THE ECOSYSTEM CONCEPT

There are many definitions for ecosystem. The definition of Christopherson (1997) seems quite workable, but so are quite a few others. Ecosystem definition: An ecosystem is a natural system consisting of all plants, animals and microorganisms (biotic factors) in an area functioning together with all the non-living physical (abiotic) factors of the environment (Christopherson 1997). The term ecosystem was coined in 1930 by Roy Clapham, to denote the physical and biological components of an environment considered in relation to each other as a unit. British ecologist Arthur Tansley later refined the term, describing it as the interactive system established between biocoenosis (a group of living creatures) and their biotope (the environment in which they live). Central to the ecosystem concept is the idea that living organisms are continually engaged in a set of relationships with every other element constituting the environment in which they exist. Ecosystems can be bounded and discussed with tremendous variety of scope, and describe any situation where there is relationship between organisms and their environment. The term ecosystem (a contraction of ecological system) is generally understood as to the entire assemblage of organisms (plant, animal and other living beingsalso referred to as a biotic community or biocoenosis) living together in a certain space with their environment (or biotope), functioning as a loose unit. Together, these components and their interactions with and relationships to each other form a dynamic and complex new whole, functioning as an "ecological unit", with additional characteristics that can't be found in the individual components. Nor could any organism live completely on its own without involving any other species of organism. There are no conceptual restrictions on how large or small a space or an area must be to host an ecosystem, nor on the minimum numbers species or individual organisms to be present. Early conceptions of an ecosystem were as a structured functional unit in equilibrium of energy and matter flows among constituent elements. Some considered this vision limited, and preferred to view an ecosystem in terms of cybernetics, which, like any other type of system, is governed by the rules of systems science and cybernetics, as applied specifically to collections of organisms and relevant abiotic components. The branch of ecology that gave rise to this view has become known as systems ecology.

Politically, the concept has become important, since the Convention on Biological Diversity, (CBD), signed by almost 200 nations. The CBD formulates the concept in the following definition: "Ecosystem" means a dynamic complex of plant, animal and micro-organism communities and their non-living environment interacting as a functional unit" (Convention on the Biological Diversity, 1992). With the need of protecting ecosystems, the political need arose to describe and identify them within a reasonable time and cost-effectively. The IUCN task force on Protected Areas System Composition and Monitoring (Vreugdenhil et al 2003) argued that this could most effectively be achieved using a physiognomic-ecological classification systems, as they are easily recognizable in the field as well as on satellite images. They argued that the structural characteristics - such as forest, savannah, bush-like, prairie vegetations, seasonality of the vegetation and leafmorphology - complemented with geophysical data - such as elevation, humidity, drainage, salinity of water, characteristics of water bodies - each are determining modifiers that separate partially distinct sets of species. They argued that this is true not only for plant species, but also for species of animals, fungi and bacteria. The degree of ecosystem distinction is subject to the physiognomic classifiers or modifiers that can be recognized on a satellite image and/or in the field. Based on that principle, they developed a methodology for ecosystem mapping, which you can find here. The principle is that physiognomic ecological vegetation classes also represent ecosystem classes, as those vegetation classes represent ecological conditions with partially distinct assemblages of both plants and animal species. Several physiognomic-ecological are available: the UNESCO system: PhysiognomicEcological Classification of Plant Formations of the Earth, Mueller Dombois and Ellenberg, 1974, and its derivatives, developed by the United States Vegetation Committee USVCS and the FAO developed Land Cover Classification System, LCCS. Several systems aquatic systems are available and an effort is being made by the USGS to design yet another ecosystem classification system that covers both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, but it is not clear how that has been progressing. The UNESCO system related classification variants all allow fairly to rather detailed (depending on the use of floristic elements) distinction of biounits with a reasonable degree of geographical consistency. From the previous analysis of modifiers, it may be clear that these classification systems not only provide information that leads to

definitions of the vegetation types, but about conditions that determine the suitability of that location to representatives of any taxon - including fauna - particularly when complemented with additional faunal characteristics when appropriate. From the previous consideration, it may be deducted that different recombinations of modifiers most likely lead to partial different assemblages of species. Particularly by incorporating an aquatic formation, sets or assemblages of ecosystems and species can be be added that were not considered in the original design of the UNESCO classification system. The different ecosystem classification systems and definitions are reviewed here. CHAPTER 9: Introduction to the Biosphere (j). Introduction to the Ecosystem Concept Introduction In topic 9d, an ecosystem was defined as a dynamic entity composed of a biological community and its associated abiotic environment. Often the dynamic interactions that occur within an ecosystem are numerous and complex. Ecosystems are also always undergoing alterations to their biotic and abiotic components. Some of these alterations begin first with a change in the state of one component of the ecosystem which then cascades and sometimes amplifies into other components because of relationships. In recent years, the impact of humans has caused a number of dramatic changes to a variety of ecosystems found on the Earth. Humans use and modify natural ecosystems through agriculture, forestry, recreation, urbanization, and industry. The most obvious impact of humans on ecosystems is the loss of biodiversity. The number of extinctions caused by human domination of ecosystems has been steadily increasing since the start of the Industrial Revolution. The frequency of species extinctions is correlated to the size of human population on the Earth which is directly related to resource consumption, land-use change, and environmental degradation. Other human impacts to ecosystems include species invasions to new habitats, changes to the abundance and dominance of species in communities, modification of biogeochemical cycles, modification of hydrologic cycling, pollution, and climatic change.

