LECTURE 6:

ECOSYSTEM & ENERGY FLOW

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
Prepared by:
DIVINE GRACE S. BATENGA, MSc., LPT
Subject Teacher
 LEARNING OUTCOMES

Upon the completion of this lesson, you are

expected to:
a) distinguish the differences in the structure
ad function of different types of ecosystem.
b) demonstrate ability to explain the energy
flow in the ecosystem by creating food
chain, food web, ad ecological pyramid.

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 ECOSYSTEM

➢An ecosystem is a unit of nature and the

focus of study in ecology.
➢It consists of all the biotic and abiotic
factors in an area and their
interactions.

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LEVELS OF ECOLOGICAL ORGANIZATION
SPECIES

• a group of individuals that are genetically related and can breed to produce
fertile young.

POPULATON

• a group of organisms belonging to the same species that live in the same
area and interact with one another.

COMMUNITY

• is all of the populations of different species that live in the same area and
interact with one another
• A community is composed of all of the biotic factors of an area.

ECOSYSTEM

• includes the living organisms (all the populations) in an area and the non-
living aspects of the environment.
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 2 Types of Ecosystem

❑ NATURAL ECOSYSTEM
▪ Aquatic Ecosystem
▪ Terrestrial Ecosystem
❑ ARTIFICIAL ECOSYSTEM
▪ Man-made ecosystem
▪ Aquarium

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 TERRESTRIAL
ECOSYSTEM
FOREST ECOSYSTEM

▪ High rainfall
▪ Large number of organism
and flora
▪ Highly diverse population

Function:
▪ Watershed Protection
▪ Atmospheric regulation
▪ Soil Erosion Control
▪ Wind Erosion Control
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TERRESTRIAL
ECOSYSTEM
DESERT ECOSYSTEM

▪ High temperature, intense sunlight

and low water
▪ Flora and fauna are very poorly
developed and are adapted to live in
extremities
▪ Scarcely populated
Function:
▪ Solar energy resource
▪ Mineral resource

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 TERRESTRIAL
ECOSYSTEM
GRASSLAND ECOSYSTEM

▪ Marginal rainfall
▪ Vegetation is dominated by
grasses
▪ Densely populated
Function:
▪ Grassland provide food
▪ Grasslands Are Breeding Areas

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AQUATIC ECOSYSTEM
• Low temperature and sunlight

• Soil and vegetation is submerged

• Competitive organism

• Flora and fauna had adapted

• Densely populated

Types of Aquatic ecosystem:

• Marine- ocean, sea

• Lotic (running water)- river, spring

• Lentic (standing water)- pond, lake, swamp

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 COMPONENTS OF AN ECOSYSTEM
ABIOTIC BIOTIC

-Any non-living organisms in an ecosystem. -Any living organisms in an ec osystem.

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ABIOTIC COMPONENTS
• Physical factors • Chemical substances

• Wind- removes water vapour • Water

surrounding the plants
• Temperature- affec ts the • Oxygen
evaporation rate of water from • Carbon dioxide
plants and animals
• Light- ac tivities of plants and • Nitrogen
animals are affected by relative • Carbon
length of day and night
• Types of Soil- affec ts the degree of
• Complex substances
aeration, root penetration, nutrient (proteins, lipids and
supply carbohydrates)
• -plays a c ruc ial role in
determining the kind of plants
and animals found in
partic ular ec osystem
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BIOTIC COMPONENTS

PRODUC ERS C ONSUMERS DEC OMPOSERS

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 BIOTIC COMPONENTS

PRODUCERS

• AUTOTROPHS (self-nourishing)
• Green plants
• Manufac ture food through Photosynthesis
(6C O 2 + 6H2O ------> C 6H12O 6 + 6O 2)
Sunlight energy

• Green plants also take substances such as nitrogen

and sullfur from the environment and convert them
into plant materials that can be used by other
orgnaisms for food.
• Phytoplanktons- microscopic plants
-when they become abundant, they can
give a body of water a green color Phytoplankton

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 BIOTIC COMPONENTS

CONSUMERS

• HETEROTROPHS (feeds on other)

• A living thing that gets its food from eating other
living things.
Different types of C onsumers:
a) Herbivores- are those that eat plants only
b) Carnivores- are those that eat other animals only
c) Omnivores- those that eat both plants and
animals

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BIOTIC COMPONENTS

DEC OMPOSERS Fungi

• A living thing that breaks down other living

things to get nutrients and energy.
• They use the bodies of dead animals and
plants for their food and release the minerals
and other nutrients back into the environment
Bacteria
for use by other organisms.
• Bacteria- most abundant dec omposers
• Fungi- fast-ac ting dec omposers
• Earthworms- break down and rec yc le the
matter from dead plants and animals, as well
as waste products, returning it back into the
soil.
• “Janitors of Nature”

