Presentation on the theme "diversity of ecosystems". What is an ecosystem What is an artificial ecosystem

in a new way. Economics of the agricultural ecosystem.
Example: Raising beef cattle.

Economy

The average animal consumes 2.5 kg of dry matter per 100 kg of live weight. Gives a weight gain of 900 grams. On average, the age and sex group (cow, calf, and calf of the last year) gives 2 kg of weight gain per day and weighs 1500 kg.

This group of animals consumes 15 * 2.5 = 37.5 kg of diet dry matter and, accordingly, emits the same amount of dry matter waste.

If we take the cost of a kg of dry matter of the diet for 5 rubles, then this will amount to a gain of 187 rubles 50 kopecks in the cost price. With the cost of gross output 2 * 120 = 240 rubles.

Thus, 240 r - 187 r 50 kopecks = 52 rubles 50 kopecks and one hundred kg of animal waste remains for the cost of animal care and profit. Butmoreeat uneaten food! This is called a financial trap.

But when this technological map humus worms are added. Everything is processed into dry matter humic fertilizers. They contain 16%NPKwhich is 100% absorbed by plants and which is not affected by factors environment.

And even if the cost of the active substance of mineral fertilizers is 35 thousand per ton, then only by this indicator alone humic fertilizers close the cost of the dry matter of the feed. 35 rubles * 0.16 \u003d 5 rubles 60 kopecks.

And besides this, this organic fertilizer has the determining absorption properties of the soil, as well as soil bacteria that determine the total microbial number of the rhizosphere zone of plants.

Animal Farm Ecosystem

The creation of such an ecosystem changes the entire system of relationships between industries. Crop growers order fertilizers not from mineral companies, but from livestock breeders. Which, on a collision course, receive feed and give back humic fertilizers.

The benefit is obvious. Plant growers receive complex fertilizer, which can be applied with the same units that are used for mineral fertilizers. For the application of humic fertilizers, environmental factors do not matter.

The application of three tons per hectare of humic fertilizers for three years makes the most depleted land fertile. The most important thing is that the money intended for the purchase of mineral fertilizers remains in the farm.

Animal farm is a plant for the production of fertilizers in the first place, and meat and milk in the second in terms of the value of gross output. But in terms of income from animal husbandry, meat and milk will come first. In this ecosystem, meat and milk will be just this very profit.

The most amazing thing is that plant breeders are so cowardly that they are afraid to even try. We livestock breeders will have to do everything ourselves, I mean Turksad. If their bases had not been bursting with manure, then he would have chickened out too. We, like Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev and my comrades, walked around the field and scattered white powders (mineral fertilizers) with our hands. Only we have vermicompost in our hands instead of fertilizers.

I imagine what the peasants who watched what was happening thought about him. And most likely they also refused to carry these poisonous abominations across the field, because they rightly believed that humus was better. And today's peasants think differently. Is it really so hard for us now because we have been going the wrong way for 150 years?

And the mineral industry is not good, but evil, which will no longer be necessary with the advent of technological ecosystems in agriculture. It turns out that Herman Gref constantly talks about ecosystems. Apparently something good is being smoked in Sberbank. But it's definitely expensive.

V. Velichko

The best from ZOOTECHNIKOFF:

Ecosystem Economics of Dairy Farming Basic formulas for calculating the consumption of dry matter of feed. The best fertilizer is humic fertilizers.

An ecological system or ecosystem is considered by science as a large-scale interaction of living organisms with their non-living environment. They influence each other, and their cooperation allows life to be sustained. The concept of "ecosystem" is generalized, it does not have a physical size, as it includes the ocean and, and at the same time a small puddle and a flower. Ecosystems are very diverse, they depend on a large number of factors, such as climate, geological conditions and human activities.

General concept

To fully understand the term "ecosystem" consider it on the example of a forest. The forest is not just a large number of trees or shrubs, but a complex set of interconnected elements of living and inanimate (earth, sunlight, air) nature. Living organisms include:

• insects;
• lichens;
• bacteria;
• mushrooms.

Each organism performs its clearly defined role, and general work of all living and non-living elements creates a balance for the smooth operation of the ecosystem. Every time an outside agent or a new living being enters an ecosystem, negative consequences can occur, causing destruction and potential harm. The ecosystem can be destroyed as a result of human activity or natural disasters.

Ecosystem types

Depending on the scale of manifestation, there are three main types of ecosystems:

1. Macroecosystem. A large system made up of small systems. An example is the desert, or the ocean inhabited by thousands of species of marine animals and plants.
2. Mesoecosystem. Ecosystem of a small size (a pond, a forest area or a separate clearing).
3. Microecosystem. A small-sized ecosystem that mimics in miniature the nature of various ecosystems (aquarium, an animal corpse, a forest stump, a pool of water inhabited by microorganisms).

