Chapter 9
NATURAL ECOSYSTEMS AND HUMAN ACTIVITIES
Mr. Yousif Ibrahim
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:Terms
Ecosystem: all the living things (biotic components) together with all the nonliving things
(abiotic components) in an area.
The living things in an ecosystem can be described at a number of levels:
◦ Population: all the organisms of one species living in a defined area at the same time.
◦ Community: a group of populations of different species that live together in an area and interact with
each other.
◦ Habitat: the place within an ecosystem where an organism lives.
Niche: the role of a species within the ecosystem
:Terms
◦ Producers: organisms within an ecosystem that can carry out photosynthesis.
◦ Primary consumers: organisms within an ecosystem that derive their food
from producers.
◦ Secondary consumers: organisms within an ecosystem that derive their food
from primary consumers.
◦ Tertiary consumers: organisms within an ecosystem that derive their food
from secondary consumers.
◦ Decomposers: organisms within an ecosystem that derive their food from the
bodies of dead organisms.
:Abiotic factors
Temperature: usually expressed in °C. Living things have a range of temperatures within which
they can survive.
Humidity: a measure of how damp the air is; how much water vapour it holds.
Water: essential for all life as it’s a raw material for photosynthesis and a medium for chemical
reactions. Plants obtain water from the soil and water content of soil is an important factor in
determining where exactly a plant species lives.
Oxygen: nearly 21% in the air; decreases with increasing altitude. Usually expressed as parts
per million (ppm) in water.
Salinity: how salty something is, measured as ppm or parts per thousand (ppt)
▪ Brackish water: water that is salty (>0ppt) but not as salty as seawater (<35ppt).
Light: essential for photosynthesis; expressed as lumens.
pH: (refer to chaptr 4. Impact of water pollution; pH).
Ecosystem processes:
Food chain: a diagram showing the relationship between a
.single producer and primary, secondary and tertiary consumers
Food web: a diagram showing the relationship between all (or most) of the
.producers, primary, secondary and tertiary consumers in an ecosystem
Trophic Level
• Trophic level: a feeding level within a food chain or food web.
• • Pyramid of numbers: a diagram that represents the number of organisms at
each trophic level in an ecosystem by a horizontal bar whose length is
proportional to the numbers at that level.
• The pyramid shape reflects the loss of energy at each trophic level.
Energy Pyramid
Energy: Ten percent rule
A pyramid of energy represents how much energy, initially from the sun, is retained or stored in the form of
new biomass at each trophic level in an ecosystem. Typically, about 10% of the energy is transferred from
one trophic level to the next, thus preventing a large number of trophic levels.
Energy is:
◦ Lost during transfer as heat to the environment;
◦ Used for cellular respiration;
◦ Used for growth; Lost as faeces;
◦ Lost by incomplete digestion by higher trophic level.
؞Food chains cannot have more than 4 or 5 trophic levels as there’s not enough energy to pass on .
Photosynthesis and
Respiration
◦ Plants trap light energy with the help of chlorophyll.
◦ This green pigment splits water into hydrogen and oxygen.
◦ The hydrogen is added to CO2 to make glucose.
◦ The oxygen not used in respiration is given off to the atmosphere.
◦ Plants obtain CO2 from the atmosphere through their stomata in the leaves and water from the soil through their roots.
◦ Glucose is used by plants in respiration to release energy and is converted to substances the plant needs eg, cellulose,
proteins .
◦ Respiration: the process by which living things release energy from food to carry out the process of life, such as movement.
Photosynthesis and
Respiration
:Biotic interactions
Competition: living things need a range of resources from the environment.
◦ Many more young are produced than will survive, so there is often competition of resources.
◦ Individuals least adapted to the current conditions will either die or fail to reproduce.
Predation: when one animal eats another.
Pollination: the transfer of pollen grains (male gametes) from the anther to (female gamete).
◦ Pollen grains are either blown by wind or carried by insects.
◦ The anther is in the flower, attracting the animals with bright colours, scent and the production of nectar.
Carbon Cycle
Ecosystems under threat:
:Wetlands
Importance of wetlands:
◦ Shoreline protection;
◦ Maintenance of water quality;
◦ Flood control;
◦ Recharging of aquifers;
◦ Biological productivity;
◦ Provide habitats;
◦ Source of variety of products eg fish, fuel and fibres
:Causes of habitat loss
◦ The drainage of wetlands:
▪ Drainage for agriculture, forestry and mosquito control;
▪ Use for disposal of waste created by road construction;
◦ Intensive agricultural practices: wetlands are drained and other land is occupied to provide for
intensive agricultural practices.
