- The document summarizes key topics in ecosystem ecology covered in a lecture course, including community structure, ecosystem productivity, nutrient cycles, and succession. It discusses food webs and energy flow, primary production, and factors influencing primary production levels in different ecosystems. Examples of keystone species and trophic cascades are provided to illustrate how organisms can influence community structure and primary production.
- The document summarizes key topics in ecosystem ecology covered in a lecture course, including community structure, ecosystem productivity, nutrient cycles, and succession. It discusses food webs and energy flow, primary production, and factors influencing primary production levels in different ecosystems. Examples of keystone species and trophic cascades are provided to illustrate how organisms can influence community structure and primary production.
- The document summarizes key topics in ecosystem ecology covered in a lecture course, including community structure, ecosystem productivity, nutrient cycles, and succession. It discusses food webs and energy flow, primary production, and factors influencing primary production levels in different ecosystems. Examples of keystone species and trophic cascades are provided to illustrate how organisms can influence community structure and primary production.
- Major lecture topics: Ecosystem Ecology o Community Structure (17) o Ecosystem productivity (18) o Nutrient Cycles (19) o Succession (20) - 2 more quizzes: Friday Nov. 16 and Friday Dec. 7 - Final is on Tuesday, Dec. 11 at 8 am Chapter 17: Community Structure - First topic: Food Webs energy flowing from one organism to another as they eat each other - Energy: Basics o What is energy? Energy: ability to do work Muscle contraction Nerve impulses Active transport – cell function o What are the forms of energy? Heat Chemical Nuclear Mechanical Electrical Solar o What are the laws of thermodynamics? Energy is transformed (never created nor destroyed) o Energy conversion in organisms? o How do organisms “fix” energy? Autotrophs self feeding (take energy from another source and make it into their own food) Photosynthetic o CO2 + H2O (sunlight) Food (sugar) + O2 ( + H2O) o Source of Carbon? Carbon in the air: CO2 o Source of Energy? Sun Chemosynthetic (less common) For each: o Source of Carbon? Inorganic molecules (CO2 or methane) o Source of Energy? Inorganic molecules (Hydrogen or H2S or methane) CO2 + O2 + H2S CH2O + S + H2O Heterotrophs any organism that eats another organism to gain energy Source of Energy and Carbon? o Organic molecules Equation? o Food (sugar) + O2 (Heat and ATP lost) CO2 + Water Trophic diversity across kingdoms?
Heterotrophic Photosynthetic Chemosynthetic
Bacteria X (many) X (many) X (many) Protists X (many) X (some) NO Plants X (few) X (most) NO Fungi X (all) NO NO Animals X (all) NO NO
Alan Weisman (The World without Us)
- Food Webs o Food web early research Charles Elton… Antarctic Food Webs o 1950s: analytical (functional) approach (cause and effect relationships) How does food web structure influence population dynamics? Are complex communities more stable?... o Keystone species Robert Paine (1950-60s) Keystone species: ones that exert “substantial influence” His focus: how they influence community structure His hypothesis: Keystone predators increase species diversity How? Can you guess? o High number of predators = low potential for competitive exclusion of prey… Predator pick off prey so the prey never meet their full population sizes less competition so more species kept in habitat Paine’s study: intertidal zone o Compared two sites: Site One: Washington Coast Piaster (star fish or sea stars): top predators Thais (mollusk): mid-level predator Food web base: 9 other species Site Two: Gulf of CA Six mid-level predators Top predator: Heliaster (starfish) Total of 45 species below Conclusion: more predators = more diversity o Experimentation What if top predator removed? Washington site: removed Piaster What happened? ... o Removing a starfish acting as a top predator in intertidal food webs reduced the number of species both in Mukkaw Bay, Washington, and New Zealand Was it due to competitive exclusion? What was being competed