The uniqueness of ecosystems is that they do not have clearly defined boundaries. Most often they complement each other or are separated by deserts, oceans and seas.

Man plays a significant role in the life of ecosystems. In our time, to meet its own goals, mankind creates new and destroys existing ecological systems. Depending on the method of formation, ecosystems are also divided into two groups:

1. natural ecosystem. It is created as a result of the forces of nature, is able to independently recover and create a vicious circle of substances, from creation to decay.
2. Artificial or anthropogenic ecosystem. It consists of plants and animals that live in conditions created by human hands (field, pasture, reservoir, botanical garden).

One of the largest artificial ecosystems is the city. Man invented it for the convenience of his own existence and created artificial energy inflows in the form of gas and water pipelines, electricity and heating. However, an artificial ecosystem requires additional inflows of energy and substances from outside.

global ecosystem

The totality of all ecological systems makes up the global ecosystem -. It is the largest set of interaction between animate and inanimate nature on planet Earth. It is in balance due to the balance of a huge variety of ecosystems and a variety of species of living organisms. It is so huge that it covers:

• earth's surface;
• the upper part of the lithosphere;
• the lower part of the atmosphere;
• all bodies of water.

Thanks to the constant, the global ecosystem has maintained its vital activity for billions of years.

Examples of natural ecosystems: deciduous forests, tundra, ponds, etc. In each of these ecosystems, you can find all three groups of organisms necessary for a viable ecosystem: these are producers, green plants, macroconsumers - herbivores and predatory animals, microconsumers - decomposers - these are fungi, bacteria that feed on dead plant and animal remains.

Examples of artificial ecosystems: aquarium, biological treatment plant. Artificial ecosystems are heterotrophic, that is, they consume prepared food. An example of an artificial heterotrophic ecosystem can be a city (see Figure 1.4 in APPENDIX 2).

The city, as an ecosystem, is distinguished by the fact that the environment at the entrance and the environment at the exit play a very important role for it. The city differs from natural ecosystems:

1) a large influx of concentrated energy from outside (fuel, fossils, electricity),

2) a greater need for the intake of substances from the outside,

3) a more powerful and more toxic waste stream, many of which are synthetic, i.e., more toxic than the feedstock.

The biosphere is the largest ecosystem

The largest ecosystem is biosphere our planet. Biosphere - the area of ​​existence of living matter (Vernadsky V.I.) is the largest ecosystem on Earth. The biosphere includes both living matter and non-living matter ("inert" according to Vernadsky). The biosphere emerged 3.4 - 4.5 billion years ago. It is the result of the interaction of living matter with non-living matter (biota with abiota).

Structure biosphere: lithosphere - top of hard surface earth's crust; hydrosphere - water shell of the Earth (seas, oceans, rivers, lakes): troposphere - lower layers of the earth's atmosphere.

The upper boundary of the biosphere is located at an altitude of ~ 20-25 km, where the ozone layer is most dense, protecting living matter, life from UV radiation. The lower boundary of the biosphere is approximately 2-3 km inland on land and 1-2 km below the ocean floor. During its existence, the biosphere has gone through a difficult path of development - evolution. The main stage was the emergence of life on Earth. There are various hypotheses explaining the fact of the origin of life. Eg:

1. Life arose on Earth as a result of a random combination of substances and suitable conditions (methane, hydrogen + high temperature, UV radiation).

2. The hypothesis of an extraterrestrial origin of life - the so-called. the theory of panspermia, according to which life was brought to Earth from space, etc.

Approximately 1.5 million years ago, a man appeared on Earth, whose origin is also disputed by various theories, such as:

Man was formed as a result of evolution;

Man came from Space, etc.

With the advent of human society, a powerful natural force has appeared that consciously, purposefully, naturally and irreversibly changes all nature, the entire biosphere. In what direction? V. I. Vernadsky, many of whose works are devoted to the future of our planet, saw it this way: “A natural and inevitable stage in the development of the biosphere is the stage reasonable regulation of the relationship between man and nature. At this period of evolution of the biosphere, its development will follow the path noogenesis. The main task of this period is to correct the violations and harm that mankind has caused to nature, to prevent such violations in the future.

It is very difficult to study an ecosystem due to the large number of variables that make up its composition. The main components of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems are abiotic substances, producers, consumers and decomposers.

