Kinds Of Ecosystems

and Communities
• Ecosystem – composed of living
organisms and their nonliving
environment.

• Community-Is a group of different populations

that live together and interact with each other.
Exposed Lichens
rocks and mosses

Balsam fir,
paper birch, and
Jack pine, white spruce
e, forest
black spruc community
u bs
sses, Low shr and aspen
Ferns, gra
and herbs

Time

Fig. 26-12, p. 526

Secondary Succession
Succession
• Primary succession – is a succession that
begins with a total lack of organisms and
bare mineral surfaces or water.

• Secondary succession –is a succession

that begins with the destruction or
disturbance of an existing ecosystem
• Climax community – is a relatively
stable, long lasting community that is
the result of succession.
• Pioneer community – the early stages
of succession that begin the soil-
building process.
• Biomes
• Large terrestrial geographic regions
containing distinctive plant
communities
• Biomes can be characterized by their
climate and the species that live
there
Biomes

Tundra Chaparral Tropical Dry Forest

Coniferous Forest Desert Savanna

Temperate Deciduous Forest Tropical Rain Forest Mountains (Complex

& Temperate Rain Forest Zonation)
Temperate Grassland
• Desert
• Very little rain (less than 25 cm of
precipitation per year)
• Supports widely spaced desert plants
• Desert animals are active in the
evening due to hot day temperatures
Desert

• Arid lands occupying 20% of global land area, where

evapotranspiration exceeds precipitation for most of
the year.

http://helios.bto.ed.ac.uk/bto/desertecology/creosot3.jpg
Desert : Human Impact
• Some deserts support nomadic herding in
which herders move their livestock to find
patches of vegetation for grazing
• Modern technology allows for the transport of
water to the desert
• This has resulted in the development of cities
in some desert areas and some limited
agriculture as a result of irrigation
Temperate grasslands (also known as Prairies or
Steppes)
• Border the deserts
• Treeless with many grass species
• Wetter than deserts, but drier than forests
• Soils are rich in nutrients
• Primary consumers are animals that eat grasses, such as
grazing mammals such as bison, wild horses, various
kinds of sheep, cattle, and goats
 Temperate Grassland

Midlatitude grasslands receiving

0.3 to 1.0 m rainfall per year,
falling mostly during summers.

http://taggart.glg.msu.edu/bs110/PRAIRIE.JPG
GRASSLAND
3 TYPES OF GRASSLANDS
• Steppes with short grasses – semi-arid grassland
• Prairies with tall grasses – grassland in humid
climates
• Tropical savanna with coarse grasses – is dry in
winter and rainy in summer
Grassland is used for grazing both wild and domestic
animals, also for farming
Human Impact
• Most of the moist grasslands of the world have been
converted to agriculture.
• The drier grasslands have been converted to the raising
of domesticated grazers such as cattle, sheep, and goats.
• Savanna
• Found in tropical parts of Africa, South America and Australia
• Rain? 50 to 150 centimeters per year.
• Rain is not distributed evenly throughout the year. Typically, a period of
heavy rainfall is followed by a prolong drought
• Extended dry season
• Dry, open grasslands
• Few trees
• Supports grazing animals and carnivores
Tropical Savanna

• Tropical grassland with a few scattered trees;

characterized by pronounced wet and dry seasons, with
periodic fires.
Tropical Savanna-Human Impact
• Farming is possible in the more moist regions
• Drier regions are used for the raising of livestock
• Because of the long periods of drought, the raising of
crops is often difficult without irrigation.
• Some areas support nomadic herding
• Miditerranean Shrublands (Chaparral)
• Borders grasslands and deserts
• Found in coastal southern California, the southern tip of Africa, a portion of
the west coast of Chile, and southern Australia
• Climate with wet, cool winters and hot Hot, dry summers
• Organisms – dominated by woody shrubs. Many kinds of insects, reptiles,
birds and mammals
Chaparral - Human Impact
• Agriculture is common, often with the aid
of irrigation, and many major cities are
located in this biome
• Heavily altered by human activity
 Tropical Dry Forest

• Mostly broadleaf forests in tropical regions with

pronounced wet and dry seasons where trees drop
their leaves during the dry season (“dry deciduous
forest”).
• Tropical dry coniferous forests are rare.

