Note: blue highlighted bullet points = lecture notes, red bullet points = discussion questions

Chapter 3
Ecosystems: What Are They and How Do They Work?
Core Case Study
● Rain forests cover 7% of the earth’s surface but contain half of the world’s plant and animal
species
● People clear rainforests to grow crops, graze cattle, and build settlements
● Why should we care?
○ 1. Leads to extinction of species
○ 2. Warms the atmosphere and speeds up climate change
■ Eliminating large areas of trees faster than they can grow backs means there are
fewer plants using photosynthesis to remove human-generated emissions of
carbon dioxide, which are caused by burning fossil fuels
○ 3. Changes regional weather patterns
○ DQ: What are the effects of losing forests?

3.1: How does the Earth’s Life-Support System Work?

Earth’s Life-Support System has Four Major Components
● 4 main spherical systems:
○ Atmosphere (air)
■ Spherical mass of air surrounding the earth’s surface that is held by gravity
■ Innermost layer/troposphere = contains air we breathe
● 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1% water vapor/carbon dioxide/methane
● Layer in which earth’s weather occurs and where life can survive
■ Stratosphere = layer above troposphere
● Lower stratosphere/ozone layer = contains enough ozone (O3) gas to
filter out 95% of the sun’s harmful UV radiation AKA sunscreen
○ Hydrosphere (water)
■ Contains all water on or near the earth
■ Found as water vapor, liquid water, and ice
○ Geosphere (rock, soil, sediment)
■ Earth’s rocks, minerals, and soil
■ Core + mantle + crust
■ Crust’s upper portion contains soil chemicals/nutrients and fossil fuels
○ Biosphere (living things)
■ Parts of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere where life is found

Three Factors Sustain the Earth’s Life

● 1. One-way flow of high-quality energy from the sun
○ Greenhouse effect = solar energy + carbon dioxide, water vapor, and other gases in the
troposphere warm the troposphere
■ Otherwise, earth would be too cold
● 2. Cycling of nutrients through parts of the biosphere
 ● 3. Gravity = allows planet to hold onto its atmosphere and enables movement and cycling of
chemicals

3.2: What are the Major Components of an Ecosystem?

Ecosystems Have Several Important Components
● Ecology = science that focuses on how organisms interact with one another and with their
nonliving physical environment of matter and energy
● 5 levels of matter:
○ Biosphere
■ Made up of living (biotic) and nonliving (abiotic) components
○ Ecosystems
■ Community of different species and with their nonliving environment
○ Communities
■ Populations of different species living in a particular place interacting with each
other
○ Populations
■ A group of individuals of the same species living in a particular place
○ Organisms
■ An individual living being
● Feeding/trophic level = organisms classified as producers and consumers
○ Producers = organisms that make nutrients they need from compounds and energy
obtained from their environment
■ Photosynthesis = plants capture solar energy and use it to combine carbon
dioxide and water to form carbohydrates like glucose
● They emit oxygen gas into the atmosphere
■ Examples: green plants like trees and grasses, algae and aquatic plants,
phytoplankton, bacteria (cyanobacteria)
○ Consumers = cannot produce their own food so they get nutrients by feeding on other
producers, consumers, or their waste
■ Primary consumers/herbivores = animals that eat mostly green plants or algae
● Examples: caterpillars, giraffes, zooplankton
■ Secondary consumers/carnivores = animals that feed on flesh of other animals
■ Tertiary consumers = feed on flesh of herbivores and other carnivores
■ Decomposers = get nutrients by breaking down wastes or remains of other plants
and animal
● Examples: bacteria, fungi, detritivores
● DQ: What would it be like if there were no decomposers on earth?
○ A: Just a bunch of dead bodies everywhere that otherwise would
have been broken down by decomposers.
■ Detritus feeders/detritivores = feed on wastes or dead bodies of other organisms
● Examples: earthworms, hyenas, vultures
● Aerobic respiration = using oxygen to convert glucose and other organic compounds back into
carbon dioxide and water
● Anaerobic respiration/fermentation = breaking down glucose without oxygen
 ○ Instead of carbon dioxide and water, the products are methane gas, ethyl alcohol, acetic
acid, and hydrogen sulfide

Soil is the Foundation of Life on Land

● Soil = complex mixture of rock pieces and particles, mineral nutrients, decaying organic matter,
water, air, and living organisms
○ Purifies water
○ Supplies nutrients
● Mature soils contain horizontal layers AKA horizons
○ O horizon (top) = leaf litter
○ A = topsoil
○ B = subsoil
○ C = weathered parent material
● Fertile soil has thick topsoil layer with humus (mixture of partially decomposed plant and animal
remains) mixed with mineral particles from weathered plant material

3.3: What Happens to Energy in an Ecosystem?

