PEOPLE AND THE

EARTH’S ECOSYSTEM
Interactions: Environment and Organisms
Ecosystem – is a defined space in which
interactions takes place between a
community.
Third V. Zabala -
ECOLOGICAL CONCEPT
The science of ecology is the study of the
ways organisms interact with each other and
with their non-living sorroundings.
Ecology – deals with the ways in which
organisms are adapted to their sorroundings
Ecologist- are scientist who study
environments all over the world both water
and land.
Living things require a constant flow of energy
and matter to assure their survival.
All organisms are dependent on each other
organisms in some way.
 Environment- everything that affects an organisms during its
lifetime is collectively known as its environment.
 Environment is a very broad concept and because of its
complexity it is useful to divide the concept of environment
 1.ABIOTIC (non-living) factor- can be organized into several
categories:
 A. Energy E. Water I. Temperature
 B. Climate F. Air J. Soil

 C. Weather G. pH K. Sunlight
 D. Minerals H. Salinity
BIOTIC (living) factor- includes all life forms with which interacts .
A. Plants
B. Animals
C. Other organisms
Organisms obtain everything they need from the biosphere, and
they depend on both biotic and abiotic factors to survive in their
environment.
 Under the biotic factors are:
 Limiting factors- maybe either biotic or abiotic and canbe quiet
different from one species to another.
 Many plants are limited by scarcity of water, light, or specific
soil nutrients.
 Animals may be limited by climate or the availabililty of a
specific foods.
 Habitat and Niche –
 A Habitat- provides the members of a species with food, shelter, water and
whatever else they need to survive.
 The habitat of an organism is the space that the organism inhabits, the
place where where its lives.
 Different organisms has prominent physical or biological feature of their
environment such as:
 A. Soil type
 B. Availability of water
 C. Climatic conditions
 D. Predominant plant that exist in the area.
 The Niche – is the functional role it has in its surroundings. A
description of an organism’s niche includes all the way it
affects the organisms with which it interacts as well as how it
modifies its physical sorroundings.
 Community and the Ecosystem
 There are two concepts that focus on relationships that involve
many different kinds of interactions:
 COMMUNITY – the interacting populations of different species
of organisms in an area. Some species play minor roles, while
other play major play, but all are part of community
 ECOSYSTEM – is a defined space in which interactions takes
place between a community, with all its complex
interrelationships and the physical environment.
 MAJOR ROLES OF ORGANISMS IN ECOSYSTEM
PRODUCER- Converts simple inorganic molecules into organic
molecules by the process of photosynthesis.
 Example: tress,flowers,grasses,ferns,mosses,algae
 PRIMARY CONSUMER- Uses organic matter as a source of food
 Example: animals, fungi,bacteria
Hervibore- Eat plants directly
 Example: grasshopper ,human vegetarian
 SECONDARY CONSUMER-Carnivore- kills and eat animals
 Example: wolf
 OMNIVORE- Eats both plants and animals
 Example: rats, most humans
 Scavenger- eats meat but often gets it from animals that died by
accident or illness, or were killed by other animals
 Example: vulture, blowflies
PARASITE –Lives in or on another living organism and gets food from
it.
 Decomposer- returns organic materials to inorganic materials
complete recycling.
 Example: fungi, bacteria and some insects and worms
 Energy flow through an ecosystem
 An ecosystem is a stable, self regulating unit. This does not
mean that an ecosystem is unchanging. The organisms within
are growing, reproducing, dying, and decaying. In addition, an
ecosystem must have a continuous input of energy to remain its
stability. The only significant source of energy for most
ecosystem is sunlight.
 Producers – are only organisms capable of trapping solar energy
through the process of photosynthesis and making it available
to the ecosystem. (plants and algae-they make their own food).
 FOOD WEBS and FOOD CHAINS
 Food chains- the result of one organism consuming another is
kwown as food chain.
 Food web- is the natural interconnection of food chains.
 Trophic levels- an energy through an ecosystem
 A. Producers (plants algae) constitutes the first trophic level
 B. Herbivores second trophic level
 C. Carnivores third trophic level
 D .Omnivores parasites and scavengers
 KINDS OF ECOSYSTMES AND COMMUNITIES

