UNIT 6

Environment
 ECOSYSTEMS

 Ecosystem is all the animals and plants that live in an area along with the things that
affect them
 It includes all the living organisms, the nutrients which cycle through the system and the
physical and chemical environment in which the organisms are living.
 An ecosystem is the home or habitat of the living organisms within it.
 They are affected by both the abiotic components and the biotic components of the
ecosystem.
 An ecosystem is the home or habitat of the living organisms within it
 The abiotic components or factors are the non-living elements of an ecosystem.
 The climate and weather produce several important abiotic components
 Abiotic factor includes the amount of sunlight, and the amount of rainfall.
 Temperature is an important abiotic component which often affects whether
animals and plants can survive in an ecosystem
 Other abiotic factors include the type of soil and rocks, the drainage of the soil
and the pH (acidity).
 If the environment is water, the levels of oxygen dissolved in the water are an
important abiotic factor as many animals cannot survive in low oxygen
concentrations.
 The current is another factor – many animals and plants cannot survive in a strong
current as they are swept away
 The level of wind is also an important abiotic component of an ecosystem – too
much wind can make life very difficult for living organisms.
 BIOTIC COMPONENTS
 The biotic components (factors) of an ecosystem are the living organisms within an
ecosystem which affect the ability of an organism to survive there
 The number of predators in an ecosystem is one biotic component that has a big effect
on the numbers of other organisms in the area.
 A pride of lions in an area will affect the numbers of prey animals that survive, and the
number of caterpillars will make a difference to the number of plants that survive and
reproduce.
 The amount of food available is another important biotic factor, which particularly
affects animals.
 Biotic components of an ecosystem also include the numbers of parasites and diseases
. High levels of parasites or a serious disease will reduce the numbers of animals or plants
in an ecosystem.
 Habitats may be on land – when they are known as terrestrial habitats
 they may be in water, when they are called aquatic habitats
 there are two main types of aquatic habitat
marine habitat, which is the salt water of the seas and oceans
freshwater habitat of lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams
 The final biotic component which has a big effect on ecosystems is competition
 There can be competition between different species all trying to get the same food
 there is also competition between members of the same species for the best mate, the
best nest site or the most sunlight.
 Animals compete with each other for food, water, territory and mates.
 Competition is common among carnivores (animals that eat meat) – they
compete for prey
 Prey animals compete with each other too – to be the one that ISN’T caught!

 Adaptations like camouflage colouring, so you don’t get seen, and good hearing, so
you pick up a predator approaching, are important for success.

 Competition for mates can be fierce

 The males compete in different ways to win the privilege of mating with her.

 In some species – like deer and lions – the males fight between themselves and the
winner gets the females

 Sometimes the fights are mainly ‘mock battles’ but in some species the fights can
be life-threatening.

 Many male animals display to the female to get her attention

 PLANT COMPETITION
 Plants might look like peaceful organisms, but in fact the world of plants is full of
fierce competition – just like animals
 Plants compete with each other for light, for water and for nutrients (minerals) from
the soil.
 They need light for photosynthesis, when they make food using energy from the
sun
 They need water for photosynthesis and to keep their tissues rigid and supported
 plants need minerals so they can make all the chemicals they need in their cells.
 Plants are constantly competing against other plants – which are biotic components
of the ecosystem
 we should plant our crop plants apart from each other so they are not competing
between themselves.
 FOOD RELATIONSHIPS
 Plants are the main source of food for many thousands of different species of
animals,
 Animals that eat plants are known as herbivores
 All animals and fungi are heterotrophs – they rely on eating other living organisms.
 There are a small number of organisms that can get energy from the breakdown of
sulphur-containing chemicals=chemotrophs.
 Almost all living organisms depend on plants as the producers of food from the raw
materials of carbondioxide and water.
 FOOD CHAINS
 The first stage of the chain involves converting light energy from the sun into stored chemical
energy in plants by photosynthesis.
 This is always done by plants which are known as producers
 all of the animals that eat plants or other animals are known as consumers.
 Some of the energy produced by a plant is passed on to the animal which eats it.
 This will usually be a herbivore, although it could also be an omnivore
 The herbivore (or omnivore) is known as a primary consumer
 The carnivore (or omnivore) is known as a secondary consumer because it eats the plant
eater
 At the end of every food chain are the decomposers – the bacteria and fungi which
break down the remains of animals and plants and return the mineral nutrients to
the soil. They are often not shown in food chains.
 TROPHIC LEVELS

