Chpater4 – Ecology

4.1 Species, communities, and ecosystems

 Species: group of organisms that can interbreed to produce fertile offspring. Members of the
same species have a common gene pool (genetic background) and evolutionary background.
Members of a species may be reproductively isolated in separate populations due to physical
separations and reproductive isolations. Ex) mice that have moved to an island, birds that
have different mating calls. Speciation might happen over time when a new species is formed
from an old one.
 It is difficult to define species due to the species that can potentially interbreed but they can’t
because they are physically separated, the populations that do not interbreed because they
reproduce asexually, and the infertile individuals.
 Methods of nutrition:
- Autotrophs: take in inorganic compounds and make organic compounds for energy.
(plants, cyanobacteria, algae)
- Heterotrophs: get energy by consuming other organisms (organic compounds).
 Inorganic molecules do not contain carbon (except CO2, H2CO3, HCO3-, CO)
 Consumers: organisms that get nutrients by ingesting other organisms. Consumers take the
energy-rich carbon compounds synthesized by other organisms in order to survive.
 Detritivores: organisms that eat non-living organic matter. Ex) earthworms, woodlice, and
dung beetles.
 Saprotrophs: organisms that live in or on non-living organic matter, secreting digestive
enzymes and absorbing the products of digestion. Ex) fungi and bacteria.
 Population: a group of organisms of one species interbreeding and living in the same place
and at the same time.
 Community: a group of populations of different species living and interacting with each
other in an area. Interacting means one species relying on another for its habitat.
 Ecosystem: when a community interacts with the abiotic environment (temperature, pH, light
levels and the relative humidity of the air).
 Autotrophs produce their nutrients using sunlight energy together with carbon dioxide and
water by photosynthesis.
 Nutrient cycling: ecosystems recycle carbon, nitrogen, and other elements and compounds
necessary for life to exist. Through feeding and decomposition, the nutrients are supplied
and cycled.
 The ecosystems have the potential to be sustainable over long period of time through
nutrient cycling.
 Chi square test:
 - An ecosystem should be chosen in which one or more factors affecting the distribution
of the species varies.
- Sampling should be based on random numbers.
- In each quadrat, the presence or absence of the chosen species must be recorded.
- Null hypothesis: The two categories are independent of each other.
- Alternative hypothesis: The two categories are not independent of each other.
(𝑜−𝑒)2
- X2 calc. = ∑ 𝑒
- If X2 calc. > X2 crit.  Alternative hypothesis and vice versa.
- Degrees of freedom = (r-1)(c-1)
 T-Test
- Null hypothesis: There is no statically significant difference between the average
mass/height of two samples.
- Alternative hypothesis: There is statistically significant difference between the average
mass-height of two samples.
̅𝑥̅̅1̅−𝑥
̅̅̅2̅
- T calc. =
2 2
√𝑆1 +𝑆2
𝑁1 𝑁2

- If T calc. > T crit.  Alternative hypothesis and vice versa.

