round
● dramatic seasonal variation
● 30–50 cm annual rainfall
● dominated by grasses and scattered trees
● inhabited by large grazing mammals and insects
Deserts
● driest terrestrial biomes with low and unpredictable rainfall
● Desertification, the conversion of semiarid regions to desert, is a significant environmental
problem.

Chaparral
● a shrubland with cool, rainy winters and hot, dry summers.
● Vegetation is adapted to periodic fires.

Temperate Grasslands
● treeless
● experience precipitation of about 25–75 cm per year, periodic droughts, and cold winters.
● North America - Historically grazed by large bison and pronghorn, now mostly replaced by
farms.

Temperate Broadleaf Forests

● Grow where there is sufficient moisture to support large trees.
● Experience wide-ranging temperatures and high annual precipitation.
● Original broadleaf forests in North America altered by agriculture and urban development.

Coniferous Forests
● Dominated by cone-bearing evergreen trees like spruce, pine, fir, and hemlock.
● Taiga is the largest terrestrial biome with long, cold winters and short, wet summers.
● Temperate rain forests of coastal North America are also coniferous forests.

Tundra
● Covers expansive Arctic areas between the taiga and the permanently frozen polar ice.
● treeless arctic tundra is characterized by permafrost, continuously frozen subsoil
● Experiences little precipitation

Polar Ice
● Covers land north of the tundra, much of the Arctic Ocean, and the continent of Antarctica.
● Temperatures are extremely cold year-round and precipitation is very low.
● The terrestrial polar biome is closely intertwined with the neighboring marine biome.

The global water cycle connects aquatic and terrestrial biomes.

Ecological subdivisions such as biomes are inked by

● nutrient cycles and the water cycle.
● Water in the form of precipitation and evaporation moves between the land, oceans, and
atmosphere.
○ Oceans - evaporation exceeds precipitation.
○ Land - precipitation exceeds evaporation.

● The destruction of tropical rain forests reduces the amount of water vapor in the air.
● Pumping large amounts of groundwater to the surface for irrigation increases the rate of
evaporation over land.
 Population

Ecological Terms
● Niche: role, function or boundaries of an organism
● Habitat: the place where a plant or animal normally lives
● Population: a group of individuals of one species in an area
● Community: many populations of different kinds of organisms living in the same place
● Ecosystem: assemblages of organisms together with their physical and chemical
environments
● Biome: an ecosystem of a large geographic area in which plants are of one formation

Basic Characteristics of Populations

Population Age Structure

● Differences in environmental conditions and past history may cause populations to differ
in their age distributions.
● The future growth of a population depends on its current age distribution.

FACTORS AFFECTING HUMAN POPULATION SIZE

Population change = ( births + immigration ) - ( deaths + emigrations )

Age Structure: Young Populations Can Grow Fast

● Prereproductive age: not mature enough to reproduce.
● Reproductive age: those capable of reproduction.
● Postreproductive age: those too old to reproduce.

No population can increase its size indefinitely.

● intrinsic rate of increase (r) - rate at which a population would grow if it had unlimited
resources.
● carrying capacity (K) - the maximum population of species that a particular environment
can support

Exponential and Logistic Population Growth

● J-Curves - populations surge with resources, then slow and stabilize as limits are reached.
● S-Curves - populations fluctuate slightly above and below the carrying capacity.

Exceeding Carrying Capacity: Move, Switch Habits, or Decline in Size

● Over time species may increase their carrying capacity by developing adaptations.
● Some species maintain their carrying capacity by migrating to other areas.
 ● Technological, social, and other cultural changes have extended the earth’s carrying
capacity for humans.

Population Density and Population Change: Effects of Crowding

● Population density: the number of individuals in a population found in a particular area or
volume.
○ A population’s density can affect how rapidly it can grow or decline.
Ex: biotic factors like disease
○ Some population control factors are not affected by population density.
Ex. abiotic factors like weather

Reproductive Patterns: Opportunists and Competitors

● r-selected species - large number of smaller offspring with little parental care (opportunist)
● K-selected species - fewer, larger offspring with higher invested parental care (competitor)

Survivorship Curves: Short to Long Lives

● Early loss (fish) - constant loss (bird) - late loss (rhino)

POPULATION DYNAMICS
● Size – number of individuals
● Density – number of individuals in a certain space
● Dispersion - how they are spaced out across the range
● Age Distribution – the proportion of individuals at each age

Types of Population Growth

● Exponential Growth
○ unlimited growth of a population
○ Occurs when population has food, space, protection from predation/disease,
removal of waste products (Ex: bacteria)
● Logistical Growth
○ population grows, slows, and eventually reaches carrying capacity
■ Phase 1 – exponential growth
■ Phase 2 – slows down
● Due to: BR decreases, DR increases, immigration decrease,
emigration increases
■ Phase 3 – population stabilizes, reaches carrying capacity