▪ Over cultivation: of soil leads to soil erosion, causing habitat loss for decomposers living in the soil.
◦ Deforestation: Clearance of climax communities that would otherwise provide habitat for a wide range
of tree and ground dwelling species.
▪ Climax community: An ecological community in which populations of plants or animals remain stable and
exist in balance with each other and their environment.
:Impacts of habitat loss
◦ Extinction: the process by which a species or other named group ceases to exist on Earth or other
named area.
◦ Loss of biodiversity: various species die or relocate when their habitat is destroyed.
◦ Genetic depletion: the loss of species containing potentially useful genes.
▪ Species and genetic diversity that exist in the wild may have many currently unknown uses e.g.
medicinal, drought-resistant, etc.
▪ However, due to habitat destruction, genetic diversity is reducing, leading to species becoming
extinct.
▪ Modern strain of crop plants may not be able to adapt to future changes.
Deforestation
Causes of deforestation:
Timber is needed in MEDCs for products ranging from luxury furniture to paper,
or as a source of energy.
▪Clear land for farming;
Cattle Ranching
Roads and settlements building roads for transporting logs is the most
damaging process.)
Rock and mineral extraction.
Causes of Deforestation in
Brazilian Amazon
:Impacts of deforestation
Habitat loss: biodiversity is lost when habitats are lost.
▪ Tropical rainforests are centers of great biodiversity, so loss of habitat here is serious.
▪ Huge volume of trees acts as massive carbon stores.
Soil erosion and desertification:
▪ Forests reduce the impact of heavy rainfall on the ground, reducing soil erosion.
▪ Tree roots bind the soil in place and the layer of fallen leaves and branches protect the soil
Overtime, after deforestation, the area may become a desert, because of desertification.
- Loss of biodiversity and genetic depletion
Climate change:
The Need for the
Sustainable use of Forest
◦ Carbon sinks: a vegetated area where the intake of CO2 from the atmosphere in photosynthesis exceeds
its output from respiration, so the net flow of carbon is from the atmosphere into plants.
◦ Carbon store: a mature vegetated area where the intake of CO2 from the atmosphere by photosynthesis
equals its output from respiration, so the mature plants store carbon.
◦ Role in water cycle: forests add water to the atmosphere during transpiration, leading to formation of
clouds, eventually releasing it by precipitation.
◦ Prevention of soil erosion:
◦ By intercepting rain, forests reduce heavy rainfall on the forest floor.
◦ Roots of trees hold soil in place.
:Sustainable forestry
Selective logging: removal of only mature trees of species that are valuable. Other species and
immature trees of value species are left, allowing the forest to repair overtime.
Agroforestry: land management system in which crops are grown around trees.
Afforestation
Quotas
Closed areas
Closed seasons
Licenses
:National parks
National parks: an area of land protected by the government to preserve entire ecosystems e.g. flora,
fauna and landscape.
◦ Laws that ban/limit activities such as hunting, logging and collection of wildflowers are implemented.
◦ Enforcement requires regular inspection and threat of imprisonment for breaking the law.
◦ Extensive facilities for tourists are provided, that includes a system of roadways, carparks and natural trails.
◦ An entry fee charged is used for conservation work.
◦ A guidebook/leaflet is provided that includes information on the dos and don’ts, and the importance of the
conservation of wild nature.
◦ The largest national park in the world is the Northeast Greenland National park, covering 972001km^2.
Reserves
Wildlife and ecological reserves: the practice of protecting wild plant and animal species and
their habitat that plays an important role in balancing the ecosystems and different natural
processes eg rainfall, fertility of the soil, etc., thus also meeting the needs of people.
Extractive reserves: Extractive reserves attempt to find a balance between destroying the forest
for short-term benefit and stopping all economic activity, which can have an impact on local
people.
Wildlife corridors
Wildlife corridors: are areas of land that link large reserves or other wildlife habitats, generally
native vegetation, which joins two or more larger areas of similar wildlife habitat.
◦ Corridors are critical for the maintenance of ecological processes including allowing for the movement
of animals and the continuation of viable populations.
World biosphere reserve
World biosphere reserves: an ecosystem with plants and animals of unusual scientific and
natural interest.
