TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY IN LIBEREC

Department of Power Engineering Equipment

Environmental Protection
Technics

01 – Introduction to Ecology

Doc. Ing. Jaroslav Šulc, CSc.

2017
 Introduction to Ecology
• The meaning of the word ecology
was given by German Biologist
Hackle in 1869.
• The word ecology is derived from
Greek words ‘Oikos’ meaning
house, habitat or place of living
and ‘Logos’ meaning to study.
• Ecology is defined as the study of
interrelationship of different
organisms with each other and
with their environment. It is
concerned with the general
principles that apply to both
animals and plants.
 Objectives of Ecological
Studies
• It is important for humanity to understand its
environment because we have the ability to modify
the environment through the use of technology, and
through overexploitation of natural resources as a
result of greed or sheer pressure of numbers.
Therefore, ecology is more than just the
understanding of the interrelationships between
organisms and their environment; it also has social,
political, economic and technological dimensions.
• It also is a study of evolutionary development of
organisms, the biological productivity and energy
flow in the natural system.
• To develop mathematical models to relate
interaction of parameters and to predict the effects
 Classification of Ecology
• Based on study area :
1. Autecology : It deals with the study of an individual
species of organisms and it’s population. The
ecologists study the behavior and adaptations of
particular species to the environmental condition at
every stage of that individual’s life cycle. It is also
called the Species ecology.

2. Synecology : It deals with the study of communities,

their composition, their behavior and relation with the
environment. It is also called as Ecology of
communities. It is further divided into 3 types : 1)
Population Ecology
2) Community Ecology
3) Ecosystem Ecology
 Classification of Ecology
2. Based on Environment or habitat
1) Aquatic ecology : The study of interaction of organisms in the water
1) Marine water ecology
i) Ocean
ii) Deep Sea
iii) Estuary
2) Freshwater Ecology
i) Letic (Running water)
a) River
b) Stream
c) Spring
ii) Lentic (Standing Water)
a) Pond
b) Lake
Fresh water river Coral reefs
 Classification of Ecology
2) Terrestrial Ecology : The study of interaction of organisms on land :
a. Grassland Ecology
b. Forest Ecology
c. Desert Ecology

3. Based on Advancement in
the field of ecology
a. Productive ecology
b. Population ecology
c. Community ecology
d. Ecosystem ecology
e. Microbial ecology
f. Radiation ecology
g. Pollution ecology
Forest
h. Space ecology
Ecology
 Ecosystem
• The term Ecosystem was first
proposed by A.G. Tansley in
1935. he defined it as “the
system resulting from the
interaction of all the living and
non living factors of the
Environment.
• An ecosystem consists of the
biological community that
occurs in some locale, and the
physical and chemical factors
that make up its non-living or
abiotic environment. There
are many examples of
ecosystems - a pond, a forest,
an estuary, a grassland.
Various types of Ecosystem
 Types of Ecosystem
1. Natural Ecosystems : These
operate under natural
conditions without any major
interference by man.
i. Terrestrial Ecosystem
: Forest, grassland, Lentic (standing water)
desert, etc.
lake ecosystem
ii. Aquatic Ecosystem :
a. Fresh water : Lotic
(running water like
spring, stream, or
rivers) or Lentic
(standing water as
lake, pond, pools,
etc.)
b. Marine water : Such
as deep bodies as
ocean or shallow
ones as Sea or an
estuary. Lotic (flowing water) river ecosystem
 Types of Ecosystem

2. Artificial (Man
Engineered)
Ecosystems :
These are
maintained
artificially by man
where by addition
of energy and
planned
manipulation, Crop land
natural balance is ecosystem
disturbed regularly
e.g., crop land
ecosystem.
Components of Ecosystem
Components of Ecosystem
1. Abiotic
• Consists of Non-living chemical & physical components such as
water, air, nutrients in the soil or water & Solar Energy.
• Physical & chemical factors that influence living organisms in land
(terrestrial) ecosystem & aquatic life zones.
• Abiotic factors can act as LIMITING FACTORS that keep a
population at a certain level.

