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Fundamental Concepts of Ecology and Biodiversity

This document discusses key concepts in ecology and biodiversity, including: 1. Ecology is the study of how organisms interact with each other and their environment. An ecosystem is a biological community interacting with its non-living environment. 2. Organisms are organized into different levels from organisms to species to populations and communities. 3. Ecosystems have both producers (plants, algae) and consumers (herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, detritivores, decomposers) that interact through food chains and webs. Energy flows through ecosystems with only about 10% transferred between trophic levels.

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Emon Chowdhury
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33 views

Fundamental Concepts of Ecology and Biodiversity

This document discusses key concepts in ecology and biodiversity, including: 1. Ecology is the study of how organisms interact with each other and their environment. An ecosystem is a biological community interacting with its non-living environment. 2. Organisms are organized into different levels from organisms to species to populations and communities. 3. Ecosystems have both producers (plants, algae) and consumers (herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, detritivores, decomposers) that interact through food chains and webs. Energy flows through ecosystems with only about 10% transferred between trophic levels.

Uploaded by

Emon Chowdhury
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Fundamental Concepts of

Ecology and Biodiversity


Lecture 3
Today’s Themes
• 1. Key Terms
• 2. Different Levels of Organization
• 3. Living Components of Ecosystems
• 4. Food Chain, Food Web and Trophic Level
• 5. Energy Flow
• 6. Ecological Succession
1. Key Terms
1. Key Terms
• Ecology: From the Greek words oikos, "house"
or "place to live“ and logos, "study of“
– Study of how organisms interact with one another
and with their nonliving environment
– In effect, it is a study of connections in nature
• Ecosystem: A community of different species
interacting with one another and with their
nonliving environment
– Maybe small (e.g. a field) or large (e.g. forest)
2. Different Levels of
Organization
2. Different Levels of Organization
• Organism: An organism is any form of life
– A wide range and variety of organisms is present
on the earth- from the single-celled amoeba to
humans, from microscopic blue-green algae to
massive banyan trees
• Species: Groups of organisms that resemble
one another in appearance, behavior,
chemistry and genetic structure form a species
– All human beings are Homo sapiens
2. Different Levels of Organization
• Population: a group of individuals of the same
species occupying a given area at a given time
and share genetic material
• Community: All the populations of different
species that live in an area interact with one
another
3. Living Components of
Ecosystems
3.1 Major Living Components of Ecosystems

• Producers: Sometimes called Autotrophs (self-


feeders), make their own food from
compounds obtained from their environment
– E.g. green plants, algae, water plants,
phytoplankton
• Most producers capture sunlight to make
carbohydrates
– Some specialized bacteria can make food without
sunlight, by a process called Chemosynthesis
3.1 Major Living Components of Ecosystems

• Consumers: Organisms which can’t make their


own food
– Depend directly or indirectly on food provided by
producers
• Can be classified based on their primary
source of food
3.2 Classification of Consumers Based on
their Primary Source of Food
• Herbivores: Plant eaters or primary
consumers, which feed directly on producers
• Carnivores: Meat eaters which feed on other
consumers
– Those feeding only on primary consumers are
called secondary consumers
– Those feeding on other carnivores are called
tertiary (higher-level) consumers
3.2 Classification of Consumers Based on
their Primary Source of Food
• Omnivores: Eat both plants and animals e.g.
humans
• Scavengers: Which feed on dead organisms
e.g. vultures, flies, hyenas etc.
• Detritivores: Extract nutrients from partly
decomposed organic matter i.e. leaf litter,
plant debris and animal dung e.g. crabs,
carpenter ants, termites and earthworms
3.2 Classification of Consumers Based on
their Primary Source of Food
• Decomposers: Certain types of
microorganisms (bacteria etc.) which recycle
organic matters in ecosystems
• They break down (biodegrading) dead organic
materials to:
– (1) Get nutrients and
– (2) Release simpler inorganic compounds into the
environment
4. Food Chain, Food Web and
Trophic Level
4.1 Food Chain
• The sequence of organisms, each of which is a
source of food for the next, is called a Food
chain
• It determines how energy and nutrients move
from one organism to another through an
ecosystem
4.2 Terrestrial Food Chain
• An example: Grass (producer, photosynthetic
autotroph), eaten by a mouse (herbivorous
primary consumer), eaten by a snake
(carnivorous secondary consumer), eaten by a
hawk (carnivorous tertiary consumer), with
wastes and dead bodies broken down by
decomposers (bacteria and fungi) and
consumed by earthworms and other
detritivores
4.3 Marine Food Chain
• An example: Algae (producer, photosynthetic
autotroph), eaten by krill (tiny, shrimplike
animals, primary consumers), eaten by whales
and other marine animals (omnivorous and
carnivorous secondary consumers), with
wastes and dead bodies broken down by
decomposers and consumed by bottom
feeders, such as marine snails (detritivores)
4.4 Food Chain in the Real Environment