- Degrees of freedom = N1 + N2 – 2
- Average ± 𝑆𝑥 : 68% of the population is in between those values.
- If ± 2𝑆𝑥 : 95% of the population is in between those values.
4.2 Energy flow
 Importance of sunlight: most ecosystems rely on a supply of energy from sunlight.
𝑆𝑢𝑛𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡
 Photosynthesis: 6H2O + 6CO2 → 6C6H12O6 + 6O2. Light energy is converted into chemical
energy in carbon compounds. By adding minerals to the glucose, complex molecules such as
cellulose, proteins, and lipids can be synthesized. Chemical energy refers to the energy that
the organic compounds have in the chemical bonds that exist between the carbon atoms and
other atoms.
 Food chain: a pattern of feeding.
- Ex1) algae  mayfly larvae  juvenile trout  kingfisher
- Ex2) diatoms  copepods  herring  seals  great white shark
 Flow of energy: the process of passing energy from one organism to another through feeding.
It is unidirectional.
- Light energy
- Plant (photosynthesis)
- Photosynthesis
- Chemical energy in glucose
 - All organisms / food chain
- Cellular respiration  heat energy
- Chemical energy in ATP
- Metabolism
- Heat energy
- Dissipates / scatters into space in the form of kinetic energy
 The lost heat cannot be converted to other forms of energy organisms.
 Only 10% of energy is passed on from one tropic level to another as the energy is lost through
heat energy and other factors.
 The length of food chain is either four or five organisms long as they depend on how much
energy enters the ecosystem.
 The units for the pyramids of energy is kJm-2yr-1.
 Biomass of a trophic level: an estimate of the mass of all the organisms within that level.
Because not all energy gets passed on from one trophic level to the next, not all biomass
gets passed on either. The biomass in terrestrial ecosystems diminishes with energy along
food chains, due to loss of carbon dioxide, water, and other waste products, such as urea.
 First, second, tertiary, quaternary consumer should be used rather than first, second or third
trophic level.
 The energy flow in ecosystem is unidirectional whereas the nutrient cycle is finite and limited.
4.3 Carbon cycling
 Biosphere: all places where life is found.
 Lithosphere: all the places where rocks are found.
 Autotrophs convert inorganic carbon dioxide into organic carbohydrates through
photosynthesis. Glucose is the base for other organic molecules such as lipids and amino
acids. To synthesize the non-carbohydrates, nitrogen must be added to glucose.
 In aquatic ecosystems, carbon is dissolved as carbon dioxide and hydrogen carbonate ions.
 Carbon dioxide is diffused from the atmosphere into photosynthetic autotrophs, eaten by the
consumers by ingestion and then diffused back into the atmosphere or water through cellular
respiration.
 Carbon dioxide also dissolves in water: CO2 + H2O ↔ H2CO3 (carbonic acid) ↔ H+ + HCO3-
 Methane: methane is produced by a process called methanogenesis by the microbes called
Archaeans. One of the Archaeans, methanogens, produce methane as a waste gas during
metabolism. This produced methane is diffused into the atmosphere or accumulates in the
ground.
 Oxidation (gain of electrons) of methane: CH4 + 2O2  CO2 + 2H2O. This happens during the
combustion of fossil fuels.
 Peat: a heterogeneous kind of waterlogged soil and a partially decomposed plant material. It
is found in certain types of wetlands. Conditions for a peat to form:
1. At least 30% of its dry mass must be composed of dead organic material.
2. Waterlog (to create an anaerobic condition).
3. Anaerobic condition (no air due to saturation with water)  certain types of
microorganisms to grow  the energy-rich molecules are left behind and transformed
into in energy-rich peat.
4. The peatlands are very acidic and contributes to the fact that non-decomposed material
accumulates.
 Formation of coal: when sediments accumulate above the partially decomposed peat, the
weight and pressure of those sediments compresses the peat. Pressure together with the high
temperature from below the Earth’s surface, they cause chemical transformations associated
with lithification, which is the transformation of sediments into solid rock. During lithification,
the molecules are compacted and rearranged to hydrocarbons. The C-H bonds hold a
significant amount of energy and because there are many of them in long chains, each
hydrocarbon molecule is rich in energy ready to be released by burning.
 Formation of crude oil and natural gas: the remains of the organisms that were not fully
decomposed formed layers of sediment along with silt at the bottom of the ocean during the
Carboniferous period. In conditions lacking oxygen, the decaying material started to form
sludge (진흙). The lipid components of dead algae and zooplankton that it is not easily broken
down accumulated and were trapped in sediments at the bottom of an ocean formed a waxy
substance called kerogen, which is rich in hydrocarbons and it is transformed by the high
temperature and pressure. Over millions of years, the kerogen in porous sedimentary rock
becomes crude oil or natural gas. Both of these products are less dense than rock so they
tend to rise through the cracks in the rocks towards the surface.
 Carbon dioxide is produced in the burning process of the hydrocarbons to the atmosphere.
 Limestone: it is formed by coral polyps which absorb calcium ions and hydrogen carbonate
ions from the sea and form calcium carbonate which is sturdy like a rock. When the molluscs
die, the shells accumulate at the bottom of the ocean. The microscopic foraminifera also form
shells and those shells are accumulated as well to form limestone through lithification.
Limestone is used by humans as a building material and cement.
 Carbon sequestration: the process of taking carbon out of the environment and ‘locking it up’
in a substance for an extended period of time. Bio sequestration when it naturally happens.
 The carbon fluxes happen due the seasonal fluctuations (summer and winter).
 Carbon cycle:

 Nitrogen cycle:

4.4 Climate change

 Greenhouse effect: a planet’s ability to use its atmosphere to retain heat and keep warm even
when sunlight is hitting the surface.
 The sunlight is a short-wavelength energy while the heat energy is the long wavelength energy,
AKA infrared radiation.
 Only when sunlight hits an object, some the light energy is transformed into heat energy.
 The carbon dioxide and water vapor act as a glass in a greenhouse and have ability to absorb
and radiate infrared radiation. They can keep the atmosphere near Earth’s surface warm by
absorbing heat from the warmed surface and re-radiating it in all directions.
 In addition to carbon dioxide and water vapor, nitrogen oxides and methane are also
greenhouse gases. However, they have a less impact on the Earth.
 The impact of a gas depends on the ability of the gas to absorb long-wave radiation and the
concentration of that gas in the atmosphere.
 When the Earth is heated with the light energy, it can emit longer wavelength radiation which
 is heat.
 The longer wavelength radiation is absorbed by greenhouse gases and are retained in the
atmosphere.
 Global temperatures and climate patterns are influenced by concentrations of greenhouse
gases. Climate refers to the patterns of temperature and precipitation over long periods of
time. There appears to be a strong correlation between temperature increase and carbon
dioxide increase. When the temperature increases, the ocean releases carbon dioxide dissolved
in it as it can’t hold more carbon dioxide in a warm condition.
 There is a correlation between rising atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide since the
start of the industrial revolution 200 years go and average global temperatures.
 Reasons of increase of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere:
combustion of fossilized organic material, deforestation, growing cattle, use of catalytic
converters, use of organic fertilizers and industrial process.
 Coral reefs are being threatened by the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Increase
in the temperature of ocean  algae leave the coral due to warm temperature  coral is
bleached. Or more carbon dioxide dissolved in water  more formation of HCO3- and H+
ions  increase in acidity  polyps and algae die. Or the HCO3- bind with Ca+ ions and
prevent the calcium carbonate to be formed. Or the high acidity in the ocean dissolve the
calcium carbonate.
Further information
 Prokaryotes: a unicellular organism that does not have a nucleus and membrane-bound cell
organelles.
 Eukaryotes: any organism that have a nucleus and membrane-bound cell organelles.
 Different types of symbiosis (a close association or relationship between two species in which
at least one species benefits):
1. Mutualism: When both species benefit from each other. Ex) Escherichia coli (makes vitamin
k) and human.
2. Parasitism: When one species benefits while the other species is harmed. Ex) tape warm and
human.
3. Commensalism: When one species benefits while the other species has neutral effect. Ex)
Epiphytes and a tree.