Ch 19.

Organisms and their Environment

Energy Flow
All forms of Biological Systems depend on the Sun as the principle source of energy.
Energy Transfer into the Environment
1. Light energy from the Sun is converted through photosynthesis and stored in plants.
2. Animals prey on the plants, using the energy stored in the plants to be converted to
chemical energy and used for life processes such as respiration, reproduction, excretion,
etc.
3. This relationship indirectly means that all Animals depend on the Sun for their survival.
4. Eventually, all living organisms die, and the energy stored in them returns to the
environment through decomposition.

Food Chains and Food Webs

Above is a diagram demonstrating the energy flow from one organism to the next, beginning
with a Producer is defined as a Food Chain.

1
A network of interconnected food chains is known as a Food Web.

In both a food chain and a food web, the energy comes from the Sun, and energy transferred
decreases as trophic levels increase.

• An organism that makes its own organic nutrients usually using energy from
photosynthesis is defined as a Producer
• An organism that obtains its energy by eating producers or other organisms is called as a
Consumer
• Herbivore is an organism that gets its energy by feeding on plants
• Carnivore is an organism that gets its energy by feeding on other animals
• Decomposer is an organism that gets its energy from dead or waste organic material.

2
Classification of Consumers
Depending on where the animal is positioned in the food chain, we can classify consumers into
Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, and Quaternary Consumers.

Trophic Level
A trophic level is the position of an organism in:
• A Food Chain
• A Food Web
• A Pyramid of Biomass
• A Pyramid of Numbers

3
Note: All Food Chains normally end at the fifth trophic level as the energy transferred through
each trophic level decreases to the point where it becomes unsustainable for the organism to
utilize for its life processes and ultimately for its survival.

Energy Efficiency
It is extremely important to consider the efficiency of energy while eating food; The nearer we
are to the trophic level; the greater amount of energy is obtained by our bodies.

This is why, vegetarianism is crucial for the human civilization and for the preservation of the
planet in the long term, as being vegetarian is theoretically more energy efficient.
Use of sunlight by the plant and energy transfer from plants to animals:

4
Over Harvesting
In a Food Chain, if a particular organism's rate of consumption of the species below its trophic
level exceeds the species birth rate, it can cause an imbalance in the entire Food Chain. This can
threaten the eventual collapse of the Food Chain, which in turn will affect its Food Web,
Ecosystem, and so on.
An Example:
Grass → Cow → Human
If cows overgraze the grass, the grass will eventually run out in its particular ecosystem. This
might initially increase the cow population temporarily, which might increase human
consumption, until there are no cows left, in which case humans cannot eat cow-based meat
products anymore. This leads to the collapse of the Food Chain where there is not sizeable
biomass of grass or cows present.
Introduction of Foreign Species into a Habitat
When a species that is not native to a natural Habitat is introduced, it can create irreversible
changes in Food Chains and Webs.
For instance, Fire Ants onboard ships of European missionaries got introduced to North
America, where they did not have a natural predator, and hence reproduced exponentially,
creating competition for food against other primary consumers, and negatively altering the native
Food Systems.

5
Pyramids of Numbers and Biomass
Pyramid of Numbers is where each trophic level represents the number of organisms feeding at
it.
Pyramid of Biomass represents the dry mass of organisms at each trophic level.

Advantages of Using Pyramid of Biomass over Pyramid of Numbers

If you observe carefully in the comparison between the two models, the pyramid of biomass
almost always has the correct representative structure of an actual pyramid.
This helps visualize the information on a Food Chain more accurately, and helps to generate
better analysis reports on the energy efficiencies of the Food Chain.

6
Nutrient Cycles
The three main nutrient cycles: The Carbon Cycle, The Water Cycle, and The Nitrogen Cycle.
1) The Carbon Cycle

1. Photosynthesis: Carbon dioxide taken in by plants gets converted to complex molecules

such as Carbohydrates, Fats, and Protein.
2. Respiration: During the night, Plants respire to break down the carbon stored in complex
molecules and release it into the atmosphere.
3. Feeding: Primary consumers feed on plants, and by doing so also consume the carbon in
the form of complex molecules from the plants. These complex molecules later get
broken down during respiration and is partly returned to the atmosphere. The rest being
used for the organism's growth, becomes a part of the organism.
4. Decomposition: The carbon eventually makes its way to the top consumer in Food Webs
until the organism dies. When decomposers such as microorganisms feed on all dead
organisms from across the Food Web, the Carbon becomes a part of their body.
5. Fossilization: All dead organisms eventually get fossilized over the period of millions of
years. The carbon gets stored in the fossilized organism.
6. Combustion: The carbon in the fossils eventually gets converted to Oil, Coal, and
Natural Gas. It is then used as a fuel where it undergoes combustion, and gets released
back into the atmosphere.

7
Effects of combustion of Fossil Fuels
The Combustion of Fossil Fuels has led to the increase in Carbon in the atmosphere year on year.
This has several effects on the planet:
1. Carbon dioxide (and other greenhouse gasses) causes the enhanced greenhouse effect.
2. Global Warming, and Climate Change.
3. Increased Photosynthesis in some parts of the world due to an excess of CO2 and warmer
climates
Effects of Deforestation on the Carbon Cycle
Global decrease in the number of trees translates to lesser trees to photosynthesize, and thus
lesser rate at which CO2 in the atmosphere gets absorbed. Often large portions of land is burnt in
order to quickly clear off land. The CO2 emitted through these fires also contributes heavily to
the CO2 in the atmosphere.

