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CHAPTER 11- ECOLOGY

#51. Ecology
Ecology is the study of the ways in which organisms
interact with their environment.

Levels of ecological organisation

A habitat is a type of environment in which an

organism lives. For example, the habitat of a giraffe is
grassland (savannah) with groups of trees such
as Acacia. The habitat of a woodlouse (Oniscus) is a
humid, dark place such as beneath the bark of a rotting log. The habitat of a mangrove tree
is a muddy sea shore that is regularly flooded by the tide.

A population is a group of organisms of the same species that lives in the same place at
the same time. If the species is a sexually-reproducing one, the organisms in the population
are able to interbreed with one another. For example, all the giraffes in a particular area of
savannah make up the giraffe population.

A community is all the organisms, of all the different species, that live in the same place at
the same time. For example, all the giraffes and other animals, all the plants, all the fungi
and all the bacteria make up a community in the savannah. Each type of habitat tends to
have its own typical community.

An ecosystem is the interactions that take place between all the organisms in a community
and their non-living environment. For example, an ecosystem in an area of African
savannah would include the predator-prey relationships between giraffes and lions, the
feeding relationships between grass and giraffes, the exchanges of oxygen and carbon
dioxide between the air and the living organisms, the availability of mineral ions in the soil
that can be taken up by plant roots, and so on. Strictly speaking, an ecosystem is not
simply a place but a dynamic series of interactions between organisms and their
environment.

A niche is the role of an organism in an ecosystem. Different species have different niches,
although these may overlap. For example, both giraffes and zebras are herbivores that
require open grassland and a water supply. However, giraffes are able to browse on
vegetation from high tree branches, whereas zebras graze on grass and other low-growing
plants.

Note that you are expected to have studied an ecosystem in an area familiar to you.

Energy flow through ecosystems

Living organisms require energy to maintain metabolic processes that keep their cells alive.
Most of this energy is released from organic molecules such as glucose by respiration. The
energy released Is used to make ATP.The energy can then be released in smallquantities,
exactly when and where it is required, by hydrolysing the ATP to ADP and inorganic
phosphate.

Each organism therefore needs a supply of energy-containing organic molecules in order to

be able to make ATP. Organisms that can use energy from other sources, such as sunlight,
to make these organic molecules are calld producers. In most ecosystems, the producers
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are plants, which make carbohydrates by photosynthesis. They absorb energy from sunlight
and incorporate it into carbohydrates, where it is stored as chemical potential energy.
Animals and fungi depend on taking in organic molecules that were originally synthesised
by plants. They are consumers.

A food chain shows the pathway by which energy is passed from one organism to another.
The energy is transferred in the form of chemical potential energy in food. The arrows in the
food chain indicate the direction of energy transfer. A food web is a network of
interconnecting food chains.
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The position at which an organism feeds in a food chain is called a trophic level.
Producers are at the first trophic level, primary consumers (herbivores) at the second
trophic level, secondary consumers (carnivores that feed on herbivores) at the third trophic
level, and so on.

Large quantities of energy are lost in the transfer between one trophic level and the next.
For example, only about 10% of the energy in the grass in an area of savannah is passed
on to herbivores. This is because:

• Not all the grass is eaten. Some is trampled or covered by animal droppings, or may grow
too low to the ground for animals to be able to graze it. Pollen from grass flowers may be
blown away by the wind before it is eaten. Leaves may die and fall to the ground before
they are eaten.

• Not all the grass is available to be eaten. The roots, for example, are underground where
few animals will find and eat them.

• Of the grass that is eaten, much is indigestible inside the alimentary canals of the
herbivores. Cellulose and lignin are difficult to digest and may simply pass out in the faeces
rather than being absorbed into the herbivores' bodies.

• The grass plants require energy themselves, which they obtain by respiration. This breaks
down organic molecules to carbon dioxide and water, and the energy is eventually lost as
heat, so is no longer available to herbivores.
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The diagram shows the quantities of energy transferred between organisms in a food chain
in a salt marsh. The figures are in kJ m -2 y -1. Only three trophic levels are shown.

We can use this diagram to calculate the efficiency of energy transfer between the primary
consumers (herbivorous insects) and the secondary consumers (spiders).

efficiency = (kJ of energy transferred to secondary consumers : kJ of energy transferred to

primary consumers) x 100
= (30:300) x 100
= 10%
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# 52. The nitrogen cycle

Living organisms need nitrogen because nitrogen

atoms are an essential part of proteins, nucleic acids
and ATP. The air contains about 78% nitrogen gas.
However, this is in the form of nitrogen molecules, in
which two nitrogen atoms are held together by a very
strong triple covalent bond. This is very unreactive.

