PEOPLE AND EARTH’S ECOSYSTEM

TOPIC 2: ECOSYSTEM STRUCTURE

& FUNCTION
DR. GLORINA P. OROZCO
 Topic Learning Outcomes

1. Identify the structural components of the

ecosystem and discuss the respective roles
and impacts on the ecosystem.
2. Describe the biotic and abiotic components
of an ecosystem and describe the respective
roles and impacts on the ecosystem.
3. Demonstrate how the ecosystem function or
work.
 What is an ECOSYSTEM?
ECOSYTEM
→ any unit that includes all the
living things in an area, interacting
w/ the physical environment
→ basic unit of study in Ecology

→Components:
1. BIOTIC = living things
2. ABIOTIC = non-living things;
physical environment
w/ interacting components
 Ecosystem

❖An ecosystem is a geographic

area where plants, animals,
and other organisms, as well as
weather and landscape, work
together to form a bubble of
life.
❖Ecosystems contain biotic or living parts, as well as
abiotic factors or nonliving parts. Biotic factors include
plants, animals, and other organisms. Abiotic factors
include rocks, temperature, and humidity.
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
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❖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.
❖The ecosystem can also be
natural, artificial or managed
❖A pond on recreational parks is an artificial ecosystem
while agricultural farm is considered a managed
ecosystem.
❖Ecosystem may also differ in composition, species
diversity, abundance and variation in borders of habitat
but all these ecosystems have the same ecological
processes 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
into caves.
➢It includes the oceans, rivers,
solid sediments, the
atmosphere and other areas
where 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 upon
what the habitat is like and on the climatic
and edaphic factors (resulting from or
influenced 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 of climate,
but they could also prevent some plants from
getting enough light for photosynthesis
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 together in
one area at a particular time
Hierarchy in an Ecosystem
1. Species – genetically related
interbreeding organisms
eg. Homo sapiens (man), Canis familiaris
(dog), Felix domestica (cat)
2. Population
➢Organisms of same species living
together in the same area
➢A group of potentially interbreeding
individuals occurring together in space
and time.
3. Community
➢Group of different populations living
in the same geographical area.

➢Biome = a discrete community that

is conveniently recognized (i.e. by
their dominant vegetation as in
terrestrial biomes)
eg. grassland biome, rainforest biome,
coniferous forest biome
Ecosystem Components
 BIOTIC Components
1. Producers
➢also called Autotrophs
➢Plants, algae/ phytoplankton
➢Produce their own food by
photosynthesis
2. Consumers
➢also called Heterotrophs
➢Herbivores ,Carnivores,
Omnivores
➢Depend on the producers for food
BIOTIC Components
Biotic Components
❖Made up of biological components consisting of living
and dead plants, animals and microorganisms
❖The Major Biological Components of Ecosystem
(1) Producers (Autotrophs)(self-feeders)
➢Make their own food from compounds that are
obtained from their environment.
➢Are the source of all food in an ecosystem
➢On land most producers are green plants.
➢In freshwater and marine ecosystems, algae and plants are the
major producers near shorelines
➢In open water, the dominant producers are phytoplankton
(most of them microscopic) that float or drift in the water.
➢Most producers capture sunlight to make carbohydrates (such as
glucose) by photosynthesis
➢A few producers, mostly specialized bacteria, can convert simple
compounds from their environment into more complex nutrient
compounds without sunlight a process called chemosynthesis
(2.) Consumers (Heterotrophs)
(“other feeders”)
→Get their energy and nutrients by
feeding on other organisms or their
remains.
a) Primary consumers = are those
that eat producers (plants) as a
source of food; also known as
herbivores.
b) Secondary consumers or
carnivores = eat other animals
c) Tertiary & other consumers = eat
the secondary & other consumers
d) Omnivores = have mixed diet that
include both plants and animals
e) Decomposer or Detritivores
➢ Mostly certain types of bacteria and fungi 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 simpler 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.
Topic Learning Outcomes
1. Discuss how energy flows.
2. Understand how materials are cycled within the
ecosystem.
3. Point out and enumerate the major differences
between food chain and food web.
4. Enumerate and describe the different
biogeochemical cycles.
 Functional Components of the
Ecosystem
1. ENERGY FLOW = Circuit of energy In
ecosystem component S
2. FOOD CHAIN & FOOD WEB
FOOD CHAIN = Linear series of food getting
in the trophic levels
FOOD WEB =Interlocking pattern of food chains
3. BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES = Nutrient
cycling in the ecosystem
4. DIVERSITY & EVOLUTION = Differentiation &
development of species in time
5. CYBERNETICS = Control Of The Ecosystem
ENERGY
ENERGYFLOW
FLOW in the
Environment
ENERGY FLOW
Ecological Pyramid
❑Ecological Pyramid (graphical representation of energy/
nutrients in the trophic level)
❑Energy flow in the environment is inefficient :
2nd law of Thermodynamics
Food Web
Biogeochemical Cycles
Hydrologic (Water) Cycle
Carbon-Oxygen Cycle
Nitrogen Cycle
Phosphorus Cycle
Sulfur Cycle
D. T. Krohne, General Ecology
Idealized diagram
of the geologic
cycle, which
includes the
tectonic,
hydrologic, rock
and
biogeochemical
cycles.
Hydrologic (Water) Cycle

