ECOSYSTEM’S

ECOLOGY
Food Webs and Energy Flow
Biomass Production
Biogeochemical Cycles
Is the integrated study of living
(biotic) and non-living (abiotic)
components of ecosystems and their
interactions within an ecosystem
framework.
This science examines how
ecosystems work and relates this to
their components such as chemicals,
bedrock, soil, plants, and animals.
This science examines how
ecosystems work and relates this to
their components such as chemicals,
bedrock, soil, plants, and animals.
* A major focus of ecosystem ecology is on
functional processes, ecological
mechanisms that maintain the structure
and services produced by ecosystems.
Primary productivity(production of biomass)
Decomposition
Trophic decomposition
*Is a natural interconnection
of food chains and a
graphical representation of
what-eats-what in an
ecological community.
*Producers
*Consumers
*Decomposers
*Producers make their own food
*Green plants use energy from the sun to
make food

*
*Consumers hunt, gather, and store food
because they cannot make their own
food.

*
*Microorganisms that are able to break down
large molecules into smaller parts.
*Return the nutrients that are in a living thing to
the soil.

*
*Herbivores
*Carnivores
*Omnivores
*Animals who eat plants such as
grasshoppers, rabbits, squirrels, deer and
pandas.

*
*Animals who only eat other animals
such as tigers, lions, hawks and
wolves.

*
*Animals who eat both plants and animals
such as humans and bears.

*
*Predator- an animal that captures and eats
other animals.
*Prey- the animals that is captured and eaten.

*
*Is where an organism is positioned
according to its feeding relationship to
other organisms.
*It has two categories; the autothrops and
the heterothrops.
*Its level are expressed in a pyramid.
*When an organism eats, it obtains energy,
then uses a lot of energy in life process
like growth and movement.
*This means that only part of their energy
is available to the next organism in the
food web.
*Illustrates the amount of energy that
moves from one feeding level to another
in a food chain or web.
*Only about 10% of the trophic level’s
energy is transferred to the next level.
*Biomass in the sense discussed here is plant or
animal material not used for food or feed; it can
be purposely grown energy crops
(e.g. miscanthus, switchgrass), waste from food
crops (wheat straw, bagasse), horticulture (yard
waste), waste from food processing (corn cobs),
animal farming (manure, rich in nitrogen and
phosphorus), or human waste from sewage plants.
*Biomass is used for energy production, heat
production, or in various industrial processes as
raw material for a range of products.
*Biomass production refers to the increase
in the amount of organic matter. It is the
addition of organic matter in a given area
or population. Biomass is considered
renewable energy because it is
replenished as plants and animals grow.
*There are two forms of production −
*Primary production refers to the generation of energy
by plants through photosynthesis. The excess energy
generated is stored and adds up to the total biomass in
the ecosystem. Primary production could be estimated
from the total forest cover in a given year.
*Secondary production is the absorption of organic
matter as body tissues by organisms. It includes ingestion
by animals i.e. feeding, whether on other animals or on
plants. It also involves decomposition of organic matter
by microorganisms. Secondary production could be
estimated as the total meat produced per year.
Though biomass could be measured as mass
of organisms living and dead in a given
environment, production is harder to
estimate. It can only be estimated as the
increase in volume though part of the
additional biomass may have been replaced
through natural processes.
Direct combustion for heat is the oldest
method of biomass conversion to energy
since the earliest civilizations.
Thermochemical conversion (combustion)
could be achieved in a number of ways
using varied feedstock.
Biomass based generators use diesel
derived from vegetable oils to fuel diesel
generators. The generators burn the
organic diesel to produce energy to
produce electricity.
*Combined heat and power plants are known to
cogenerate electricity and useful heat energy.
Ceramic industries utilize the heat in drying
products such as clay tiles.
*Some power plants use biomass to heat water
and produce steam for electricity generation.
The biomass is burnt to produce enough heat to
boil water.
*Municipal solid waste plants burn solid wastes to
generate electricity. This type is prone to
criticism since solid wastes mostly contain toxic
gases from plastics and synthetic fibers.
*Apart from stand-alone combustion, biomass
could be blended with other fossil fuels and
burnt to generate energy. This is called co-
firing.
*Biomass could be directly burnt as coal. This is
referred to as direct co-combustion.
*In other cases, the biomass is first processed to
gas and then converted to syngas.
*The third case is where fossil fuel is burnt in a
different furnace and the energy produced is
then used to preheat water in a steam power
plant.
COAL
SYNGAS

