ECOLOGY

Prof. Dr.
Dr. Ir. Nastiti Siswi Indrasti
 Introduction
¾ Ecologygy ((Greek,, oikos
oikos,, meaning
g house;; logy
logy,
gy,, the
gy
study of) Æ the study of the relationship between
organisms and their environment
¾ An ecosystem is a group of plants or animal,
together with part of the physical environmental with
theyy interact. An ecosystem
y is defined to be nearlyy
self--contained, so that the matter which flows into
self
and out of it is small compared to the quantities that
are internally recycled in a continuous exchange of
the essentials of life
¾ Biota are all the living elements of an ecosystem or
a given area
 Estimates of Primary
y Production
¾ An autotrophp is an organism
g that obtains its cell carbon from
an inorganic source (CO2, HCO3) and its energy from the sun
(actually, a photoautotroph as distinct from a
chemoautotroph, which gets its energy from the oxidation of
inorganic chemical compounds)
¾ A heterotroph is an organism that obtains both its cell carbon
and its energy from organic matter
¾ A chemotroph is an organism that obtain its energy from the
p inorganic
oxidation of simple g compounds,
p , such as FeS and
H2S, and its cell carbon from inorganic and/or organis matter.
Chemotrops p are relativelyy insignificant
g in the energy
gy relations
of an ecosystems, but play a significant role in the movement
of mineral nutrient in the ecosystem
 Estimates of Primary
y Production
¾ The food chain is an idealized pattern of flow of energy in a
natural ecosystem. In the classical food chain, plants are
eaten
t only
l bby primary
i consumers, primary
i consumers are
eaten only by secondary consumers, and so on.
¾ The food web is the actual pattern of food consumption in a
natural
t l ecosystem.
t A given
i organism
i may obtain
bt i
nourishment from many different trophic levels, thus giving
rise to a complex, interwoven series of energy transfer
¾ Productivity is the rate of fixation of energy into tissue.
tissue
Primary productivity is energy fixation by plants; secondary
productivity is at higher trophic levels
Food Chain
Food Web
 Estimates of Primary
y Production
¾ Trophic levels are levels of nourishment.
nourishment A plant that
obtains its energy directly from the sun occupies the
first trophic level (autotroph). An organism that
consumes the
th ti
tissue off an autrotroph
t t h occupies
i the
th
second
seco d ttrophic
op c level
e e ((herbivore),
e b o e), aand
daan o
organism
ga s
which eats the organism that had eaten autrotrophs
occupies the third trophic level (carnivore)
¾ T
Tranpiration
i ti is i th
the controlled
t ll d evaporation
ti off water
t
vapor from the surface of leaf tissues
Transfer of Energy
gy
Transfer Energy
gy
Carbon Cycle
y
Carbon Cycle
y
Nitrogen
g Cycle
y
Phosphorus Cycle
y
 Elements of Limnology
gy
¾ Limnology
gy is the study
y of the phisycal,
p y , chemical and
biological characteristic of river and lakes (i.e. fresh water)
¾ A benthic
b thi organismi i a plant
is l t or animal
i l th
thatt lilives att or near
the bottom of a lake, river, stream or ocean
¾ The epilimnion is the upper layer of water in a lake
¾ The euphotic zone is that surface volume of water in the
ocean or a deep lake that receives sufficient light to support
photosynthesis
¾ The hypolimnion
yp is the lower layer
y of water in a lake or pond,
p ,
which will remain at a constant temperature during the
summer months
 Elements of Limnology
gy
¾ Plankton are any small free
free--floating organism living
in a body of water; phytoplankton refers to the plant
species (algae), and zooplankton to the animal
species (crustacean, rotifers, protozoa) feeding on
other forms of plankton

¾ The metalimnion is the middle layer of water in a

l k where
lake, h th
the th
thermocline
li occurs (t
(temperature
t
and oxygen content fall off rapidly with depth)
 Light
g in Lake

Phytoplankton Zooplankton
Communities of Freshwater lakes
 Eutrophication

¾ Eutropication
E t i ti i th
is the natural
t l process off nutrient
ti t
enrichment
i h t th
thatt occurs, over time,
ti in
i ab
body
d off
l k Th
lake. The resulting
lti bibiological
l i l growth,
th mainly
i l
algae,
l iin the
h epilimnion
ili i di dies and
d settles
l to the
h
hypolimnion, where it decays and depletes the
oxygen from the water
Eutrophication
 Control of eutrophication
¾ Reduced the inflow of nutrients
¾ Quantitative survey: nitrogen, phosphorus
sources, limn logical studies
¾ Alternative disposal on land
land, diversion around
the lake
¾ Nutrients from the waste water prior to
di h
discharge tto surface
f waters
t
 Political Ecology
gy
¾ Scientific study
y is not enough;
g ; social,, economic and
political issues must be considered.
¾ Political ecology is the study of the relationship
between society and nature
¾ Political ecology holds that radical changes in
human social habits and practices are required in
order to counter environmental degradation and
achieve sustainable development
¾ Political ecology Implies an interest in cause-
cause-effect
relationship, study of the different interest groups
involved in usingg the environment, of their economy, y
habits and livelihoods