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ENEV 223
Engineering, Environment, and Society

Jinkai Xue, Ph.D., P.Eng.

Associate Professor
Environmental Systems Engineering
Topic 7 Ecosystems
Faculty of Engineering & Applied Science
University of Regina
Fall 2024

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Ecology Ecological Organization

• The scientific study of interactions between organisms and their environments, 1. Population: a group of organisms of one species living and interacting in the
focusing on energy transfer same place at the same time
• Ecology is a science of relationships 2. Community: several interacting populations that inhabit a common region and
are interdependent
3. Ecosystem: populations in a community and the abiotic factors with which they
interact (i.e. marine, terrestrial)

Wikipedia

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Population Community:

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Ecosystem: Ecosystems
An ecosystem is self-sustaining if the following requirements are met:
1. A constant source of energy and a living system capable of
incorporating this energy into organic material
2. A cycling of materials between organisms and their environment
(biotic and abiotic)
CO 2

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Ecosystem is a system, an extremely complex one… Energy flow in ecosystems

• What drives it?

• Energy is the basis of life.
• Two laws of physics describe the way in which trillions of energy transformations The earth’s energy
per second take place all over the world. input and output, a
good example of the
• Laws of thermodynamics first law of
1. The law of conservation of energy: energy can neither be created nor destroyed; it thermodynamics
is merely changed from one form into another.
2. The law of entropy: when energy is transformed from one form into another, there
is always a decrease in the quantity of usable energy.

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The process of • Photosynthesis: Through this process plants combine

photosynthesis carbon dioxide and water, using energy from the sun,
into high energy carbohydrates, such as starches,
cellulose, and sugars.
Food chain
• Cellular respiration: this process involves a kind of
reversal of the photosynthesis process in which
energy is released rather than captured.

• Autotrophs/Producers: Organisms with the ability to

Foods chains
capture energy and manufacture matter. Food webs
• Photo(auto)trophs
• Chemoautotrophs

• Heterotrophs/Consumers: Organisms obtain energy

supply through eating other organisms.
• Herbivores
• Carnivores
• Omnivores
• Detritivores

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A simplified Great Lakes food web

Biotic and Abiotic Factors

Generalized pyramid of energy flow
• Biotic - The living factors in an organism’s
environment
• Abiotic - The nonliving factors in an organism’s
environment

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Ecosystem Health
Biomes, the largest
classification of life forms.
• Protecting ecosystems requires knowledge of what makes them tick
• Living organisms, the environment & the energy contained within the systems
make up the ecosystem
• Land-based (terrestrial) ecosystems include
• forests, deserts, jungles, tundra, and meadows
• Water-based (aquatic) ecosystems include
• streams, rivers, lakes, marshes, estuaries, and oceans

Influence of temperature
and rainfall on biome

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• In an ecosystem with little diversity

o A stable ecosystem is characterized by high diversity – high numbers and
• only a few different species of organisms
interrelationships of species
• The situation is more unstable and susceptible to effects of external
o If any one species disappears by natural or human causes, other species are
stressors
able to occupy and take over its role
• Disappearance of a group of organisms is more likely to severely
o Thus a stable ecosystem has some capacity to withstand external streses disrupt an ecosystem with little diversity
without being disrupted or damaged extensively
o Pollution, construction, hunting • Diversity of species provides a safety factor or buffer against ecological
disruptions

Good • A low diversity ecosystem is most often association with pollution

High diversity
resilience

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Ecosystem & Feedback Loops Geosystem

• A chain of cause-and-effect responses where the output from an event can
become an input • Where does all of this take place?
• Negative feedback loop: input and output neutralize each other by dynamic equilibrium
resulting in homeostasis (stabilized) • Systems are that are connected through
• Positive feedback loop: drive the ecosystem to one of the extremes. More common when Natural Cycles
humans alter the environment
• Note positive refers to change not desired outcome! (i.e. loss of rain, leads to loss of forest
and loss of moisture)

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Geosystem’s 5 major spheres Biosphere

• Biosphere - all living things, plant and animal.
• Geosphere (Lithosphere) - solid inorganic portion of the Earth (composed of • Also known as “the Zone of Life”
rocks, minerals and elements). • Wherever life can be found (i.e. deep water
thermal vents)
• Hydrosphere - the waters of the Earth
• The Biosphere is composed of
• Anthrosphere - the human environment, Humans and all parts and processes of numerous complex ecosystems
the Earth that they influence
• Atmosphere - the vast gaseous envelope of air that surrounds the Earth