Abiotic Components are mainly of two types:

1) Climatic Factors:
which include rain, temperature, light, wind, etc.
2) Edaphic Factors:
which include soil, pH, Topography, Minerals, etc.
 Components of Ecosystem
2. Biotic factors
• All the living things that directly or indirectly affect the ecosystem
biotic factors interact with other living organisms and the
physical environment can also be Limiting Factors ex. disease
(bacteria), predators, food resources.
• Made up of biological components consisting of living and dead
plants, animals and microorganisms.
• The Major Biological Components of Ecosystem :
a. Producers (Autotrophs)(self-feeders)
– Make their own food from compounds that are obtained from their
environment.
– Are the source of all food in an ecosystem.
– On land most producers are green plants.
– In freshwater and marine ecosystems, algae and plants are the
major producers near shorelines.
– In open water, the dominant producers are phytoplankton (most of
them microscopic) that float or drift in the water.
– Most producers capture sunlight to make carbohydrates (such as
glucose) by photosynthesis .
 Components of Ecosystem
b. Consumers (Heterotrophs) (“other feeders”)
Get their energy and nutrients by feeding on other
organisms or their remains.
i. Primary consumers : Are those that eat producers
(plants) as a source of food. They are also known as
herbivores.
ii. Secondary consumers or carnivores : Eat
other animals.
iii. Tertiary Consumers : Large Carnivores which
feed on secondary consumers.
iv. Quaternary Consumers : Largest Carnivores that
feed on tertiary consumers. They are not eaten by
any animals.
v. Omnivores : Have mixed diet that include both
plants and animals.
 Components of Ecosystem
3. Decomposer :
• Mostly certain types of
bacteria and fungi are
specialized consumers
that recycle organic
matter in ecosystems.
• They do this by
breaking down
(biodegrading) dead
organic material to get
nutrients and releasing
the resulting simpler
inorganic compounds
into the soil and water,
where they can be
taken up as nutrients
by producers.
 Hydrological Cycle
Pictorial Representation of :
HYDROLOGICAL CYCLE
 Definition & Description
• Definition : The water from various moist surface evaporates and falls again
on the earth in the form of rains and snow and passes through living
organisms and ultimately returns to the ocean or water bodies. This cycle is
called as hydrological cycle.

• Description : The hydrologic cycle involves the continuous circulation of

water in the Earth-Atmosphere system. At its core, the water cycle is the
motion of the water from the ground to the atmosphere and back again. Of
the many processes involved in the hydrologic cycle, the most important
are...

• Evaporation
• Transpiration
• Condensation
• Precipitation
• Infiltration
• Run-off
 Carbon Cycle
• The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is
exchanged among the biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere,
hydrosphere, and atmosphere of the Earth.
 Ecological Pyramids
• Graphic
representation of
trophic structure &
functioning of
ecosystem starting
with producers at
the base &
successive trophic
levels forming the
apex
 Pyramid Of Numbers:
• A pyramid of numbers is a
graphical representation of the
numbers of individuals in each
population in a food chain. Often
it is drawn from the autotrophic
level up. A pyramid of numbers
can be used to examine how the
population of a certain species
affects another. Often, the
autotrophic level in a pyramid of
numbers is much larger than any
of the higher trophic levels, and
the numbers decreases upon
ascending the pyramid. There
are exceptions, however. For
example, in a tree community, a
single tree could support many
different populations of larger
numbers.
 Pyramid of Biomass:
• Illustrates the amount of biomass in each trophic level
– Biomass weight is determined after dehydration
• Shows the amount
of matter lost
between trophic
levels.
• Measured in Kg,
grams or pounds
 Pyramid of Energy:
• Shows the energy available at each trophic level.
– The size of the blocks represents the proportion of productivity
– Measured in Joules or Calories
 Trophic
Structure
• All organisms in an ecosystem can be placed in trophic levels
depending on what energy source they rely upon and how they
provide energy for other organisms in the food web. With the
exception of life near hydrothermal vents in the deep ocean, life is
always dependent directly or indirectly on the energy from the sun.
In every ecosystem, there is an organism at the lowest level that
converts energy from the sun into useable energy for other
organisms.
 Food Chain
• Every organism needs to obtain energy in order to live. For example, plants
get energy from the sun, some animals eat plants, and some animals eat
other animals.
• A food chain is the sequence of who eats whom in a biological community
(an ecosystem) to obtain nutrition
 Food Web

