PPISMP TESL INSTITUT PERGURUAN KENT, TUARAN

ENVIRONMENTBY:

ALICIA SU YUN SHANKRISTIE JACQUELINE LAU

MIKO LAU WEE NASHARON WONG MIN YING

Overview• Ecosystems are made up of abiotic and biotic components.• Energy is continually input into an ecosystem in the form of

light energy, and some energy is lost with each transfer to a higher trophic level. Nutrients, on the other hand, are recycled within an ecosystem. So, "energy flows, elements cycle".

• Energy is moved through an ecosystem via a food web, which is made up of interlocking food chains. Energy is first captured by photosynthesis (primary production). The amount of primary production determines the amount of energy available to higher trophic levels.

• The study of how chemical elements cycle through an ecosystem is termed biogeochemistry.

• Ecosystem function is controlled mainly by two processes, "top-down" and "bottom-up" controls.

• A biome is a major vegetation type extending over a large area. Biome distributions are determined largely by temperature and precipitation patterns on the Earth's surface.

KEY CONCEPTS AND

DEFINITION OF ENVIRONMENT

Biotic components

• The biotic components of a ecosystem are the living organisms that exist in the system. These organisms can be classified as producers, consumers or decomposers.

• Producers are able to capture the sun’s energy through photosynthesis and absorb nutrients from the soil, storing them for future use by themselves and by other organisms.

• Grasses, shrubs, trees, mosses, lichens, and cyanobacteria are some of the many producers found.

• Consumers are organisms that consume plant and/or animal material to gain their energy for growth and activity.

• Consumers are further divided into three types :Herbivores eat only plants.Omnivores eat both plants and animals.Carnivores eat only animals.

• Decomposers include the insects, fungi, algae and bacteria both on the ground and in the soil that help to break down the organic layer to provide nutrients for growing plants.

http://www.bcgrasslands.org/grasslands/bioticcomponents.htm

ABIOTIC COMPONENTS

•_____( 2009). Abiotic Components. Retrieved

March 23, 2010,fromhttp://www.bcb.uwc.ac.za/Sci_Ed/grade10/ecology/abiotic/abiot.htm

ABIOTIC components

• Non-living chemical or physical factors in the environment.

• Solar energy provides practically all the energy for ecosystems.

• Inorganic substances, e.g., sulfur, boron, tend to cycle through ecosystems.

• Organic compounds, such as proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and other complex molecules, form a link between biotic and abiotic components of the system.

• Light Quality of light(wavelength or colour) Light intensity( strength of the light) Day length(length of the light period)

• Climate- Includes the rainfall, temperature and

wind patterns that occurs in an area.

• Water Water requirements of plants Water requirements of animals The water cycle in nature

• Topography- Is the variety of shapes found on the landscape

determined by slopes, elevation and aspects.

• Soil Soil texture Soil air Soil temperature Soil water Soil solution pH

• Natural disturbance-change of grasslands in many ways, adding to the

diversity of these ecosystem.- flooding(broken trees, move soil); lighting storms

(kill small trees).

BIODIVERSITY

• Definition- the variety of all forms of life, from genes to species, through the broad scale of ecosystem.

• Ecosystem- the interaction between living things and non-living things.

• Genetic diversity• Species diversity

Five Kingdom System

Human LionsKingdom Animalia

Phylum Chordata

(subphylum) Vertebrata

Class Mamalia

Order Bimata Carnivora

Family Hominidee Felidae

Genus Home Panthera

Species Sapiens Panthera pardus

Types of Ecosystem in Malaysia1. Lowland forest-up to 300 metres, meranti, keruing,

proboscis, rafflesia, orang utan, wild orchids, rhodondenrong.

2. Montane forest-(800-1700 metres)- wild orcgid, magnolia,fern, mosses

3. Mangrove forest- nipah, mangrove, saltwater crocodile, fish, shrimp.

4. Peat swamp forest- shark, catfish, bettas, loaches, tapah, arowana.

5. Sulu-sulawesi seas- parrot fish, barrocuda, turtle, dolphin, manta rays, coral reef

Factors contributing to decline1. Habitat destruction -development of agriculture, housing, logging,

industry.2. Overexploitation -fish bombing, commercial hunting3. Introduction of new species

-foreign plants or animals are being transferred.4. Pollution

-acid rain, run off from agricultural land, ozone depletion

Nutrient cycle

• Nutrient cycle is studied in terms of specific nutrients, with each nutrient in an environment having its own particular pattern of cycling.

• Among the most important nutrient cycles are the carbon nutrient cycle and the nitrogen cycle.

ENERGY FLOW IN ECOSYSTEMS

• All organisms require energy for growth, maintenance, reproduction, and locomotion.

• Hence, for all organisms there must be a source of energy and a loss of usable energy.

Types of energy• heat energy

• mechanical energy (+gravitational energy, etc.)

• chemical energy = energy stored in molecular bonds

Energy flow• Simplistically:

• This pattern of energy flow among different organisms is the TROPHIC STRUCTURE of an ecosystem.

heat

Producers Consumers

Decomposers

heat

Hydrological cycle• The cycle where water circulates from the land to the sky and

back again.• The stages of the cycle are:Evaporation- Water is transferred from the surface to the

atmosphere.Transport-The movement of water through the atmosphere,

specifically from over the oceans to over land.Condensation-The transported water vapour eventually

condenses, forming tiny droplets in clouds. Precipitation-The primary mechanism for transporting water from the

atmosphere to the surface of the earth.Groundwater -Some of the underground water is trapped between

rock or clay layers.Run-off-Most of the water which returns to land flows downhill.

Food chain• A food chain shows how each living thing gets its food.• It also shows the transfer of energy from one trophic level to

another.• For example, a simple food chain links the trees & shrubs,

the giraffes (that eat trees & shrubs), and the lions (that eat the giraffes).

