Lecture 3: Ecosystems: Components,

Energy Flow, and Matter Cycling

Prof. Dr. William A. Shivoga

Department of Biological Sciences
Masinde Muliro University of Science and
Technology
 Do Now: What does it mean to
be “LIVING”?
• List things in the • List things in the
environment that environment that
you think are are NON-LIVING
LIVING (BIOTIC): (ABIOTIC):
What are the characteristics of life?
To be considered BIOTIC (living), an organism must be
able to:
1) Grow
2) Reproduce
3) Adapt or Evolve
4) Be Made of Cells
5) Use Energy
6) Respond to the Environment
7) Maintain Homeostasis
8) Be made of DNA
 Ecology and the levels of
organization of matter
• Ecology (from the Greek words oikos, meaning “house” or “place to
live,” and logos, meaning “study of”).
• Ecology is the study of how organisms interact with their living
(biotic) environment of other organisms and with their nonliving
(abiotic) environment of soil, water, other forms of matter, and energy
mostly from the sun.
• Study of how organisms interact with one another and their non-living
environment (biotic and abiotic components)
• Studies connections in nature on the thin life supporting membrane of
air, water, and soil
• Levels of Organization of Matter
• Subatomic to biosphere
Hierarchical Order Biological
organisation
What is an Ecosystem?
 Major Ecosystem Components
• Abiotic • Biotic Components
Components • Producers,
• Water, air, consumers,
temperature, soil, decomposers
light levels, • Plants, animals,
precipitation, bacteria/fungi
salinity • Biotic interactions
• Sets tolerance with biotic
limits for components include
populations and predation,
communities competition,
• Some are limiting symbiosis,
factors that parasitism,
structure the commensalism etc.
Ecosystem Organization Biosphere
• Organisms
• Made of cells
• Eukaryotic vs Prokaryotic
• Species Ecosystems

• Groups of organisms that resemble

one another in appearance,
behavior, and genetic make up
• Sexual vs Asexual reproduction Communities
• Production of viable offspring in
nature
• 1.5 million named; 10-14 million
likely
• Populations Populations

• Genetic diversity
• Communities Organisms
• Ecosystems
• Biosphere Fig. 4.2, p. 66
 The Source of High Quality Energy
• Energy of sun
lights and Solar
radiation
Energy in = Energy out

warms the
Reflected by
atmosphere (34%)

planet UV radiation Radiated by

• Powers the
atmosphere
as heat (66%)
Lower Stratosphere
cycling of Visible (ozone layer)
Greenhouse
light
matter Absorbed
by ozone
Troposphere
Heat
effect

• Drives climate Absorbed

by the earth
Heat radiated
and weather that by the earth

distribute heat
and H2O Earth
 Sustaining Life on Earth…
• One way flow
of high quality
energy
• The cycling of
matter (the
earth is a
closed system) Biosphere

• Gravity Carbon
cycle
Phosphorus Nitrogen
cycle cycle
Water
cycle
Oxygen
cycle
• Causes
downward
movement of Heat in the environment

matter
Heat Heat Heat
Ecosystems: Components,
Energy Flow, and Matter
Cycling
“All things come from earth, and
to earth they all return”—
Menander
 Limiting Factors on Land & in Water

• Terrestrial • Aquatic/Marine
• Sunlight • Light penetration
• Temperature • Water clarity
• Precipitation • Water currents
• Soil nutrients • Dissolved nutrient
• Fire frequency concentrations
• Esp. N, P, Fe
• Wind
• Dissolved Oxygen
• Latitude
concentration
• Altitude • Salinity
 Earth’s Life Support Systems
• Troposphere
Atmosphere
• To 11 miles Biosphere
Vegetation and animals
• Air is here Soil

• Stratosphere Rock Crust

• 11 to 30 miles
• Ozone layer
• Hydrosphere
• Solid, liquid, core

and gaseous Lithosphere

Mantle Crust
water Crust
(soil and rock)

