THE STRUCTURE AND ARCHITECTURE OF THE ECOSYSTEM, DIVERSITY AND PRODUCTION RELATIONSHIPS.pptx
- 1. THE STRUCTURE AND ARCHITECTURE OF THE ECOSYSTEM, DIVERSITY AND PRODUCTION RELATIONSHIPS.
- 2. INTRODUCTION Earth is the only planet in the solar system that supports the complexities of life. The biosphere is the part of the earth that supports the existence of living things. This layer of living organisms ”the biosphere” through the collective metabolic activities of its innumerable plants, animals, and microbes physically and chemically unites the atmosphere, geosphere or lithosphere, and hydrosphere into one environmental system within which millions of species thrive. The study of the biosphere (living organisms) in relationship with its environment is known as ecology and it can only be understood and studied as an “fragmented” independent existing and functional unit known as the “ECOSYSTEM”.
- 3. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The objectives of this study include the following: To understand how the ecosystem is structured. To understand the architecture of the ecosystem. Lastly, to understand diversity and production relationships.
- 4. STRUCTURE AND ARCHITECTURE OF THE ECOSYSTEM A.G. Tansley (1935) defined ecosystem as the basic functional unit in nature. An ecosystem is also defined to be a functional and structural unit. This implies that each ecosystem has a definite structure and components, and that each component part of the system has a definite role to play in the functioning of the ecosystem.
- 5. STRUCTURE OF THE ECOSYSTEM According to Kinako et al. (1993) structure can be viewed as the component parts of a system, their make-up, arrangements, and interrelationships within the system. The ecosystem structure is a set of functional elements of ecosystem, which contains spatial location of each components (biotic and abiotic) and the relationships between them. Ecosystem structure is a network of interactions between components of the system ( Golley, 2000). Hence, ecosystem structures are made up of components.
- 6. COMPONENTS OF THE STRUCTURE OF AN ECOSYSTEM The structure of the ecosystem is made up of two (2) major components, which are: Abiotic components Biotic components
- 7. ABIOTIC COMPONENTS These components include the non-living physiochemical factors manifesting in the environment. They have a strong influence on the structure, distribution, behaviour and inter-relationship of organisms. Abiotic components of the ecosystem include: Inorganic substances: Inorganic substances like carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, water. These are available as free form or dissolved in water and may be adsorbed on the soil particles. Organic compounds: These are carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, nucleic acids etc. This material is present in dead organic matter. These are broken into the simple compounds by decomposers in ecosystem for recycling of matter. Climatic factors: These are factors present in the environment such as temperature, humidity, light, wind, rainfall an atmospheric gaseous etc. Radiant energy of sun is the only significant energy source for any ecosystem.
- 8. BIOTIC COMPONENTS The biotic components include all living organisms present in the environmental system. The Biotic components are further categorized into three based on their functions in the ecosystem, they are: Producers (Autotrophic components): The producers are the autotrophic elements, majorly green plants. They produce their own food by a process known as photosynthesis. 6H2O + 6CO2 → C6H12O6 + 6O2 Consumers: These are living members of the ecosystem which consume the food synthesized by producers. They are heterotrophs. The classes of consumers include primary consumers, secondary consumers and tertiary consumers. Decomposers or detritivores : They attack the dead remains of producers and consumers and degrade the complex organic substances into simpler compounds. They also change these organic compounds into the inorganic forms that are suitable for reuse by producers or green plants .
- 9. STRUCTURE OF THE ECOSYSTEM It is worthy to note at this point that the structure of an ecosystem also consists of the distribution of species population and this includes: Horizontal distribution: This could be random, regular or clumped. Vertical distribution: This refers to stratification (oceanic or terrestrial) and elevation. Temporal distribution.
- 10. ARCHITECTURE OF THE ECOSYSTEM Architecture can be defined as the synthesis to form in response to function. It can be said to be a configuration of a system in this case the ecological system; taking into account how its components (abiotic and biotic) relate or work or integrate with each other and the environment. Hence, it can rightly be said that the structure of the ecosystem defines the architecture of the ecosystem which can relatively be synonymous to the function of the ecosystem.
- 11. FUNCTIONS OF ECOSYSTEM The functions of the ecosystem include various activities or processes occurring within the ecosystem (Kinako et al., 1993). These activities occur simultaneously and they include: Biogeochemical cycling: The cyclic flow of nutrients between non-living environment (soil, rocks, air, water) and living organisms is known as biogeochemical cycle. It covers the various aspects of nutrient cycling from one component of the ecosystem to another. The major nutrient element i.e. carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, which form about 95% mass of the living organism, are circulated severally between living and non-living components of the ecosystem. Energy flow patterns: Although matter circulates, energy cannot be reused indefinitely. Energy flow is in a single direction from one trophic level to another. As these functions go on continually in different ecosystems, it leads to the further advancement or development of an ecosystem popularly known as ecological succession (Kinako et al., 1993).
- 12. DIVERSITY AND PRODUCTION RELATIONSHIPS Diversity is all about variation or the variability. In regards to living organism in an ecosystem; diversity is the variation or the variability among living organisms in other words, it can be called biodiversity. Biodiversity has three essential elements and it includes: Genetic diversity Species diversity Ecosystem diversity Diversity (biodiversity) is important as it helps in maintaining the balance of the ecosystem as well as provision of biological resources. The variation in biological diversity relates to the operations of ecosystems in these ways: Increase in diversity often leads to an increase in productivity due to complementary traits among species for resource use Productivity itself is necessary in all ecosystem services
- 13. PRODUCTION RELATIONSHIPS The term "Production" is the creation of new organic matter. Plants typically account for more than 90% of the total productivity of the food web, herbivores most of the rest, and carnivores less than 1%. Any dead plant or animal biomass is eventually consumed by decomposer organisms. There is a constant production relationship between the primary producers and the primary consumers. Due to the differences in the availabilities of solar radiation, water and nutrients the world's ecosystems differ greatly in the amount of productivity that they sustain.
- 14. PRODUCTION RELATIONSHIPS CONT’D Thus, ecosystems can be broadly divided into two groups depending on the fate of net production. On one hand are forest where biomass accumulation is high, herbivore consumption is low and much energy passes directly as litter to the decomposer organism. On the other hand are the aquatic ecosystems where biomass accumulation is low, herbivore consumption is high and the decomposer cycle is supplied by the producers and consumers together. It’s worthy to note that consumption is not only a fate on net production but also it has direct effect on the production capacity of producers that is green plants. Thus, by damaging growing terrestrial higher plants the rate of growth of herbivores may drastically reduce as well as their productive capacity.
- 15. CONCLUSION In summary, there are different ecosystems due to the ratio of the biotic and abiotic components in each micro and macro habitats and the interactions between them in different ratios. The processes in ecosystems are constantly changing in response to variation in environment over all time scale. This also has led to the variation in biological organisms (Biodiversity). Production is necessary in ecosystems their existence.
- 18. ECOSYSTEM STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS
- 19. SPECIES DISTRIBUTION cont’d • (a)Random distribution (b)Uniform distribution (regular) (c) Clumped distribution (aggregates)
- 20. THANK YOU.