http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioimages/ecoregions/nam-ecoregions-list.htm
Tropical Dry Forest
• Usually located between 10o - 25o latitude. Rainfall may be as low as 50
centimeters or as high as 200 centimeters
• Found in parts of Central and south America, Australia, Africa and Asia
• Climate more seasonal than tropical rainforest (wet versus dry)
• Soils generally richer in nutrients than rainforests, but vulnerable to
erosion.
• Shares many animal and plant species with tropical rainforests.
Tropical Dry Forest
Human Impact
• Heavily settled by humans with extensive clearing
for agriculture.
• Harvesting of wood for fuel and building
materials has heavily affected these forest.
• Many of these forests have been converted to
farming or the grazing of animals
Tropical Rainforest
• A broadleaf tropical
forest growing in
tropical regions where
conditions are warm
and wet year-round.
• Vertical structure.
• Epiphytes
 Tropical Rainforests
• Most occur within 10o latitude of equator. Near the equator in Central and
South America, Africa, Southeast Asia, some islands in the Caribbean Sea
and Pacific Ocean.
• Little temperature variation between months.
• Annual rainfall of 200 – 500 centimeters relatively evenly distributed.
• Soils low organic and nutrient poor.
• Rain quickly leaches soil nutrients.
• High decomposition and fast nutrient cycle.
• Mycorrhizae help gather nutrients.
• Tropical rain forests
• ½ of all living species live in rain forests
• Species diversity is not as rich as in other
biomes
• Located near the equator
• Characterized by heavy rains
• Tropical rain forest
• The rain forest is divided into four “layers”
• Tall canopy – captures direct sunlight
• Shorter canopy – animals and plants thrive
• Area of dim light
• Dark forest floor
Tropical Rain Forest
Human Impact
• Are under intense pressure from logging and
agriculture
• The forests are being cut down with no effort to
protect them for long term productivity
• People obtain jobs and money by exploiting this
resource.
• Harbor staple foods and medicines for world’s
human populations - increasingly exploited.
• Temperate Deciduous Forest
• Deciduous trees (shed their leaves)
• Annual rainfall is 75 to 100 centimeters per year
• Typical of the eastern half of the United States, parts of south
central and southeastern Canada, southern Africa, Europe
and Asia
• Moderate temperatures & moderate rain
• Ranges from summer high to winter low
• As leaves fall, nutrients are recycled
Human Impact
• Heavily affected by human activity such as
farming or is subjected to periodic logging
• Temperate rainforest
• Exist in the coastal areas of northern California, Oregon,
Washington, British Columbia, and southern Alaska. New Zealand
• Average Annual rainfall is 130 cm
• The prevailing winds from the west blow over the ocean and bring
moisture-laden air to the coast. As the air meets the coastal
mountains and is force to rise, it cools and the moisture falls as rain
or snow
 Boreal Forest (Taiga)

Northern forest
south of the arctic
tundra, mostly
containing conifers
(spuce) and some
aspen and birch.

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/BorealMigration/Images/boreal_forest_combined.jpg
Boreal Forest
(Taiga)
• Confined to Northern Hemisphere.
• Covers 11% of earth’s land area.
• Thin, acidic soils low in fertility.
• Generally dominated by evergreen
conifers.
• Relatively high animal density.
• Historically, low levels of human intrusion.
• Tundra
• Northern border of coniferous forests
• Low growing vegetation
• Cold and treeless
• Permafrost soil – deep permanently
frozen soil
• Polar ice cap
• Icy, treeless region
• At the highest latitudes
• Not a true biome because they
lack plants
• Animals and microbes survive
AQUATIC ECOSYSEM
Aquatic Ecosystem
• River
• Freshwater lake
• Estuaries
• Ocean
• Coastal wet lands
• Coral reef
• River
• Middle of river has great species
diversity
• Microbes and invertebrates live
on bottom detritus
• Supports catfish
• Freshwater lake
• Life zones in a lake depend on light
penetration and depth
• Shallow areas support many producers
and consumers
• Deeper areas support insect larvae,
scavenger fish, and decomposers
• Emergent plants – aquatic vegetation that is rooted on the
bottom but has leaves that float on the surface or protrude
above the water.
• Examples: arrowhead plants; water lilies
• Submerged plants – Aquatic vegetation that is rooted on the
bottom and has leaves that stay submerged below the surface
of the water.
• Examples: Elodea, and Chara
• Littoral zone – the region of lake with rooted vegetation
• Limnetic zone – portion of the lake that does not have
rooted vegetation.
• Oligotrophic lakes – deep, clear, cold, nutrient poor lakes
that are low in productivity.
• Eutrophic lakes – A shallow, warm water lake that is nutrient
rich
• Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD)–the amount of oxygen
required by microbes to degrade organic molecules in
aquatic ecosystem
• Estuary
• Area where rivers meet oceans
• Fresh and salt water mingle
• Temperatures and salt
concentrations vary with seasons
and tides
• Very productive ecosystem
• Intertidal zone
• At the edge of an ocean
• Underwater at high tide and exposed
at low tide
• Supports kelp, algae, intertidal
animals
• Coral reef
• Shallow ocean zones in the tropics
• Reef-building corals
• Photosynthetic microorganisms
• Known for brilliant colors
 Mangrove swamp ecosystem
• Are tropical forest ecosystems that
occupy shallow water near the shore and
the adjacent land.
• The dominant organisms are special kinds
of trees that can tolerate the high salt
content of the ocean.
• Oceanic Zone (open ocean)
• Lacks nutrients such as phosphate
and nitrogen
• Less productive than arctic tundra
• Nearly deserted
• Help to modulate climate
• Littoral (intertidal zone) – Shallow
shoreline
• Neritic – Coast to margin (200 m) of
continental shelf
Epipelagic zone (surface-200 m)
Mesopelagic zone (200-1000 m)
Bathypelagic zone (1000-4000 m)
Abyssal zone (4000-6000 m)
Sources
• Enger, Eldon D. and Smith, Bradley F.
Environmental Science: A Study of
Interrelationships. McGraw-Hill.4th edition.
2016.
Adopted BooK
• Unday, Joel et. al. Introduction to
Environmental Science. 2012