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Environmental Biology
Content
•Ecology
•The Fundamental Steps
•Components Of A Community
•Energy Flow In An Ecosystem
•Components Of A Pond Ecosystem
•Cycling Of Materials
•Carbon Cycle
•Water Cycle
•Nitrogen Cycle
•Ecological Interdependence
•External Environment
Ecosystem
It is a science that deals with the relationships
between groups of living things and their
environments.
Fundamental concept of Ecosystem
•The term habitat refers to the kind of place
where an organism normally lives. It includes
the arrangement of food, water, shelter and
space that is suitable to meet an organism's
needs.
•Green plants (and some bacteria) are the
only organisms that can directly capture the
sun's energy and change it into a form that
other organisms can use.
• Through the process of photosynthesis,
plants use sunlight to change carbon dioxide
and water into sugar and oxygen.
•The oxygen is given off into the air, where it
is available to other organisms including
humans.
•Other organisms then eat the plants, or eat
organisms that eat plants, and in doing so
indirectly gain the benefit of the sun's energy
to run their bodies.
• It takes a lot of grass to support one rabbit,
and many rabbits to support one hawk(a
diurnal bird of prey). As a consequence, there
are many, many green plants on the Earth,
fewer animals that eat plants, and even fewer
animals that eat animals; this is known as the
energy pyramid.
•
•
Components of a community
Producers: Photosynthesizing organisms
Producers are any kind of green plant. Green
plants make their food by taking sunlight and
using the energy to make sugar. The plant uses
this sugar, also called glucose to make many
things, such as wood, leaves, roots, and bark.
Trees are examples of producers.
•
Consumers: any organism that can’t make its own food
Consumers have to feed on producers or other consumers
to survive. Deer are herbivores, which means that they
only eat plants (Producers). Bears are another example of
consumers. Black bears are omnivores and scavengers
(feeds on dead animal and plant material present in its
habitat), Black Bears will eat blueberries, bugs, acorns(a
large tree which bears acorns and typically has lobed
deciduous leaves. Oaks are dominant in many north
temperate forests and are an important source of durable
timber used in building, furniture, and (formerly) ships.),
and many kinds of nuts.
•Decomposers: An organism that primarily feeds
on dead organisms or the waste from living
organisms
Decomposers are the garbage men of the animal
kingdom; they take all the dead animals and
plants (consumers and decomposers) and break
them down into their nutrient components so
that plants can use them to make more food.
•
Ecosystems
• Examples of a biotic components are
temperature, average humidity, topography and
natural disturbances.
Temperature
• Temperature varies by latitude; locations near
the equator are warmer than are locations near
the poles or the temperate zones.
A biotic components
Humidity
•Humidity influences the amount of water and
moisture in the air and soil, which, in turn, affect
rainfall.
A biotic components
Topography
•Topography is the layout of the land in terms of
elevation.
A biotic components
Water
Plant and animal habitats vary from entirely
aquatic environments to very dry deserts.
Water is essential for life and all organisms
depend on it to survive in especially desert
areas.
Water requirements of plants
Plants can be classified into 3 groups
according to their water requirements:
A biotic components
Hydrophytes
Hydrophytes are plants which grow in
water e.g. water-lilies and rushes.
A biotic components
Mesophytes
Mesophytes are plants with average water
requirements e.g. roses , sweet peas . Roses
are mesophytes
Abiotic components
Xerophytes
Xerophytes are plants which grow in dry
environments where they often experience
a shortage of water e.g. cacti and often
succulents.Aloes are xerophytes
Biotic Components
The biotic components of an ecosystem are the life
forms that inhabit it. The life forms of an ecosystem
aid in the transfer and cycle of energy. They are
grouped in terms of the means they use to get
energy. Producers such as plants produce their own
energy without consuming other life forms; plants
gain their energy from conducting photosynthesis
via sunlight.
