06-Secondary Productivity.Pptx
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BIO 3072 !Ecology !Eric L. Peters! Ecological (Biomass) Production! Earth Area Available to Support Humans! Primary Production:! Productive sea and land area Production of autotroph (producer)" biomass! available to support each Autotrophs capture and store their own" energy and synthesize their own" person in Africa: ! structural materials! 1.36 ha! Limited by photosynthetic rates! …on Earth: 1.90 ha! Secondary Production:! Production of heterotroph" Used by each W. European/U.S. (consumer) biomass! citizen:" Heterotrophs’ structural" 5.06/5.26 ha! materials (and energy) must be" World obtained from their food! Productive sea and land area needed to produce Wildlife Limited by primary productivity, number and efficiency of energy the products consumed by each U.S. citizen:" Fund," transfers, and other factors. Many chemical elements (e.g., Ca and P) 9.71 ha (the CSU campus is 64.75 ha: enough to Living Planet must be provided in specific chemical forms or combinations! sustain 12.3 U.S. citizens) ! Report 2002. ! Nutrient Requirements of Consumers! Energy-bearing Nutrients and Respiration! !Edible, adj. good to eat and wholesome to digest, as a worm Cells use many organic molecules as fuel for respiration:! to a toad, a toad to a snake, a snake to a pig, a pig to a man, and a man to a worm.! –Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary !" ! There is tremendous variability in organismal nutritional requirements, as well as in the adaptations to meet those needs, e.g.,! Insects require a dietary source of cholesterol, mammals manufacture their own! Mammals require iodine for the formation of thyroid hormone! Humans and guinea pigs are the only known mammals that require vitamin C as a dietary supplement! Deficiencies in energy and essential nutrients limit growth, development and reproduction! Energy-bearing Nutrients and Biosynthesis! Energy-bearing Nutrient Types! !Food molecules are raw materials for biomass production" Carbohydrates (CH O)! Energy in the form of ATP used to assemble macromolecules:! 2 Manufactured by autotrophs from CO2 and H2O! Easiest of nutrients to respire! Form the bulk of the diet of many heterotrophs, yet are not essential nutrients for heterotrophs!! Many carnivores exist on a carbohydrate-free diet, relying either on lipids or on deaminated amino acids for energy (e.g., vampire bats and other blood parasites, Inuit humans)! Two categories of carbohydrates:! Highly digestible (e.g., starches and sugars) taken up by assimilative digestion! Difficult to digest crude fiber (mostly cellulose): requires digestive symbionts (prokaryotes) to convert cellulose into bacterial biomass (fermentative digestion) before energy-bearing nutrients can be assimilated! Topic 6 !Secondary Productivity and Trophic Structure !1! BIO 3072 !Ecology !Eric L. Peters! Energy-bearing Nutrient Types! Energy-bearing Nutrient Types! !Lipids are used as a means of storing energy, and in body Proteins! structure. Lipids are not essential, but some of the fatty acids Are also non-essential nutrients! Yet, protein deficiencies are are, because they cannot be made in animal bodies:! most common form of nutritional deficiency! Why?! Necessary for the formation of cell" membranes, proper brain/nervous system" Amino acids (which are present in proteins in large quantities) development/function, and for production" linoleic acid are essential for heterotrophs. Needed for synthesis of:! of hormone-like eicosanoids (which regulate" Structural proteins (skin, bones, muscle, hair, feathers, claws, hooves, numerous physiological functions," horns)! including: blood pressure and viscosity," vasoconstriction, immune and inflammatory" Enzymes for regulation of metabolism and development! α-linolenic acid! responses)! All other proteins (e.g., immunoglobulins, metal-binding and other transport proteins, respiratory pigments, heat shock and antifreeze Humans have the ability to convert linoleic acid (an ‘omega-6’ fatty acid proteins)! found in most animal fats) and α-linolenic acid (an ‘omega-3’ fatty acid common in some fishes, seals, and whales) to longer-chain fatty acids, Not all amino acids can be synthesized by animals (all can be which in turn serve as precursors for eicosanoids! synthesized by plants, but most plants lack all 20)! Both are also found in plants: linolenic acid is found primarily in seeds, Many of the 20 required by animals can be synthesized from a single nuts, grains, and legumes, while α-linolenic acid is found in green leaves of dietary amino acid (humans require 9 from their diet) ! plants, phytoplankton and algae, and in some seeds, nuts and legumes! These amino acids can come from non-protein sources (e.g., nectar)! Other Nutrients! Inorganic