Abiotic substances are inorganic compounds and individual elements that are not part of living or dead organisms. A small amount of important nutrients is in a dissolved form available for nutrition of plants and other organisms. The rest, most of them are contained in a fixed form.

Ecosystems are very diverse. Their composition depends on many factors, primarily on climate, geological conditions and human influence. They can be autotrophic, if the main role is played by autotrophic organisms - producers, or heterotrophic if their role is insignificant. Ecosystems can be natural or man-made − anthropogenic(from Greek words anthropos- man and genesis- origin).

natural(natural) ecosystems are formed under the influence of natural factors, although a person can influence them. In the forest, a person harvests wood and hunts, cattle grazes on the steppe pasture, and fishes in reservoirs. It can pollute the atmosphere, soil, water. However, human influence in these ecosystems is less than the influence of natural factors.

Anthropogenic(artificial) ecosystems created by man in the process of economic activity. Examples of these are agricultural landscapes with crops and herds of livestock, cities, forest plantations, sea “gardens” of kelp algae, and “farms” of oysters or scallops. The composition of anthropogenic ecosystems may include preserved smaller natural ecosystems (a forest or a lake in the territory of an agricultural ecosystem, a forest park in a city).

There are ecosystems that are transitional between natural and artificial, for example, the ecosystem of natural semi-desert pastures in Kalmykia with herds of farm animals.

Both natural and anthropogenic ecosystems differ in the source of energy that ensures their vital activity.

Autotrophic ecosystems are on energy self-sufficiency and are divided into photoautotrophic - consuming solar energy due to producers - photoautotrophs and chemoautotrophic - using chemical energy due to producers - chemoautotrophs. Most ecosystems, including agricultural ones, are photoautotrophic. In agricultural ecosystems, a person contributes energy, which is called anthropogenic (fertilizers, fuel for tractors, etc.). But its role is insignificant compared to the solar energy used by the ecosystem.

Natural chemoautotrophic ecosystems are formed in groundwater. Humans create anthropogenic chemoautotrophic ecosystems from microorganisms in some biological treatment facilities to purify water from inorganic pollutants.

heterotrophic ecosystems they use chemical energy, which is obtained together with carbon from organic substances, or the energy of man-made energy devices.

An example of a natural heterotrophic ecosystem is the ecosystem of the ocean depths, where sunlight does not reach. Animals and microorganisms included in it exist due to “nutritional rain” - corpses and remains of organisms falling to the bottom from the sunlit autotrophic oceanic ecosystem. There are heterotrophic ecosystems and high in the mountains, where microscopic mites feed on the remains of plants that are brought by the wind.

Anthropogenic heterotrophic ecosystems are very diverse. These are, firstly, cities and industrial enterprises. Energy in them comes through power lines, through pipes of oil and gas pipelines, in tank cars and railway cars. The city receives both raw materials for the operation of industrial enterprises and food for the townspeople. Some amount of solar energy the urban ecosystem receives from green plants, but it is negligible compared to the energy that the city receives from outside.

Let us dwell on such examples of natural ecosystems as a pond, a meadow, a drainage basin. The biological diversity in them is not so great, and therefore it is easier to see the inseparability of living organisms from inanimate nature.

Pond and meadow. Plants, animals and microorganisms that live in these ecosystems affect the chemical composition of water, soil and air.

A pond, lake or meadow, like other ecosystems, are equilibrium systems consisting of different elements.

The speed and intensity of the transition abiotic substances from accessible to inaccessible forms and vice versa depends on a number of climatic factors - the influx of solar energy, the temperature cycle, precipitation, daylight hours and other climatic conditions that have a regulatory effect on the functioning of the ecosystem.

Producers Aquatic ecosystems are divided into two types:

large rooted or floating plants - macrophytes (usually they live in shallow water, in a lighted zone);

small floating plants, mainly algae, found in the water column, called phytoplankton(from Greek phyton - plant, plankton - wandering). They are distributed in the water column at the depth of light penetration. With a large amount of phytoplankton, the water has a green color.

In large deep water bodies, phytoplankton play a much larger role in

produce food for the entire ecosystem than rooted vegetation. In terrestrial communities, on the contrary, macro-producers provide more organic products.

Consumers can be divided into two types - primary and secondary. Primary consumers, or herbivorous animals, feed on living plants and their parts. There are two types in the pond primary macroconsumers : zooplankton(animal plankton) and benthos(bottom forms). In the grassland ecosystem, herbivorous animals are also divided into two groups: large herbivorous mammals and rodents; herbivorous insects and other invertebrates.