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Geosphere Hydrosphere

• This is the solid Earth • All water on Earth

• ~1,260,000,000,000,000,000,000 L (± a few L)
• 94% of earth is composed of • The planet is covered by ~70% water
oxygen, iron, silica, and • Water breakdown:
magnesium • Oceans have ~98%
• Layers of the geosphere include: • Fresh water ~2% (of which 1.6% is frozen at the
poles)
• Lithosphere
• Aquifers (groundwater) holds ~0.4%
• Mantle • Rivers, lakes hold <0.04%
• Inner core • Rest is in clouds, plants, animals and us
• Outer core

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Anthrosphere Atmosphere

• Which consists of all humans and their hominid • The atmosphere is a gaseous envelope that surrounds the Earth
ancestors • This takes into account everything from the surface to the vacuum of
• Unlike the other spheres which have been occurring space
for billions of years Hominids have only been around
since the Pliocene (<4 million years)
Exosphere meets space

Mesosphere interacts with solar wind

Stratosphere home of the O 3 blanket

Troposphere home to our pollution
http://gallery.bridgesmathart.org/exhibitions/2012-
bridges-conference/wduffy

Anthrosphere
Sculpted by W illiam Duffy

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Interconnection

• Why look at these cycles - everything is connected…

water, air, soil, biota
Because of the universal connections, we look at cycles…

Air Water
Important to note –
movement ≠ breakdown of
compounds

Soil Biota

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Cycling of matter in ecosystems Carbon Cycle

• The Earth is essentially a closed system, as such there are defined movements of
matter through a system
• Matter cycles through ecosystems – called biogeochemical cycles
• Carbon
• Hydrologic (water)
• Nitrogen
• Phosphorus
• Sulphur

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Carbon Cycle Hydrologic Cycle

oLife depends on carbon

o Photosynthesis - carbon is fixed in plant growth
o Respiration - carbon is given back to the environment in the form of CO2

Photosynthesis Cellular respiration

CO2 Sugar CO2
oAtmosphere
o Greenhouse Gases – for Greenhouse effect
oWater buffering (acidity control)
o Bicarbonate = HCO3- and Carbonate = CO32-
oLithosphere
o Carbonate rocks and Fossil fuels

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Hydrologic Cycle Residence Times Hydrologic Cycle

o Water is continually cycled Reservoir Residence Time

• Life as we know it depends on water
between reservoirs Soil moisture 1 to 2 months
• Carries nutrients
o Water in the atmosphere is Rivers 2 to 6 months • Carries sediments
replaced once every 8 days Seasonal snow cover 2 to 6 months • Distributes pollutants (and dilutes)
Glaciers 20 to 100 years • Forms of Water
Lakes 50 to 100 years • Vapor - evaporation, transpiration
• Liquid - precipitation, runoff, surface water (lakes, rivers)
Groundwater (shallow) 100 to 200 years
• Groundwater - aquifers
Groundwater (deep) 10,000 to 40,000 years • 98% ocean, 2% fresh water
Ocean (as a whole)* 2,900 years

Ocean Atmosphere Land Ocean

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Anthropogenic Impacts on Hydrologic Cycle Nitrogen Cycle

• Dams can increase evaporation
• Dams can alter vegetation
• Agricultural fields can decrease water level in rivers and streams
• Water use can lower / alter water tables
• Pollutants we discharge into water
• Conflicts for water (for information, consumption, use, and preservation)

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41303082

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1303506/chinese-dam-concerns-raise-fears-
future-water-conflict

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Nitrogen Cycle Nitrogen Fixation

• Atmosphere is 78% N 2
• Essential ingredient for DNA and RNA o Specialized bacteria: rhizobacteria, a.k.a. rhizospheric bacteria
• Essential to plant growth o Split atmospheric nitrogen and combine it with hydrogen
• Major Steps
• Nitrogen fixation - specialized bacteria and lightning are the only natural ways that
nitrogen is fixed, which is the conversion of N 2 to reactive forms of NH 4+ (ammonium)
• Nitrification - transforms NH 4+ (ammonium) to NO 2- (nitrite) and then to NO 3- (nitrate)
• Assimilation - formation of organic nitrogen using the NO 3-
• Ammonification - puts nitrogen back in soil in the form NH 3
-
• Denitrification - puts nitrogen back in atmosphere, conversion from NO 3 back to N 2

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Anthropogenic Impacts on Nitrogen Cycle Phosphorus Cycle

• Excess nitrogen from agriculture practices
• Can cause hypoxia - dead zone in the Gulf
• Synthetic ammonia increased food production since 1950s
• Factors related to human population growth
• Nitrogen fixation has been doubled
• NOx have increased in the atmosphere creating nitric acid (acid rain, HNO3) and
nitric oxide (smog, nitrogen monoxide)