Energy Flow through Ecosystems in Food Chain and Food Webs
● Food chain = sequence of organisms with each serving as a source of nutrients or energy for the
next level of organisms
● Use and transfer of energy involves a loss of high-quality energy to the environment as low-
quality energy in the form of heat
● In natural ecosystems,
○ Most consumers feed on more than one type of organism
○ Most organisms are eaten or decomposed by more than one type of consumer
● Food web = organisms in most ecosystems form a complex network of interconnected food
chains

Some Ecosystems Produce Plant Matter Faster than Others Do

● Gross primary productivity (GPP) = rate at which an ecosystems’ producers (plants,
phytoplankton) convert solar energy into chemical energy, which they store as compounds in
their bodies
○ Producers must use some of their stored chemical energy for their own aerobic
respiration
● Net primary productivity (NPP) = (rate at which producers use photosynthesis to produce and
store chemical energy) - (rate at which they use stored chemical energy through aerobic
respiration)
○ Measures how fast producers can make chemical energy available to consumers
● Terrestrial vs. aquatic
○ Ocean has low NPP but produces most of earth’s biomass
■ This is because oceans cover 71% of earth’s surface and contain many
phytoplankton/other producers
○ Tropical rain forests have high NPP
■ Have many producer trees/plants to support many consumers
 ○ Q: Why do estuaries have high NPP?
■ Estuaries = tidal mouth of a large river, where tide meets the stream
■ Like tropical forests, it has many producers
● Ecosystem productivity = energy per unit area in unit time
● Planet’s NPP limits the number of consumers that can survive on earth

3.4 WHat Happens to Matter in an Ecosystem?

Nutrients Cycle within and among Ecosystems
● Nutrient cycles/biogeochemical cycles = cycle through which elements and compounds of
nutrients move through air, water, soil, rock, and living organisms
○ Driven by solar energy and gravity
○ Examples: hydrologic (water), carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycles

The Water Cycle

● Hydrologic/water cycle = collects, purifies, distributes earth’s fixed supply of water
● Powered by solar energy
○ Incoming solar energy = evaporation = conversion of liquid water to vapor
■ Most water vapor rises into the atmosphere and condenses into clouds → gravity
draws water back to earth’s surface as precipitation
● Most precipitation becomes surface runoff → flows back into water
sources
● Other precipitation seeps into upper layers of soils AKA groundwater
○ Collects in aquifers = underground layers of sand and water-
bearing rock
● Other precipitation is converted to ice that is stored in glaciers
● Only 0.024% of earth’s water is available to humans as liquid freshwater in accessible
groundwater deposits and in lakes, rivers, and streams
○ Rest of water is too salty, too deep underground, or stored as ice
● How do human activities alter the water cycle?
○ Withdrawing freshwater at rates faster than they can be replaced → depletes aquifers and
rivers
○ Clearing vegetation from land and cover it with buildings, concrete, asphalt → increases
water run off and reduces infiltration
○ Draining and filling wetlands → prevent wetlands from acting as flood control (absorbing
and holding overflows of water)
○ Water pollutions
○ Overpumping groundwater
○ Increased surface runoff

The Carbon Cycle

● Carbon is the basic building block of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, DNA, and other organic
compounds required for life
● Key component: carbon dioxide (CO2) gas
○ Affects temperature of earth’s atmosphere and determines climate
 ● Photosynthesis by producers that remove CO2 + aerobic respiration by producers, consumers,
and decomposers that add CO2
● CO2 can:
○ Remain in the atmosphere
○ Dissolve in ocean waters
■ Decomposers release carbon that is stored as insoluble carbonate minerals and
rocks in bottom sediment
○ Converted into fossil fuels
■ Humans have used these and added CO2 faster than the carbon cycle can recycle
it → global warming
■ Even though oceans can try and remove some CO2, it will increase ocean acidity
● How do human activities alter the carbon cycle?
○ Burning fossil fuels → increases CO2
○ Clearing carbon-absorbing vegetation from forests, namely tropical ones → reduces NPP

The Nitrogen Cycle

● Nitrogen gas (N2) makes up 78% of atmosphere and is crucial for proteins, vitamins, and DNA
● N2 in the atmosphere cannot be absorbed and used directly as nutrients
○ Can only become a plant nutrient as a component of ammonia (NH3), ammonium ions
(NH4+), and nitrate ions (NO3-)
■ These are made via lightning and specialized bacteria in topsoil
● Bacteria convert NH3 to NH4+ and NO3- → plants take it up into their roots → animals eat
plants → bacteria in waterlogged soil and bottom sediments convert nitrogen compounds back
into N2
● How do human activities alter the nitrogen cycle?
○ Burning gasoline and other fuels
■ This converts N2 and O2 to nitric oxide (NO) → NO becomes nitrogen dioxide
gas (NO2) and nitric acid vapor (HNO3) → these compounds return as acid
deposition AKA acid rain
■ Acid deposition damages stone buildings and statues, and kills forests
○ Making fertilizers
■ Fertilizers require removing N2 from atmosphere to make ammonia (NH3) and
ammonium ions (NH4+)
■ When fertilizer is applied to soil, anaerobic bacteria found in nitrogen-containing
fertilized/organic animal manure add nitrous oxide (N2O)
○ Adding excess nitrates (NO3-)
■ Contaminates bodies of water through agricultural runoff of fertilizers, animal
manure, and sewage discharge
■ Can cause excessive algae growths that disrupt aquatic systems

