20 – ORGANISMS AND THEIR

ENVIRONMENT

20.1 What is Ecology ?

Habitats , populations , communities and
ecosystems .
What is an ecological community ?

Ecology is the study of organisms and how they interact with the
environment around them.
An ecologist studies the relationship between living things and their
habitats.

KEY TERMS IN ECOLOGY

 A population is defined as a group of organisms of the same
species living in the same place at the same time
 A community includes all of the populations living in the same
area at the same time
 Within a community, each species depends on other species for
food, shelter, pollination, seed dispersal etc
 If one species is removed it can affect the whole community
 This is called interdependence
 A habitat is the place where an organism lives
 E.g. badgers, deer, oak trees and ants are all species that would
live in a woodland habitat
 An ecosystem is defined as all the biotic factors and all the abiotic
factors that interact within an area at one time
 Biotic factors includes all the living components such as plants and
animals
 Abiotic factors includes all the non-living components such as light
intensity, mineral ions, water availability
 An ecological community is formed when different populations of
animals and plants live together and interact within the same
environment
20.2 Energy and Nutrient Flow
How do energy and nutrients flow in an ecosystem ?
Food chains
Food Webs
Non – cyclic energy flow in an ecosystem
Predator prey relationship

KEY TERMS
Energy is introduced into biological systems as light energy which is
absorbed by plants, where the Sun is the principal source of energy.
This energy is then transferred to chemical energy and can pass to
other organisms through feeding.
When these animals die, they are broken down by decomposers which
return their nutrients to the soil.
A food chain shows the order of energy transfer between organisms.
Food chains start with producers, which are plants which convert light
energy from the Sun to chemical energy.
Organisms which feed on plants, or other animals, are known as
consumers.
Plants are eaten by herbivores, which gain nutrients from the plants
that are used for growth.
This consumer is then eaten by another animal which gains the
nutrients from the first. Each of these organisms has its own trophic
level. Consumers are classed as primary, secondary, tertiary or
quaternary, depending on their position in the food chain.
Human impact on food chains:
Humans alter food webs through over-harvesting food species and
introducing foreign species to habitats. Over-harvesting will damage
food chains as other organisms which consume these organisms will
not have enough food to survive, meaning that many of them will die.
Introducing foreign species may have the same effect as there is now
competition for resources, which could damage existing species by
interfering with the food chain.
Food Webs
A food web is a network of interconnected food chains
Food webs are more realistic ways of showing connections between
organisms within an ecosystem as animals rarely exist on just one type
of food source.

 Food webs give us a lot more information about the transfer of

energy in an ecosystem
 They also show interdependence - how the change in one
population can affect others within the food web
 For example, in the food web above, if the population of
earthworms decreased:
o The population of grass plants would increase as there are
now fewer species feeding off them
 o The populations of frogs and mice would decrease
significantly as earthworms are their only food source
o The population of sparrows would decrease slightly as they
eat earthworms but also have another food source to rely on
(caterpillars)

Most populations of organisms that live in a habitat usually have more

than one food source. They usually consume more than one organism
from the trophic level below. This means that there are almost always
more than one food chain and these are interlinked into a food web.
Food webs show how all the food chains in an ecosystem interact.

Non Cyclic energy flow in an ecosystem

The energy flow in an ecosystem is not cyclic because being an energy

pyramid, it moves from the producers at the bottom of the pyramid up
to a point where it cannot be used by living things anymore. It is either
used by the organisms in the ecosystem or it is lost to the atmosphere
Nutrient movement refers to the chemical energy in form of
carbohydrates, fats, protein, and other nutrients are distributed among
producers, consumers and decomposers. It just about how nutrients
flow from one energy level to the other in the ecosystem
 Energy flows from the sun to the first trophic level (producers) in
the form of light
 Producers convert light energy into chemical energy
o This occurs during photosynthesis, when producers convert
carbon dioxide and water into glucose and oxygen
 Producers use this glucose (during respiration) to produce their
own biomass
o Biomass is a store of chemical energy
 When primary consumers consume (eat) producers, they break
down the biomass of the producer (digestion) and use
the chemical energy to increase or sustain their own biomass
 When secondary consumers consume (eat) primary consumers,
they break down the biomass of the primary consumer (digestion)
and use the chemical energy to increase or sustain their own
biomass, and so on
 In this way, as chemical energy is transferred from one trophic
level to the next, biomass is also transferred.
 The flow of energy through the ecosystem is non – cyclic . Energy
is transferred to the environment as heat , through respiration of
an organism , as it flows through the ecosystem.
 Since this heat energy does not return to the same system or to
the organisms that produced it , it cannot be recycled in the
ecosystem.
 Egested and excreted materials and dead organisms contain
trapped chemical energy . This energy is released through activity
of decomposers. Decomposers use this trapped chemical energy
for their needs .
 The rest of the energy is transferred to the environment as heat.
Predator – Prey Relationship
The predator prey relationship consists of the interactions between
two species and their consequent effects on each other. In the
predator prey relationship, one species is feeding on the other species.
The prey species is the animal being fed on, and the predator is the
animal being fed. The predator prey relationship develops over time as
many generations of each species interact. In doing so, they affect the
success and survival of each other’s species. Predator prey
relationships greatly affect the populations of each species, and that
because of the predator prey relationship, these population
fluctuations are linked.

