Ecosystem and Biodiversity

LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of the lesson, you are expected to:
• Identify the types of ecosystem.
• Illustrate the dynamics in ecosystem.
• Infer the importance of understanding the ecosystem dynamics in the conservation of species.
• Discuss biodiversity and the species concept, as well as the ways to benefit from biodiversity.
• Characterize the threats to biodiversity.
TYPES OF ECOSYSTEM
 An ecosystem consists of three types of ecosystems, another
term for which is ‘Biomes’. The three major types are:
1. Aquatic biomes;
2. Terrestrial biomes; and
3. Lentic biomes.
1. AQUATIC BIOMES. Are the ones, one finds in water
bodies, such as oceans, rivers, seas, lakes, springs, etc. This
biome is further divided into smaller ecosystems:

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1a. Pond Ecosystems are comparatively small and mostly
include many kinds of amphibians and insects. At times one
can also find fish here but they aren’t capable of moving as
easily as the amphibians.
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1b. River Ecosystems. This ecosystem consists of fish
along with plants, amphibians, and insects. One may also find
birds that hunt in and around the water for its food (small fish).

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1c. Shallow water Ecosystem. Here one can only find
tiny fishes and corals that live in shallow waters close to land.

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1d. Deepwater Ecosystems. These are kind of
ecosystem where one can find gigantic sea creatures that live
at the deep bottom of the sea. Creatures that wouldn’t be
visible to the normal human eye.
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2. TERRESTRIAL BIOMES are ecosystems that are found on land
that include forests, deserts, grasslands, tundras, and coastal
regions. There can be more than one terrestrial biome depending on
its climate. This ecosystem further divides into:

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2a. Rainforests are the kind of ecosystems that are
extremely dense because of a variety of organisms living in a
tiny area.

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2b. Tundra is the kind of ecosystem that is a relatively simple
ecosystem since only a few life forms can survive this
ecosystem; especially because of its harsh conditions.

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2c. Deserts. They are opposite of tundras, yet, the deserts
have extreme conditions. Animals prefer to live in extreme heat
than extreme cold.

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2d. Forest is where you can find more forests than any other
ecosystem in the world such as deciduous and coniferous
forests. Forests can support many life forms and complex
ecosystems.
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3. LENTIC BIOMES. These are the kinds of ecosystems that
support both aquatic and terrestrial life forms such as swamps.
The only requirement is that this kind of ecosystem is the
exposure for the photosynthesis process to happen; since
organisms here survive on the carbohydrates made by
photosynthesis.
3. LENTIC BIOMES.

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ECOSYSTEM DYNAMICS
The ecosystems include both living and nonliving components.
These living or biotic components include habitats and niches
occupied by organisms. Nonliving or abiotic components
include soil, water, light, inorganic nutrients, and weather.
An organism's place of residence, where it can be found, is its
habitat.