The Phosphorus Cycle

● Phosphorus is responsible for producing DNA, cell membranes, bones, teeth
● Phosphorus does not cycle through the atmosphere because few of its compounds exist as a gas
● Phosphorus cycles slower than water, carbon, and nitrogen
 ● When water runs over exposed rocks, it erodes inorganic compounds that contain phosphate ions
→ water carries ions to soil → plants absorb phosphate ions → animals consume plants
● Phosphates can be deposited as marine sediments and remain trapped
○ Geological processes expose rocks and cause phosphorus to re-enter
● How do human activities alter the phosphorus cycle?
○ Making fertilizer
■ Phosphate enables plant growth, but few soils contain phosphate → people add
phosphate to soil
■ Lack of phosphorus limits growth of producer populations in freshwater streams
and lakes
○ Clearing tropical forests
■ Exposes topsoil to increased erosions → reduces phosphate levels in tropical
soils
■ Stimulates growth of producers like algae, which disrupts chemical cycling (see
above)
■ DQ: What are effects on ecosystems from losing forests?

3.5 How Do Scientists Study Ecosystems?

Studying Ecosystems Directly
● Field and laboratory research
○ Field research = going into natural settings to study ecosystems
■ Traditional method
■ Collecting raw data from nature
○ Involves collecting water/soil samples, identifying/studying species, observing feeding
behaviors, using GPS to track animals
○ Uses technology like remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS)
■ Helps study large spatial areas

Laboratory Research and Models

● Laboratory research = scientists create simplified systems they can control
○ Makes it easier to carry out controlled experiments
○ Usually faster and less costly than field research
○ But how legitimate are their observations and measurements compared to what happens
in nature, which is a lot more complex and changing?
● Mathematical models
○ Comes in handy when field or laboratory research falls short

Science Focus 3.1: Many of the World’s Most Important Organisms Are Invisible to Us
● Microbes/microorganisms (bacteria, protozoa, fungi, floating phytoplankton) play key roles in
earth’s life-support system
○ Intestinal tract bacteria = break down food we eat
○ Microbes = break down plant and animal wastes in water → purifies water, control
diseases that harm plants
 ○ Soil bacteria and fungi = decompose organic wastes into nutrients that plants and humans
can use
○ Phytoplankton = provide oxygen, remove CO2 → regulates the temperature

Science Focus 3.2: Water’s Unique Properties

● Properties of water:
○ Water exists as a liquid over a wide temperature range because of forces of attraction
between its molecules
■ If that range were more narrow, the ocean would be frozen solid or boiled away
○ Liquid water changes temperatures slowly because it can store a large amount of heat
without a large change in its own temperature
■ Helps protect living organisms from temperature changes, moderates earth’s
climate, and makes water useful as a coolant for car engines and power plants
○ It takes a large amount of energy to evaporate water because of the attractive forces
between its molecules
■ Helps distribute heat throughout the world
■ Determines regional and local climates
○ Liquid water can dissolve more compounds than other liquids
■ Can carry nutrients into tissues, flush waste products, and serve as an overall
cleanser
■ Water-soluble wastes can easily pollute water :(
○ Water filters UV rays
■ Allows aquatic organisms to exist in upper layers
○ Water expands when it freezes
■ Otherwise, lakes and streams would freeze solid from the bottom up and lose
most of their aquatic life

Science Focus 3.3: Planetary Boundaries

● Holocene = period of relatively stable climate and other environmental conditions that humans
currently live in
○ Allowed humans to grow, develop agriculture, and take over the earth
● Anthropocene = era of man, happened during Industrial Revolution, point at which our ecological
footprint expanded significantly and is now stressing earth’s life-support system
● We have exceeded 4 planetary boundaries:
○ 1. Disruption of nitrogen and phosphorus cycles
■ Cause: increased use of fertilizers to produce food
○ 2. Biodiversity loss
■ Cause: replacement of biologically diverse forests and grasslands with
monocultures
○ 3. Land system change
■ Cause: agriculture and urban development
○ 4. Climate change
■ Cause: carbon dioxide emissions and burning of fossil fuels that disrupt carbon
cycle
● We have to avoid exceeding the remaining 5 planetary boundaries:
○ 1. Freshwater use
○ 2. Ocean acidification
○ 3. Ozone depletion
○ 4. Fine-particle air pollution
○ 5. Pollution from chemicals such as toxic heavy metals that disrupt the human endocrine
system