for? o Space Can consumers exert control on food webs? J. Lubchenko (snails being able to be a keystone species) o Snails (Littorina) and algae o Observations o In the lab o Snails: Preferred Enteromorpha Small, tender Disliked Chondrus Tough o In the field Pools with few snails = Enteromorpha increase Pools with many snails = Chondrus increase o Why? Hypothesis: snails regulate algae populations Enteromorpha better competitor than Chondrus o Test of hypothesis… 3 pools: Control Snails added Snails removed Additional study: Lubchenko o Effect of snail on algae diversity o Observation: intertidal pools See Fig 17.9 Lots of snails, lots diversity, eating entomorphia and other algae…less species diversity Related environmental issue o Exotic (=introduced, =Invasive) species Often predators Can reshape food webs o Can you think of any examples? Trout Zebra mussels Fire Ants Snakehead fish in Maryland Nile Perch (effects Lake Victoria Basin / lose of biodiversity) Piscivorous (fish eating) Next topic: Primary Production Chapter 18 - Primary production o Fixation of energy by autotrophs o Gross Primary Production Total energy fixed by all autotrophs o Net Primary Production Amount of energy left after autotrophs meet their needs Energy for next trophic level Net Primary Production = Gross Primary Production – cellular respiration by primary producers… o How to measure Primary production? Your Ideas? Uptake of Carbon by producers Amount of biomass in producers Amount of oxygen released from producers o Trophic levels Energy pyrmid: Bottom: Primary producer Primary consumer Secondary consumer Top consumer o What affects primary production? Terrestrial (Light and water) Which ecosystems have the highest Primary Production? o Warm, wet (tropical rainforest) o Why? Amount of leaf area Duration of growing season o Another way to assess Primary Production Correlation between primary production and AET Annual actual evapotranspirtation AET depends on: moisture and temperature o Variation in terrestrial Primary Production Soil fertility also matters “Law of the Minimum” o Growth is controlled by the scarcest nutrient Which nutrients? o Nitrogen and Phosphorus Think of agriculture Exp approach: add fertilizers… o Increased pp in wet and dry meadows o Aquatic Primary Production Precipitation and temperature not as important Limiting factor: nutrients In freshwater? o Phosphorus In marine? o Nitrogen Environmental consequence: eutrophication o Marine habitats Ryther and Dunstan NY Harbor – 1970s Sampling: Nitrogen and overall PP decreased sharply to continental shelf Experiment? Added nitrogen and phosphorus to plankton samples along this gradient Nitrogen was the limiting nutrient o PP in oceans Decreases from coast out to open ocean o What affects primary production? Consumer effects on Primary Production Organisms can affect Primary Production, too Called the “trophic cascades” hypothesis Experiment Carpenter and Kitchell 1980-90s Lakes Food web as follows: o Bottom of Food web: phytoplankton (algae) zooplankton (daphnia like creatures) Planktivorous fish (minnows) Piscivorous fish (l. bass) o Take one organism out and you effect the primary production of the whole food web 3 kinds of lakes o 1) added minnows and removed bass o 2) added bass and removed minnows o 3) Control Then monitored the primary production o 1) minnow population would take off and therefore the zooplankton would be negatively effects and the phytoplankton would be positively effected o 2) the zooplankton would increase from the lack of predation from the minnow and then the phytoplankton would be negatively effected o Energy Flow and Trophic Levels Quantification: Lindeman, 1940s “Trophic dynamics” Energy transfer from one part of an ecosystem to another Study: Minnesota Lake o X-axis rate of production and y-axis trophic level o How efficient is the Energy flow? Generalization about energy flow: Reduced by ~90% each level Low amount of energy available for 2nd and 3rd level consumers o Generally maximum of 5 trophic levels o POINT: transfer of energy limits # of trophic levels possible o There isn’t enough energy to sustain a large amount of predators o Hubbard Brook, New Hampshire Experimental Forest – USFS Energy flow: Sun’s energy o 15% reflected o 41% converted to heat o 42% evapotranspiration (energy transferred from the roots the tips of the plant) o Left only ~ 2.2 % as gross primary production o Of that 2.2%... 