2.1.

3- Scientific understandings of outdoor

environments
Part 1: The structure of natural systems
Recap:
We have already undertaken a brief look at scientifically understanding outdoor
environments.
1.1.2- Features of Biomes
 Geology The type of environmental ‘biome’ that exists in a specific location
is a result of the interaction between these three factors
 Climate
 Position and aspect
Key Knowledge: Key Skills:
Scientific understandings of a range of outdoor • Compare biotic and abiotic
environments including: interrelationships in an outdoor
- The interrelationships between biotic and abiotic environment
components • Analyse the effect of natural and human
- The effects of natural and human-induced induced changes and apply these to a
changes on a range of outdoor environments range of environments
such as day to night, seasons, tides, flood,
drought, fire, migration and climate change
Scientific understanding:
Scientific investigations into nature and the environment are responsible for some of the
most important discoveries of our world.
Once we understand how an environment, and the components that make it up, interact
and work with each other it can change how you may choose to interact with it.
To begin with we will look at the structure of natural systems:
All natural systems are made up of similar components and are subject to the same
processes:
These consist of, but are not limited to, the following:
Abiotic Respiration Greenhouse effect
Biotic Carbon dioxide Climatic cycles (El nino / La
Biosphere Fossil fuels nina)
Biogeochemical Precipitation Food chains and webs
Photosynthesis Transpiration
The Biosphere
The Biosphere is a shell
approximately 20km wide
(from the earths crust through
to the upper reaches of the
outer atmosphere).
It encompasses the areas of
the Earth where life and the
reactions dependant on their
survival are possible from the
deepest ocean trenches to the
highest mountain peaks.

The biosphere consists of three main areas, whose

interaction allow the existence of life on earth.
Fig.2- A ‘false colour’ image of
Earth showing photoautotrophic
abundance.

On land-
Different colours indicate the
amount of vegetation – green for
forested areas and tan for desert

In the ocean-
Different colours show the
concentration of chlorophyll (the
stuff that makes leaves green and
performs photosynthesis) – blue
indicates there is very little and
red shows areas that are rich with
chlorophyll

Question:
What is most noticeable from this
image?
Components of an ecosystem
• The interaction occurring between organisms and their environment is
referred to as an ecosystem.
• The components can be grouped in various ways:
An organism- one individual living thing
A species- a group of organisms of the same type, capable of breeding and
producing offspring
A population- a group of organisms of the same species living together in
one area
A community- a number of populations of different species living together in
a particular environment
Components of an ecosystem
Within a community the organisms interact with one another and within their surroundings.
It is these surroundings - chemical and physical, living and non-living - that make up an
environment.

Biotic: are the living components of the ecosystem- the trees, animals, fungi and
bacteria.
*TASK: use fig4.3 (pg.163) to list and define the main biotic components of an ecosystem

Abiotic: are the non-living components of the ecosystem- the sun, water, rocks and
minerals.
*TASK: use fig4.4 (pg.164) to list and define the main abiotic components of an ecosystem

Habitat: refers to the specific place within an ecosystem that is occupied by an

organism or population.
 Interrelationships…
In order to understand outdoor environments, we need to appreciate the complex interrelationships
between the biotic components (living plants and animals) and abiotic components (non-living structures
such as rocks, soils, sunshine and water).

The interactions between components of an ecosystem are complex. Plants compete with one another for
water, light and soil nutrients, while animals and birds compete for food and habitat. Non-living elements
such as soil, water and wind also affect the species within an ecosystem – particularly if their availability is
scarce or they are competed for!

All ecosystems have inputs and outputs, along with processes that occur along the way to change the
inputs in some way. Inputs and outputs can be categorised as matter or energy (in the form of thermal,
solar, wind, kinetic, sound or potential energy).
For example, a plant requires the input of carbon dioxide (CO2), water (H2O) and sunlight (solar energy) to
produce glucose (C6H12O6) and oxygen (O2) through the process of photosynthesis.
The materials leaving an ecosystem can be quite different from those that entered.
See figure 4.2 – pg.163.
Biogeochemical cycles
Earths environments have many varied cyclic processes, which enable nutrients to be
reused. These include the biogeochemical cycles that allow elements to move
throughout ecosystems. They include the carbon/oxygen, nitrogen and water cycles.
Each cycle relies upon both biotic and abiotic components of the ecosystem to function
effectively.

