Name: ERJIE T.

YBAÑEZ
MEM-1

CLASSWORK NO.1
Introduction to Terrestrial Ecosystem Concepts

1. What is an ecosystem? How does it differ from a community?

Ans. An ecosystem can be defined as a group of living organisms and all the abiotic
environmental factors that they interact within a given area. Both the abundance of
populations of each organism and the nature of the environmental factors, affect the
ecosystem and can cause it to change. Humans can impact the ecosystem by altering the
environmental factors or by removing or adding species.

Communities and ecosystems both have living organisms present. An ecosystem includes all
the plants, animals, and other life forms as well as abiotic environmental factors such as soil,
water, and nutrients they interact with while a community does not include any abiotic factors
or their impact on living organisms. Ecosystems are affected by changes to abiotic factors and
interactions among living organisms while communities are only affected by changes to biotic
factors, such as predation and competition. In short, an ecosystem is composed of a number of
communities present in a local, region or global scale.

2. What kinds of environmental questions can ecosystem ecologists address that

are not easily addressed by community ecologists?

Ans. These are some of the questions addressed by ecosystem ecologists:

1. Why does the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere decrease in summer
and increase in winter?

2. What happens to nitrogen fertilizer that farmers add to their fields but do not harvest
with the crop?

3. Why has the introduction of exotic grasses to pastures caused adjacent forests to burn?

The answers of these questions require an adept understanding of the interactions between
organisms and their physical environments—both the responses and effects of organisms to
the environment. It also requires focus on integrated ecological systems rather than individual
organisms or physical components.

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3. What is the difference between a pool and a flux?

Ans. A pool is a quantity of material or energy in an ecosystem while flux is the flow of
materials or energy through an ecosystem.

4. Which of the following are pools and which are fluxes: plants, plant respiration,
rainfall, soil carbon, and consumption of plants by animals?

Ans. Examples of pool are: plants and soil carbon while some examples of flux are plant
respiration, rainfall, and consumption of plants by animals.

5. What are the state factors that control the structure and rates of processes in
ecosystems?

Ans. The state factors that control the structure and rates of processes in ecosystems may
include climate, parent material (e.g. rocks that give rise to soils), topography, potential biota
(e.g. organisms present in the region that could potentially occupy a site), human activities,
and time.

6. What are the strengths and limitations of the state factor approach to
answering this question?

Ans. The climate is the state factor that most strongly determines the ecosystem processes
and structures over broad geographic scales. Parent Material on the other hand strongly
influences the types of soils that develop and explains much of the regional variation in
ecosystem processes within each biome while topographic as a state factor influences both
microclimate and soil development at a local scale. Moreover, the potential biota governs the
types and diversity of organisms that occupy a certain site. One good scenario to understand
this state factor is the comparison between an island and mainland ecosystem. The former
ecosystem is obviously less diverse than the latter though both are climatically similar because
there is only less or often new species could reach the island and are more likely to go locally
extinct that of the mainland. Time also affects the development or processes of ecosystem. It
can be viewed that the development of soil and the evolution of organisms over a certain
period are influenced by time. Lastly, the sixth major state factor according to Jenny (1980), is
the pervasive human activity which have increasingly impacted all the processes that govern

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ecosystem properties. These anthropogenic activities have cumulative impacts that extend
well beyond an individual ecosystem and affect state factors such as climate by changing its
atmospheric composition and potential biota that could both introduce and destroy
biologically important species. A logical way to study the role of each state factor is to
compare sites that are as similar as possible with respect to all but one factor. Sites that differ
primarily with respect to climate or parent material allow us to study the impact of these state
factors on ecosystem structures. Finally, a comparison of ecosystems that differ primarily in
potential biota could illustrate the importance of evolutionary history in shaping ecosystem
processes.

7. What is the difference between state factors and interactive controls?

Ans. Ecosystem processes are controlled by a set of relatively independent state factors
(climate, parent material, topography, potential biota, time and human activities) and by a
group of interactive controls (including resource supply, microenvironment, disturbance
regime, and functional types of organisms) that directly control ecosystem processes. The
interactive controls both respond to and affect ecosystem processes while state factors are
considered independent of ecosystem.