STEAM POWER
* The various types of combustion are −
* Fixed bed combustion − This is a method where solid
biomass is first cut into small pieces and then burnt on a flat
fixed surface.
* Moving bed combustion − In this method, a grate is set to
constantly and evenly move leaving ash behind. The fuel
burns in combustion levels.
* Fluid-bed combustion − Fuel is boiled under high pressure
mixed with sand. The sand serves to distribute the heat
evenly.
* Burner combustion − In this method, wood dust and fine dust
are placed in a burner similar to that of liquid fuel.
* Rotary furnace combustion − A kiln furnace is used to burn
organic matter with high moisture content. Such waste as
food residue or other moist farm waste is burnt this way.
*Pyrolysis is another form of processing bio-fuels by
burning under very high temperatures without oxygen,
which could cause complete combustion. This causes
irreversible physical and chemical changes. The absence
of oxidation or halogenations processes results in a very
dense bio-fuel that could be used in combustion, co-
combustion or converted to gas.
*Slow pyrolysis occurs at about 400oC. It is the process
of making solid charcoal.
*Fast pyrolysis occurs between 450oC to 600oC and
results in organic gas, pyrolysis vapor, and charcoal. The
vapor is processed by condensation to liquid form as
biooil. This must be done within 1 second to prevent
further reaction. The resultant liquid is dark brown
liquid denser than wood biomass and has equal content
in terms of energy.
*Bio-oil has a number of advantages. It is easier to
transport, burn, and store. Many kinds of feedstock can
be processed through pyrolysis to produce bio-oil.
*The diagram given below explains the process in
converting energy in to a usable form from bio-fuels
through Pyrolysis.
( Water, Carbon, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Sulfur)
*Is the continual recycling of nutrients
through the air, water, rock, soil, and
living things.
*No new molecules are created – what we
have is what was here at the beginning.
*also known as the hydrological cycle,
describes the continuous movement of
water on, above and below the surface
of the Earth.
*
*Withdrawing large quantities of fresh
water for agriculture leading to
groundwater depletion.
*Clearing, vegetation for agriculture,
roads, building, and mining.
*Covering land with buildings and concrete
which increases runoff and prevents water
from becoming groundwater.
*Altering the quality of the water by the
addition of nutrients from chemical and
pollutants.
*The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical
cycle by which carbon is exchanged
among the biosphere, pedosphere,
geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere
of the Earth.
*Carbon is the main component of
biological compounds as well as a major
component of many minerals such as
limestone.
*
*Clearing trees therefore, the trees
cannot remove the carbon dioxide from
the air.
*Burn fossil fuels which release a large
amount of carbon into the air.
*The phosphorus cycle is the
biogeochemical cycle that describes the
movement of phosphorus through the
lithosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere.
*
*Mining for phosphate rock to make
inorganic fertilizers.
*Cutting down tropical trees reduces the
amount of phosphorus in the tropical soil.
*Runoff from animal waste, fertilizers and
sewage add phosphorus to aquatic
systems.
*The sulfur cycle is the collection of
processes by which sulfur moves to and
from rock, waterways and living systems.
*Such biogeochemical cycles are important
in geology because they affect many
minerals, as an essential element,
constituent of many proteins and cofactors.
*
*Burning coal and oil to create electricity
which releases sulfur into the air.
*Refining petroleum to create gasoline.
*Creating metals from ores.
*The nitrogen cycle is the biogeochemical
cycle by which nitrogen is converted into
multiple chemical forms as it circulates
among atmosphere, terrestrial, and
marine ecosystems.
*The conversion of nitrogen can be carried
out through both biological and physical
processes.
*
*Burning fuel releases nitric oxide (NO) which converts to
( HN03) in the atmosphere and falls back to the earth as
acid rain.
*Using inorganic fertilizers which releases nitrous oxide
(N2O) into the atmosphere which depletes the ozone
layer.

*Destroy forests, grasslands and wetlands which releases

the N in the soil and the plants.
*Agricultural runoff and sewage goes into waterwaste and
the nitrates disrupts the aquatic ecosystems.
*When working with crops ( irrigating, burn to create
room for) Nitrogen is taken from the topsoil.
*The rock cycle is a basic concept in
geology that describes the time-
consuming transitions through geologic
time among the three main rock types:
sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous.
1. Igneous Rocks
 is formed through the cooling and
solidification of magma or lava.
2. Sedimentary Rocks
 formed from minerals or organic
particles in bodies of water at the Earth’s
surface.
3. Metamorphic Rocks
From the transformation of existing rock types.
The original rock (protolith) is subjected to heat
causing profound physical or chemical change.