CHAPTER 3 LIVING THINGS: PRINCIPLES AND CONCEPTS OF ECOSYSTEMS

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this chapter, you should be able to:

1. Discuss characteristics of living things
2. Explain the components of an ecosystem
3. Discuss the food chain and the food web
4. Articulate the relationships of adaptation and evolution with
organisms’ survival
5. Explain the population dynamics
6. Articulate the species interactions
7. Discuss the natural succession

Discussion

The Earth’s Life-Support System Has Four Major Components

Scientific studies reveal that the earth’s life-support system consists of four
main spherical systems that interact with one another—the atmosphere (air),
the hydrosphere (water), the geosphere (rock, soil, sediment), and the
biosphere (living things).

The atmosphere is a thin spherical

envelope of gases surrounding the earth’s
surface. Its inner layer, the troposphere,
extends only about 17 kilometers (11 miles)
above sea level at the tropics and about 7
kilometers (4 miles) above the earth’s north
and south poles. It contains the majority of
the air that we breathe, consisting mostly of
nitrogen (78% of the total volume) and
oxygen (21%). The remaining 1% of the air
includes water vapor, carbon dioxide, and
methane, all of which are called greenhouse
gases, which absorb and release energy that
warms the lower atmosphere. Without these
gases the earth would be too cold for the
existence of life as we know it. Almost all of
the earth’s weather occurs within this layer.

The next layer, stretching 17–50 kilometers

(11–31 miles) above the earth’s surface, is
called the stratosphere. Its lower portion
holds enough ozone (O3) gas to filter out
most of the sun’s harmful ultraviolet (UV)
radiation. This global sunscreen allows life
to exist on land and in the surface layers of
bodies of water.

The hydrosphere consists of all of the water on or near the earth’s surface. It is
found as liquid water (on the surface and underground), ice (polar ice, icebergs,
and ice in frozen soil layers called permafrost), and water vapor in the
atmosphere. The oceans, which cover about 71% of the globe, contain about
97% of the earth’s water.
The geosphere consists of the earth’s intensely hot core, a thick mantle
composed mostly of rock, and a thin outer crust. Most of the geosphere is
located in the earth’s interior. Its upper portion contains nonrenewable fossil
fuels and minerals that we use, as well as renewable soil chemicals (nutrients)
that organisms need to live, grow, and reproduce.
 The biosphere consists of the parts of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and
geosphere where life is found. If the earth were an apple, the biosphere would
be no thicker than the apple’s skin. The goal of ecology is to understand the
interactions that occur within this thin layer of air, water, soil, and organisms.

Three Factors Sustain the Earth’s Life

Life on the earth depends on three interconnected factors:

• The one-way flow of high-quality energy

from the sun, through living things in their
feeding interactions, into the environment as
low-quality energy (mostly heat dispersed into
air or water at a low temperature), and
eventually back into space as heat. No round-
trips are allowed because high-quality energy
cannot be recycled. The two laws of
thermodynamics govern this energy flow.

• The cycling of nutrients (the atoms, ions, or molecules needed for

survival by living organisms) through parts of the biosphere. Because the
earth is closed to significant inputs of matter from space, its essentially
fixed supply of nutrients must be continually recycled to support life.
Nutrient movements in ecosystems and in the biosphere are round-trips,
which can take from seconds to centuries to complete. The law of
conservation of matter governs this nutrient cycling process.

• Gravity, which allows the planet to hold onto its atmosphere and helps to
enable the movement and cycling of chemicals through the air, water,
soil, and organisms.

Ecology is the science that focuses on how

organisms interact with one another and with
their non-living environment of matter and
energy. Ecologists classify matter into levels of
organization ranging from the atomic level to
the level of the biosphere. They study
interactions within and among five of these
levels— organisms, populations, communities,
ecosystems, and the biosphere.

Components of Ecosystem
Two types of components make up the
biosphere and its ecosystems:
• abiotic, consists of nonliving components
such as water, air, nutrients, rocks, heat,
and solar energy
• biotic, consists of living biological
components—plants, animals, and
microbes. Biotic factors also include dead
organisms, dead parts of organisms, and
the waste products of organisms.
Living Components of Ecosystems

Ecologists assign every type of organism in an ecosystem to a feeding level, or

trophic level, depending on its source of food or nutrients. The living (biotic)
organisms that transfer energy and nutrients from one trophic level to another
in an ecosystem can be broadly classified as producers and consumers.