8. Why would you treat a state factor and an interactive control differently in
developing plan for region?

Ans. Based on the concept of ecosystem, state factors set the bounds for ecosystem
characteristics while interactive controls both control and are controlled by ecosystem
characteristics. For this reason, state factors and interactive controls have to be treated
differently in management plans because both need distinct mitigating approaches once
change or alteration occur from these variables. State factors are independent from ecosystem
and besides changes caused by human actions with very large magnitude will remain it
constant during the implementation of a management plan. Given the strong directional
changes in most interactive controls, ecosystems in such region must be managed to sustain
their important properties. For example, ecosystems that are managed for food and fiber must
be managed to maintain their production potential while ecosystems that have been degraded
by human activities should be managed to restore their original properties and ecosystem
services. Moreover, in ecosystems that have been less influenced by anthropogenic
interventions, the management challenge is to protect ecosystem functions and conserve
biological diversity by both reducing rates of land conversion and planning for conservation in
the face of continued human development, climate change, and other global variations.

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Managing and sustaining ecosystem in a rapidly changing world requires new management
approaches that consider ecosystems as interacting components of social and biophysical
landscapes and a broader ecological perspective than management focusing on a single
species or product. State factors and interactive controls exert such strong control over
ecosystem processes that changes in these controlling factors inevitably alter ecosystems and
reduce the extent to which their current properties can be sustained. Management practices
can, however, strongly influence the degree of sustainability. If the goal of the management is
to enhance sustainability of managed and unmanaged ecosystems, then state factors and
interactive controls must be conserved as much as possible and negative feedbacks which
contribute to maintaining these controls must be strengthened within and among ecosystems.
Directional changes in many of these ecosystem controls heighten the challenge of sustainably
managing natural resources and threaten the sustainability of natural ecosystems everywhere.
The ecosystem approach to management applies ecological understanding to resource
management to promote long-term sustainability of ecosystems and its delivery of essential
ecosystem goods and services to society.

9. Aside from the biomes, bio-geographers and ecologists have also classified
the Earth’s surface or the continental land masses into biogeographic realms.
What are these realms? Its geographical distribution and the unique organisms
characterizing each subdivision.

Ans. A biogeographic realm or ecozone is the broadest biogeographic division of earth’s land
surface based on distributional patterns of terrestrial organisms. They are subdivided into eco-
regions which are classified based on their biomes or habitat types. The term biogeographic
realm refers to an area of land that contains relatively similar living organisms. In most cases,
the organisms living with these biogeographic realms have been isolated from the rest of
organisms around the world and have therefore, experienced distinct evolutionary processes.
The eight known biogeographic realms are: Antarctic, Oceania, Indo-Malaya, Australasia,
Neotropic, Afrotopic, Nearctic, and Palearctic. The patterns of distribution of living organism in
the world’s biogeographic realms were shaped by the process of plate tectonics, which has
redistributed the world’s land masses over geological history.

The Antarctic biogeographic realm covers a total area of 0.12 million square miles, making it
the smallest of all the realms. This region is located in Southern Ocean and is comprised of the
area surrounding the South Pole, including: Antarctica, the islands above the Antarctic tectonic
plate, the ice in the waters, and the ocean itself. All of these different components make up
20% of the Southern Hemisphere. Because of its freezing temperatures, just less than 1% of
the Antarctic is actually exposed to land. This realm is home to plant species such as: lichens,

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mosses, Antarctic hair grass, and microfungis. Additionally, some animal species may be found
in this realm depending on the time of year. These animal species include: penguins, whales,
squids, albatross, seals, and Antarctic petrels.

The Oceania biogeographic realm covers a total area of 0.39 million square miles, making it
the second smallest of all the realms. This region is located in the Pacific Ocean, in a region
referred to as Asia-Pacific. It is comprised of number of islands, including the US State of
Hawaii, a part of Japan, the Juan Fernandez Islands, the Cocos Islands, and the Campbell
Islands. Although it covers a larger area than the Antarctic realm, Oceania has actually the
smallest land area of all the biogeographic realms on earth. It has a permanent human
population of over 40 million individuals. Geographically, Oceania is known for its large
amounts of coral reef, the most famous of which is the Great Barrier Reef. Because of the
isolated nature of the islands within this real, each location has very unique plant and animal
life.

The Indo-Malayan biogeographic realm stretches across the southern reaches of East Asia, the
greater part of South Asia, and the area known as Southeast Asia. It covers a total area of 2.9
million square miles, which includes the Indian Subcontinent, parts of Southern China,
Indonesia, and the Philippines. This realm is primarily covered in tropical and subtropical
forests that have been further divided into three bioregions: Indochina, Indian Subcontinent,
and Munda Shelf and the Philippines. The Indo-Malayan biogeographic realms is home to a
number of endemic species, both plant and animal. Some examples of endemic species found
here include: fairy bluebirds, gibbons, treeshrews, kitti’s long-nosed bat, and the Philippine
creepers. Other large mammals that can be found in the realm are the leopard, tiger,
orangutan, Indian rhinoceros, Asian elephant, and water buffalo.

