AQUATIC ECOSYSTEM

Fresh water and Marine

Ecosystem
The ecosystem is the basic functional units in ecology Eco - environment System- an aggregation of objects joined in a regular interaction

Ecology - The study of the interactions between living organisms and their environment

a. Interactions determine distribution and abundance of organisms. b. Two main themes in ecology are:
- Where do organisms live? & Why? - How many organisms are present? & Why?

c. Ecology was historically an observational science, often descriptive natural history

d. An organisms environment has both abiotic and biotic components.

Abiotic components are nonliving chemical and physical factors such as temperature, light, water, and nutrients. Biotic components are living factors such as other organisms.

Ecological research scale ranges from individuals to the biosphere

a. Organismal ecology is concerned about the way in which an individual interacts with its environment. b. Population ecology is the study of a group of individuals of the same species. c. Community ecology deals with all interacting species within a particular area.

d. An ecosystem consists of all abiotic factors plus all organisms that exist in a certain area Ecosystem ecology
- Landscape ecologyInteractions among ecosystems e. The biosphere is the global ecosystem. Global climate research is an example of ecology at the biosphere scale.

Level of organization in nature

Cell Tissue Organ Biotic Abiotic + components components Organism Population Community Ecosystem Biosphere(Entire zone of earth in which life can exist ) Biomes(major terrestrial/aquatic assemblage of plant, animal
& microorganisms that occur over wide geographical areas)

The Nature of Ecosystems

Ecosystem Includes a)Biotic (living organisms) & b)Abiotic (non living) components of the environment within which the organisms are found and function together as an ecological system/ ecosystem. i.e. regulate the flow of energy and the cycling of the essential elements

The Ecosystem
Is a self supporting area composed of living and nonliving things such as the Rain Forest or the Desert It produces energy, transfers energy, decomposes, and recycles It made up of two (2) types of factors:
Biotic and Abiotic

 Abiotic Factors
are non living parts of the environment such as rocks, the sun, and temperature

 Biotic Factors
The living parts of the environment such as plants, bacteria, and animals

 Community
Is composed of all of the populations of different organisms living together in a given are such as your lawn (contains grass, insects, and worms)
A population is a group of organisms that belong to the same species & live in a given area
Ex: heard of cattle of a gaggle of geese

To accomplish those materials cycles and energy flows ecosystem possess relationships

Physical environment (Soil, water, atmosphere etc.)

Biotic components (producers, consumers &

decomposers)

stable system

Schematic representation of an ecosystem

Living organism

water

Solid earth

Atmosphere

Components of the ecosystems

An ecosystem constitute a community of organisms and their nonliving environment at any one place. Community - the population of plants and animals living together in a given environment and interacting with one another to form a distinctive living system Each living system consists of several trophic (feeding/ nourishment) & abiotic substances

Components of the ecosystems

A) Biotic components
Trophic (feeding / Nourishment) levels
Based on how they obtain their energy

i) Autotrophic ii) Heterotrophic

i) Autotrophic Organisms
Producers - photosynthetic organisms.
Manufacture complex organic materials from simple inorganic substances hence they do not depend on others for food. i. In terrestrial ecosystems, producers are predominantly green plants (Obtain CO2 from the air) ii. In freshwater and marine ecosystems, dominant producers are algae (Obtain dissolved CO2 from water)
Co2 +H2o
Chlorophyll Light energy

Glucose+O2+ H2O

ii) Heterotrophic organisms

Consumers - that eat preformed food.
a. Herbivores feed directly on green plants; are primary consumers. b. Carnivores feed on other animals and are secondary or tertiary consumers. c. Omnivores feed on both plants and animals; for example, humans eat both leafy vegetables and beef. d. Decomposers (Saphrotrophs) - breakdown the complex compounds or dead organisms and release inorganic nutrients

B) Abiotic Components
i) Inorganic compounds (CO2, H2O, N2, Ca2+, PO43- all are involved in nutrient cycle) ii) Organic components ( Protein, carbohydrate, Lipid, amino acid) iii) Physical factors ( Climate, temperature, light etc.

Energy Flow and Chemical Cycling

All the organisms with in the community require energy to grow, reproduce and carrying out other activities of living. All these energy comes from the sun & captured by photosynthesis. Ecosystem regulate flow of energy and the cycling of the essential elements

Energy Flow in an ecosystem

Diagram of components of ecosystem reveal energy flows through system once.

Sun
Solar energy Producers
Primary Consumers (Herbivores) Primary carnivors

Secondary

carnivors

Dead remains Raw materials (Organic & inorganic salts) Decomposers

Energy Flow in an Ecosystem

i. Producers absorb solar energy; convert it to chemical bonds from inorganic nutrients taken from environment ii. Energy content of organic food passes up food chain; eventually all energy is lost as heat, therefore requiring continual input. iii. Original inorganic elements are mostly returned to soil and producers; can be used again by producers and no new input is required.

Energy Flow in an Ecosystem

Energy flow in ecosystems based on two laws of thermodynamics: a. First law states energy cannot be created or destroyed. b. Second law asserts that when energy is transformed from one form to another, some usable energy is lost as heat. c. Therefore, in any food chain, as consumers feed on producers, etc., some energy must be lost.

Food Chains
The general sequence of who eats whom in an ecosystem, hence organisms of an ecosystem are linked together and transfer food energy from the source in plants through a series of organisms So that it represent one path of energy flow through an ecosystem
Examples: Algae Zooplankton Grass sheep Crustacea man

 Each level of producer and consumers is a trophic level.

Food webs
Interconnecting network of food chains become Food Webs Natural ecosystems have numerous interconnected food chains

Ecological Pyramid
Populations Form a Pyramid
a. Trophic structure of an ecosystem forms an ecological pyramid. b. Base of pyramid represents producer trophic level, apex is highest level consumer or the top predator. c. Pyramid of numbers is based on number of organisms at each trophic level.

Ecological Pyramid
Top Carnivores (large fish) Carnivores (small fish) Herbivores (Zooplankton, crustaceans)

Producers
(Algae, diatoms)

Ecological Pyramid

Ecological Pyramid
d. Pyramid of biomass is calculated by multiplying the average weight for organisms times the number of organisms at each trophic level.

e. Pyramid of energy calculates amounts of energy available at each successive trophic level.

Ecological Pyramid
f. The food energy pyramid always shows a decrease moving up trophic levels because: i. Only a certain amount of food is captured and eaten by organisms on the next trophic level. ii. Some of food that is eaten cannot be digested and exits digestive tract as undigested waste. iii. Only a portion of digested food becomes part of the organism's body; rest is used as source of energy.

Ecological Pyramid iv. Substantial portion of food energy goes to build up temporary ATP in mitochondria; ATP energy is then used to synthesize proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, and fuel contraction of muscles, nerve conduction, etc.

Ecological Pyramid

g. Only about 10% of energy available at a particular trophic level is incorporated into tissues at the next level. Example: a larger population can be sustained by eating grain than by eating grain-fed animals since 100 kg of grain would result in 10 human kgs but if fed to cattle, the result is 1 human kg.

Kinds of Ecosystems
1.Terrestrial (Land) Eco systems 2.Aquatic Ecosystems a. Marine (Ocean) ecosystems b. Estuaries(zones of transition between rivers and sea) c. Freshwater ecosytem (Lakes,Ponds, Rivers, Streams )