Download Ecosystem Ecology, ESPM 111

Ecosystem Ecology, ESPM 111
• Whendee Silver [[email protected]]
• Dennis Baldocchi
[[email protected]]
• Lindsey Hendricks
[[email protected]]
ESPM 111 Ecosystem Ecology
Class Web Site
• bcourses.berkeley.edu
ESPM 111 Ecosystem Ecology
Grading
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Homework assignments:
30%
– five problem sets on data reduction and
interpretation.
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Midterm:
Final, last lecture period:
ESPM 111 Ecosystem Ecology
35%
35%
Textbook/Readings
• Principles of Terrestrial Ecosystem Ecology. F.
Stuart Chapin III, Pamela A. Matson, and Peter
Vitousek. 2011. 2nd edition Springer-Verlag, New
York, NY USA
• http://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-14419-9504-9
ESPM 111 Ecosystem Ecology
(this is what they really look like….)
Course Overview
Key Topics
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History
The Physical Environment
– Climate, Geology, Soils
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Biogeochemical Cycling
– Carbon, Nitrogen, Phosphorus
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The Biophysical System
– Water, Energy, Plants, Animals
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Ecosystem Dynamics
– Recruitment, Mortality, Competition, Disturbance, Succession and Movement
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Ecosystem Scaling, Modeling and Global Ecology
Landscape Ecology
Global Change and Ecosystems
Ecosystem Management and Sustainability
ESPM 111 Ecosystem Ecology
Key Points
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Define an Ecosystem
Define Key Terms
Define Fluxes, Pools and Turnover time
Describe Ecosystems as Complex
Systems
ESPM 111 Ecosystem Ecology
Ecology
• The science of the relationships between
organisms and their environments
• Name is derived from:
– Oikos (Greek) and Ökologie (German): house,
– Logie (German) and Logia (Greek): study
– ‘Study of the House’
ESPM 111 Ecosystem Ecology
Other Fields of Ecology
• Organisms
• Systems
– Microbial Ecology
– Plant Ecology
– Animal/Wildlife Ecology
• Processes
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Biophysical Ecology
Physiological Ecology
Molecular Ecology
Fire Ecology
EcoHydrology
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AgroEcology
Aquatic Ecology
Behavioral Ecology
Community Ecology
Forest Ecology
Landscape Ecology
PaleoEcology
Population Ecology
Tropical Ecology
Urban Ecology
Wetland Ecology
ESPM 111 Ecosystem Ecology
Related Fields
• Biogeography
• Biogeochemistry
• Ecological
Climatology
• EcoHydrology
• Biometeorology
ESPM 111 Ecosystem Ecology
Ecosystem Ecology
• ‘Study of interactions among organisms
and their physical environment as an
integrated system’
– Chapin et al
This is not ‘Tree-Hugging 101’
ESPM 111 Ecosystem Ecology
What is an ecosystem?
• Bounded ecological system consisting of all
the organisms in an area and the physical
environment with which they interact
– Biotic and abiotic processes
– Pools and fluxes
• Levels (Hierarchy) of Organization
– Organisms
– Populations
– Communities
– Biomes
ESPM 111 Ecosystem Ecology
Other Ecological Terms and Concepts
• Niche
– set of biotic and abiotic conditions in which a
species is able to persist and maintain stable
population sizes
• Trait
– Properties of individuals that enhance their
performance in a niche
– They occur through evolution to enhance
survival and reproductive success
ESPM 111 Ecosystem Ecology
How to Study and Understand Ecosystems?
Is it Biology? Is it Chemistry? Is it Physics?
“all biologists know, biological systems don’t
obey the laws of physics.”
..a referee of a paper by George Oster, ESPM
Professor
Nuzzo R (2006) Profile of George Oster. Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
103:1672-1674
ESPM 111 Ecosystem Ecology
Paradigm Shift from a Mechanical Clock like
Mechanical/Newtonian work to one of Complexity
And understanding the limitations and new way of thinking
Complex systems forces us to deal differently in how we study,
quantify, predict, manage and manipulate complex systems
ESPM 111 Ecosystem Ecology
Ecosystem Ecology,
the Baldocchi-Biometeorology Perspective
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Physics wins
– Ecosystems function by capturing solar energy
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Only so much Solar Energy can be capture per unit are of ground
– Plants convert solar energy into high energy carbon compounds for work
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growth and maintenance respiration
– Plants transfer nutrients and water down concentration/potential energy
gradients between air, soil and plant pools to sustain their structure and function
– Ecosystems must maintain a Mass Balance
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Plants can’t Use More Water or Carbon than has been acquired
Biology is how it’s done
– Species differentiation (via evolution and competition) produces the structure and
function of plants, invertebrates and vertebrates
– In turn, structure and function provides the mechanisms for competing for and
capturing light energy and transferring matter
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Gases diffuse in and out of active ports on leaves, stomata
– Bacteria, fungi and other micro-organisms re-cycle material by exploiting
differences in redox potential; they are adept at passing electrons and extracting
energy
– Reproductive success passes genes for traits through the gene pool.