Factors Affecting Carrying Capacity

● Limiting Factors – factors that control the growth of a population
○ Density Dependent Factors – factors that depend on the density of the
population; control the populations and keep numbers in check
○ Density Independent Factors – factors that do NOT depend on the density of the
population; will affect all populations equally, regardless of their size
Density Dependent Factors
A) Competition
● Fighting for space, food, water, sunlight, mates, etc.
● Can be within the same or different species
● Some will survive and reproduce, some will survive but NOT reproduce, some will die
B) Herbivory
● Predators to plant species
● Large loss of plant species may affect other primary consumers
C) Predation
● Cyclic relationship (rise of one may induce the fall of the other; trend of rises and falls
continues)
D) Parasitism
● feed at the expense of their hosts
E) Disease
● can cause a dramatic drop in a population due to infestation of a disease; decrease in one
population may trigger a rise in another
F) Stress from Overcrowding
● species fighting amongst themselves may lead to high levels of stress which may affect an
organism’s ability to fight disease

Density Independent Factors

A) Weather
● Hurricanes, droughts, floods
B) Natural Disasters
● wildfires

4 general types of population fluctuations:

1. Stable – population size fluctuates slightly above and below carrying capacity
2. Irruptive – fairly stable populations that have a population explosion but then return to a
lower size rather quickly
3. Chaotic Behavior – irregular changes in size with no real pattern seen
4. Cyclic – changes occur in a pattern over a regular period of time
 Community and Ecosystem

Community includes all the organisms inhabiting a particular area

● influence species composition and distribution of communities and
● affect community stability.

Interspecific interactions
● are relationships with individuals of other species in the community,
● greatly affect population structure and dynamics
● categorized according to their effect on the interacting populations.

Interspecific competition occurs when populations of two different species compete for the same
limited resource.
● Mutualism - both populations benefit.
● Predation - one species (the predator) kills and eats another (the prey).
● Herbivory - an animal consumes plant parts or algae.
● Parasitism - the host plants or animals are victimized by parasites or pathogens.

Example:
Intraspecific Competition - rhino vs rhino or deer vs deer
Interspecific Competition - hyena vs. lion or giraffe vs. rabbit

● Ecological niche is the sum of an organism’s use of the biotic and abiotic resources in its
environment.
● Interspecific competition occurs when the niches of two populations overlap.
● Competition lowers the carrying capacity of competing populations because the
resources used by one population are not available to the other population.

Mutualism benefits both partners

● Reef-building corals and photosynthetic dinoflagellates illustrate the win/win nature of
mutualism. Photosynthetic dinoflagellates
○ gain shelter in the cells of each coral polyp,
○ produce sugars used by the polyps, and
○ provide at least half of the energy used by the coral animals.

Predation leads to diverse adaptations in prey species

● Predation benefits the predator but kills the prey.
● Prey adapt using protective strategies that include
○ camouflage,
○ mechanical defenses, and
○ chemical defenses.

Parasites and pathogens can affect community composition

● A parasite lives on or in a host from which it obtains nourishment.
○ Internal parasites include nematodes and tapeworms.
○ External parasites include mosquitoes, ticks, and aphids.
● Pathogens are disease-causing microscopic parasites that include
○ bacteria, viruses, fungi,
Trophic structure is a key factor in community dynamics
● The trophic structure of a community is a pattern of feeding relationships consisting of
several different levels.
○ food chain is the sequence of food transfer up the trophic levels
○ The transfer of food moves chemical nutrients and energy from producers up
through the trophic levels in a community.

● Producers are autotrophs and support all other trophic levels.

● Consumers are heterotrophs.
○ Herbivores are primary consumers.
○ Secondary consumers typically eat herbivores.
○ Tertiary consumers typically eat secondary consumers.
○ Quaternary consumers typically eat tertiary consumers.
● Detritivores derive their energy from detritus, the dead material produced at all the trophic
levels.
● Decomposers are mainly prokaryotes and fungi and secrete enzymes that digest
molecules in organic materials and convert them into inorganic forms, in the process called
decomposition.

Food web is a network of interconnecting food chains.

Species diversity is defined by two components:

1. Species richness - the number of species in a community
2. Relative abundance - the proportional representation of a species in a community.

Keystone species
● is a species whose impact on its community is larger than its biomass or abundance
● occupies a niche that holds the rest of its community in place.
○ Ex: Pisaster sea stars and long-spined sea urchins.

Disturbances
● are events that damage biological communities and
● include storms, fires, floods, droughts, overgrazing, or human activity.
● The types, frequency, and severity of disturbances vary from community to community.

