• ECOSYSTEM – functional unit of nature consisting of more than a community

PEOPLE AND THE EARTH’S of living organisms (biotic factors) and their interaction with non-living ones
(abiotic factors).
ECOSYSTEMS GEE2, MODULE 1 • COMMUNITY – population of different species living together and sharing
the same habitat in a given area
A REVIEWER OF FRANCINE PANTALEON, UNO CUTIE • POPULATION – group of similar individuals; organisms that feed and move
INTRODUCTION TO ECOLOGY together and interbreed among themselves to reproduce
• ORGANISM – single organism; capable of independent existence,
functioning independently, and can reproduce

ECOSYSTEM FUNCTION

“ECOSYSTEM – ARTHUR GEORGE TANSLEY”

• REGULATORY FUNCTION – it regulates the essential ecological processes

(e.g., Water Cycle).
• HABITAT FUNCTION – provide habitat to wild plants and animals.
• PRODUCTION FUNCTION – production of wide range of goods ranging
from food to raw materials.
• INFORMATIONAL FUNCTIONS – provide an essential ‘reference function’
and contribute to the maintenance of human health.

ECOSYSTEM COMPONENTS
ECOLOGY is the study of interaction among
organisms and between organism (biotic) and • BIOTIC – all living things that affects an organism
their physical environment. o AUTOTROPHS (producer) – where they can make their own food
o HETEROTROPHS (consumer) – depend on other organisms as their
“OIKOS” meaning “HOME” source of food
▪ HERBIVORES – feed only plants
“LOGY” meaning “THE STUDY OF” ▪ CARNIVORES – eats only meat
▪ OMNIVORES – feed on both plants and animals
-ERNST HAECKEL ▪ SCAVENGERS – feed on animals that have already died
▪ DECOMPOSERS – break down the compounds of dead
LEVELS OF ECOLOGICAL ORGANIZATION and decaying plants and animals into simpler molecules that
can be easily absorbed
• BIOSPHERE – total of all ecosystems on the planet Earth; encompasses all
• ABIOTIC – non-living things that are physical and chemical characteristics of
living organisms and the part of the atmosphere involving oceans,
an environment (e.g., water, light, soil, temperature, ph can be a limiting
mountaintops, trees, and others.
factor for a certain organism.
ENERGY FLOW CONCEPT MAP

FOOD CHAIN

– simple model that scientists use to show how matter and energy move
through an ecosystem

– nutrients and energy move from autotrophs to heterotrophs and eventually

to decomposers

– drawn using arrows to indicate the direction in which energy is transferred

from one organism to the next (uses 3 to 5 links)

ECOLOGICAL PYRAMID

The concept of energy flow in ecosystem is one of the cornerstones of Ecology.

The First Law of Thermodynamics state that “ENERGY IS NEITHER CREATED NOR
DESTROYED BUT IS TRANSFORMED FROM ONE STATE TO ANOTHER AND THAT THE
SUM TOTAL CAN BE ACCOUNTED FOR”.

The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that “DURING EACH ENERGY TRANSFER
FROM ONE STATE TO ANOTHER, SOME OF IT IS TRANSFORMED INTO AN UNUSABLE
FORM, HEAT”.

- Raymond Laurel Lindeman

NUTRIENT CYCLING IN ECOSYSTEM

In a self-sustaining ecosystem, elements or materials must be cycled among

TROPHIC LEVELS/TROPHIC LEVEL PYRAMID
living organisms and abiotic environmental this complex is referred to as
BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLE. (e.g., Water Cycle)
About 10% of
FLOW OF MATTER AND ENERGY IN ECOSYSTEMS – each organism in a food chain represents a
available ENRG
is passed up
10
feeding step, or trophic level, in the passage of energy and
materials (position of an organism in the food chain)
100

– a food chain represents only one

1000
possible route for the transfer of matter and
energy through an ecosystem
ENERGY TRANSFER THROUGH TROPHIC LEVELS OXYGEN CYCLE
Photosynthesis Oxygen
– indirectly through an ecosystem by the
cycling of other nutrients

Carbon
Respiration
Dioxide
CARBON CYCLE

– process through which carbon is cycled through the air, ground, plants,
animals, and fossil fuels.

– large amounts of carbon exist in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (CO2).

FOOD WEBS – carbon dioxide is cycled by green plants during the process known as
photosynthesis to make organic molecules (glucose, which is food).

– carbon is emitted by the burning of fossil fuels

– a food web shows all the possible
– some carbon is stored for long periods of time in areas called carbon sinks
feeding relationship at each trophic level in
NITROGEN CYCLE
a community.
NITROGEN – is used by living organisms to produce a number of complex organic
molecules like amino acids, proteins, and nucleic acids.

– plays an important role for life (specifically where it exists as gas mainly
N2)

ECOLOGICAL FOOD PYRAMID THE NITROGEN CYCLE MOSTLY TAKESPLACE UNDERGROUND.

– shows how energy flow through an ecosystem. ▪ Some bacteria convert gaseous nitrogen into ammonia through a process
called nitrogen fixation.
– the base of the ecological pyramid represents the autotrophs, or first trophic ▪ Some nitrogen-fixing bacteria live in nodules on the roots of plants; others
level. Higher trophic levels are layered on top of one another. live freely in the soil.

1. NITROGEN FIXATION: Gaseous nitrogen is converted to ammonia by nitrogen

CYCLES OF LIFE fixing bacteria

WATER CYCLE. N2 (Gaseous nitrogen)-> NH3 (ammonia)

– the hydrologic, or water cycle is the circular Transpiration Evaporation
2.NITRIFICATION: a process of converting ammonia to nitrates accomplished by
pathway of water on Earth.
Nitrosomonas and Nitrococcus bacteria
Organisms all have bodies made mostly of water
– organisms all have bodies made mostly of water NH3 (ammonia)-> NO2(Nitrites)→ NO3(nitrates)
Condensation
 3. ASSIMILATION TYPES OF ECOSYSTEMS

Plants roots absorb ammonia and Nitrites->Plant TERRERSTIRAL ECOSYSTEM

4. AMMONIFICATION- involve the conversion of biological nitrogen to ammonia ▪ Forest

by ammonifying bacteria ▪ Tundra
▪ Desert
Biological Nitrogen-> decomposition-> NH3 (ammonia) ▪ Grassland

5. DENITRIFICATION
AQUATIC ECOCSYSTEM
NO3 (nitrates)→ nitrogen Gas-> atmosphere ▪ Marine
▪ Freshwater

ENERGY FLOW CONCEPT MAP

OTHER TYPES OF RELATIONSHIP

SYMBIOSIS

– relationship in which there is a close and permanent association between

PHOSHORUS CYCLE organisms of different species
THE PHOSPHORUS CYCLE TAKES PLACE AT AND BELOW GROUND LEVEL.
– means living together
PHOSPHATE – released by the weathering of rocks.
▪ MUTUALISM – both species benefit
▪ COMMENSALISM – one species benefit and the other
PHOSPHORUS –moves through the food web and returns to the soil during
species is neither harmed nor benefited
decomposition.
▪ PARASITISM – member of one species deprives benefit at
the expense of another species (the host)
– leaches into ground water from the soil and is locked in sediments.

– both mining and agriculture add phosphorus into the environment.