Consumers exist on the next level of the food
.
hain. There are three main types of
consumers: herbivores, carnivores and
omnivores. Herbivores feed on plants,
carnivores get their food by eating other
carnivores or herbivores, and omnivores can
digest both plant and animal tissue.
Energy flows in ecosystem
1. The energy flow in the ecosystem is
unidirectional. Sun is the main source of energy.
2. Some part of the energy is used by the
producers or autotrophs.
3. They not only make their food but also for the
other organisms.
4. They absorb the energy from sun and convert
into the chemical energy. They release oxygen.
Energy flows in ecosystem
5. The organic compounds release energy during
respiration. The organic compounds which are
formed play an important role in the building of
bodies and help in the release of energy which
helps to overcome the entropy.
6. There are herbivorous which feed on the plants.
They are not able to eat the whole of plant.
7. There is a non usage of food energy which
passes into the decomposers.
Energy flows in ecosystem
7. The phytoplankton in the aquatic food chain is
mainly eaten by the herbivore.
8. The herbivores act on the ingested food which
gets aggregated. It releases the energy later on
and helps in the respiration.
9. The energy lost in this case is not much and the
remaining is used to overcome the entropy.
Energy flows in ecosystem
Energy flows in ecosystem
10. The primary carnivore feed on the herbivore
which is feeded by the secondary carnivore. In
the food chain when the food is broken energy is
released. The small part of energy is utilized and
so the rest of energy is dissipated. .
Pond Ecosystem
The pond is a small body of standing water and
the pond ecosystem is complex interactions
between its biotic and abiotic components.
Abiotic component of pond ecosystem
Abiotic component of pond ecosystem are:
Environmental factors: light, temperature, water
The edaphic factors: Soil
Inorganic Components are: O2, CO2, N2, nitrates,
phosphates, carbonates etc.
Organic components are: carbohydrates,
proteins, amino acids, fats, nucleic acids
.
Biotic components
Producers
The producers are the aquatic green plants, which
may be divided into two groups.
Microphytes (phytoplanktons) : They are
microscopic autotrophs, which fix solar energy.
eg. Spirogyra, Zygnema, Volvox, Oedogonium.
Macrophytes : They are large plants, which
manufacture complex food. They are of following
types
Biotic components
Submerged plants: those, which are submerged
in water, are submerged plants eg Hydrilla and
Utricularia
Floating plants: those, which float freely in water
surface, are called floating plants eg. Pistia,
Nymphea and Azolla
Immerged plants: those, which are rooted but
emergent, are called immerged plants eg
Ranunculus, Sagittaria and Typha .
Biotic components
Consumers
The consumers are those heterotrophic
organisms, which consume producers as food.
They are also following types
Primary consumers: These herbivorous animals
depend upon autotrophic organisms such as
microscopic plant eaters or zooplanktons,
Mollusks, Beetles, Cyclops, and Daphnia etc.
Secondary consumers: These are primary
carnivores, which depend upon herbivorous
animals for food eg. Insects, fishes, frogs, crab
etc.
Biotic components
Tertiary consumers: These are second grade of
carnivores. They feed upon plants or animals
(secondary consumer) therefore are called
omnivores. for eg. Large fishes and frogs.
Top consumers: These are third grade of
carnivores, which feed upon primary, secondary,
and tertiary consumers eg. Water snake, water
birds etc.
Biotic components
Decomposers
These include heterotrophic microorganisms such
as bacteria fungi, which break down the organic
complex food from dead producers and
consumers into simple inorganic compounds
made available to the producers.
Pond stratification: On the basis of water depth,
light penetration and types of vegetation and
animals there may be three zones
Biotic components
Littoral zone: This is the shallow water region,
which is usually occupied by rooted plants. This
region is warmer and rich in oxygen. In this
region, there is high intensity of light penetration
so called epolomentic zone
Limnetic Zone: this is the central part of pond
upto where there is the penetration of effective
light water level, oxygen content and
tem[perature varies time to time in this zone.
here the light penetration is lesser so called
thermocline.
Biotic components
Profundal Zone: This is the deep-water region
where there is no effective light penetration.