Communities change drastically following a severe disturbance that

● strips away vegetation and
● removes significant amounts of soil.

Ecological succession results from colonization by a variety of species, which are replaced by a
succession of other species.
Primary succession begins in a virtually lifeless area with no soil.
Secondary succession occurs when a disturbance destroys an existing community but leaves the
soil intact.

Invasive species
● are organisms that have been introduced into non-native habitats by human actions and
● have established themselves at the expense of native communities.
● The absence of natural enemies often allows rapid population growth of invasive species.
EX: rabbits into Australia and cane toads into Australia.

Ecosystem consists of all the organisms in a community and the abiotic environment with which
the organisms interact.
● energy flow moves through the components of an ecosystem and
● chemical cycling is the transfer of materials within the ecosystem.

Primary production
● is carried out by producers,
● is the amount of solar energy converted to chemical energy by an ecosystem’s producers
for a given area and during a given time period
● produces biomass, the amount of living organic material in an ecosystem.

Different ecosystems vary in their

● primary production and
● contribution to the total production of the biosphere.

Energy supply limits the length of food chains

● A pyramid of production shows the flow of energy
○ from producers to primary consumers and
○ to higher trophic levels.
● Only about 10% of the energy stored at each trophic level is available to the next level.

Biogeochemical cycles include

● biotic components,
● abiotic components, and
● abiotic reservoirs, where a chemical accumulates or is stockpiled outside of living
organisms
● can be local or global.
 Conservation Biology

3 levels of biodiversity
1. ecosystem diversity
2. species diversity
3. genetic diversity

Loss of biodiversity includes the loss of ecosystems, species, and genes

● Extirpation is the loss of a single population of a species.
● Extinction is the irreversible loss of all populations of a species.

Human alteration of habitats poses the greatest threat to biodiversity.

Habitation alteration is caused by

● agriculture,
● urban development,
● forestry,
● mining, and
● environmental pollution.

Invasive species rank second behind habitat destruction as a threat to biodiversity.

● compete with native species
● prey on native species
● parasitize native species

Overexploitation is the third major threat to biodiversity. Overharvesting has threatened

● rare trees,
● reduced populations of tigers, Galápagos tortoises,whales, and rhinoceroses, and
● depleted wild populations of game fish.

Human activities produce diverse pollutants that may affect ecosystems far from their source.
● The water cycle transfers pollutants from terrestrial to aquatic ecosystems.
● The release of chemicals into the atmosphere promoted the thinning of the ozone layer.

Biological magnification concentrates synthetic toxins that cannot be degraded by

microorganisms.

Increased global temperatures caused by rising concentrations of greenhouse gases are changing
climate patterns with grave consequences.
● Global temperature has risen 0.8°C in the last 100 years.
○ 0.6°C of that increase occurred in the last three decades.
○ 2 to 4.5°C increases are likely by the end of the 21st century.
● Much of the rapid warming is the result of burning fossil fuels.
○ Atmospheric CO2 did not exceed 300 ppm for 650,000 years.
○ The preindustrial concentration was below 300 ppm.
○ Atmospheric CO2 is approximately 385 ppm today.
○ High levels of methane and nitrous oxide also trap heat.
Greatest impact of global climate change is affecting organisms that live at
● high latitudes and high elevations.
● Warming oceans threaten coral reef communities.
● Earlier arrival of warm temperatures in the spring is disturbing ecological communities.
○ Birds and frogs have begun their breeding periods earlier.
○ Migratory birds may experience mismatches, arriving after peak food availability
has already passed.

Conservation biology is a goal-driven science that seeks to understand and counter the rapid loss
of biodiversity.
● protecting populations
● increasing endangered populations.
● threats posed by human activities are also assessed.

Conservation efforts are increasingly aimed at sustaining

● ecosystems
● landscapes, a regional assemblage of interacting ecosystems.

Landscape ecology is the application of ecological principles to the study of the structure and
dynamics of a collection of ecosystems.

Establishing protected areas slows the loss of biodiversity

● To establish parks, wilderness areas, and other legally protected reserves, conservation
biologists are applying their understanding of
○ population
○ ecosystem
○ landscape dynamics

Choosing locations for protection often focuses on biodiversity hot spots, relatively small areas
with
● a large number of endangered and threatened species, and
● an exceptional concentration of endemic species, those that are found nowhere else.

Zoned reserves are undisturbed wildlands surrounded by buffer zones of compatible

economic development.
Ecotourism is travel to natural areas for tourism and recreation and has become an important
source of revenue for conservation efforts.

Sustainable development
● seeks to improve the human condition while conserving biodiversity
● depends on increasing and applying ecological knowledge
● values our linkages to the biosphere.