• Lithosphere Biosphere
(Living and dead
• Crust and organisms)

upper mantle Hydrosphere

Atmosphere
(air)
Lithosphere (water)
• Contains non- (crust, top of upper mantle)

renewable res.
 Fate of Solar Energy…
• Earth gets 1/billionth of sun’s output of
energy
• 34% is reflected away by atmosphere
• 66% is absorbed by chemicals in
atmosphere = re-radiated into space
• Visible light, Infrared radiation (heat), and
a small amount of UV not absorbed by
ozone reaches the atmosphere
• Energy warms troposphere and land
• Evaporates water and cycles it along with
gravity
• Generates winds
• A tiny fraction is captured by
photosynthesizing organisms
Production and Consumption of Energy
• Photosynthesis
• Carbon dioxide + water + solar
energy glucose + oxygen
• Aerobic respiration
• Glucose + oxygen  carbon
dioxide + water + energy
 Primary Productivity
• The conversion of
light energy to
chemical energy is
called “gross primary
production.”
• Plants use the
energy captured in
photosynthesis for
maintenance and
growth.
• The energy that is
accumulated in plant
biomass is called
“net primary
Primary Productivity
NPP=GPP-respiration rate
GPP= RATE at which producers convert
solar energy into chemical energy as
biomass
Rate at which producers use photosynthesis
to fix inorganic carbon into the organic
carbon of their tissues
These producers must use some of the total
biomass they produce for their own
respiration
NPP= Rate at which energy for use by
consumers is stored in new biomass
(available to consumers)
Units Kcal/m2/yr or g/m2/yr
How do you measure it? AP Lab Site
 Detritivores vs. Decomposers
Detritus feeders Decomposers

Bark beetle Carpenter Termite and

engraving ant carpenter
galleries ant
Long-horned work
beetle holes Dry rot fungus

Wood
Mushroom
reduced
to powder

Powder broken down by decomposers

Time progression
into plant nutrients in soil

Fig. 4.15, p. 75
 What are the most productive Ecosystems?

Estuaries

Swamps and marshes

Tropical rain forest

Temperate forest

Northern coniferous forest (taiga)

Savanna

Agricultural land

Woodland and shrubland

Temperate grassland

Lakes and streams

Continental shelf

Open ocean

Tundra (arctic and alpine)

Desert scrub

Extreme desert

800 1,600 2,400 3,200 4,000 4,800 5,600 6,400 7,200 8,000 8,800 9,600

Average net primary productivity (kcal/m 2/yr)

 Fate of Primary Productivity and
Some important questions…
• Since producers are ultimate source of
all food, why shouldn’t we just harvest
the plants of the world’s marshes?
• Why don’t we clear cut tropical
rainforests to grow crops for humans?
• Why not harvest primary producers of
the world’s vast oceans?
• Vitousek et al: Humans now use,
waste, or destroy about 27% of
earth’s total potential NPP and 40%
of the NPP of the planet’s
terrestrial ecosystems
 Biotic Components of Ecosystems
• Producers
(autotrophs) Heat
Abiotic chemicals
(carbon dioxide, Heat
Solar
oxygen, nitrogen, energy
• Source of all food minerals)

• Photosynthesis
• Consumers=heterotro
Heat

ph Decomposers Producers

• Aerobic respiration (bacteria, fungus) (plants)

• Anaerobic respiration
• Methane, H2S Consumers
(herbivores,
Heat Heat
• Decomposers carnivores)

• Matter recyclers…
• Release organic
 Trophic Levels
• Each organism in an ecosystem is
assigned to a feeding (or Trophic) level
• Primary Producers
• Primary Consumers (herbivores)
• Secondary Consumer (carnivores)
• Tertiary Consumers
• Omnivores
• Detritus feeders and scavengers
• Directly consume tiny fragments of dead
stuff
• Decomposers
• Digest complex organic chemicals into
inorganic nutrients that are used by
producers
 Energy Flow and Matter Cycling in Ecosystems…
• Food Chains vs. Food Webs
• KEY: There is little if no matter
waste in natural ecosystems!
First Trophic Second Trophic Third Trophic Fourth Trophic
Level Level Level Level
Producers Primary Secondary Tertiary
(plants) consumers consumers consumers
(herbivores) (carnivores) (top carnivores)

Heat Heat Heat Heat

Solar
energy

Heat Heat

Detritvores Heat
(decomposers and detritus feeders)
Generalized Food Web of the Antarctic
Humans