Nitrogen molecules freely diffuse in and out of the

bodies of living organisms, but take no part in the
metabolic reactions inside their cells.

Nitrogen fixation

For nitrogen to become involved in metabolic reactions, it must first be converted to a

different form by combining with oxygen or hydrogen. This process is called nitrogen
fixation. It can be done by:

• Lightning, which provides very high temperatures that can cause nitrogen and oxygen
molecules in the air to combine to form nitrogen oxides; these can then be washed to the
ground in rain.

• Industrial processes in which nitrogen is combined with hydrogen to produce ammonia,

NH3; this is then used to manufacture fertilisers such as ammonium nitrate.

• Nitrogen-fixing bacteria, which use the enzyme nitrogenase to combine nitrogen and
hydrogen to produce ammonium ions. Some of these bacteria live free in the soil, lakes or
oceans. Others, for example Rhizobium, live symbiotically in root nodules in several
different species of plants, particularly legumes such as peas and beans.

Formation of amino acids

Plants are able to take nitrate ions, N03-, or ammonium ions, NH4+, from the soil into their
root hairs. This may be done by diffusion or active transport. These ions can be combined
with carbohydrates to produce amino acids.

Consumers obtain their nitrogen by eating proteins and other nitrogen-containing organic
compounds that were originally synthesised by plants.
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Decay and ammonification

Animals excrete nitrogen-containing compounds such as ammonia and urea. When they
die, protein molecules in their bodies are broken down by enzymes produced by bacteria,
fungi and other decomposer organisms. These processes add ammonia and ammonium
ions to the soil.

Nitrification

Nitrifying bacteria oxidise ammonia to nitrate ions. This is done in two stages:

• Nitrosomonas oxidises ammonium ions to nitrite ions, N02-;

• Nitrobacter oxidises nitrite ions to nitrate ions, N03-.

The nitrate ions can then be taken up by plant roots.

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Denitrification

Several different types of bacteria get their energy by converting nitrate ions to nitrogen
gas. This process is called denitrification, and it returns nitrogen gas to the atmosphere.
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#53. Summary of Ecology

1 A habitat is a place where an organism lives.

The niche of an organism is the role that it plays
in the community.
2 A population is a group of organisms of the
same species, living in the same place at the
same time, that can interbreed with one another.
A community is all the organisms, of all the diff
erent species, living in the same place at the
same time.
3 An ecosystem is an interacting system of organisms and their environment, more or less
self-contained.

4 Energy flows from one organism to another in the form of chemical energy in organic
molecules in food. The pathways of energy flow can be shown in a food chain or food web,
in which the arrows show the direction of energy flow.

5 The first organism in a food chain or food web is a producer. In most food chains, plants
are the
producers. They transfer energy from sunlight into chemical energy in organic molecules in
the process of photosynthesis. All other organisms in a food chain are consumers.

6 Each step in a food chain is a trophic level. Energy is lost as it passes from one trophic
level to the next. The percentage of energy in one trophic level that passes to the next
trophic level is generally around 10%. Th is value is the effi ciency of energy transfer. It is
generally relatively low for transfers from producers to primary consumers, because of the
high content of cellulose in plants, which is not easily digested by most animals but contains
a lot of energy.

7 Nitrogen atoms are an essential part of many organic molecules, especially proteins and
nucleic acids. Although a high percentage of the atmosphere is nitrogen gas, nitrogen
molecules are very unreactive and cannot be used by most living organisms. The nitrogen
must be fi xed – converted into a more reactive form such as ammonium ions or nitrate ions
– before plants can make use of it. Lightning and nitrogen-fixing bacteria are the two most
important natural methods of nitrogen fixation.

8 Plants use ammonium ions or nitrate ions to make amino acids and then proteins.
Consumers obtain amino acids from plants.

9 Decomposers break down nitrogen-containing molecules in dead plants and animals, or

in their
waste products, such as urea. Ammonia is produced, which is converted to nitrite ions and
then nitrate ions by nitrifying bacteria. Denitrifying bacteria convert nitrate ions back to
nitrogen gas.

1. Multiple-choice test

1 Which ecological term is defined as ‘the particular location and type of

environment occupied by an organism’?
A ecosystem
B habitat