There the microscopic plants and decomposers
are present.
Cycling of Materials in Ecosystems
Cycles within an Ecosystem
Water Cycle
Carbon Cycle
Phosphorous and Nitrogen Cycle
Cycles within Ecosystems
Almost everything within an ecosystem is recycled.
Water, carbon, nitrogen & phosphorus pass from
the nonliving environment to living organisms &
then back to the environment.
Water Cycle
Water is the most important, non-living
component of the ecosystem.
Nonliving cycle: involves condensation,
precipitation, & evaporation.
Living cycle: involves plants in a process called
transpiration.
Water Cycle
Nonliving portion:
Water vapor, as it cools, condenses in the form
of clouds and falls to the Earth’s surface as
precipitation (as rain, snow, etc)
Then water evaporates (turning from a liquid
to a gas) and re-enters the atmosphere
Living portion:
Water is absorbed by roots of plants
After passing through the plant, the water
evaporates from the leaves in a process called
transpiration.
Carbon Cycle
Carbon dioxide in the air (or dissolved water)
is used by photosynthesizing plants, algae and
bacteria as raw material to build organic
molecules.
What does that mean? Autotrophs take in
carbon dioxide to help make food in order to
grow and survive
Involves:
Respiration (breathing where CO2 is a by
product)
Combustion (burning)
Erosion (limestone)
Phosphorous and Nitrogen Cycle
• You need phosphorous and nitrogen to build
proteins and nucleic acids (part of DNA)
• Since more organisms are unable to use nitrogen
gas (N2), nitrogen fixing bacteria bind nitrogen
with hydrogen to form ammonia (NH3)
• What does that mean? We need nitrogen, but we
can’t use pure nitrogen gas (N2) so certain
bacteria convert N2 into a usable forms
(ammonia)
Phosphorous and Nitrogen Cycle
• Stages:
– Assimilation (absorption of nitrogen gas,N2, by
plants)
– Ammonification (production of ammonia, NH3,
by bacteria during organism decay)
– Nitrification (production of nitrate from
ammonia)
– Denitrification (conversion of nitrate to N2)
Types of interactions
Symbiosis
• Symbiosis describes the way in which two different
species living together in the same community,
interact with each other over a long time period.
This can occur in the form of parasitism,
mutualism or commensalism.
• Parasitism: Parasitism is when the one species
benefits or gains something from the relationship
and the other species is harmed in some way. The
host may die in some interactions.
In some interactions between individuals from
different species, the one species benefits, while
the other one is unaffected by the relationship.
Unlike parasitism, in commensalism the other
species is not harmed or benefited in any way.
Mutualism
Mutualism occurs between any two species
where both of the individuals benefit from the
interaction. Both species gain something from
the other, so we can say it is mutually
beneficial.
Competition
Feeding:
Different species in an ecosystem are related
and interact when one species can use the
other species as a food source. For example, in
predator-prey relationships, the one species
(predator) will hunt another species (prey).
Extreme Environments
Extreme environments are places where
"normal" life finds it hard to survive. That
doesn't mean that there isn't any life in extreme
environments. Certain creatures can live and
grow in extreme environments. Scientists have a
special name for creatures that live in extreme
environments. They are called "extremophiles".
What kinds of environments are "extreme"? Some
extreme environments that you may know about
are deserts, mountain peaks, caves, and frozen
places like the Arctic and Antarctic. Some
environments are very hot or very cold, extremely dry,
or both. Other extreme environments are filled with
acids, are blasted with radiation, are under high
pressure, or are tough places for most living things in
various other ways.
Some environments are extreme in more than
one way. Most deserts are both hot and dry.
The Dry Valleys in Antarctica are very cold and
dry. Some hot springs are acidic as well as
Being nearly boiling hot. Hydrothermal
vents on the sea floor don't receive any
sunlight, spew out hot water filled with harsh
chemicals, and are weighed down by the
crushing pressure of the deep oceans.