Earthworms
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 NICHE
➢ One of the most important
concepts associated with the
ecosystem is the niche.
➢ A niche refers to the role of a
species in its ecosystem.
➢ It includes all the ways that the
species interacts with the biotic
and abiotic factors of the
environment.
➢ Two important aspects of a
species’ niche are the food it eats
and how the food is obtained.
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 HABITAT

➢ The habitat is the physical

environment in which a species
lives and to which it is adapted.
➢ A habitat’s features are
determined mainly by abiotic
factors such as temperature
and rainfall.
➢ These factors also influence the
traits of the organisms that live
there.
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 COMPETITIVE
EXCLUSION PRINCIPLE

➢ A given habitat may contain many

different species, but each species
must have a different niche.
➢ Two different species cannot
occupy the same niche in the
same place for very long.
➢ This is known as the
competitive exclusion
principle.
➢ If two species were to occupy the
same niche, what do you think
would happen?
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FOOD CHAINS AND
FOOD WEBS

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 FOOD CHAINS AND FOOD WEBS

➢Food chains and food webs are diagrams

that represent feeding relationships.
➢They show who eats whom.
➢In this way, they model how energy and
matter move through ecosystems.
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 FOOD CHAINS
➢A food chain represents a single
pathway through which energy
and matter flow through an
ecosystem.
➢Food chains are generally
simpler than what really happens
in nature.
➢Most organisms consume—and
are consumed by—more than
one species.
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 FOOD WEBS
➢A food web represents multiple
pathways through which energy
and matter flow through an
ecosystem.
➢It includes many intersecting food
chains.
➢It demonstrates that most
organisms eat, and are eaten,
by more than one species.
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 TROPHIC LEVELS
➢The feeding positions in a food chain or web.
➢All food chains and webs have at least two or three
trophic levels. (maximum of four trophic levels)
➢Many consumers feed at more than one trophic level:
▪ Humans for example, are primary consumer when they eat plants
such as vegetables.
▪ They are secondary consumers when they eat cows.
▪ They are tertiary consumers when they eat salmon.
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TROPHIC LEVELS

We are primary consumer

when we eat plants.
(vegetable)

We are tertiary consumer

when we eat salmon.
We are secondary
consumer when we eat
cow. (meat)

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Trophic Level Where It gets Food Example

1st Trophic Level: Makes its own food Plants make food
Producer

2nd Trophic Level: Consumes producers Mice eat plant seeds

Primary consumer

3rd Trophic Level: Consumes primary Snakes eat mice

Secondary consumer consumers

4th Trophic Level: Tertiary Consumes secondary Hawks eat snakes

Consumer consumers

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ECOSYSTEMS, ENERGY, MATTER
❑Ecosystem obey physical laws
➢The law of conservation of energy states that energy
cannot be created or destroyed but only transformed.
▪ Plants and other photosynthetic organisms convert solar
energy to chemical energy, but the total amount of energy
does not change.
▪ The total amount of energy stored in organic molecules plus
the amounts reflected and dissipated as heat must equal the
total solar energy intercepted by the plant.
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ECOSYSTEMS, ENERGY, MATTER
❑Ecosystem obey physical laws
➢The second law of thermodynamics states that some
energy is lost as heat in any conversion process.
▪ We can measure the efficiency of ecological energy
conversions.

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ECOSYSTEMS, ENERGY, MATTER
❑Ecosystem obey physical laws
➢Chemical elements are continually recycled.
▪ A carbon or nitrogen atom moves from one trophic
level to another and eventually to the decomposers
and back again.

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ECOSYSTEMS, ENERGY, MATTER
❑Trophic relationships determine the routes
of energy flow and chemical cycling in
ecosystems.
➢Autotrophs, the primary producers of the ecosystem,
ultimately support all other organisms.
• Most autotrophs are photosynthetic plants, algae or
bacteria that use light energy to synthesize sugars and
other organic compounds.
• Chemosynthetic prokaryotes are the primary producers
in deep-sea hydrothermal vents.
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ECOSYSTEMS, ENERGY, MATTER
❑Trophic relationships determine the routes
of energy flow and chemical cycling in
ecosystems.
➢Heterotrophs are at trophic levels above the primary
producers and depend on their photosynthetic output.
• Herbivores that eat primary producers are called primary
consumers.
• Carnivores that eat herbivores are called secondary consumers.
• Carnivores that eat secondary producers are called tertiary
consumers.
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ECOSYSTEMS, ENERGY, MATTER
❑Trophic relationships determine the
routes of energy flow and chemical cycling
in ecosystems.
➢Another important group of heterotrophs is the
detritivores, or decomposers.
• They get energy from detritus, nonliving organic material
such as the remains of dead organisms, feces, fallen leaves,
and wood.
• Detritivores play an important role in material cycling.
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ECOSYSTEMS, ENERGY, MATTER
❑Decomposition connects all trophic levels.
➢The organisms that feed as detritivores from a major link between
the primary producers and the consumers in an ecosystem.
➢Detritivores play an important role in making chemical elements
available to producers.
▪ Detritivores decompose organic material and transfer chemical elements in
inorganic forms to abiotic reservoirs such as soil, water, and air.
➢Producers then recycle these elements into organic compounds.
➢An ecosystem’s main decomposers are fungi and prokaryotes.