Major Components of Ecosystems Ecosystems are composed of a variety of abiotic and biotic components that function in an interrelated fashion. Some of the more important components are: soil, atmosphere, radiation from the Sun, water, and living organisms. Soils are much more complex than simple sediments. They contain a mixture of weathered rock fragments, highly altered soil mineral particles, organic matter, and living organisms. Soils provide nutrients, water, a home, and a structural growing medium for organisms. The vegetation found growing on top of a soil is closely linked to this component of an ecosystem through nutrient cycling. The atmosphere provides organisms found within ecosystems with carbon dioxide for photosynthesis and oxygen for respiration. The processes of evaporation, transpiration, and precipitation cycle water between the atmosphere and the Earth's surface. Solar radiation is used in ecosystems to heat the atmosphere and to evaporate and transpire water into the atmosphere. Sunlight is also necessary for photosynthesis. Photosynthesis provides the energy for plant growth and metabolism, and the organic food for other forms of life. Most living tissue is composed of a very high percentage of water, up to and even exceeding 90%. The protoplasm of a very few cells can survive if their water content drops below 10%, and most are killed if it is less than 30-50%. Water is the medium by which mineral nutrients enter and are translocated in plants. It is also necessary for the maintenance of leaf turgidity and is required for photosynthetic chemical reactions. Plants and animals receive their water from the Earth's surface and soil. The original source of this water is precipitation from the atmosphere. Ecosystems are composed of a variety of living organisms that can be classified as producers, consumers, or decomposers. Producers or autotrophs, are organisms that can manufacture the organic compounds they use as sources of energy and nutrients. Most producers are green plants that can manufacture their food through the process of photosynthesis. Consumers or heterotrophs get their energy and nutrients by feeding directly or indirectly on producers. We can distinguish two main types of consumers. Herbivores are consumers that eat plants for their energy and nutrients. Organisms that feed on herbivores are called carnivores. Carnivores can also consume other carnivores. Plants and animals supply organic matter to the soil system through shed tissues and death. Consumer organisms that feed on this organic

matter, or detritus, are known as detritivores or decomposers. The organic matter that is consumed by the detritivores is eventually converted back into inorganic nutrients in the soil. These nutrients can then be used by plants for the production of organic compounds. The following graphical model describes the major ecosystem components and their interrelationships (Figure 9j-1).

Figure 9j-1: Relationships within an ecosystem. Energy and Matter Flow in Ecosystems Many of the most important relationships between living organisms and the environment are controlled ultimately by the amount of available incoming energy received at the Earth's surface from the Sun. It is this energy which helps to drive biotic systems. The Sun's energy allows plants to convert inorganic chemicals into organic compounds. Only a very small proportion of the sunlight received at the Earth's surface is transformed into biochemical form. Several studies have been carried out to determine this amount. A study of an Illinois cornfield reported that 1.6% of the available solar radiation was photosythetically utilized by the corn. Other data suggests that even the most efficient ecosystems seldom incorporate more than 3% of the available solar insolation. Most ecosystems fix less than 1% of the sunlight available for photosynthesis.

Living organisms can use energy in basically two forms: radiant or fixed. Radiant energy exists in the form of electromagnetic energy, such as light. Fixed energy is the potential chemical energy found in organic substances. This energy can be released through respiration. Organisms that can take energy from inorganic sources and fix it into energy rich organic molecules are called autotrophs. If this energy comes from light then these organisms are called photosynthetic autotrophs. In most ecosystems plants are the dominant photosynthetic autotroph. Organisms that require fixed energy found in organic molecules for their survival are called heterotrophs. Heterotrophs who obtain their energy from living organisms are called consumers. Consumers can be of two basic types: Consumer and decomposers. Consumers that consume plants are know as herbivores. Carnivores are consumers who eat herbivores or other carnivores. Decomposers or detritivores are heterotrophs that obtain their energy either from dead organisms or from organic compounds dispersed in the environment. Once fixed by plants, organic energy can move within the ecosystem through the consumption of living or dead organic matter. Upon decomposition the chemicals that were once organized into organic compounds are returned to their inorganic form and can be taken up by plants once again. Organic energy can also move from one ecosystem to another by a variety of processes. These processes include: animal migration, animal harvesting, plant harvesting, plant dispersal of seeds, leaching, and erosion. The following diagram models the various inputs and outputs of energy and matter in a typical ecosystem (Figure 9j-2).

Figure 9j-2: Inputs and outputs of energy and matter in a typical ecosystem.

Study Guide Source: The IUCN task force on Protected Areas System Composition and Monitoring (Vreugdenhil et al 2003) Key words: ecosystem, concept, definition This page is part of our web-book on Biodiversity Conservation. For organized reading go to our on-line Table of Content, or download our book in pdf format. Additional Readings Internet Weblinks Citation: Pidwirny, M. (2006). " Introduction to the Ecosystem Concept". Fundamentals of Physical Geography, 2nd Edition . Date Viewed. http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/9j.html