ESPM 111 Ecosystem Ecology
Biological Systems Do Follow a ‘New’ Set of Physical Laws,
Associated with Complexity and Complex Systems,
Where the Whole Acts Differently than the Sum of the Parts
ESPM 111 Ecosystem Ecology
Basic Ecosystem
Atmosphere:
CO2, Rain, Temperature
Energy:
Sunlight
CO2
H2O
Primary Producers:
Autotrophs, Plants
Decomposers:
Heterotrophs,
Bacteria, Archaea,
Fungi, Invertebrates
Consumers:
Herbivores and
Carnivores
Soil:
Reservoir for Water and Nutrients,
Anchorage for Roots, Habitat for
Microbes, Invertebrates and
Vertebrates
Challenge to Ecosystem Ecology is to Define the Rates/Velocities
associated with the Arrows and the Size of the Pools
Ecosystem Ecology, v2, the Processes
EcoPhysiology:
Leaf area index, plant
functional type,
photosynthetic capacity,
canopy height, albedo
Weather:
Light Energy, Temperature,
Rainfall, Humidity, Wind
Velocity, CO2, soil
moisture
hours
Physiology:
Photosynthesis,
Respiration, Transpiration
•Numerous and Coupled
•Biophysical Processes,
•Fast and Slow
hours/days
Growth and Allocation:
Leaves, Stems, Roots,
Light Interception, Water and
Nutrient Uptake
Soil:
Texture, DEM, C/
N,bulk density,
Hydraulic Properties
days/seasons
Biogeochemistry:
Decomposition,
Mineralization, Nitrification,
Denitrification
years
Ecosystem Dynamics:
Reproduction, Disperal, Recruitment,
Competition, Facilitation, Mortality,
Disturbance, Sucession
ESPM 111 Ecosystem Ecology
•Numerous Feedbacks,
•Positive and Negative
Ecological Stoichiometry, CO2-H2O-N-P
C106H263O110N16P
• CO2
– Primary source of high-energy sugars, CH2O
• Nitrogen
– Key component in RUBISCO, the enzyme that fixes CO2, and
amino acids that form proteins
• Phosphorus
– Key component of ATP and NADPH, the energy compounds
central to many metabolic processes
• H2O
– Keeps cells turgid
– Solvent for transferring nutrients through solution
– Lost via stomata
ESPM 111 Ecosystem Ecology
Microbes make the BioGeoChemical Cycles Revolve
‘bacteria are astonishingly good at finding
energy that will let them make a living.
More or less everywhere the earth brings
together substances with different redox
potentials, there’s a bacterium that knows
how to take advantage of the situation by
passing electrons from one to the other and
skimming off energy as it does’.
Oliver Morton, 2008 Eating the Sun: How Plants Power the Planet
ESPM 111 Ecosystem Ecology
Fluxes, Pools and Turnover Time
• Flux = Mass per unit Volume per unit Time
• Flux Density= Mass per unit Area per unit
Time
• Pool or Reservoir= Mass per unit Volume, C
• Turnover Time= e-folding time for a change in
pool size, 
F 
C

ESPM 111 Ecosystem Ecology
Conservation Budget
Change in Pool Size, C, Equals the
Flux in, Fin, minus the Flux out, Fout, of the Pool
C
 Fin  Fout
t
Units: moles m-3 y-1
Holds for Energy, Water, Carbon, Nitrogen, etc
ESPM 111 Ecosystem Ecology
Summary
• Ecosystem Ecology involves
– The Study of a Complex, Living System comprised of
plants, microbes, invertebrates and vertebrates
– Autotrophs (plants) capture solar energy and convert it
into Chemical Energy
– Chemical energy is used to drive the metabolism of
heterotrophs, herbivores, and higher trophic levels
– Ecosystems sustain themselves by cycling of material
between the atmosphere, biosphere and pedosphere
– Complex Behavior occurs due to the multiple and nonlinear feedbacks between fast and slow processes and
big and small pools
– ‘Physics Wins, Biology is how its Done’
ESPM 111 Ecosystem Ecology
Class Reinforcement
• What are Ecological Fluxes?
– Give Examples
• What are critical ecological pools?
– How may they change?
ESPM 111 Ecosystem Ecology