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Phosphorus Cycle Phosphorus Cycle

o Not an atmospheric component
o Phosphates in DNA and ATP (chemical energy) • Phosphorus is a necessary, limiting nutrient
o Phosphates move through the food chain • Phosphate runoff can cause eutrophication
• By increasing the nutrients in water
Land Organism Organism Land • Dissolved phases
o Phosphorous has no stable gas phase, so addition of P to land is slow
Organic
o Phosphorous is a strongly limiting nutrient because it cannot be transferred from the • Phosphoric acid, H 2PO 4-
ocean to plants very effectively • HPO 42-
• Polyphosphates
Inorganic
• Orthophosphate ion, PO 43-

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Sulfur Cycle
Depletion of global phosphate reserves and reserve base
(excluding reserves) under zero, low, intermediate and • Atmospheric reservoir is small
high growth scenarios (see text). The size of the future
reserve base is not known as it largely depends on future • Atmospheric lifetime short
phosphate prices.
• Atmospheric chemistry complex
• 2SO2 + O2 à 2SO3
• OH• + SO2 light à HO SO2 • water à SO42-
Global distribution of commercial reserves
of rock phosphate in 2016

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Environmental Awareness Adaptive Ecosystem Management

• Humans disrupt many, if not all cycles... As engineers, we are morally • Ecosystem Management: meeting the goals or objectives of the biotic community
and ethically obliged to consider the consequences of our acts and their associated abiotic components
• In the absence of humans, are the cycles stable? Probably • Adaptive Ecosystem Management:
• Developed in 1970 by Holling and Walters at UBC
not...change is a part of natural cycles • Acknowledges need of managers to learn while they manage
• Therefore we must consider when we create a molecule for profit we • Passive and active
must consider its fate when discarded • Why is this important? Do we know everything yet?

• i.e. plastic bottles now biodegradable

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Classifying Ecosystems - Biomes

Biomes, the largest
classification of life forms.

• Large, distinct terrestrial regions

• Climate is a determining factor
• Elevation also important
• Ten major biomes

Influence of temperature
and rainfall on biome

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Earth’s Terrestrial Biomes Tundra

• Extreme northern latitudes

• Short growing season
• Nutrient-poor soils, treeless
• Permafrost
• Limited precipitation
• Relatively few species
• Mosses, lichens, grasses, sedges
• Lemmings, arctic foxes, weasels, snowy
owls, caribou
• Mosquitoes, black flies, deerflies

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Boreal Forest Temperate Rain Forest

• Northern coniferous forest • NW North America, SE Australia,

• Just south of tundra Southern South America
• Cold, extreme winters
• Little precipitation
• Lots of precipitation
• Some permafrost • Mild winters, cool summers
• Acidic, mineral-poor soil • Nutrient-poor soil
• Coniferous trees: why? • Large evergreen trees
• Caribou, wolves, bears,
moose • Epiphytes
• Rodents, rabbits, mink, lynx • Plants growing on trees
• Abundant birds in summer • Mosses, ferns, lichens
• Squirrels, elk, birds, amphibians,
reptiles

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Temperate Deciduous Forest Case Study: Ontario’s Carolinian Forest

• SE Canada • Forest extends from Carolinas in US to

• Rich topsoil, clay beneath Southwest, ON
• Fair amount of precipitation • Close to 80% has been lost
• Dense canopy of trees
• Much of it was logged and cleared • Close to 40% of the species on Canada’s
• Originally: cougars, wolves, bison endangered and threatened species list live
• Deer, bears, many birds in the Carolinian Forest
• Today used for recreation,
livestock, timber harvest

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Temperate Grassland Rare Tall Grass Prairie

o Prairies of Canada • Biodiversity is high

o Agriculturally productive
• Deep rich soils
o Hot summers, cold winters, uncertain
precipitation • Home to over 200 plant species
o Mineral-rich, thick topsoil • Habitat for variety of wildlife
o Periodic wildfires
o Grasses, wild flowers, some trees • In Canada, tall grass prairie used to
o Herds of bison and elk stretch out across 6,000 km2 in MB and
o Wolves, coyotes, prairie dogs, grouse, reptiles, 1,200 km2 in ON
insects • Today, it is the rarest ecosystem in
Canada
• Have you heard of Native Prairie?