A niche is often viewed as the role of that organism in the

community, factors limiting its life, and how it acquires food.
Producers, a major niche in all ecosystems, are autotrophic,
usually photosynthetic, organisms. In terrestrial ecosystems,
producers are usually green plants. Freshwater and marine
ecosystems frequently have algae as the dominant producers.
Consumers are heterotrophic organisms that eat food
produced by another organism. Herbivores are a type of
consumer that feeds directly on green plants (or another type
of autotroph). Since herbivores take their food directly from the
producer level, we refer to them as primary consumers.
Carnivores feed on other animals (or another type of
consumer) and are secondary or tertiary consumers.
Omnivores, the feeding method used by humans, feed on both
plants and animals.
Decomposers are organisms, mostly bacteria and fungi
that recycle nutrients from decaying organic material.
Decomposers break down detritus, nonliving organic matter,
into inorganic matter. Small soil organisms are critical in
helping bacteria and fungi shred leaf litter and form rich soil.
Even if communities do differ in structure, they have some
common uniting processes such as energy flow and matter
cycling, Energy flows move through feeding relationships. The
term ecological niche refers to how an organism functions in
an ecosystem. Food webs, food chains, and food pyramids are
three ways of representing energy flow.
Ecosystems are controlled both by external and internal
factors; they can be both resistant or resilient to ecosystem
disturbances.
External factors, such as climate and the parent material that
forms the soil, control the overall structure of an ecosystem
and the way things work within it, but are not themselves
influenced by the ecosystem.
While the resource inputs are generally controlled by external
processes, the availability of these resources within the
ecosystem is controlled by internal factors such as
decomposition, root competition, or shading.
Equilibrium is the steady state of an ecosystem where all
organisms are in balance with their environment and with each
other.
Resistance and Resilience
In ecology, two parameters are used to measure changes in
ecosystems: resistance and resilience.
Resistance is the ability of an ecosystem to remain at
equilibrium despite disturbances.
Resilience is the speed at which an ecosystem recovers to
equilibrium after being disturbed.
UNDERSTANDING ECOSYSTEM DYNAMICS FOR
CONSERVATION OF BIOTA
1. Ecosystems have higher‐order emerging properties that can
affect the conservation of species. We identify some of these
properties in order to facilitate a better understanding of them.
2. Nonlinear, indirect effects of food web interactions among
species can produce counterintuitive changes in populations.
3. Species differ in their roles and linkages with other species
in the system. These roles are a property of the system. Such
differences in roles influence how we conserve individual
species.
4. Ecosystems operate at a multitude of interacting spatial and
temporal scales, which together structure the system and
affect the dynamics of individual populations.
5. Disturbance also structures an ecosystem, producing both
long‐term slow changes and sudden shifts in ecosystem
dynamics.
6. Ecosystems therefore can have multiple states, determined
both by disturbance regimes and biotic interactions.
Conservation should recognize a possible multiplicity of natural
states while avoiding aberrant (human‐induced) states.
7. Ecosystem processes are influenced by the composition of
the biota they contain. Disturbances to the biota can distort
processes and functions, which in turn can endanger individual
species.
8. The goal of ecosystem conservation is the long‐term
persistence of the biota in the system. There are two
paradigms: community‐based conservation (CBC) and
protected area conservation. Both have their advantages but
neither is sufficient to protect the biota on its own.
9. CBC is required to conserve the majority of the world's biota
not included in protected areas. However, current CBC methods
favour a few idiosyncratic species, distort the species
complex, and ignore the majority. More comprehensive
methods are required for this approach to meet the goal of
ecosystem conservation.
10. Protected areas are essential to conserve species unable to
coexist with humans. They also function as ecological
baselines to monitor the effects of humans on their own
ecosystems.
11. However, protected areas suffer from loss of habitat through
attrition of critical areas. Thus, renewal (addition) of habitat is
required in order to achieve the long‐term persistence of biota
in functioning ecosystems. Identification of minimum habitat
areas and restoration of ecosystems become two major
priorities for future research.
BIODIVERSITY AND THE SPECIES CONCEPT
What is biodiversity?
https://youtu.be/GK_vRtHJZu4
The three kinds of biodiversity are essential to preserve these
ecological systems are
(1) genetic diversity is a measure of the variety of
different versions of the same genes within individual species.
(2) species diversity describes the number of different
kinds of organisms within individual communities or
ecosystems.
(3) ecological diversity assesses the richness and
complexity of a biological community, including the number of
niches, trophic levels, and ecological processes that capture
energy, sustain food webs, and recycle materials.
The Importance of Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the amount of variety of life on Earth. It is the
number of different species of plants, animals, and
microorganisms. It includes organisms from Earth’s vastly
different ecosystems, including deserts, rainforests, coral
reefs, grasslands, tundra, and polar ice caps.
Our biodiversity is very important to the well-being of our
planet. Most cultures, at least at some time, have recognized
the importance of conserving natural resources. Many still do,
but many do not.
Healthy ecosystems and rich biodiversity:
• Increase ecosystem productivity; each species in an ecosystem
has a specific niche—a role to play.
• Support a larger number of plant species and, therefore, a greater
variety of crops.
• Protect freshwater resources.
• Promote soils formation and protection.
• Provide for nutrient storage and recycling.
• Aid in breaking down pollutants.
• Contribute to climate stability.
• Speed recovery from natural disasters.
• Provide more food resources.
• Provide more medicinal resources and pharmaceutical drugs.
• Offer environments for recreation and tourism.
How do we replace lost biodiversity?
Our environments and the species that live in them need a
diverse population of genes. More genetic defects are caused
by inbreeding. With reduced diversity in the gene pool, the
chance for extinction increases.
All species, including humans, are adversely affected by the
loss of species diversity.
WHAT THREATENS BIODIVERSITY?
Biodiversity is under serious threat as a result of human
activities. The main dangers worldwide are population growth
and resource consumption, climate change and global
warming, habitat conversion and urbanization, invasive alien
species, over-exploitation of natural resources and
environmental degradation.
The other threats in our biodiversity are extinction rates are far
higher now than in the past, pollution, human population
growth, and overharvesting are the greatest threats to
biodiversity. Also, islands and specialized habitats are
particularly susceptible to invasive species.
THREATS IN THE BIODIVERSITY OF THE
PHILIPPINES
Along with its remarkable levels of species endemism, the
Philippines is one of the world's most threatened hotspots,
with only about seven percent of its original, old-growth,
closed-canopy forest left. Threats to the Philippines'
biodiversity include:
1. Extractive industries
Destructive resource use often results from extractive
industries such as mining, logging and fishing, on commercial
and small scales, and from the road building necessary to
develop them. Although these activities are regulated by the
government, implementation of regulatory safeguards is
inconsistent and hampered by limited resources.
2. Increased population density and urban sprawl
Population pressure as a threat to biodiversity stems mainly from
the encroachment into, and exploitation of, biologically important
areas by impoverished people whose primary concern is survival.
Such people often migrate in substantial numbers between areas
and islands, having lost their lands through such factors as soil
erosion and exhaustion, landslips, and volcanic eruptions.
3. Conflicting policies
Unclear land use policies at the national level create confusion
and conflicts. Overlapping mandates and jurisdictions occur
with respect to the use and management of forest lands where
logging, mining, plantation, special uses and settlement
encroachment are concerned.
https://youtu.be/YHHEhZIq9TM
Reference:
•People and the Earth’s Ecosystem module by Joanne Diwata
and Michelle Ballesteros
REFERENCES:

Cunningham, W. P., Cunningham, M. A. (2018). Environmental Science, A Global Concern, 14th Edition

Thompson G.R., Turk, J., (2013). Earth Science and the Environment, Philippine Edition, printed in the Philippines by MG Reprographics

Krohne, D.T., (2012). General Ecology, 2nd Edition, printed in the Philippines by MG Reprographics

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http://ete.cet.edu/gcc/?/biodiversity_importance/ retrieved on September 6, 2020.

https://www.cepf.net/our-work/biodiversity-hotspots/philippines/threats retrieved September 6, 2020.

https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com retrieved September 6, 2020.

https://www.who.int/globalchange/ecosystems/biodiversity/ retrieved September 6, 2020.

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-biology2xmaster/chapter/threats-to-biodiversity/ retrieved on September 6, 2020.