Producers, sometimes called autotrophs (self-feeders), make the nutrients

they need from compounds and energy obtained from their environment. On
land, most producers are green plants. In a process called photosynthesis,
plants typically capture about 1% of the solar energy that falls on their leaves
and use it to combine carbon dioxide and water to form organic molecules,
including energy-rich carbohydrates (such as glucose, C6H12O6), which store the
chemical energy they need. Although hundreds of chemical changes take place
during photosynthesis, the overall reaction can be summarized as follows:

carbon dioxide + water + solar energy glucose + oxygen

In freshwater and marine ecosystems, algae and aquatic plants growing near
shorelines are the major producers. In open water, the dominant producers are
phytoplankton—mostly microscopic organisms that float or drift in the water.

All other organisms in an ecosystem are consumers, or heterotrophs (“other-

feeders”), which cannot produce the nutrients they need through
photosynthesis or other processes. They must obtain their energy-storing
organic molecules and many other nutrients by feeding on other organisms
(producers or other consumers) or their remains. In other words, all consumers
(including humans) depend on producers for their nutrients.

There are several types of consumers.

• Primary consumers, or herbivores (plant eaters), are animals that eat
producers, feeding mostly on green plants. Examples are caterpillars,
deer, and zooplankton.
• Carnivores (meat eaters) are animals that feed on the flesh of other
animals. Some carnivores such as spiders, robins, and tuna are
secondary consumers that feed on the flesh of herbivores. Other
carnivores such as tigers, hawks, and killer whales (orcas) are tertiary
(or higher) consumers that feed on the flesh of other carnivores.
• Omnivores such as pigs, foxes, and humans can eat plants and other animals.
• Decomposers, are consumers that release nutrients from the dead
bodies of plants and animals and return them to the soil, water, and air
for reuse by producers. Most consumers are bacteria and fungi. Other
consumers, called detritus feeders, or detritivores, feed on the wastes
or dead bodies of other organisms, called detritus (“di-TRItus,” meaning
debris). Examples are earthworms, some insects, and vultures.
 Producers, consumers, and decomposers use the chemical energy stored in
glucose and other organic compounds to fuel their life processes. In most cells,
this energy is released by aerobic respiration, which uses oxygen to convert
glucose (or other organic nutrient molecules) back into carbon dioxide and
water. The net effect of the hundreds of steps in this complex process is
represented by the following reaction:

glucose + oxygen carbon dioxide + water + energy

Energy Flow and Nutrient Cycling Sustain Ecosystems and the Biosphere

Ecosystems and the biosphere are sustained through a combination of one-way

energy flow from the sun through these systems and nutrient cycling of key
materials within them

Energy Flows through Ecosystems in Food Chains and Food Webs

The chemical energy stored as nutrients in the bodies and wastes of organisms
flows through ecosystems from one trophic (feeding) level to another. For
example, a plant uses solar energy to store chemical energy in a leaf. A
caterpillar eats the leaf, a robin eats the caterpillar, and a hawk eats the robin.
Decomposers and detritus feeders consume the remains of the leaf, caterpillar,
robin, and hawk after they die and return their nutrients to the soil for reuse by
producers.

A sequence of organisms, each of which serves as a source of food or energy for

the next, is called a food chain. It determines how chemical energy and
nutrients move from one organism to another through the trophic levels in an
ecosystem along the same pathways— primarily through photosynthesis,
feeding, and decomposition—as shown in Figure 3-8. Every
use and transfer of energy by organisms involves a loss of some degraded high-
quality energy to the environment as heat.

In natural ecosystems, most consumers feed on more than one type of organism,
and most organisms are eaten or decomposed by more than one type of
consumer. Because of this, organisms in most ecosystems form a complex
network of interconnected food chains called a food web (Figure 3-9, p. 46).
Trophic levels can be assigned in food webs just as in food chains. Food chains
and webs show how producers, consumers, and decomposers are connected to
one another as energy flows through trophic levels in an ecosystem.

The more trophic levels there are in a food chain or web, the greater is the
cumulative loss of usable chemical energy as it flows through the trophic levels.
The pyramid of energy flow illustrates this energy loss for a simple food chain,
assuming a 90% energy loss with each transfer.
POPULATION DYNAMICS

Populations Can Grow, Shrink, or Remain Stable

• Over time, the number of individuals in a population may increase,

decrease, remain about the same, or go up and down in cycles in
response to changes in environmental conditions.
• Four variables—births, deaths, immigration, and emigration—govern
changes in population size.
• A population increases by birth and immigration (arrival of individuals
from outside the population) and decreases by death and emigration
(departure of individuals from the population):

Population change = (Births + Immigration) - (Deaths + Emigration)

Species Have Different Reproductive Patterns

• Species use different reproductive patterns to help ensure their long-term
survival. Some species have many, usually small, offspring and give them
little or no parental care or protection. These species overcome typically
massive losses of offspring by producing so many offspring that a few will
likely survive to reproduce many more offspring to begin this
reproductive pattern again. Examples include algae, bacteria, and most
insects.