A predator-prey relationship tends to keep the populations of both

species in balance. This is shown by the graph in Figure. As the prey
population increases, there is more food for predators. So, after a
slight lag, the predator population increases as well. As the number of
predators increases, more prey are captured. As a result, the prey
population starts to decrease.
20.3 Ecological Pyramids
Pyramids of numbers , biomass and energy
Variations in ecological pyramids
Pyramids of Numbers and Biomass
A pyramid of numbers can be used to show the number of
organisms in each trophic level. This is similar to a
pyramid of biomass, which measures the total biomass of
all the organisms at each level. A pyramid of biomass
tends to have a true pyramid shape as biomass is lost in
each level which corresponds to the energy lost. A
pyramid of biomass therefore is more useful as it gives an
indication of the amount of energy being passed on at
each stage of the food chain.
Energy is passed between trophic levels, although this
process is highly inefficient due to a variety of reasons:
● Not all animal and plant material can be digested to
gain energy from, e.g. fur and bones.
● Energy is lost through excretion and decay.
● Energy is used in other processes, e.g. movement and
keeping warm.
This means that organisms later on in the food chain gain
less energy from their food than organisms earlier on, as
energy is lost at each level. Consequently, organisms later
in the food chain must eat a larger amount to gain enough
energy for survival. For this reason, there are usually not
more than five trophic levels as too much energy would
be lost to sustain another. This is also why it is more
efficient for humans to eat plants rather than animals, as
there are more stages in the food chain if animals are
present.
 20.4 Nutrient Cycling in an Ecosystem
Carbon and nitrogen cycles
CARBON CYCLE
Carbon is an essential element which makes up the majority of
molecules in living organisms.
The carbon cycle is used to show how carbon atoms move between
the atmosphere and living organisms:
1. Carbon is present in the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide,
which makes up about 0.04% of the air.
2. Carbon dioxide is taken in by plants during photosynthesis. Here,
the carbon is transferred from carbon dioxide to other molecules such
as proteins and carbohydrates.
3. These molecules are passed through the food chain when feeding
occurs, hence carbon is also passed between the trophic levels.
4. Carbon is returned to the atmosphere during respiration, which
releases carbon dioxide, and during decomposition. Carbon can be
trapped in dead organisms when decomposition does not occur. These
organisms become fossilised over thousands of years to form fossil
fuel. When this fossil fuel is burned, large amounts of carbon dioxide is
released back into the atmosphere. This, along with the effect of
deforestation, leads to the amount of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere increasing, which causes global warming.
NITROGEN CYCLE

Nitrogen is another element which is key to biological lifeforms.

Nitrogen is used to make amino acids, DNA and ATP, which is a
molecule that releases energy. Microorganisms are key to the nitrogen
cycle as they help to convert nitrogen to different forms so that it can
be used.
1. Nitrogen gas is present in the air. This nitrogen is fixed (converted to
useable nitrate ions) by nitrogen-fixing bacteria which live on the root
nodules of some plants, or by lightning.
2. Plants absorb these nitrate ions and use them to make other
molecules, such as amino acids and proteins.
3. These molecules are passed through the food chain via feeding.
4. Nitrogen is returned to the soil in the form of ammonia when
decomposition occurs, or in the form of urea, which is excreted from
organisms after deamination occurs. If this decomposition occurs in
anaerobic conditions (without oxygen) then denitrifying bacteria can
break down nitrates and return nitrogen gas to the atmosphere.
 20.5 Factors that affect the rate of
population growth
 Food supply - if there is a large amount of food, organisms
can breed more successfully. If there is a food shortage, there
is a higher death rate which results in a slow or negative
population growth.
● Predation - organisms which have lots of predators will have a
slower rate of population growth as more will be killed by
predators.
● Disease - disease can reduce the population by killing organisms.
In densely populated areas, disease can spread quickly, thus a
large proportion of the population may be wiped out.

SIGMOID CURVE
 Lag phase: number of
mature, reproducing
individuals is low and they
may be widely dispersed
Log phase: exponential


growth occurs, the

conditions are ideal and
maximum growth rate is reached. Limiting factors do not
limit growth much.
 Stationary phase: limiting factors slow growth as
population has reached “carrying capacity” of its
environment; when mortality rate = birth rate; curve levels
off and fluctuates around this maximum population size.