• A food web (or food cycle) depicts feeding connections (what-eats-

what) in an ecological community and hence is also referred to as a
consumer-resource system.
• The food web is a simplified illustration of the various methods of
feeding that links an ecosystem into a unified system of exchange.
• Various food chains are often interlinked at different tropic levels to
form a complex interaction between different species from the point
of view of food.
• Food Web provides more than one alternatives of food to most of
the organisms in an ecosystem and thus increases their chances of
survival.
 Food Web
• Example : Food Web of organisms residing in the soil ( Soil
Ecosystem)
 Forest Ecosystem
• They have a predominance of trees that are interspersed with
large number of species of herbs, shrubs, climbers, lichens
algae & a variety of wild animals & birds.

• Depending upon the climatic conditions forests can be of

different types :
1. Tropical Rain Forest
2. Tropical Deciduous forests
3. Tropical Scrub Forests
4. Temperate Rain Forests
5. Temperate Deciduous Forests
6. Evergreen Coniferous Forests
 Desert – an ecosystem found
where there is very little rainfall.
• They occur in regions where evaporation exceeds
precipitation (rainfall, snow, etc.)
• Mainly two kinds of deserts:
– Hot deserts
– Cold deserts
• Hot deserts
– Temperatures are very warm all year round
– The summers are very hot
• Cold deserts
– Short, warm summers
– Long, cold winters
– Found in places near the north and south poles
 Desert Plants
Gila monster (lizard)

Main Components :
1. Desert Plants
2. Desert Animals

Camel

Roadrunner
 Grass Land Ecosystem
• A grassland ecosystem is an ecological unit that has physical factors like
water, soil and air, which help to establish that animals live there. The
plants, animals, microbes along with the water, soil and air they live in help
to create the ecosystem.
• About 1.2 × 108 mi2 (4.6 × 107 km2) of the Earth's surface is covered with
grasslands, which make up about 32% of the plant cover of the world.
• Grasslands occur in regions that are too dry for forests but that have
sufficient soil water to support a closed herbaceous plant canopy that is
lacking in deserts.
• Different kinds of grasslands develop within continents, and their
classification is based on similarity of dominant vegetation, presence or
absence of specific dominant species, or prevailing climate conditions.
1. Temperate grasslands
2. Tropical grasslands
3. Polar grasslands
• Grassland Soils are highly fertile & contain large amount of exchangeable
bases & organic matter.
 Estuaries
• An estuary is a semi closed coastal body of water that has free
connection with sea.
• An area in which fresh water from a river mixes with salt water from
the ocean; a transition area from the land to the ocean. Other
names: bay, sound, lagoon, harbor, or bayou

The Ocean

Area where
fresh and salt
water mix

River bringing
freshwater to
the sea
 Characteristics of Estuaries
• Very nutrient rich ecosystems  leads to high
productivity and high biodiversity.
• There is a gradual increase in salinity as you go
from the river (0-5ppt) to the middle of the
estuary (5-25ppt), to the ocean (>25 ppt) .
ppt = parts per thousand
• Sediment settles out in the estuary when the
water slows down.
• Nutrients accumulates on the bottom (benthic
zone).
• Pollutants are absorbed in estuaries.
 Aquatic Ecosystem
• An aquatic ecosystem is an ecosystem in a body of water.
Communities of organisms that are dependent on each other and on
their environment live in aquatic ecosystems
• Aquatic Ecosystem can be further classified into :
1. Fresh water Ecosystem
- Pond Ecosystem : small bodies of freshwater with shallow
and still
water, marsh, and aquatic plants
- Lake Ecosystem : slow moving water like pools, ponds, and
lakes.
- River Ecosystem : large streams flowing downwards from the
mountain highlands into the sea

2. Marine Ecosystem : cover approximately 71% of the Earth's

surface and
 Aquatic Ecosystem
• Detailed information about aquatic system
 The Atmosphere
• This is our protective blanket of gasses.