 SUCCESSION- Ecosystems are dynamic, changing units. On a daily

basis plants grow and die, animals feed on plants and on one another,
the decomposers recycle chemical elements that make up biotic
portion of any ecosystem. Abiotic factors such as temperature and
light, rainfall, intensity of sunlight and seasonality also have the major
influence on the kind of community that will be established.
 Succession- the concept communities proceed through a series of
recognizable, predictable changes in structure over time.
 Climax community. The relatively stable, long-lasting community is
the result of succession.
 1. PRIMARY SUCCESSION
 Primary succession can begin on a bare rock surface, pure sand, or
standing water. Since succession on rock and sand is somewhat
different from that which occurs with watery situations.
 A. Terrestrial Primary Succession- the kind of spores, seeds, or other
reproductive structures will determine the species available to
colonize the area. The climate will determine the species that will be
able to live in an area and how rapidly they will grow. The rate of
growth will determine how quickly organic matter will accumulate in
the soil. The kind of substrate( rock, sand, clay), climate, and amount
of organic matter will influence the amount of water available for
plant growth.
 AQUATIC PRIMARY SUCCESSION
 The principal concept of land succession can be applied to
aquatic ecosystem except for the oceans, most aquatic
ecosystem are considered temporary, some are going to be
around for thousands of years, but eventually they will
disappear and be replaced by terrestrial ecosystem as a result
of normal succession processes.
 SECONDARY SUCCESSION
 The difference of the secondary succession occurs when an
existing community is destroyed but much soil and some
other organisms remain. Example: a forest fire, flood, or the
conversion of a natural ecosystem to agriculture may be the
cause.
 Modern Concepts of Succession and Climax
 Kinds of Ecosystem and Communities
 BIOMES- are terresitrial climax communities with wide geographic distribution.
 Biomes of the World
 1. Polar ice caps 6. Grassland
 2. Tundra 7. Tropical rainforest
 3. Taiga 8. Tropical dry forest
 4.Temperate deciduous forest 9.Savanna
 5. Mediterranean shrub land 10. Mountain
 Two primary non-biological factors have major impacts on community that
develops in any part of the world: Precipitation and Temperature.
 1.Precipitation- the total amount of precipitation per year, the
form in which it arrives (rain, snow, sleet), and its seasonal
distribution. Precipitation may be evenly spaced throughout
the year or may be concentrated at a particular time so that
there are two seasons wet and dry.
 2.Temperature- patterns are so important and can vary
considerably in different parts of the world. Tropical areas have
warm, relatively unchanging temperature althroughout the
year. Areas near the poles have long winters with extremely
cold temperature and short cool summers.
 The Effect of Elevation on Climate and Vegetation
 1.Dessert- are areas that generally average less than 25
centimeters (10 inches) of precipitation per year . The desert
has many kinds of animals, however , they are often
overlooked because of their populations are low, many are of
small species and many are inactive during daytime or hot
part of the day.
 Grasslands
 Also known as prairies or steepes, are widely distributed over
temperates part of the world. The major factor that
contributes to the establishment of a grassland is the amount
of moisture available. Grassland generally receives between
25-75 centimeters (10-30 inches)precipitation per year.
 Savanna
 Tropical parts of Africa, South America, Australia have
extensive grassland spotted with patches and tress. Savanna
receive 50- 150 centimeters (20-60 inches) of rainfall per year.
Typically, a period of heavy rainfall is followed by a prolonged
drought.
 Mediterrenean Shrublands
 Located near the ocean and have wet, cool winters, and hot,
dry summers. Rainfall is 40- 100 centimeters (15-40 inches)
per year. this biomes also found in the coastal southern
California,
 Southerntip of Africa and west coast of Chile.
 Tropical Dry Forest
 Many of this dry forest have a monsoon climate in which
several months have heavy rainfall followed by extensive dry
periods ranging from a few months to eight months. The
rainfall maybe as low as 50 centimeters (20 inches)or as high
as 200 centimeters (80 inches).
 Tropical Rainforest
 Located near the equator in Central and South America, Africa,
Southeast Asia, some islands in the Caribbean and Pacific
Ocean. Most areas receive in excess of 200 centimeters (80
inches) of rain per year. Some receive 500 centimeters (200
inches) or more.
 Temperate Deciduous Forest
 In temperate areas of the world that have winter-summer
change of the seasons typically have tress that lose their
leaves during the winter and replace them the following spring
and this is common in eastern part of the US, parts of south
central and south eastern Canada, southern part of Africa ,
and many other areas of Europe and Asia. Generally receive
75- 100 centimeters (30-60 inches)of evenly precipitation per
year.
Taiga, Northern Coniferous Forest, or Boreal Forest
Throughout the southern half of Canada, northern parts Europre
and much of Russia there is an evergreen coniferous forest.
Receive 25-100 centimeters (10-40 inches) per year.
 Tundra
 This biome is lack of tress and has permanently frozen
substance soil. This frozen soil layer is called permafrost. No
tress can live in the area, the amount of precipitation is similar
to desert less than 25 centimeters (10 inches ) per year.