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Tropical Rain Forest Chaparral

• Central & South America, Africa, SE • Southern California mountaintops

Asia
• Warm temperatures, lots of rain • Mediterranean climate
• Ancient, mineral-poor soil • Abundant rain, dry summer
• Species rich in diversity
• Thin, infertile soil
• Topmost: emergent layer
• Middle: canopy • Dense evergreen shrubs
• Bottom: understory
• Most species in the canopy • Fire-adapted plants
• Insects, reptiles, amphibians, birds, • Mule deer, wood rats, lizards, birds
mammals

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Savanna Desert

• Africa, South America, India, • Dry areas, major temperature change in 24

hours
northern Australia
• Temperate, subtropical, tropical
• Intense seasonal rainfall • Soil low in organic material, salty
• Prolonged dry periods • Sparse plant cover
• Little temperature variation • Cacti, yuccas, Joshua trees
• Soil low in nutrients • Animals usually small
• Grasses, occasional trees • Tarantulas, scorpions, reptiles, kangaroo
rats, owls
• Large herds: wildebeest,
antelope, giraffe, elephant
• Lions, hyenas

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Earth’s Aquatic Biomes Flowing-Water Ecosystems

• Freshwater environments • Rivers, streams

• Flowing water • Highly variable
• Standing water
• Flooding
• Saltwater environments
• Estuaries • Some areas shaded, others not
• Mangroves • Organisms vary depending on
currents
• Benefits of flowing water?

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Standing-Water Ecosystems Lets focus on Freshwater Wetlands

• Lakes, ponds, wetlands

• Marshes, swamps, wetlands, sloughs
• Littoral: shallow, along shore
• Limnetic: open water; extends down to where sunlight penetrates • Waterlogged soils
• Profundal: deepest; no light penetration • Waterfowl, other birds
• Beaver, otters, fish
• Wetlands can:
• Reduce flooding
• Ease the impact of drought
• Recharge groundwater supplies
• Improve water filtration to
groundwater
• Maintain hydrologic balance

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Wetlands Wetlands Design for Treatment

Windsor Park North Treatment Wetland
• Marshy land that supports diversity of life, purifies water, and enriches soil organic matter
• First constructed engineered wetland in SK
• Was designed and built in 2004-5
• Is meant to treat stormwater for:
• Sediment content
• Nutrient content (dissolved and suspended)
• Microbial content
• Metals, oils and greases content

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Wetlands Benefits: Water Quality

• Water filtration by physical, chemical,

and biological methods
• Physical – filtration and sorption
• Chemical – D pH, buffers, speciation
(metals), dissolution, etc.
• Biological – plants, insects & microbes

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Water quality improvements can be achieved for:

- Reduced suspended sediments (settling) Wetlands Benefits
- Reduced nutrient concentration (biological uptake and metabolism)
• Wetlands can be sources, sinks, or transformers of chemicals in the water, soils,
- Reduced metals content (biological uptake) or gases
Water Quality Parameter % Reduction in • Source = supplier of nutrients to other habitats
Concentration • Sink = "holder" of nutrients from other habitats
Total Suspended Solids (TSS) 72 % • Transformer = takes nutrients in one form and gives them up as another
Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD5 ) 73 %
Nitrate (N) 62 %
Total Ammonia (N) 52 %
Total Nitrogen 53 %
Orthophosphate (P) 37 %
Total Phosphorous 56 %

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Changing Ecosystems and Evolution Natural Selection

• Change over time
• Populations evolve (not individuals) Tendency for better-adapted individuals
• “The cumulative genetic changes in populations that occur during successive generations” to survive and reproduce
1. Overproduction – high reproductive
• Natural selection capacity
• Mechanism of evolution
2. Variation – heritable or genetic traits shared
• Charles Darwin
with offspring
3. Struggle for survival – limits on population
growth, or a struggle for existence
4. Differential reproductive success – survival
of the fittest

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Ecological Succession
• Gradual change in plant species composition in a given area by a different species
• Ecologists formerly believed in a climax community: stable and persistent
• Communities are in a constant state of disturbance
• Measured in tens, hundreds, or thousands of years

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Primary Succession Primary Succession

• Start with nothing, as pioneer communities move in.
• As glaciers retreat, small plants cover the area, which eventually changes to small • As the community modifies its environment, often making it more difficult for
shrubs and trees, then eventually to spruces itself and more favorable for the following community which infiltrates the first
community over a period of years
• Lichens ® mosses ® grasses ® shrubs ® trees

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Secondary Succession Secondary Succession

• The return of an area to its natural vegetation

following a disruption or removal of the original
community
• This can include abandoned farm field, burned
forest, etc.
• This succession is often faster than primary
succession

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