Schueller NRE 509 1 What Is an Ecosystem?
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Schueller NRE 509 Schueller NRE 509 Lecture 20 & 21: Ecosystem Ecology: Matter & Energy Ecosystems: Energy flow and the production and decomposition of biomass How will the loss of animal migrations affect nutrient levels in the places they visit? 1. Intro to Systems approach & Biogeochemical Cycles Will climate change increase plant productivity, or the rate of new biomass? 2. Primary & Secondary Productivity How do we manage algal blooms causes by nutrient run-off into the Great Lakes? 3. Ecological efficiencies How do earthworms change forest nutrient cycling? 4. What determines NEP? How can we improve the energy efficiency of food 5. Decomposition systems? Ecosystems, Energy flow, and Productivity Ecosystem Ecology What is an ecosystem? 1. Intro to Systems approach & Biogeochemical Cycles • Living plus non-living a. What is an ecosystem? components b. Pools •System c. Fluxes through which d. Turnover rates and residence times energy flows and matter cycles (Biogeochemical Cycles) Ecosystem approach Earth is a(n) __________ system with respect to energy and a(n) Boxes Pools (Reservoirs) ___________ system with respect to & elements. Arrows Fluxes - Processes (transformation from 1 pool to the next) A. open, closed B. open, open Ecosystem pools & fluxes => C. closed, closed Ecosystem function => D. closed, open Ecosystem services 1 Schueller NRE 509 What are the Pools? Terminology of living parts Living (Biotic): Non-living (Abiotic): Fig. 25.1 What are the Pools? Living plant material is NOT at the Plants, algae (phytoplankton) bottom of all photosynthetic autotrophs food chains bacteria. In terrestrial systems, detritivores may do 80–90% of the consumption of plant matter! Carnivores heterotrophs (parasites, predators), Detritus Omnivores, Bacteria, Herbivores, Detritivores Fungi, Detritivores Detritivores Fig. 25.2 What are the Pools? What exactly is moving between pools? Biotic Abiotic: • Autotrophs • Atmosphere Macronutrients (Required in Larger Amounts): Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, • Producers • Water Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium, Sulfur, Sodium, • Heterotrophs • Rock Chlorine • Consumers • Soil • Decomposers Micronutrients (Required in Smaller Amounts): Iron, • Detritus Manganese, Boron, Cobalt, Copper, Molybdenum, Zinc, Iodine, Selenium = “organic matter (OM)” or “biomass” But travel in various forms: E.g. Carbon in carbon dioxide (CO2), glucose (C6H12O), limestone (CaCO3)… 2 Schueller NRE 509 Ecosystem approach Boxes Pools (Reservoirs) & Arrows Fluxes - Processes (transformation from 1 pool to Inorganic Organic the next) glucose carbon (C6H12O) dioxide (CO2), limestone (CaCO3) What are the Fluxes? What processes move matter Photosynthesis and Respiration from one pool to another? (Biological) (Chemical/Geological) • Photosynthesis • Weathering • Chemosynthesis • Erosion • Nitrogen fixation • Run-off • Consumption • Atmospheric deposition • Excretion • … • Respiration • Mineralization • … Fluxes: How fast? – What is the rate of moving from Fluxes: How fast? – What is the rate of moving from one ecosystem or pool to another? one ecosystem or pool to another? Residence time - How long does matter stay in one pool? • Residence time - How long does matter stay in one pool? E.g. Carbon in limestone: millions of years vs. – E.g. 4 years carbon in glucose of plant: 1 month to 400 years E.g. Nitrogen in ocean phytoplankton vs. boreal • Turnover rate - At what rate does it forest tree trunk leave a pool (enter a new pool)? – E.g. 0.25/year 3 Schueller NRE 509 Ecosystem Ecology Schueller NRE 509 Lecture 20 & 21: What is an ecosystem? Ecosystems: Energy flow and the production and decomposition of biomass • Living plus 1. Intro to Systems approach non-living & Biogeochemical Cycles components •System 2. Primary & Secondary through which Productivity energy flows and matter 3. Ecological efficiencies cycles (Biogeochemical Cycles) 4. What determines NEP? Energy FLOWS through ecosystems in the form of Carbon-Carbon bonds 5. Decomposition Fill the boxes with some of the following: And we can measure Net Primary Productivity (NPP) = net amount of Carbon fixed by producers in an ecosystem photosynthesis, respiration, NPP, GPP, producer, consumer in a time period g C/m2/year OR Mg C/ha/year (Mg = Megagram = 106 grams) OM less OM = New tissue, offspring g/m2/year = Rate of production Heat & CO2 Biomass = amount of OM = “standing crop” Ecosystems, Energy flow, and Productivity Should a forester wanting to harvest the maximum yield from a plot be more interested in the forest's standing crop or its net primary production? 2. Primary and Secondary Productivity a. Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) TIME matters b. Net Primary Productivity (NPP), Biomass and Organic Matter (OM) Biomass/NPP = c. What limits NPP? turnover time d. Net Secondary Productivity e. What limits secondary productivity? 4 Schueller NRE 509 What limits net primary productivity of an area? Patterns of Terrestrial Net Primary Productivity Rank the productivity of: Tropical ) Forests -1 y •Tundra -2 •Tropical rain forest Forest •Kansas corn field •Deep ocean Arctic & Alpine Grasslands Tunda Net Primary Productivity (g m (g Productivity Primary Net Mean Annual Temperature oC See also Stiling Fig. 26. 4 Patterns of Terrestrial Net Primary Productivity Which ecosystems are Which ecosystems, given the most productive per their area on earth, area? contribute the most to ) -1 Tropical world NPP? y -2 -2 Forests Temperate Forest Grasslands Desert Net Primary Productivity m (g Mean Annual Precipitation (mm) See also Stiling Fig. 26. 3 http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange1/current/lectures/kling/energyflow/energyflow.html What limits net primary productivity of an area? Liebig’s Law of the Minimum Change in a limiting A species will be factor can speed limited by the up the rate of scarcest resource production until… (limiting factor) Ecosystem productivity is limited by the scarcest factor 5 Schueller NRE 509 Ecosystems, Energy flow, and Productivity What limits primary productivity of aquatic systems? Hint: Soil contains about 0.5% nitrogen 2. Primary and Secondary Productivity but seawater contains only 0.00005% a. Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) nitrogen b. Net Primary Productivity (NPP), Biomass and Organic Matter (OM) c. What limits NPP? d. Net Secondary Productivity e. What limits secondary productivity? See also Stiling Figure 26.8 Effects of nutrient enrichment on marine productivity. Net Secondary Schueller NRE 509 Lecture 20 & 21: Productivity Ecosystems: Energy flow and the production and decomposition of biomass What limits net NSP of an area? 1. Intro to Systems approach & Biogeochemical Cycles How long can a food chain be? 2. Primary & Secondary Productivity Depends how 3. Ecological efficiencies efficiently E is being transferred 4. What determines NEP? up the chain! 5. Decomposition Where do these go (on which arrows)? Consumption, Assimilation, Production Transfer Efficiencies 6 Schueller NRE 509 Consumption (absorption) efficiency Consumption efficiencies vary dramatically Assimilation efficiencies depends on the between different ecosystems quality of food and physiology of consumer Rank herbivores in the following Which has the higher assimilation systems from lowest to highest efficiency? consumption efficiency: • Carnivore or herbivore? • Aquatic ecosystems • Endotherm or ectotherm? • Grasslands • Terrestrial forests Assimilation & Production Efficiency Which has the Endotherms digest more of what they eat, but higher spend more on production maintenance, so produce less new tissue from what efficiency? they eat Ectothermic invertebrate (caterpillar) vs. endothermic mammal (squirrel) – both herbivores Figure 25.8 7 Schueller NRE 509 Production efficiency Another way of looking at it Assimilation efficiency The average trophic level efficiency is 10% Ecological efficiency Consumption efficiency Why is it so low? What are the consequences? Pyramid of Numbers Observations • In a grassland, there may be: – Millions of individual plants per acre – Hundreds of thousands of insects that feed on the plants – Tens of thousands of insect predators – A few hundred birds or mice feeding on the predatory insects. Figure 25.9 Pyramid of Numbers Pyramid of Biomass Why is this one not shaped like a pyramid? (standing crop, kcal/m2 or g/m2 ) 8 Schueller NRE 509 Pyramid of Energy – How much do ecological pyramids narrow? is never inverted! (kcal/m2/yr) Figure 25.9 1 10 100 1000 “~10% rule” for E (biomass, numbers) Consequences of Ecological Pyramids: A valid argument for eating like DDT and the food chain a vegetarian? “According to the journal Soil and Water, one acre of land could produce 50,000 pounds of tomatoes, 40,000 pounds of potatoes, 30,000 pounds of carrots or just 250 pounds of beef.” “Meat is an incredibly wasteful way of producing food. That vegetable protein could be fed directly to people instead.” “It takes up to 16 pounds of soybeans and grains to produce 1 lb. of beef, and 3 to 6 lbs. to produce 1 lb of turkey & egg. By eating grain foods directly, I make the food supply more efficient & that contributes to the environment.” “Every time you eat meat, you are taking food out of the mouths of 9 other people, who could be fed with the plant material that was fed to the animal you are eating.” Consequences of Ecological Pyramids: DDT and the food chain = biomagnification or bioaccumulation Characteristics of such a pollutant: 1. Long-lived 2. Fat-soluable 3. Taken up by producers 9 Schueller NRE 509 Ecosystems, Energy flow,