1.2 % = plant respiration ONLY 1% net primary production Consumers: use 96% of that for respiration Not much for 3rd trophic level! o Ecological pyramids Pyramid of energy Pyramid of numbers Number of organisms at each level Shape? Same as pyramid of energy Pyramid of biomass Total mass (weight) of organisms at each level Shape? The same in terrestrial ecosystems and then inverted in aquatic Sometimes inverted? o Open aquatic ecosystems (phytoplankton) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Two more chapters: 19 and 20 19: Nutrient cycling 20: Succession and stability On Wed and Fri of last week: paper presentations ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GET NOTES FROM MONDAY NOVEMBER 26TH 2007
- Nutrient cycling o Decomposition Envirnomental breakdown of organic matter Detritis: dead body decaying (organic matter) o Mineralization Conversion of organic to inorganic material o Decompostion What factors affect it? Moisture Chemical composition Soil nutrients Temperature Organisms Spain Study (19.5) Which site received more rainfall? o More rainfall equals a higher decomposition rate Spain Study (19.6) Conclusion here? o Soft Higher the nitrogen in the leaf higher the decomposition rate and Tough Lower the nitrogen in the leaf the lower the rate of decomposition Temp Decid Forest (19.7) Two sites: north carolina and new hampshire High amounts of lignin = low amounts of nitrogen Low amounts of lignin = high amounts of nitrogen o Lignin: in cell wall of plants with cellulose Temperature or moisture play a role Lignin inhabibits the decomposition process Aquatic Ecosystems (19.11) Different species of tree Higher lignin content the lower the decomposition rate in freshwater Aquatic Ecosystems (19.12) Yellow poplar leaves decompose faster in streams with higher nitrate content Aquatic Ecosystems (19.13) Phosphorus concentrate effecting decomposition rates o Rate of leaf decomposition in creased rapidly as phosphorus concentration increased o Rate then leveled off at higher concentrations of phosphorus o Effect of organisms on cycling What organisms feed on detritus? Fungi Insects (burying beetle, flies) Bacteria Birds (vulture) Earthworms Crayfish Animals o Mites, nematodes, insects (esp. maggots, beetles), earthworms, sowbugs Streams: nutrient spiraling Nutrient cycling not spatially stationary because of water flow… Evidence that invertebrates reduce spiraling length Rapid recycling of nitrogen o Increase Primary Production Loss of inverts = reduced Primary Production?... o Harmful for a stream Terrestrial habitats Burrowing mammals: Nitrogen-rich soil surface o Prairie dogs, gophers, ground hogs o Increased plant diversity Increased grazing by herbivores o Moose, buffalo o Increased cycling of nitrogen… o Trees and Nutrient Loss How does disturbance affect nutrient loss in an ecosystem? Clear cutting forest harms soil and there is a massive nutrient loss Likens and Bormann Hubbard Brook, NH Clear cutting experiment… o Channel water and use it to experiment Deforestation and Nitrate Loss o Around year 1966 there was a massive increase in nitrate concentration in the stream water coming off the mountain (mg/L) in a clear-cut basin o Nitrate level did not change instantaneous Chapter 20 – Succession - Gradual change in community structure over time o Primary: from bare substrate (rock) o Secondary: not from bare substrate (not everything is wiped out) o Pg 485 -496 (Case Studies) - Pg 500 – 507 Ecological stability o Def? The absence of change Ecosystem persistence in the face of disturbance o Results from: Resistance: ‘maintenance’ ability Resilience: ‘rebound’ ability o Problem: very few studies… o Question: Which ecosystems are the most stable? Related to biodiversity of the area? Tilman: 1980s-90s research Stability of MN Grassland Changes in biomass and diversity… Conclusion: with increase in biodiversity o Community/ecosystem was more stable o Populations weren’t necessarily more stable High variability for population levels of any given species Competitive release for some species? Web Article on webCT