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 WATER Cycle
PROCESSES Involved:
1. Evaporation = liquid water is changed into vapor
2. Transpiration= evaporation of water from plants
3. Condensation= gaseous water vapor is changed to
liquid water droplets; referred as “Cloud Formation”
4. Deposition= process where water directly changes from
vapor to solid ice crystals
5. Precipitation= water returns to earth in the form of rain,
hail or snow.
Carbon-Oxygen Cycle

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 Idealized diagram
illustrating
photosynthesis for a
green plant (tree)
and generalized
reaction.
The Carbon Cycle

Figure 27.3
NITROGEN CYCLE
 Nitrogen Cycle
Stages Reaction Microbes involved

1. Nitrogen Atmospheric N2 → Rhizobium(in legume’s

Fixation NH3 roots)
Cyanobacteria
2. Ammonification Proteins (dead)--> Ammonifying bacteria
NH3
3. Nitrification NH3 --> NO2, NO3 Nitrifying bacteria:
Nitrosomonas,
Nitrobacter
4. Denitrification NO3 --> N2 Denitrifying bacteria:
Pseudomonas, Bacillus
Nitrogen Fixing Bacteria

Figure 27.5
 Nitrogen Cycle

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SULFUR CYCLE
Sulfur Cycle

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 Sulfur Cycle
Stages Reaction Organisms involved
1. Decomposition Biomolecules → SO4, Decomposers,
(death living H2S, S- (stored in soil as detritivores
things) Fossil fuels
2. Deposition & SO4, H2S, S- (deposited Plants/ (geological
Sedimentation in soil as sediments; for processes)
plant uptake)
2. Combustion of SO4, H2S, S- → SO2, Human activities
Fossil Fuels (by Atmospheric SO4
factories)
3. Acid SO2, SO4 → H2SO4
Precipitation (Acid rain)
The Sulfur Cycle

Figure 27.7
 Phosphorus Cycle

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SEDIMENTARY/ Phosphorous CYCLE
 CYBERNETICS
CYBERNETICS (control of the ecosystem)
➢Another example of the ecological principle that may
need to be understood is that ecosystems are no
closed systems
➢Organisms w/in the biosphere not only adapt to the
environment but also interact to modify & control
chemical & physical conditions – based on the principle
of
➢Although not all ecologists agree with this
hypothesis, it does serve as a warning that if the
biosphere is greatly disturbed, it can endanger our
survival
➢GAIA Hypothesis - is a view of a self-sustaining
biosphere, in w/c every organism is linked to the other.
eg. “the circle of life”
Diversity & Evolution

Development of Early Forms of Life

 Thank you
for listening &
be ready for a QUIZ
Next mtg.