 It is the different levels within a food chain – the producers, primary consumers,
secondary consumers, etc.
 In food chains the arrow → means ‘is eaten by
example of food chains
banana → human
corn → chicken → human
grass → cow → human
 Many aquatic food chains start with the microscopic photosynthetic organisms
known as phytoplankton (plant plankton)
 These tiny organisms are eaten by the equally microscopic zooplankton (animal
plankton)
 these two groups of organisms underpin food chains which involve almost every
animal in the water, from tiny shrimps to enormous whales
 Here are some examples
leaves and flowers → black and white colobus monkeys
leaves → grasshopper → rodent → leopard
grass → zebra → lion
 FOOD WEBS

 food web network of food chains

 Food chains are very simple, but in real life things are much more complex
Grass is eaten by insects, by rodents and by many large herbivores.
 Antelope may be prey for lions, leopards or hyenas
 The many interactions between living organisms cannot be shown in simple food
chains.
 In a food web the interactions between many different food chains can be shown.
An example based on some of the organisms living on our African savannahs has been
prepared for you in this figure
 ENERGY FOR LIFE

 radiation from the sun is the source of energy for all communities of living organisms
 Solar energy pours out continually onto the surface of the earth and a small part of it is
captured by the chlorophyll in plants
 Biomass is a term that describes all the organic material produced by living organisms
 It all comes originally from plants as they photosynthesis at the beginning of all food chains.
 This biomass is then passed on through a food chain or web into the animals which eat the
plants and then on into the animals which eat other animals
 When you look at a food chain, there are usually more producers than primary consumers, and
more primary consumers than secondary consumers.
 However, in many cases a pyramid of numbers does not accurately reflect what is happening.
 Biomass is the mass of living material in an animal or plant and ultimately all biomass is
built up using energy from the sun.
 The total amount of biomass in the living organisms at each stage of the food chain can
be drawn to scale and shown as a pyramid of biomass
 The biomass, and so the energy available at each trophic level of a food chain is less than
it was at the previous stage. This is because:
• Not the whole organism at one stage is eaten by the stage above.
• When an herbivore eats a plant, it turns some of the plant material into new
herbivore
 much of the biomass from the plant is used by the herbivore to release energy for living
and so does not get passed on to the carnivore when the herbivore is eaten.
ENERGY REDUCTION BETWEEN TROPHIC LEVELS AND PYRAMIDS OF ENERGY

 An animal like a zebra eats grass and other small plants.

