Ecosystems and Biogeochemical Changes

What is Ecosystems?
- Ecosystems are communities of organisms that interact with one another and with their
physical environment, including sunlight, rainfall, and soil nutrients.
- It can change in time but human activity can speed up natural processes by several orders
of magnitude
- Within each ecosystem are HABITATS, which are defined as the place where a
population‡ of organisms lives.
- Ecosystems can vary greatly in size. It can be a pond for those fishes living there. A vast
ocean. A city or country. Or it can be your house as well.

TRIVIA: Did you know that you can also consider yourself as an ecosystem? It is because there
are thousands of micro organisms that inhabits in you

Two major components of ecosystem

1. Abiotic Components
- Are the NONLIVING elements of the system such as air, water, sunlight, nutrients
and temperature.
2. Biotic Components
- Are all the LIVING organisms living in the system like plants, animals, micro-
organisms and many more.

FUNCTIONS OF ECOSYSTEM
It can be studied as an exchange of energy amongst different natural processes that are
taking place in plant and animal communities of different biomes of the world.

Productivity
- One of the major properties of the ecosystem.
- Productivity is the rate of biomass production.
- It can also be referred to as the energy accumulated in the plants by photosynthesis.
-
Two types of productivity
1. Primary Productivity
- refers to the generation of biomass from autotrophic organisms
such as plants.
- e.g. photosynthesis, because it is the basis for almost all other
growth in an ecosystem.

2. Secondary Productivity
- manufacture of biomass by organisms that eat plants
- It is the accumulation of energy at the consumer’s level.
Food Chain
- Are dynamic in nature which link the biotic and abiotic components of the ecosystem.

- All organisms are interconnected with each other because it shows the predator-prey
relationship. As we can see, grasshoppers eat grass and frogs eat grasshoppers and frogs
are eaten by snake and snake by eagle respectively. Or producers, primary consumers,
secondary consumers and tertiary consumers respectively.

- A food chain represents only one dimension of food or energy flow through an ecosystem
and shows a simple relationship between components. An ecosystem consists of many
interrelated food chains.

Food Web
- Interconnected food chains make a food web.
 - If any of the food chains are removed then successive food chains will be harmfully
affected. So, one animal may be part of several different food chains. Just like in the given
picture.
- There are names to help describe each link of the food chain. The names depend mostly
on what the organism eats and how it contributes to the energy of the ecosystem.

Producer
- Organisms that photosynthesize, mainly green plants and algae.
- They provide food and nourishment for other species.
- Without producers in an ecosystem, there would be no herbivores, which are first level
consumers, then there would be no secondary consumers, which are consumers that
consume first level consumers, and the entire food web of that ecosystem would break
down.

Consumers
- organisms that consume the chemical energy harnessed by the producers.
- The producer that was eaten by the consumer got its energy by making its own food
(sugar) through the process of photosynthesis. We have three under the consumers:

● Primary consumers (Herbivores)

- The animals which eat the plants directly
- plant eaters, e.g. goat, cow, horse, grasshopper, etc.
● Secondary consumers
- They are both carnivores and omnivores
- Animals that eat both plants and animals
- E.g. frog, dog, cat and tiger
● Tertiary Consumers (Omnivores)
- Eat both plant and animal matter
- E.g. man

Scavengers
- Organisms that clean up dead carcasses of larger animals such as crows, jackals, and
vultures.
- It plays an important role in the ecosystem by consuming dead animal and plant material.
- They are the cleaners of the environment as they feed on the dead and thus prevent
various diseases from spreading.

Detritivores
- Consume litter, debris, and dung such as ants and beetles.
- They can be found in all ecosystems and on all continents except Antarctica.
- They survive by feeding on the feces of other organisms. (after the second bullet) Detritus
is the organic matter made up of dead plant and animal material.
- This organism plays an important role in all ecosystems by getting rid of decaying organic
matter left behind by other organisms.
Decomposer
- Organisms that complete the final breakdown and recycling of organic materials such as
fungi and bacteria.
- They work on the dead remains of organisms at each trophic level and help in recycling
aof the nutrients e.g. bacteria and fungi
- Also, they help in putting back the various elements into water, soil and air for the reuse
of producers like crop plants.
- They are essential for the ecosystem as they help in recycling nutrients to be reused by
plants.

Ecological Pyramid
- A graphical representation of the relationship between different organisms at different
trophic levels or in an ecosystem.
- The trophic levels are represented by bars that make up the pyramid

● Types of Ecological pyramid

1. Pyramid of Numbers
- Presents the number of organisms in each trophic level without any
consideration for their size.
- It deals with the relationship between the number of organisms at different
trophic levels.

2. Pyramid of Biomass
- Presents the total mass of organisms at each trophic level
- Individuals in each trophic level are weighted instead of being counter.
 3. Pyramid of Productivity
- Presents the total number of energy present at each trophic level, as well
as the loss of energy between trophic levels.
- It reflects the law of thermodynamics, with the conservation of solar energy
to heat energy and chemical energy.