– 78% Nitrogen
– 21% Oxygen
– .03% Carbon Dioxide CO2
– .01% Ozone 03
Atmospheric Gases
 Atmospheric pressure (millibars)

Temperature
Pressure
Thermosphere

Mesopause
Altitude (kilometers)
Heating via ozone

Altitude (miles)
Mesosphere

Stratopause

Stratosphere

Tropopause
Ozone “layer”
Heating from the earth
Troposphere
(Sea Pressure = 1,000
level) millibars at ground
Temperature (˚C) level
Fig. 19-2, p. 440
 The Atmosphere - Layers
• Troposphere • Stratosphere
– Layer in which we live – 6-31 miles in altitude
– Most weather occurs here – Calm
– 90% of the gasses are here – Air traffic due to lack of
– 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen weather
– 0-6 mile above N and S Pole – Temperature increases with
• Mount Everest is 5.3 miles altitude
tall – Ozone layer (oxygen is
– 0-10 miles above equator converted to O3 by lightning
– Temperature decreases with and/or sunlight)
altitude until the next layer is – 99% of ultraviolet radiation
reached (especially UV-B) is absorbed
by the stratosphere
 The Atmosphere - Layers
• Mesosphere • Thermosphere
– 30 to 50 miles in altitude – 50 to 310 miles in altitude
– Temperature decreases – Biggest of all layers
with increasing altitude – Temperature increases
– Temperatures in the with altitude
mesopause (top of the – Very high temperatures
mesosphere) are the 1,500 °C (2,730 °F) to
coldest on Earth – approx. 2,500 °C (4,530 °F) but
-100˚C (-148˚F) little heat is transferred
– Above airplane heights and because of the space
below orbital heights, thus between the gas particles
it is poorly understood – International Space Station
flies in this layer
 The Atmosphere - Layers
• Exosphere To the right is a scale
– 310 miles to space representation of the
– Upper most layer of the atmospheric layers:
atmosphere
– Only light elements exist • Purple = Exosphere
here, mainly Hydrogen
• Blue = Thermosphere
• Green = Mesosphere
• Yellow = Stratosphere
• Red = Troposphere
 Ozone
• How much of our atmosphere is ozone?
• Ozone that surrounds the earth 12-35
miles above the earth is our first line of
defense of the sun’s ultraviolet radiation.
– This radiation can cause sunburn, skin
cancer, cataracts, …
• Ozone is constantly created and destroyed
What Happens to Solar Energy
Reaching the Earth?
• Solar energy
flowing through
the biosphere
warms the
atmosphere,
evaporates and
recycles water,
generates winds
and supports
plant growth.
Figure 3-8
 The Natural Greenhouse Effect
• Three major factors shape the earth’s
climate:
– The sun.
– Greenhouse effect that warms the earth’s lower
troposphere and surface because of the
presence of greenhouse gases.
– Oceans store CO2 and heat, evaporate and
receive water, move stored heat to other parts of
the world.
– Natural cooling process through water vapor in
the troposphere (heat rises).
 Greenhouse Effect
• This “greenhouse
effect” is vital for our
survival. Without heat
trapping gasses our
planet would be cold
and lifeless.
• The gasses act like a
car that gets hot
inside.
 Major Greenhouse Gases
• The major greenhouse gases in the lower
atmosphere are water vapor, carbon
dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone,
and CFCs.
– These gases have always been present in
the earth’s troposphere in varying
concentrations.
– Fluctuations in these gases, plus changes in
solar output are the major factors causing the
changes in tropospheric temperature over
the past 400,000 years.
 Major Greenhouse
Gases
• Increases in average
concentrations of three
greenhouse gases in the
troposphere between
1860 and 2004, mostly
due to fossil fuel burning,
deforestation, and
agriculture.

