Transcript Ecosystems - Utah State University

Plants and Fungi:
Ecosystem Essentials
Biology 2410
Utah State University
Course Outline
• Three weeks: Diversity
– Plants
– Fungi
– Bryophytes
• Fourth week: Human impact on ecosystems
– Environmental impact study
Diversity
• Focus on seeing the
diversity that exists
• Use identification as a
tool to
– Induce close
examination
– Help understand role
in ecosystem
– Embed basic material
deep into brain
Housekeeping
• 2 credits in 4 weeks
• 20-25 hours per week expected; 12 in class,
the remainder outside of class
• Four small assignments, collection, report,
midterm, final
• Slides summarize – learn more
• Grading – based on top score
• Lots of work, but learning tangible
Grading
• Flower, leaf, fungus, bryophyte assignments
10 points each
• Collection 20 points
• Ecosystem report 20 points
• Midterm 20 points
• Final 30 points
Collection and report
• Collection
– 20 specimens
– Well documented
– At least 3 fungi and 3 bryophytes
• Report
– On EIS exercise
– Draft of first part
– Complete report due in June 3.
End of Housekeeping!
Ecosystem
A particular environment and the interacting
biotic and non-biotic components of which it is
composed.
Note: Interacting – important part of concept.
Particular environment? Desert, mangrove swamp,
montane forest, agricultural field, town, whatever
suits.
A holistic view of an environment.
Ecosystem Needs:
Energy Flow
• Most energy from sun
– Some from earth’s core as heat
• Photosynthesis converts sun’s light
energy to chemical energy
• Chemical energy transformed into
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Other forms of chemical energy
Heat energy
Kinetic (motion) energy
Light energy
Photosynthesizers
• Plants
– Oxygen as by-product
• Algae
– Oxygen as by-product
• Bacteria
– Methane, hydrogen
sulfide as by-products
• Manufacture sugars
http://www2.ecology.su.se/dbbm/images/fucus.jpg
Chemical energy
converters
• Rely on other organisms for
previous energy capture via
photosynthesis or use of earth’s
heat energy (thermophilic
bacteria)
• Fungi
• Animals
• Bacteria
• Archaebacteria
Ecosystem Needs:
Nutrient Cycling
• Three major cycles
– Carbon
– Nitrogen
– Water
• Maintaining these cycles vitally important
• Other cycles usually less important
• What is impact of slowing down cycles?
Ecosystem Structure
• Physical
– Location
– Topography
– Rock type
• Biotic
– Species present and their abundance and
distribution
Plants
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Terrestrial, photosynthetic
organisms
Green – absorb all but green from
visible light spectrum
Capture light energy and convert it
to chemical energy – sugars; oxygen
as by-product
Store energy as starch
Cellulose cell walls
Essential - most extant organisms
require oxygen for metabolism
Building Blocks
Of Starch
Plants: additional contributions
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Food
Soil stability
Soil creation
Protection
Shade
www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/ plants/plantae.html
Plant Diversity
• Green algae
• Mosses
• Liverworts
• Ferns
• Gymnosperms
• Flowering plants
Fungi – closer to animals
than plants
• Obtain nutrients via external
digestion of complex carbon
compounds
• Not photosynthetic, not
motile
• Use glycogen as their
primary form of energy
storage
• Have chitinous cell walls
(see next slide)
Glycogen
Less linear than cellulose and has
protein at center
Chitin and Cellulose
• Chitin – polymer of glucosamide
• Cellulose – polymer of glucose
Fungal Importance
• Primary recyclers - break down complex
compounds to simpler compounds that can
be used by other organisms
• Aid plants obtain nutrients by extending
effective reach and breaking down
compounds (mycorrhizae)
The Fungi Rot Them
All
Fungi:
additional contributions
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Food
Drink
Disease
Medicine
Bioremediation