• At the other extreme are species that tend to reproduce later in life and
have a small number of offspring with fairly long life spans. Typically, the
offspring of mammals with this reproductive strategy develop inside their
mothers (where they are safe), and are born fairly large. After birth they
mature slowly and are cared for and protected by one or both parents,
and in some cases by living in herds or groups, until they reach
reproductive age to begin the cycle again

• In the real world, a rapidly growing population of any species eventually

reaches some size limit imposed by the availability of one or more
limiting factors such as light, water, space, or nutrients, or by exposure
to predators, infectious diseases, or too many competitors. There are
 always limits to population growth in nature.

• Environmental resistance is the combination of all factors that act to

limit the growth of a population. It largely determines a population’s
carrying capacity: the maximum population of a given species that a
particular habitat can sustain indefinitely. The growth rate of a
population decreases as its size nears the carrying capacity of its
environment because resources such as food, water, and space begin to
dwindle.

• Exponential growth starts slowly but then accelerates as the population

increases, because the base size of the population is increasing. Plotting
the number of individuals against time yields a J-shaped growth curve.

• Some species do not make a smooth transition from exponential growth

to logistic growth. Such populations use up their resource supplies and
temporarily overshoot, or exceed, the carrying capacity of their
environment. This occurs because of a reproductive time lag: the
period needed for the birth rate to fall and the death rate to rise in
response to resource overconsumption.
• In such cases, the population suffers a dieback, or population crash,
unless the excess individuals can switch to new resources or move to an
area with more resources.

SPECIES INTERACTION

Species Interact in Five Major Ways

Ecologists identify five basic types of interactions between species as they share
limited resources such as food, shelter, and space:
• Interspecific competition occurs when members of two or more
species interact to gain access to the same limited resources such as
food, water, light, and space.
• Predation occurs when a member of one species (the predator) feeds
directly on all or part of a member of another species (the prey).
• Parasitism occurs when one organism (the parasite) feeds on another
organism (the host), usually by living on or in the host.
• Mutualism is an interaction that benefits both species by providing each
 with food, shelter, or some other resource.
• Commensalism is an interaction that benefits one species but has little,
if any, effect on the other. These interactions have significant effects on
the resource use and population sizes of the species in an ecosystem
Most Species Compete with One Another for Certain Resources

• The most common interaction between species is competition for limited

resources. While fighting for resources does occur, most competition
involves the ability of one species to become more efficient than another
species in getting food or other resources. Recall that each species plays
a role in its ecosystem called its ecological niche.
• When two species compete with one another for the same resources such
as food, light, or space, their niches overlap. The greater this overlap the
more intense their competition for key resources. If one species can take
over the largest share of one or more key resources, the other competing
species must:

1. migrate to another area (if possible),

2. shift its feeding habits or behavior through natural selection to
reduce or alter its niche,
3. suffer a sharp population decline,
4. or become extinct in that area

Some Species Evolve Ways to Share Resources

• Over a time scale long enough for natural selection to occur, populations
of some species develop adaptations that allow them to reduce or avoid
competition with other species for the same resources. One way this
happens is through resource partitioning. It occurs when species
competing for similar scarce resources evolve specialized traits that allow
them to use shared resources at different times, in different ways, or in
different places.

Most Consumer Species Feed on Live Organisms of Other Species

• In predation, a member of one species (the predator) feeds directly on

all or part of a living organism of another plant or animal species (the
prey) as part of a food web. Together, the two different species such as
lions (the predator, or hunter) and zebras (the prey, or hunted) form a
predator–prey relationship. In giant kelp forest ecosystems, sea urchins
prey on kelp, a form of seaweed. However, as keystone species, southern
sea otters prey on the sea urchins and thus keep them from destroying
the kelp forests.

Predators have a variety of methods that help them capture prey.