• In nature, simple food chains like these are


not common
• Real life is more complex
• Most consumers feed on more than one type
of organism, and most organisms are eaten by
more than one type of consumer
• When the full complexity of the various food
and energy connections in an ecosystem are
considered, we get a Food web
4.5 Food Web
• Most species participate in several different
food chains. Organisms in most ecosystems
form a complex network of interconnected
food chains, called a Food web
• A Trophic level consists of all the organisms in
a food web which are the same number of
feeding levels away from the original source of
energy
– E.g. all Producers belong to the first trophic level
Food chain and Food web

A marine Food chain and Food web (Environmental Science Earth as a Living Planet. 8th ed. Botkin & Keller.)
Food web of the Harp seal

Food web of the Harp seal (Environmental Science Earth as a Living Planet. 8th ed. Botkin & Keller)
5. Energy Flow and Ecological
Efficiency
5.1 Energy Flow
• Energy flow: Each animal in the food chain or
web eats another animal or a plant in order to
gain energy
• The energy flow in the ecosystem keeps all the
animals alive
5.1 Energy Flow
• Only a small portion of what is eaten and
digested is actually converted into an
organism's bodily material or biomass. The rest
is lost to the environment as heat
• Ecological efficiencies of transfer from one
trophic level to another ranges from 5% to 20%
depending on the types of species and the
ecosystem involved
• 10% is typical
5.2 Ecological Efficiency
• Assuming 10% ecological efficiency at each
transfer, if green plants in an area manage to
capture 10,000 units of energy from the sun,
then only about 1,000 units of energy will be
available to support herbivores and only about
100 units to support carnivores
• The bigger the food chain or web, the greater
the cumulative loss of usable energy
6. Ecological Succession
6.1 What is Ecological Succession?
• Ecologists recognize two types of ecological
succession, depending on the conditions
present at the beginning of the process: 
– Primary ecological succession
– Secondary ecological succession
6.2 Primary Ecological Succession
• Primary ecological succession: Gradual
establishment and development of an
ecosystem where one did not exist previously,
which means gradual establishment of biotic
communities on nearly lifeless ground.
Example:
– Forests that develop on new lava flows
6.2 Primary Ecological Succession
• The new site is first colonized by a few hardy
Pioneer species that can withstand harsh
conditions and lack of resources
– E.g. microbes, mosses and lichens
• They start soil formation process on bare rock by:
– Trapping wind-blown soil particles
– Slowly breaking down the rock
– Their bodies creating patches of organic matter
• It can take several hundred to thousand years to
complete Primary ecological succession
6.3 Secondary Ecological Succession

• Secondary ecological succession:


Reestablishment of an ecosystem after
disturbance
• Disturbance/disruption may be caused by-
– A natural catastrophe i.e. fire or flooding; or
– A human activity i.e. deforestation, plowing or
mining
6.3 Secondary Ecological Succession
• Candidates for Secondary ecological succession include:
– (1) Abandoned farmlands
– (2) Burned or cut forests
– (3) Heavily polluted streams
– (4) Land that has been dammed or flooded
• Because some soil or sediment is present, new
vegetation can begin to germinate within a few weeks
• Seeds can be present in soils or can be carried from
nearby plants by wind, birds and animals

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