Blue whale Sperm whale

Killer
Note: Arrows
whale Elephant
seal
go in direction
Crabeater seal
of energy flow…
Leopard
seal

Emperor
penguin
Adélie
penguins Petrel

Squid

Fish
Carnivorous plankton

Herbivorous
zooplankton
Krill

Phytoplankton
 Food Webs and the Laws of Matter and Energy
• Food chains/webs show how matter and
energy move from one organism to
another through an ecosystem
• Each trophic level contains a certain
amount of biomass (dry weight of all
organic matter)
• Chemical energy stored in biomass is
transferred from one trophic level to the next
• With each trophic transfer, some usable
energy is degraded and lost to the
environment as low quality heat
• Thus, only a small portion of what is eaten and
digested is actually converted into an organisms’
bodily material or biomass (WHAT LAW ACCOUNTS
 Food Webs and the Laws of Matter and Energy
• Food chains/webs show how matter and
energy move from one organism to another
through an ecosystem
• Each trophic level contains a certain amount of
biomass (dry weight of all organic matter)
• Chemical energy stored in biomass is transferred
from one trophic level to the next
• With each trophic transfer, some usable high quality
energy is degraded and lost to the environment as
low quality heat
• Thus, only a small portion of what is eaten and digested
is actually converted into an organisms’ bodily material
or biomass (WHAT LAW ACCOUNTS FOR THIS?)
• Ecological Efficiency:
• The % of usable nrg transferred as biomass from one
trophic level to the next (ranges from 5-20% in most
ecosystems, use 10% as a rule of thumb)
• Thus, the more trophic levels or steps in a food
chain, the greater the cumulative loss of useable
 Food Webs and the Laws of Matter and Energy

• Ecological Efficiency:
• The % of usable energy transferred
as biomass from one trophic level to
the next (ranges from 5-20% in most
ecosystems, use 10% as a rule of
thumb).
• This means 90% of energy is lost!
• Thus, the more trophic levels or
steps in a food chain, the greater the
cumulative loss of useable energy…
 Pyramids of Energy and Matter
• Pyramid of Energy Flow
• Pyramid of Biomass
Heat

Heat
Tertiary Decomposers
consumers
(human)

Heat

10
Secondary
consumers
(perch)
100 Heat

Primary
1,000 consumers
(zooplankton) Heat

10,000 Producers
Usable energy (phytoplankton)
Available at
Each tropic level
(in kilocalories)
Ecological Pyramids of Energy
Ecological Pyramids of Biomass
 Implications of Pyramids….
• Why could the earth support more
people if the eat at lower trophic levels?
• Why are food chains and webs rarely
more than four or five trophic levels?
• Why do marine food webs have greater
ecological efficiency and therefore more
trophic levels than terrestrial ones?
• Why are there so few top level
carnivores?
• Why are these species usually the first
to suffer when the the ecosystems that
support them are disrupted?
 Ecosystem Services and Sustainability

Solar
Capital

Air
resources Climate Recycling
Lessons Water
and
purification
control vital
chemicals
resources Renewable
and energy
From purification resources

Soil
Nature! formation Natural Nonrenewable
energy
and Capital
renewal resources

Waste
Nonrenewable
removal and
mineral
detoxification Natural Potentially resources
pest and Biodiversity renewable
disease and gene matter
control pool resources

1. Use Renewable Solar Energy As Energy Source

2. Recycle the chemical nutrients needed for life
 Matter Cycles

You are responsible for knowing the

water, carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, and
phosphorus cycles
Know major sources and sinks
Know major flows
Know how human activities are
disrupting these cycles
Carbon Cycle
Nitrogen Cycle
 ASSIGNMENT /CAT 1
1) Why is a vegetarian diet more energy efficient than a meat-based
diet?
2) What would happen to an ecosystem if:
(a)All its decomposers and detritus feeders were eliminated?
(b)All its producers were eliminated?
(c) All of its insects were eliminated?
(d) Could a balanced ecosystem exist with only producers and
decomposers and no consumers such as humans and other animals?
Explain.
3)(a) Describe the major differences between the ecological niches of
humans and cockroaches.
(b) Are these two species in competition? If so, how do they manage to
coexist?