• Herbivores can simply walk, swim, or fly up to the plants they feed on.
For example, sea urchins can move along the ocean bottom to feed on the
bases of giant kelp plants
• Carnivores feeding on mobile prey have two main options: pursuit and
ambush. Some predators such as the cheetah catch prey by running
fast; others such as the American bald eagle can fly and have keen
eyesight; still others such as wolves and African lions cooperate in
capturing their prey by hunting in packs.
• Other predators use camouflage to hide in plain sight and ambush their
prey. For example, praying mantises sit in flowers of a similar color and
ambush visiting insects. White ermines (a type of weasel) and snowy owls
hunt in snow-covered areas. People camouflage themselves to hunt wild
game and use camouflaged traps to ambush wild game.
• Some predators use chemical warfare to attack their prey. For example,
spiders and poisonous snakes use venom to paralyze their prey and to
deter their predators.
Prey species have evolved many ways to avoid predators
• including the ability to run, swim, or fly fast, and a highly developed
sense of sight or smell that alerts them to the presence of predators.
• Other avoidance adaptations include protective shells (turtles), thick
bark (giant sequoia), spines (porcupines), and thorns (cacti and rose
bushes). Many lizards have brightly colored tails that break off when
they are attacked, often giving them enough time to escape
• Other prey species use the camouflage of certain
shapes or colors or the ability to change color
(chameleons and cuttlefish). Some insect species
have shapes that look like twigs, bark, thorns, or
even bird droppings on leaves. A leaf insect can be
almost invisible against its background, as can an
arctic hare in its white winter fur.
• Chemical warfare is another common strategy.
Some prey species discourage predators with
chemicals that are poisonous (oleander plants),
irritating (stinging nettles and bombardier beetles,
foul smelling (skunks, skunk cabbages, and
stinkbugs), or foul tasting (buttercups and monarch
butterflies).
• When attacked, some species of squid and octopus
emit clouds of black ink, allowing them to escape by
confusing their predators. Many bad-tasting, bad-
smelling, toxic, or stinging prey species have
evolved warning coloration, brightly colored
advertising that enables experienced predators to
recognize and avoid them. They flash a warning:
“Eating me is risky.”
• Some butterfly species such as the nonpoisonous
viceroy gain protection by looking and acting like
the monarch, a protective device known as
mimicry. Other prey species use behavioral
strategies to avoid predation. Some attempt to
scare off predators by puffing up (blowfish),
spreading their wings (peacocks), or mimicking a
predator. Some moths have wings that look like the
eyes of much larger animals
.Other prey species gain some protection by living
in large groups such as schools of fish and herds of
antelope
SUCCESSION

 Succession is a directional non-seasonal cumulative change in the types

of plant species that occupy a given area through time.
 It involves the processes of colonization, establishment, and extinction
which act on the participating plant species. Most successions contain a
number of stages that can be recognized by the collection of species that
dominate at that point in the succession.
 Succession begin when an area is made partially or completely devoid of
vegetation because of a disturbance. Some common mechanisms of
disturbance are fires, wind storms, volcanic eruptions, logging, climate
change, severe flooding, disease, and pest infestation. Succession stops
when species composition changes no longer occur with time, and this
community is said to be a climax community.

 The concept of a climax community assumes that the plants colonizing

and establishing themselves in a given region can achieve stable
equilibrium. The idea that succession ends in the development of a
climax community has had a long history in the fields of biogeography
and ecology.

 One of the earliest proponents of this idea was Frederic Clements who
studied succession at the beginning of the 20th century. However,
beginning in the 1920s scientists began refuting the notion of a climax
state. By 1950, many scientists began viewing succession as a
phenomenon that rarely attains equilibrium. The reason why equilibrium
is not reached is related to the nature of disturbance. Disturbance acts on
communities at a variety of spatial and temporal scales. Further, the
effect of disturbance is not always 100 percent. Many disturbances
remove only a part of the previous plant community. As a result of these
new ideas, plant communities are now generally seen as being composed
of numerous patches of various size at different stages of successional
development.

Stages of Succession

• The first stage of succession was characterized by the pioneering

colonization of annual plant species on bare ground and nutrient poor
soils (Figure 9-1). These annual species had short lifespans (one growing
season), rapid maturity, and produce numerous small easily dispersed
seeds. The annuals were then quickly replaced in dominance in the next
year by biennial plants and grasses. After about 3 to 4 years, the biennial
and grass species gave way to perennial herbs and shrubs. These plants
live for many years and have the ability to reproduce several times over
their lifespans.
 Figure 9-1: Succession of plant species on abandoned fields in North
Carolina. Pioneer species consist of a variety of annual plants. This
successional stage is then followed by communities of perennials and
grasses, shrubs, softwood trees and shrubs, and finally hardwood
trees and shrubs. This succession takes about 120 years to go from
the pioneer stage to the climax community.