 It takes in a large amount of plant biomass, and converts it into a smaller amount of zebra
biomass.
 Part of the biomass which is eaten by an animal is used for cellular respiration.
 This supplies all the energy needs for the living processes taking place within the body,
including movement which uses a great deal of energy
 The muscles use energy to contract, and the more an animal moves about, the more energy
(and biomass) it uses from its food
 Much of the energy produced in cellular respiration is eventually lost as heat to the
surroundings.
 If we represent the energy held in each trophic level we get the best possible
representation of what is happening in a food chain
 A pyramid of energy represents the energy in the producers and how much of that
energy is passed on at each stage along the food chain.
 RECYCLING IN NATURE
 Living things are constantly removing materials from the environment.
 Plants take minerals from the soil and these minerals are then passed on into animals
through the food chains and food webs which link all living organisms
 The nutrients held in the bodies of dead animals and plants, and in animal droppings, are
released back into the soil by the action of a group of organisms known as the decomposers.
 These are microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi
 They digest them and use some of the nutrients.
 They also release waste products, and these are nutrients broken down into a form which
plants can use
 The chemical reactions which take place in micro-organisms, like those in most other living
things, work faster in warm conditions
 Most micro-organisms also grow better in moist conditions which make it easier to
dissolve their food and also prevent them from drying out.
 the decay of dead plants and animals – and dung – takes place far more rapidly in
warm, moist conditions than it does in cold, dry ones.
 Microorganisms mainly involved in the
production of fertile soil
stable plant and animal environment
produce nutrient rich compost
 THE NITROGEN CYCLE
 nitrogen cycle cycling of nitrogen compounds between the living and non-living
world
 Nitrogen is very important in a wide range of biological molecules
 It is a vital part of the structure of amino acids and proteins, and it is also part of the
molecules of inheritance, DNA and RNA
 Plants can make carbohydrates by photosynthesis but carbohydrates contain no nitrogen.
 Green plants absorb nitrogen in the form of nitrates dissolved in the soil water.
 They use these nitrates to make proteins, and then this protein is passed along the food
chain as herbivores eat plants and are then eaten themselves by carnivores.
 Although it is vital to the formation of proteins and healthy growth, plants cannot use the
nitrogen which is in the air around them
 It is an inert gas and in that form it is so unreactive that it is no use to them at all.
 The nitrates taken out of the soil by plants are returned to it in a number of ways.
 Urine contains urea, a breakdown product of proteins, and proteins are also passed
out in the faces, so the waste passed out of animals’ bodies contains many nitrogen-
rich compounds.
 Not all of the nitrates in the soil come from the process of decay.
 Nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the soil can actually convert nitrogen from the soil air into
ammonia, which is then converted into nitrates by the nitrifying bacteria of the
nitrogen cycle.
 There is one group of plants which plays a particularly important role in the nitrogen
cycle
 The legumes – that is plants such as peas, beans and clover – have nodules on their
roots which are full of nitrogen-fixing bacteria.
 legumes plants with the ability to fix nitrogen in the soil

 This is an example of mutualism, where two organisms live together and both benefit

 The bacteria get protection and a supply of organic food from the plant, whereas the plant gets ammonia that it
can use to form amino acids
 However, not all the bacteria in the soil are helpful in the nitrogen cycle

 One group, known as the denitrifying bacteria, actually uses nitrates as an energy source and breaks them down
again into nitrogen gas.
 Denitrifying bacteria reduce the amount of nitrates in the soil
 THE CARBON CYCLE
 carbon cycle cycling of carbon compounds between the living and the nonliving things.
 The element carbon is vital for living organisms because all of the main molecules of life are
based on carbon atoms
 Carbon dioxide is removed from the air by green plants in the process of
photosynthesis.
 It is used to make the carbohydrates, proteins and fats which make up the body of the plant
 When green plants themselves respire, some carbon dioxide is returned to the atmosphere.
 Similarly when animals respire they release carbon dioxide as a waste product into the air.
 Finally when both plants and animals die, their bodies are broken down by the action of
decomposers and when these microbes respire, they release carbon into the atmosphere as
carbon dioxide, ready to be taken up again by plants in photosynthesis.
THE CARBON CYCLE IN NATURE
 the build-up of carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere is generally believed to
contribute to the greenhouse effect, also referred to as global warming.
 Although plants take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen, the release of carbon
dioxide from human activities is higher than the plants can process.
 The situation is made worse because all around the world large-scale deforestation is
taking place.
 Dead trees don’t take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.
 Methane is another greenhouse gas which causes air pollution and the levels of this
gas are rising too
 It has two major sources.
• As rice grows in swampy conditions, known as paddy fields, methane is released.
• The other source of methane is cattle. Cows produce methane during their digestive
processes and release it at regular intervals
 ADAPTATIONS