• Each link in this chain is food for the next link. A food chain always starts with plant life and ends with an animal.

• Combinations of food chains will create a food web. Food web consists of all the food chains in a community linked.

Terminology of trophic levels

• Producers -capture energy, produce complex organic compounds

• Primary consumers--feed on producers

• Secondary consumers--feed on primary consumers

• Tertiary consumers--feed on secondary consumers

• Plants are called producers because they are able to use light energy from the Sun to produce food (sugar) from carbon dioxide and water.

• Animals cannot make their own food so they must eat plants and/or other animals. They are called consumers. There are three groups of consumers.

• Animals that eat ONLY PLANTS are called herbivores (or primary consumers).

• Animals that eat OTHER ANIMALS are called carnivores.carnivores that eat herbivores are called secondary

consumerscarnivores that eat other carnivores are called tertiary

consumerse.g., killer whales in an ocean food web ... phytoplankton → small fishes → seals → killer whales

• Animals and people who eat BOTH animals and plants are called omnivores.

• Then there are decomposers (bacteria and fungi) which feed on decaying matter.

Interrelationship

ENVIRONMENTIssues happen

in ecology system

La Nina Phenomenon

• The phenomenon has to do with the sea surface temperatures in the eastern and central area of the tropical Pacific Ocean. 

• The La Nina is usually described as a cooler than average sea surface temperature in this area of the Pacific.

La Nina

• It is generally caused by a cooler than average sea surface in the tropical area of the Pacific.

• This causes the cold water to move up to the surface of the waters when the atmosphere is moving in a generally eastward direction, as well as the oceanic waves which are also moving east.

La nina

• La Nina, in general, tends to produce drier weather conditions than normal across the central plains during the fall season, a drier southeast during the winter months.

• The El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the coupled ocean-atmosphere process that includes both El Nino and La Nina.

El Nino or

Southern Oscillation

• an abnormal warming of surface ocean waters in the eastern tropical Pacific.

• South American fisherman have given this phenomenon the name El Nino, which is Spanish for "The Christ Child," because it comes about the time of the celebration of the birth of the Christ Child-Christmas.

El Nino or Southern Oscillation

• They occur as a result of some kind of interaction that occurs between the atmosphere in the tropic Pacific and the surface of the ocean waters.

• When this ocean system becomes warm, we call it El Nino.

• When the ocean system becomes cold, it is usually referred to as the La Nina phenomenon..

How the Phenomena of the La Nina and the El Nino occur

NORMAL CONDITION

• Strong trade winds blow from the east along the equator, pushing warm water into the Pacific Ocean. The thermocline layer of water is the area of transition between the warmer surface waters and the colder water of the bottom.

• Because the surface water is push westward toward Indonesia, the sea level is roughly half a meter higher in the western Pacific than in the east. Thus you have warmer, deeper waters in the western Pacific and cooler, shallower waters in the east near the coast of South America.

Normal condition

• TOPEX/POSEIDON global topography maps are used to study ocean surface circulation. Here the highest sea elevation (shown in red) is in the western Pacific Ocean.

• In the east the water cools the air above it, and the air becomes too dense to rise to produce clouds and rain. However; in the western Pacific the air is heated by the water below it, increasing the buoyancy of the lower atmosphere thus increasing the likelihood of rain. This is why heavy rain storms are typical near Indonesia while Peru is relatively dry.

EL NINO CONDITION

• happens when weakening trade winds allow the warmer water from the western Pacific to flow toward the east. This flattens out the sea level, builds up warm surface water off the coast of South America, and increases the temperature of the water in the eastern Pacific.

• The deeper, warmer water in the east limits the amount of nutrient-rich deep water normally surfaced by the upwelling process. More importantly, the different water temperatures tend to change the weather of the region.

• What happens to the ocean also affects the atmosphere. Tropical thunderstorms are fueled by hot, humid air over the oceans. The hotter the air, the stronger and bigger the thunderstorms. As the Pacific's warmest water spreads eastward, the biggest thunderstorms move with it.

El Nino condition

• Off the east coast of southern Africa, drought conditions often occur. In countries such as Zimbabwe, the effects of drought can be devastating.

• The clouds and rainstorms associated with warm ocean waters also shift toward the east. Thus, rains which normally would fall over the tropical rain forests of Indonesia start falling over the deserts of Peru, causing forest fires and drought in the western Pacific and flooding in South America.

• higher temperatures in western Canada and the upper plains of the United States, colder temperatures in the southern United States. The east coast of southern Africa often experiences drought during El Nino.

DEFORESTATION

• permanent destruction of indigenous forests and woodlands.

• Trees cannot be grow again and replanted at the rate at which they are being cut down.

• Deforestation leads to higher Carbon Dioxide levels in the air.

Deforestation

• It contributes to the greenhouse effects. The trees are large carbon dioxide stores, and when the trees are burnt they release this gas. This leads to an increase in the carbon dioxide levels in the air.

• Trees draw water up through their roots and release it into the atmosphere (transpiration). If the trees are removed, the region cannot hold as much water and will become drier.

• If there are no trees, the land becomes far more unstable than before. The roots from the trees no longer exist and therefore it leaves the forest floor open to erosion and mudslides.

Effects of deforestation

• The land also becomes sandy and dry as the sun can now penetrate deep into the forest, where before, the tree-cover blocked out the damaging rays. When this occurs plants living near the cut down tree die and wither in the sun.

• The local animals are effected just as much as the people. Their natural habitats are destroyed and species become extinct.

• Native people living in forest areas are pushed out of their homes and have to encroach on more of the forest. They cannot go anywhere else because they only know how to survive on the plants in the forest.

ARTICLE ON CLIMATE CHANGE

THE END