BIOGEOCHEMICAL
- Biological, geological and chemical by which nutrients move around.
 - “Bio-” is the biotic system, “geo-” is the geological component, and “chemical” is the
elements which are moved through a “cycle”.
- The cycles move substances through the biosphere, lithosphere, atmosphere and
hydrosphere.
- It allows the continuous survival of ecosystems through the formation of natural recycling.

According to the National Climate Assessment

- Human activities have greatly increased carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere and
nitrogen levels in the biosphere.
- Altered biogeochemical cycles combined with climate change increase the vulnerability of
biodiversity, food security, human health, and water quality to a changing climate.
- The nutrients that are cycled are CHNOPS or carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen
phosphorus and sulfur.

Material Cycles
- Materials on Earth cycle between living organisms and the environment.
- Microorganisms are vital for these cycles.
- They break down dead matter and release the materials back to the environment.

1. Water Cycle or Hydrologic cycle

- It is a cycle that involves the continuous circulation of water in the Earth-
atmosphere system.
- Describes the complex systems that allow water to flow across the earth and
atmosphere.
- It is responsible for weather patterns.

➔ Steps in Water Cycle

1. Evaporation
- It is the change from liquid to vapor form.
- It turns the water from oceans/ rivers into water vapor using energy from
the sun.
2. Transpiration
- is the process in which plant roots absorb water and then release the
water in the form of vapor through the leaves.
- It is an important factor in the water cycle as it is one of the major sources
of water into the atmosphere.
3. Condensation
- the process by which water vapor in the air is changed into liquid water.
- It is crucial to the water cycle because it is responsible for the formation of
clouds.
4. Precipitation
- It is water released from clouds in the form of rain, freezing rain, sleet,
snow, or hail.
 - It is the primary connection in the water cycle that provides for the
delivery of atmospheric water to the Earth.
5. Runoff
- It is a visible flow of water in rivers, creeks and lakes as the water stored
in the basin drains out.
- As it flows the water may seep into the ground, evaporate into the air or
be extracted for human uses.
6. Percolation
- It is the movement of water through the soil itself.
- As the water percolates into the deeper layers of the soil, it reaches
ground water, which is water below the surface.
● Ground water
- Subterranean water is held in cracks and pore spaces.
- Depending on the geology, the groundwater can flow to support streams.
- It can also be tapped by wells.
● Water Table
- It is the upper level of an underground surface in which the soil or rocks are
permanently saturated with water; or
- It is the top of the surface where groundwater occurs

2. Carbon Cycle
- Begins with the intake of carbon dioxide by photosynthetic organisms.
- The carbon cycle is of special interest because biological accumulation and
release of carbon is a major factor in climate regulation.

➔ The Carbon Cycle Steps

Step 1: Carbon enters the atmosphere as carbon dioxide from respiration

(breathing) and combustion (burning).

Step 2: Carbon dioxide is absorbed by producers (life forms that make their own
food e.g. plants) to make carbohydrates in photosynthesis .

Step 3: Animals feed on the plants. Thus passing the carbon compounds along
the food chain. Most of the carbon these animals consume however is exhaled
as carbon dioxide. This is through the process of respiration. The animals and
plants then eventually die.

Step 4: The dead organisms (dead animals and plants) are eaten by
decomposers in the ground. The carbon that was in their bodies is then returned
to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.

3. Nitrogen Cycle
 - Nitrogen gas molecules (N2) make up 78% of our atmosphere.
- Nitrogen plays a vital role in the chemistry of life – and how it gets from the
atmosphere, into living things, and back again.
- Refers to the cycle of nitrogen atoms through the living and non-living systems of
Earth.

4. Phosphorus Cycle
- It is the process by which phosphorus moves through the lithosphere,
hydrosphere, and biosphere.
- Phosphorus is also a key component of proteins, enzymes, and tissues.
- Phosphorus is essential for plant and animal growth, as well as the health of
microbes inhabiting the soil, but is gradually depleted from the soil over time

SUMMARY
❖ Ecosystem is like our home. If we didn't take care of it then we will not survive
❖ Ecology is a scientific approach to the study of the biosphere.
❖ ⏷Ecosystems are created by the interrelationships between living organisms and the
physical environments they inhabit
❖ Biogeochemical cycles are critical to the existence of life, transforming energy and matter
into usable forms to support the functioning of ecosystems, as noted previously.
❖ Ecosystem has two major components, abiotic and biotic, that refers to nonliving and living
organisms.
❖ It also has two types of productivity, primary and secondary, that rates the biomass
production and serves as the major properties in the ecosystem.
❖ Food chain and food web best exemplified the interaction of organisms in the ecosystem.
These start with the producers, next to consumers, up to scavengers, detritivores, and
end up to decomposers.

CONCLUSION
As humans improved the environment, they also mobilized Earth elements and
accelerated their cycles. Climate change is happening, and still continues through the years,
impacts on biogeochemical cycles, which affects our capacity to cope with coupled changes in
climate, biogeochemistry, and other factors.
We depend on nature for our survival - without healthy ecosystems, our drinking water
isn’t clean nor is the air we breathe. Therefore, we must take good care of ecosystems. It is
essential for our lives, it brings boundless benefits and it helps us to attain sustainable
development.
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