 adaptations features organisms develop which make it possible for them to survive in
particular habitats
Animals in cold climates
 To survive in a cold environment you must be able to keep yourself warm
 Arctic animals are adapted to reduce the heat they lose from their bodies as much as possible.
 Body heat is lost through your body surface (mainly your skin)
 The amount of heat you lose is closely linked to your surface area: volume (SA/V) ratio
 This explains why so many Arctic mammals, such as seals, walruses, whales and polar bears, are relatively large.
 It keeps their surface area: volume ratio as small as possible and so helps them hold on to their body heat.
 The surface area of the thin skinned areas of their bodies – like their ears – is usually very small.
 Many Arctic mammals also have plenty of insulation, both inside and out.
 Blubber – a thick layer of fat that builds up under the skin – and a thick fur coat on
the outside will insulate an animal very
 The fat layer also provides a food supply. Animals often build up their blubber in the
summer
 Then they can live off their body fat through the winter when there is almost no
food.
 Camouflage is important both to predators (so their prey doesn’t see them coming)
and to prey (so they can’t be seen)
 Unfortunately the colours which would camouflage an Arctic animal in summer
would stand out against the snow in winter
 Many Arctic animals including the Arctic fox, the Arctic hare and the stoat change the
greys and browns of their summer coats for pure white in the winter.
 SURVIVING IN DRY CLIMATES
 The biggest challenges if you live in a desert are:
• coping with the lack of water
• stopping your body temperature from getting too high
 Most mammals rely on sweating to help them cool down, but this means they lose
water which is not easy to replace in the desert
 Many animals which live in hot or dry conditions have other adaptations for cooling
down.
 They are often most active in the early morning and late evening, when the
temperature is comfortable.
 During the cold nights and the heat of the day they rest in burrows well below the
surface, where the temperature doesn’t change much.
 Many desert animals are quite small, so their surface area is large compared to their
volume
 This helps them to lose heat through their skin.
 They often have large, thin ears as well to increase their surface area for losing heat
 . Another adaptation of many animals which live in hot areas is that they don’t have
much fur, and the fur they do have is fine and silky
 They also have relatively little body fat stored under the skin.
 Both of these features make it easier for them to lose heat through the surface of the skin
 The animals keep warm during the cold nights by retreating into their burrows.
 Plants take in water through their roots in the soil. It moves up through the plant and
is lost through the leaves in the transpiration stream
 The rate at which a plant loses water is linked to the conditions it is growing in
 When it is hot and dry, photosynthesis and respiration take place fast.
 Most plants reduce their surface area so they lose less water or they store water in
their tissues
Changing surface area
 When it comes to stopping water loss through the leaves, the surface area:volume
ratio is very important to plants.
 There are a few desert plants which have broad leaves with a large surface area
 These leaves collect the dew which forms in the cold evenings.
 They then funnel the water towards their shallow roots.
 Some desert plants have small fleshy leaves with a thick cuticle to keep water loss
down
 The cuticle is a waxy covering on the leaf which stops water evaporating away.
 Some plants in dry environments have curled leaves; this reduces the surface area of
the leaf
 It also traps a layer of moist air around the leaf which really cuts back the amount of
water they lose by evaporation.
 The best-known desert plants are the cacti.
 Their leaves have been reduced to spines with a very small surface area indeed.
 A mature apple tree in England can lose about 100 l of water from its leaf every day.
 A large saguaro cactus in the desert loses less than one glass of water in the same
amount of time
 STORING WATER
 The other main way in which plants can cope with dry conditions is to store water in
their tissues.
 Plants which store water in their fleshy leaves, stems or roots are known as
succulents
 The fat green body of a cactus is its stem, which is full of water-storing tissue.
 SPREADING THE SEEDS
 To compete successfully a plant has to avoid competition with its own seedlings.
 The most important adaptation for success in most plants is the way they shed their
seeds.
 Many plants use the wind to help them
 Some produce seeds which are so small that they are carried easily by air currents
 Many others produce fruits with special adaptations which carry their seeds as far
from home as possible.
 The fluffy parachutes of the dandelion ‘clock’ and the winged seeds of trees like the
sycamore are common examples of flying fruits.
 Some plants use mini-explosions to spread their seeds – the pods dry out, twist and
pop, flinging the seeds out and away
 TREE-GROWING PROJECT
 Trees produce oxygen and remove carbon dioxide from the air.

 They help to reduce the effects of air pollution and also reduce global warming.

 Trees hold the soil in place and without them our soil is becoming unstable and blowing away.

 Trees also help absorb water – they prevent soil erosion and help to prevent the formation of great
areas of deserts
 Once the sapling is in place, the soil must be pressed very firmly around it and often a stake is used to
support the young tree as it starts to grow and get established
 The young trees need to be cared for once they have been planted

 For at least the first year they will need extra water if the season is very dry

 . They may need to be protected from animals that might eat them. But if we can restore some of our
lost trees, everyone will benefit, not only in Ethiopia, but across the world
THE END