Figure 20-5
 PAST CLIMATE AND THE
GREENHOUSE EFFECT

• Over the past 900,000 years, the

troposphere has experienced prolonged
periods of global cooling and global
warming.
• For the past 1,000 years, temperatures
have remained fairly stable but began to
rise during the last century.
PAST CLIMATE AND THE
GREENHOUSE EFFECT

Figure 20-2
 How Do We Know What
Temperatures Were in the Past?
• Scientists analyze tiny
air bubbles trapped in
ice cores learn about
past:
– troposphere
composition.
– temperature trends.
– greenhouse gas
concentrations.
– Solar output,
snowfall, and forest
fire activity. Figure 20-3
 How Do We Know What
Temperatures Were in the Past?
• In 2005, an ice
core showed that
CO2 levels in the
troposphere are
the highest they
have been in
650,000 years.

Figure 20-4
 Greenhouse Effect
• If the gasses in the atmosphere become
increased beyond “normal” the
temperature of the earth can increase.
• An increase in temperature can change
the climate cycles.
– Ice caps melt, drought, floods, change in
temperature…
– Effects the environment as well
• What are some effects if the above happens?
 Controversy
• CO2 levels are increasing due to human
activity – no controversy
• What does that mean? - controversy
– 97% of climate scientists agree that this leads
to global warming
– 53% of Americans believe global warming is
real
– 87% of Europeans believe global warming is
a serious concern
Data can be manipulated
From NOAA
 EFFECTS OF GLOBAL
WARMING

• Between 1979 and 2005, average Arctic sea

ice dropped 20% (as shown in blue hues
above).
Rising Sea Levels
• During this century
rising seas levels
are projected to
flood low-lying
urban areas,
coastal estuaries,
wetlands, coral
reefs, and barrier
islands and
beaches.
Rising Sea Levels

• If seas levels
rise by 9-88cm
during this
century, most
of the Maldives
islands and
their coral reefs
will be flooded.
 Changing Ocean Currents

• Global warming could alter ocean currents

and cause both excessive warming and
severe cooling. Figure 20-12
CLIMATE CHANGE AND HUMAN
ACTIVITIES
• Evidence that the earth’s troposphere is
warming, mostly because of human
actions:
– The 20th century was the hottest century in the
past 1000 years.
– Since 1900, the earth’s average tropospheric
temperature has risen 0.6 C°.
– Over the past 50 years, Arctic temperatures
have risen almost twice as fast as those in the
rest of the world.
– Glaciers and floating sea ice are melting and
shrinking at increasing rates.
 EFFECTS OF GLOBAL
WARMING
• A warmer troposphere can decrease the
ability of the ocean to remove and store
CO2 by decreasing the nutrient supply for
phytoplankton and increasing the acidity of
ocean water.
• Global warming will lead to prolonged heat
waves and droughts in some areas and
prolonged heavy rains and increased
flooding in other areas.
 EFFECTS OF GLOBAL
WARMING
• In a warmer world, agricultural productivity may
increase in some areas and decrease in others.
• Crop and fish production in some areas could be
reduced by rising sea levels that would flood river
deltas.
• Global warming will increase deaths from:
– Heat and disruption of food supply.
– Spread of tropical diseases to temperate regions.
– Increase the number of environmental refugees.
 DEALING WITH GLOBAL
WARMING
• Climate change is such a difficult problem to
deal with because:
– The problem is global.
– The effects will last a long time.
– The problem is a long-term political issue.
– The harmful and beneficial impacts of climate
change are not spread evenly.
– Many actions that might reduce the threat are
controversial because they can impact
economies and lifestyles.
 TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY IN LIBEREC
Department of Power Engineering Equipment

Thanks for attention.

Presentation - Doc. Ing. Jaroslav Šulc, CSc., 2017

Text highlights - Ing. Luděk Jančík, 2020