The Australasian biogeographic realm covers a total area of 2.9 million square miles, making it
the same size as the Indo-Malayan realm. It includes New Guinea, New Zealand, Tasmania,
Australia, and the Eastern Region of the Indonesian Archipelago. Australia is considered the
most environmentally diverse country within this realm as it is made up of desert, rainforest,
grasslands, and mountains. The Australasian realm sits between the Antarctic realm and the
Indo-Malayan realm; it is separated from the Asia realm by the Wallace Line. Because of this
position, some of the plant and animal species of this realm can also be found in the Indo-
Malayan and Antarctic realms as well. Researchers believe this is because all three realms once
made up the Gondwana supercontinent. In fact, New Guinea, Tasmania, and Australia
continued to be connected long after the dissolution of Gondwana and today, are only
separated by relatively shallow waters.

The Neotropical biogeographic realm covers an entire area of 7.3 million square miles and is
made up of the tropical regions of the Americas. It includes all of South America, Central

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America, the Caribbean, the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, the Southern Region of the US
State of Florida, and small part of the southern tip of the US State of Texas. The plant and
animal species of this realm are distinct from those found in North America, which is why the
two regions are characterized separately. This difference in species occurred because of two
realms were physically separated until between 2 and 3 million years ago. Interestingly, the
Neotropical biogeographic realm has more tropical rainforest coverage than any other realm.
It is further divided into eight ecological regions.

The Afrotropical realm covers a total area of 8.5 million square miles and is made up of
Southwestern Pakistan, Southern Iran, the Southern Regions of the Arabian Peninsula, the
area south of the Sahara Desert in Africa, the island of Madagascar, and the islands in the
western part of the Indian Ocean. The majority of this realm has a tropical climate, although it
is diverse in ecological habitats including deserts, highlands, savannahs, and forests (coastal,
montane, and lowland). It is home to over 200 endemic fish species, 12 endemic plant families,
7 endemic bird families, and 3 endemic mammal families. Additionally, the Afrotropical realm
is home to two gorilla species and two chimpanzee species, which belong to the Hominidae
genus along with humans.

The Nearctic biogeographic realm covers a total area of 8.8 million square miles, making it the
second largest of all the realms. It encompasses the US (including most of Texas and northern
Florida), Canada, Greenland, and the highland regions of Mexico. This realm is further divided
into four ecological regions including eastern, western, southwestern (which includes the
northern part of Mexico), and the Canadian Shield. Each of these regions has distinct
environmental habitats that support a diverse range of plant and animal species. Animal
families that originated and continue to thrive in this realm include: canines (dogs, wolves,
coyotes), equine (horses and donkeys), and antelopes. Some of the animal families that
originated here are now extinct, although their relatives inhabit the Neotropical realm.

Lastly, the Palearctic biogeographic realm covers a total area of 20.9 million square miles
making it the largest of all the realms. It is made up of the north of the Sahara Desert in Africa,
the area north of the Himalayan Mountains in Asia, the northern region of Arabian Peninsula,
and the entire area of Europe. It is further divided into seven ecoregions which contain boreal
forests, Mediterranean climates, coastal deserts, river basins, and mountainous terrain. This
realm is home to several endemic animal families, including red pandas, mouse-like hamsters,
and accentor birds.

REFERENCES:

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Olson D.M., Dinerstein, E., Wikramanayake, E.D., burgess, N.D., Powell, G.V.N., Underwood,
E.C., D’Amico, J.A., Itoua, I., Strand, H.E., Morrison, J.C., Loucks, C.J., Allnutt, T.F., Ricketts,
T.H., Kura, Y., Lamoreux, J.F., Wettengel, W.W., Hedao, P., Kassem, K.R. (2001). Terrestrial
ecoregions of the world: a new map of life on Earth. Bioscience 51(11):933-938.

Pariona,Ameber. “What are the Eight Biogeographic Realms?” WorldAtlas, May 18, 2018,
worldatlas.com/articles/what-are-the-eight-biogeographic-realms.html.

Schultz, J. Die Okozonen der Erde, 1st ed., Ulmer, Stuttgart, Germany, 1988, 488 pp.; 2 nd ed.,
1995, 535 pp.; 3rd ed.,2002. Transl.:The Ecozones of the World: The Ecological Divisions of the
Geosphere. Berlin: Springer-Verlag,1995; 2nd ed.,2005.

Udvardy,M.D.F. (1975). A classification of the biogeographical provinces of the world. IUCN

Occasional Paper no.18 Morges, Switzerland: IUCN.