• After about 5 to 15 years, the sites were then colonized by a number of

different softwood tree species including loblolly pine (Pinus taeda),
shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata), Virginia pine (Pinus virginiana), and
sweetgum. As the softwoods increased in their numbers and grew in
height, they began forming a forest canopy. This canopy reduces the
amount of light reaching the forest floor. The resulting shaded understory
conditions caused the exclusion of many light loving perennial herb and
shrub species. Low light conditions also inhibited the germination of pine
seedlings. Perennial herb and shrub species that were adapted to low
light conditions now began to take over the ground cover. The canopy
also changed the microclimate of habitat near ground level. It was now
more humid, has moderated temperatures, and less wind. These
conditions, plus the development of a soil litter layer, allowed for the
germination of hardwood species, like oak (Quercus spp.) and various
species of hickory (Carya spp). The seedlings of these tree species also
tolerate low light levels.

• By about 50 to 75 years after the initial colonization of the pioneer

species, the hardwoods started to replace the softwood species in the
developing forest. At this stage in the succession, the pines had maximum
heights of about 25 meters, while the oaks and hickories were on average
about 10 meters tall. Because of their shorter lifespans (50 years), many
of the softwood species were beginning to die out and the gap that was
created was then filled by a subdominant hardwood tree. Hardwood
species, like oak and hickory, can live for more than 100 years. Sites
more than 100 years old were found to be dominated by mature oak
forests.

Types of Succession
 Primary succession - is the establishment of plants on land that has not
been previously vegetated - Mount Saint Helens. Begins with colonization
and establishment of pioneer species.
 Secondary succession - is the invasion of a habitat by plants on land
that was previously vegetated. Removal of past vegetation may be caused
by natural or human disturbances such as fire, logging, cultivation, or
 hurricanes.
 Allogenic succession - is caused by a change in environmental
conditions which in turn influences the composition of the plant
community. In Cornwall England, observations on the estuary of the Fal
river suggest that the deposition of silt may be causing an allogenic
succession from salt marsh to woodland. Measurements indicate
sedimentation rates of about 1 cm per year on the mud flats that are
found 15 kilometers (9 miles) into the estuary. Over the last 100 years,
this salt marsh has increased its elevation and has extended itself
seaward by 800 meters (2600 feet). The adjacent woodland has followed
the salt marsh by invading its landward limit.
 Autogenic succession - is a succession where both the plant community
and environment change, and this change is caused by the activities of
the plants over time. Mt. St. Helens after the last volcanic eruption.
 Progressive succession - is a succession where the community becomes
complex and contains more species and biomass over time.
 Retrogressive succession - is a succession where the community
becomes simplistic and contains fewer species and less biomass over
time. Some retrogressive successions are allogenic in nature. For
example, the introduction of grazing animals result in degenerated
rangeland.

Table 9-1: Comparison of plant, community, and ecosystem characteristics

between early and late stages of succession
Late
Early Stages
Attribut Stage
of
e s of
Succession Successio
n
Plant Biomass Small Large
Plant Longevity Short Long
Poorly
Seed Dispersal Characteristics of Dominant Well dispersed
disperse
Plants d
Plant Morphology and Physiology Simple Complex
Photosynthetic Efficiency of Dominant Plants at
Low High
Low Light
Rate of Soil Nutrient Resource Consumption by Fast Slow
Plants
Plant Recovery Rate from Resource Limitation Fast Slow
Plant Leaf Canopy Structure Multilayered Monolaye
r
Living
Site of Nutrient Storage Litter and Soil Biomas
s
and Litter
Role of Decomposers in Cycling Nutrients to Minor Great
Plants
Closed
Biogeochemical Cycling Open and Rapid
and Slow
Rate of Net Primary Productivity High Low
Moderat
Community Site Characteristics Extreme
e
 (Mesic)
Importance of Macroenvironment on Plant Great Moderate
Success
Ecosystem Stability Low High
Plant Species Diversity Low High
Life-History Type r K
Seed Longevity Long Short
Succession Mechanisms
 facilitation succession, in contrast with either the
tolerance or inhibition models, is that changes in the
abiotic environment are imposed by the developing plant
community. Thus, the entry and growth of the later species
depends on earlier species preparing the ground.
 tolerance model suggests that a predictable sequence is
produced because different species have different
strategies for exploiting resources. Later species are able
to tolerate lower resource levels due to competition and
can grow to maturity in the presence of early species,
eventually out competing them.
 inhibition model applies when all species resist invasions
of competitors. Later species gradually accumulate by
replacing early individuals when they die. An important
distinction between models is the cause of death of the
early colonists. In the case of facilitation and tolerance,
they are killed in competition for resources, notably light
and nutrients. In the case of the inhibition model, however,
the early species are killed by very local disturbances
caused by extreme physical conditions or the action of
predators.