There are three key cycles that all life depends on:
 Carbon-oxygen cycle
 Nitrogen cycle
 Water cycle
The Carbon-
Oxygen Cycle
Add a
The
Nitrogen
Cycle
The Water Cycle
Climatic Cycle
Our eastern Australian
climate is influenced heavily
by the natural cycle of the El
Niño–Southern Oscillation
(ENSO), centred on the
tropical Pacific Ocean. This is
the natural change that
brings us dry or wet spring
and summer seasons,
depending on which part of
the cycle we are in. It heavily
impacts outdoor
environments, with the
incidence of flood or bushfire
linking closely with this cycle.
Energy transfer in natural systems
Food Chains and Webs
• The living components of an ecosystem cannot maintain themselves without energy.
• Food chains and webs are demonstrate the transfer of energy and nutrients through living things.
• The transfer of food energy begins with the consumption of the producers (plants) by herbivores
and passes through a series of changes or links as herbivores are eaten by carnivores that, in turn,
are then consumed by higher order carnivores.
• Each component obtains energy from the previous
link in the chain.
• The sun, or solar radiation, is the primary source of
energy for nearly all components of the food chain.
• Plants and phototropic organisms (things that can
photosynthesize) are able to produce their own
energy from the sun.
• All other links in the chain rely on that first simple
step- without the sun and photosynthesis, nothing
survives!
Each link in a food chain is referred to as a trophic level.

Producers occur at the first level. They use sunlight to produce chemical energy
through photosynthesis. This is referred to as the first trophic level.
Producers
Some of this energy is utilised by producers in their growth. It can also be stored
in organic matter and utilised as the organism grows.

Primary Herbivores are referred to as the second trophic level. They rely solely on
Consumers producers for their energy requirements.
Secondary
Carnivores and Omnivores occupy the third trophic level.
Consumers
Tertiary
Top order carnivores occupy the forth trophic level.
Consumers

Detritus and decaying organic matter (stuff that was once living) still contains
Decomposers energy and nutrients which are returned to the ecosystem they are in by
decomposers. Algae, bacteria and fungi are typical decomposer organisms.
A food chain is a simplified, step by step example of how energy transfers from one organism
to the next.
A food web shows the complex way energy is transferred through a number of interlinked
chains from the one ecosystem.
Learning Task:
▪ Working in groups (3-4 people), construct an appropriate food web using the following organisms. Write
these organisms down- you must include all 15!
• Dingo • Wombat • Wedge-tail eagle
• Kookaburra • Frilled neck lizard • Gumtree
• Echidna • Grass • Emu
• Wattle • Blue faced honey eater • Crickets
• Kangaroo • Termites • Magpie

▪ You may need to research some of these organisms so you can

place them in a web- the next slide will help with this.
▪ When you draw your web- the arrows always show which way
energy is travelling in the system. IE: see in the picture 
the mouse eats the grass
You have 20 minutes to make
your web! 17
06/10/2024
Help! I don’t know anything about half these plants/animals…
Dingo Kookaburra Wombat Frilled-neck Wedge-tailed
Lizard eagle
Carnivorous dog Largest member Herbivore Ground dwelling One of the worlds
capable of of the kingfisher lizard that can run largest birds of prey
bringing down family on two legs and
prey much larger often climbs trees
than itself to escape predators

Echidna Wattle Grass Blue faced Gum tree

honeyeater
Has specially Fast growing, Fast growing Nectar eater that Some of the
adapted to eat understory plant ground cover helps pollinate worlds tallest
only a handful that flowers from many flowering flowering plants.
of types of food April through to plants Leaves are toxic to
October. Animals many species but
eat the wood, nectar is a food
leaves and nectar. source

Kangaroo Crickets Termites Magpie Emu

Australia’s largest Herbivorous Wood boring Territorial song Large, flightless
marsupial insect insect bird. bird- herbivore
 Solution:
Note-
• This is a general idea of how
these organisms fit together
in a food web.
• You could have other
solutions too.
Ie:
- The dingo would eat
the kangaroo.
- The emu could also eat
grasses.
- The honeyeater could
use the wattle as food
source.
• If anything- this task should
simply show you how
complicated the transfer of
energy is in any ecosystem.
An example of how
complex food webs are
is the example of
wolves in Yellowstone
National Park (watch
video ).
While this relates to
North America- it is a
fantastic example of
how every step in a
chain or web can be
connected to dozens
of others and have a
variety of effects.
It is important to note
that changing just one
step in the flow of
energy in an
ecosystem can have
massive
consequences- good
and bad.
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