2) The Water Cycle

The water cycle can be discussed through four main processes:

1. Evaporation: The process by which the sun's heat over waterbodies causes water vapor
to form.
2. Transpiration: The process by which plants release water vapor to the air through a
transpiration stream (See chapter on Transport in Plants).

8
 3. Condensation: The process by which water vapor cools down to form clouds at higher
colder altitudes.
4. Precipitation: The process by which water gets returned to the Earth through the
formation of water droplets. These ultimately end up in waterbodies through surface run-
off, and help sustain the water cycle.

3) The Nitrogen Cycle

Nitrogen is an inert (unreactive) gas. It exists in diatomic state (N ≡ N)

To transform it into a reactive form, Nitrogen has to undergo one of the following processes:
Lightening
Lightening changes the nitrogen into nitrogen oxides by reacting it with oxygen in the air.
Artificial Fertilizer
When the nitrogen oxides dissolve in rain and precipitate, they form nitrates.
Artificial fertilizers can be made with the reaction of nitrogen and hydrogen to form ammonia in
the Haber process. Ammonia can be turned into ammonium compounds and used as a fertilizer.

9
Nitrogen Fixing
Nitrogen fixing bacteria are present in the root nodules of leguminous plants such as peas. They
combine other substances along with nitrogen to produce ammonium compounds.

Once nitrogen is transformed into a more reactive form,

• Plants make proteins.
• Animals feed on plants to obtain the proteins made by plants.
• Animals excrete and pass faeces that are rich in ammonium compounds.
When the plants and animals die,
• Decomposers work on the dead matter and release the nitrogen in the form of ammonium
compounds into the soil.
• Next, nitrifying bacteria convert the ammonium to nitrates
• The nitrates are again used by the plants and the cycle continues.
Lastly, another group of bacteria called as the denitrifying bacteria covert the nitrates and
ammonium compounds to nitrogen gas.
This again completes the nitrogen cycle.
Bacteria group Role in the Nitrogen Cycle
Nitrogen Fixing Bacteria - Present in the root nodules of leguminous
plants
- Combine nitrogen in air spaces of the soil with
other substances to produce ammonium ions.
Nitrifying Bacteria - Convert ammonium ions into nitrate ions and
release them into the soil.
Denitrifying Bacteria - Convert the nitrates and ammonium
compounds to nitrogen gas at the end of the
nitrogen cycle

10
Population Size
A Population is a group of individual organisms existing at the same time and place.
A Community is defined as all of the populations of different species in an ecosystem
An Ecosystem is a unit containing the community of organisms and their environment,
interacting together

Biological Factors Affecting rate of Population Growth

1. Food Supply: The lesser the food production rate, the lesser the rate of population
growth.
2. Predation: The number of organisms of a species being eaten by predators decreases the
number of organisms of the same species, and eliminates their chances of reproducing.

3. Disease: Spread of incurable diseases from organism to organism can cause a huge dent
to the population growth rate.

11
The Human Population
A 7.8 billion human population (7,800,000,000!) on earth; sounds great right? But in reality, it is
the silent killer of our very own existence.

Factors affecting the growth of the human population are as below

Reduction in Diseases by:
• Improvements in water supply
• Improvements in sewage treatment
• Improvements in hygienic food handling
• General standards of cleanliness have improved
• Antibiotics have been discovered

Increase in food supply by:

• Increase in land being cultivated
• Agriculture has become more efficient
• Introduction of contraceptive pills in developed countries

12
Other Factors:
• Increase in Fertility rates
• Decrease in Infant mortality rates
• Increase in Life Expectancy
• Development in physical safety across infrastructure
Every time a population reaches a certain limit, it begins to decline. This is always caused by
some environmental condition that becomes unbearable and disastrous for them.
As a community grows wealthier, the birth rate goes down. There are believed to be four
reasons:
• Longer and better education: Marriage is postponed and a better-educated couple will have
learned about methods of family limitation.

• Better living conditions: Once people realize that half their offspring are not going to die from
disease or malnutrition, family sizes fall.

• Agriculture and cities: Modern agriculture is no longer labor intensive. Farmers do not need
large families to help out on the land. City dwellers do not depend on their offspring to help raise
crops or herd animals.

• Application of family planning methods: Either natural methods of birth control or the use of
contraceptives is much more common.

13
Sigmoid Population Growth Curves
Let’s look the stages of a population using a sigmoid growth curve in an organism.

The sigmoid (S-shaped) form of the graph can be explained as follows:

• A: Lag phase. The population is small. Although the numbers double at each generation, this
does not result in a large increase.
• B: Exponential phase (log phase). Continued doubling of the population at each generation
produces a logarithmic growth rate (e.g., 64 – 128 – 256 – 512 – 1024). When a population of
four doubles, it is not likely to strain the resources of the habitat, but when a population of 1024
doubles there is likely to be considerable competition for food and space and the growth rate
starts to slow down.
C: Stationary phase. The resources will no longer support an increasing population. At this
stage, limiting factors come into play. The food supply may limit further expansion of the
population, diseases may start to spread through the dense population and overcrowding may
lead to a fall in reproduction rate. Now the mortality rate (death rate) equals the reproduction
rate, so the population numbers stay the same.
• D: Death phase. The mortality rate (death rate) is now greater than the reproduction rate, so
the population numbers begin to drop. Fewer offspring will live long enough to reproduce. The
decline in population numbers can happen because the food supply is insufficient, waste products
contaminate the habitat or disease spreads through the population.

14