Nutrients! Vitamins: small organic molecules, from bacterial and plant Essential macronutrients (macroelements)! sources. Function as coenzymes or as actual constituents of Occur in parts per thousand (ppt) or greater quantities! enzymes! Function as structural materials as in physiological functions! Lipid-soluble vitamins (e.g., A, E) can be stored in fatty tissues! Some elements can substitute for others in limited amounts! “ ” Water-soluble vitamins (e.g., C, B’s) are lost in urine and need to be Some of these nutrient analogs are now known to be essential elements (e.g., Sr is needed in addition to Ca in forming coral skeletons, and in some protozoan continually replaced (unless synthesized by the organism)! tests)! 137 Inorganic nutrients are also required for life processes! Can influence environmental impacts of human activities (e.g., radioactive Cs and 90Sr can substitute for K and Ca, respectively)! Some required for particular biological functions (e.g., photosynthesis, digestion, reproduction)! !Essential micronutrients (microelements, trace elements, and ultratrace elements)! Some are needed to metabolize energy-bearing nutrients! Occur in parts per million (ppm) or lesser quantities ! All inorganic nutrients needed by autotrophs come from the air Usually function as enzyme cofactors: work in combination with or (soil) water, sometimes with the aid of symbionts.! coenzymes to activate cellular enzymes (e.g., cobaltamine: vitamin B12)! All inorganic nutrients needed by heterotrophs come from their Include a number of “heavy metals” (e.g., Ni, Cu), which are toxic at food and (to a lesser extent) water, also sometimes with the aid concentrations not much higher than their required levels! Some substances formerly though to be toxicants (e.g., Se, Cr) are now of symbionts.! know to be essential in small quantities! Essential Elements! Balancing Nutrient Requirements! Essential for all Essential for several Essential for numerous Essential for a few Recently judged Seldom possible to find the ‘perfect’ diet:! plants and classes of plants species in one class of species of plants essential, but animals and/or animals plants and/or animals and/or animals function unknown Organisms need to optimize energy acquisition while hydrogen (H) silicon (Si) boron (B) lithium (Li) rubidium (Rb) obtaining all needed nutrients to be competitive. carbon (C) vanadium (V) fluorine (F) aluminum (Al) tin (Sn) nitrogen (N) cobalt (Co) chromium (Cr) barium (Ba) lead (Pb) These needs often change during an organism’s oxygen (O) molybdenum (Mo) bromine (Br) lifetime.! sodium (Na) iodine (I) nickel (Ni) magnesium (Mg) strontium (Sr) Some nutrients need to be assimilated at the same phosphorus (P) time (e.g., Ca and P, which also requires vitamin D).! sulfur (S) chlorine (C) Uptake of some elements is hindered by the presence potassium (K) of others (e.g., high N levels can lead to S deficiencies calcium (Ca) manganese (Mn) in plants).! iron (Fe) Some needed nutrients are hard to obtain in some copper (Cu) zinc (Zn) environments.! selenium (Se) Some diets are energy-rich but lack essential nutrients.! Topic 6 !Secondary Productivity and Trophic Structure !2! BIO 3072 !Ecology !Eric L. Peters! Optimizing Conflicting Dietary Requirements! Trophic Levels! First tropic level: primary producers" Optimal diet for moose. The (autotrophs)! animal’s options (shaded) are limited by digestive capacity Photosynthetic !Chemo-" (“rumen constraint”) and by prokaryotes !synthetic" daily Na requirements (“sodium constraint”). Na !prokaryotes! comes mostly from aquatic Photosynthetic" plants. Diagonal lines microalgae:" indicate equal energy intake chlorophytes, diatoms," (I) in multiples of metabolic dinoflagellates, etc." rate, and the optimal diet (3) corresponds to the highest I ! allowed by the model. Moose actually do eat the mixture of Macroalgae: large green, brown, and red algae" plants predicted by this ! model. (after Belovsky, G.E. 1978. Diet optimization in a Plants: mosses, ferns, and other vascular plants" generalist herbivore: the ! moose. Theor. Pop. Biol. Some fungi (e.g., lichens) and animals (e.g., corals) with algal 14:105-134.! endosymbionts serve as ‘primary producers’ in some systems! Trophic Levels! Trophic Levels! Second tropic level:" Third tropic level:" primary (1°) consumers! secondary (2°) consumers! Heterotrophs that feed" Heterotrophs that prey exclusively on 1°" directly on autotrophs! consumers! Sometimes referred to as" Predation – common usage suggests that" grazers, these are the first" predator and prey are both heterotrophs," level of predators! and the prey is alive until preyed upon! In predation: one organism (predator) obtains its energy Piscivores – eat fishes! and/or nutrients from another living organism (prey)! Carnivores