◦ The plan is to promote management, research and education in ecosystem conservation.
◦ The ecosystems that need protection are located in the core area, where human activities are restricted
to monitoring and possibly some research.
◦ The buffer zone is an area where more research is carried out together with education and tourism.
◦ The transition zone is where local communities and conservation organization work together to manage
the area for the benefit of people who live there.
World biosphere reserve
World biosphere reserve
CORE AREA BUFFER ZONE TRANSITION ZONE
Ecosystems that ,More research • Local communities
.need protection along with tourism and Conservation
.and education organisations work together to manage
Monitoring and May contain field
.some research stations with the area for the
laboratories and benefit of the people
.recreational facilities .living there
Seed banks
stores seeds to preserve genetic diversity when it’s not possible to protect the area where
the endangered plant lives.
◦ Wild plants carry genes that could be used in crop plants to confer resistance to pests and
diseases;
◦ Seeds occupy lesser space than plants, thus more species can be held;
◦ Collecting small samples of seeds is unlikely to damage the wild population as most plants
produce large number of seeds;
◦ Seeds are dormant and need minimal care, thus easier to store than living plants.
Role of zoos and captive
:breeding
◦ Provide education about the illegal trade in animals and products, and the
need to maintain biodiversity;
◦ Involved in scientific research on the control of diseases, animal behaviour
and techniques to improve breeding success;
◦ Captive-breeding programme increase species numbers, thus reducing the
risk of extinction;
◦ Aim to release captive-bred animals into the wild when habitats have been
restored;
◦ Such programme try maintaining genetic biodiversity of a species, as
interbreeding leads to a reduction in diversity and therefore reduces
adaptability when the species is placed back in the wild.
:Ways to reduce inbreeding
Ways to reduce inbreeding:
◦ Organisms aren’t allowed to breed repeatedly with the same partner;
◦ A variety of partners for an organism can be achieved through in-vitro
fertilization and inter-zoo swapping of individuals;
◦ Use a database (studbook) to record breeding history of individuals in
captivity.
Ecotourism
◦ Ecotourism: responsible travel to a natural area that promotes conservation of the
environment.
◦ Visitors travel with the main aim of appreciating its natural beauty.
◦ Ecotourism is both a reason to manage forests sustainably and a method by which this can be
achieved.
◦ It may be mainly economic in focus, with success measured by income, or focused on
sustainability, with success measured by a limit on numbers of visitors.
Environmental impacts of large number of
tourists
Environmental impacts of large number of tourists
1. More domestic waste
2. More traffic
3. More buildings
4. Increase in demand for water food and electricity 5.
Damage to tourist attractions A
Measuring and managing
biodiversity
Biodiversity is all the species within the ecosystem as well as the variation
within the species (genetic diversity) and many different ecosystems in an
area.
:Types of sampling
▪ Random sampling: a sampling method in which the sampling device is placed using
random tables or the roll of dice.
▪ Used when two areas are to be compared e.g. number of insects in wet and dry areas.
Systematic sampling: a sampling method in which the sampling device is placed along a line
or a pre- determined pattern, usually a transect.
▪ Used to check how the species change along a gradient in the environment e.g. from the shade
of a woodland to an open field.
Quadrat
Quadrat: a frame of known area placed on a part of the site to be sampled.
▪ Used to sample sedentary organisms e.g. plants.
▪ The number of organisms of the species is then counted.
▪ Sometimes, the percentage cover of the organism in the quadrat is calculated.
Quadrat
Transect
• Transect: a sampling method in which sampling devices are laid out along a line already placed
across an area.
▪ Used to sample sedentary organisms.
▪ An example of systematic sampling.
:Pitfall traps
▪ Used to sample non-sedentary organisms (insects).
▪ Consists of a jar sunk up to its rim in the soil.
▪ The jar may or may not be covered (depending on the predicted likelihood of rainfall).
▪ Traps should be inspected and emptied regularly.
▪ Can be used randomly or systematically
:Pitfall traps
Methods
METHOD ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
QUADRATS ;Quick • Not always very •
;Inexpensive • ;accurate
.Portable • Unless many quadrats are •
placed, the sample can be
.unintentionally biased
TRANSECTS ;Quick • Often used in
;Inexpensive • inappropriate
.Portable • .situations
PITFALL TRAPS ;Inexpensive • Often kill the
Easy to set up • organisms
.and use ;captured
May oversample or under •
.sample