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 PRIMARY PRODUCTION IN ECOSYSTEMS
➢The amount of light energy converted to chemical energy by an
ecosystem’s autotrophs in a given time period is an ecosystem’s
primary production.
❑An ecosystem’s energy budget depends on primary production.
▪ Most primary producers use light energy to synthesize organic molecules, which can
be broken down to produce ATP.
▪ The amount of primary production sets the spending limit of the entire ecosystem.
▪ Different ecosystems differ greatly in their productions as well as in their contribution
to the total production of the Earth.
• Tropical rain forest are among the most productive terrestrial ecosystems.

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 PRIMARY PRODUCTION IN ECOSYSTEMS
➢A global energy budget can be analyzed:
• Every day, the Earth is bombarded by approximately 1023 joules of solar
radiation.

• The intensity of solar energy striking Earth varies with latitude, with the
tropics receiving the greatest input.

• Most of this radiation is scattered, absorbed, or reflected by the

atmosphere.

• Much of the solar radiation that reaches Earth’s surface lands on bare
ground or bodies of water that either absorb or reflect the energy.

• Only a small fraction actually strikes algae, photosynthetic

prokaryotes, or plants, and only some of this is of wavelengths suitable
for photosynthesis.

• Of the visible light that reaches photosynthetic organisms, only about 1% is

converted to chemical energy.

✓ Although this is a small amount, primary producers

produce about 170 billion tons of organic material
per year.
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 PRIMARY PRODUCTION IN ECOSYSTEMS
❑In aquatic ecosystems, light and nutrients limit primary
production.
➢ Light is a key variable controlling primary production in oceans, since
solar radiation can only penetrate to a certain depth known as the
photic zone.
❑ In terrestrial ecosystems, temperature and moisture are the
key factors limiting primary production.
➢ Tropical rain forests, with their warm, wet conditions, are the most
productive of all terrestrial ecosystems.
➢ By contrast, low-productivity ecosystems are generally dry (deserts) or dry
and cold (arctic tundra).
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 SECONDARY PRODUCTION IN ECOSYSTEMS
• The amount of chemical energy in consumers’ food that is converted to their own new biomass
during a given time period is called the secondary production of an ecosystem.

❑ The efficiency of energy transfer between trophic levels is usually less than 20%.
• Energy is passed up the food chain from one trophic level to the next.

• However, only about 10 percent of the total energy stored in organisms at one trophic level is actually
transferred to organisms at the next trophic level.

• The rest of the energy is used for metabolic processes or lost to the environment as heat.

• The amount of energy at different trophic levels can be represented by an energy pyramid

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 SECONDARY PRODUCTION IN ECOSYSTEMS

➢Trophic Levels and Biomass

• With less energy at higher trophic
levels, there are usually fewer
organisms as well.
• Organisms tend to be larger in size at
higher trophic levels, but their smaller
numbers result in less biomass.
• Biomass is the total mass of organisms
at a trophic level.

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The Green World Hypothesis

➢ Herbivores consume a small percentage

of vegetation.
➢ Predators are, ironically, the key to keeping
the world green, because they keep the
numbers of plant-eating herbivores under
control.

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 The Green World Hypothesis

❑ According to the green world hypothesis, herbivores consume relatively little plant
biomass because they are held in check by a variety of factors, including predators, parasites,
and disease.
➢ The green world hypothesis proposes several factors that keep herbivores in check:
• Plants have defenses against herbivores.

• Nutrients, not energy supply, usually limit herbivores.

• Animals need certain nutrients that plants tend to supply in relatively small amounts.

• The growth and reproduction of many herbivores are limited by availability of essential nutrients.

• Abiotic factors limit herbivores.

• Temperature and moisture may restrict carrying capacities for herbivores below the level that
would strip vegetation.

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 THE CYCLING OF CHEMICAL ELEMENTS IN
ECOSYSTEMS
➢Chemical elements are available to ecosystems only
in limited amounts.
• Life on Earth depends on the recycling of essential
chemical elements.
➢Nutrient circuits involve both biotic and abiotic
components of ecosystems and are called
biogeochemical cycles.

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End of Lecture…
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 References:

• Akre B, Brainard J, Goose H, Rogers-Estable, and Stewart R (2011).

Introduction to Environmental Science, FlexBook Platform, USA.
• Allaby M. (1996). Basics of Environmental Science, 2nd edn.
Routledge, London.
• Saravanan K, Ramachandran S, and Baskar R (2005). Principles of
Environmental Science & Technology, New Age International (P) Ltd.,
Publishers, New Delhi.
• Singh Y.K (2006). Environmental Science, New Age International (P)
Ltd., Publishers, New Delhi.
• https://today.duke.edu/2006/02/greenworld.html

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