Secondary consumers, or carnivores, feed on primary consumers (if they consume other secondary consumers as food, they are called tertiary). In the pond ecosystem, these are insects, spiders and predatory fish, in meadow ecosystems, mammals, birds, etc.

Of the consumers, detritivores are also important, which exist using organic detritus coming from the upper autotrophic tiers as food.

TO saprotrophic organisms include bacteria and fungi. They are ubiquitous, but are especially numerous at the interface between silt and water. Most saprophytes settle only on dead organisms, but some can also settle on living ones, causing them to become sick. There is also a group of microorganisms that form mutually beneficial associations with plants.

Under favorable temperature conditions, the first stages of decomposition pass quickly: dead animals and plant residues break down into simpler compounds. Some of the batteries they contain are released, leached out and can be reused. The stable part of organic compounds (cellulose, lignin, humus, etc.) decomposes weakly, which creates conditions for plant growth.

The structural and functional organization of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems is largely similar, but they differ in the species composition and size of trophic components. Terrestrial autotrophs are usually not as numerous as aquatic ones, but significantly exceed the latter not only in the size of individual individuals, but also in the biomass produced per unit area, that is, in production.

Terrestrial autotrophs use a significant part of the energy to build supporting tissues that support plants in an upright position. The supporting tissues are composed of cellulose and lignin, which are poorly biodegradable.

Due to their massive structure, terrestrial plants create a large amount of stable fibrous detritus (leaf litter, wood), which accumulates in the heterotrophic layer. In an aquatic system, detritus consists of fine particles that are easier to decompose and be consumed by animals.

In terrestrial ecosystems, a significant part of solar energy is spent on the evaporation of water, and only a small part of it (about 1%) is fixed in the process of photosynthesis. The role of evaporation and maintaining the temperature regime in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems is not the same.

drainage basin. The pond and meadow appear to be autonomous at first glance, but they are open systems that are part of larger watershed systems. The stability and functioning of ecosystems is largely determined by the rate of inflow and outflow of water, substances and organisms between parts of the catchment area.

Organic pollution of water bodies caused by human activity leads to the so-called "cultural" eutrophication - an increase in the biological productivity of water bodies as a result of the accumulation of biogenic elements in water. So, with continuous tillage, erosion impoverishes the field, but can cause eutrophication of water bodies located downstream.

Therefore, taking into account human interests, the minimum unit of an ecosystem should be considered the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe drainage basin, and not some land area or body of water. Such a unit is convenient for planning, forecasting and regulating the impact on natural objects, since the components of the drainage basin (meadow, forest, city, reservoir, etc.) interact with each other and form an ecosystem level unit.

The concept of the watershed makes it possible to more reliably assess the state of the ecosystem and make decisions that are maximally aimed at its conservation.

In addition to natural, artificial ecosystems are also distinguished.

microecosystems are small autonomous "worlds", or microcosms, which to a certain extent can imitate in miniature the nature of various ecosystems. Microecosystems are commonly used for research purposes. They are built in the form of partially closed systems (for example, an aquarium), where conditions are created under which gas exchange with the atmosphere occurs, but there is no exchange of biogenic elements and organisms, in the form of a completely open systems, with regulated inflow and outflow of biogenic elements and organisms. The advantage of microcosms is that they can create strictly controlled conditions for experiments.

There are two types of biological microsystems.

Microsystems The first type is, in essence, a “simplified” nature, in which microorganisms are studied that are able to withstand the created conditions throughout the experiment. These systems simply simulate certain situations.

Microsystems the second type are distinguished by the selection of carefully studied components and are used to study nutrition, biochemistry and other aspects of the life of individual species and strains.

When conducting ecological research, artificial pools are used, various receptacles of habitats, which occupy an intermediate position between microcosms and real conditions.

Laboratory and field model ecosystems are used to approximate or preliminary assessment of the impact of pollution and other experimental impacts associated with human activities, as well as to test various ecological hypotheses developed on the basis of observations in nature.

City as a heterotrophic system. A city, especially an industrial one, is not a complete heterotrophic system that receives energy, food, water, various materials from large areas outside of it. The city differs from the natural heterotrophic ecosystem in the following ways:

a much more intense metabolism per unit area, which requires a large influx of concentrated energy from the outside;

large needs for the intake of substances from the outside;

a more powerful and more toxic waste stream, many of which are synthetic compounds more toxic than the feedstock. In this regard, the environment at the entrance and exit is much more important for the city system than for any autotrophic system, for example, forests.

To improve the human environment, a “green belt” is being created, including

self-autotrophic component: trees, shrubs, grassy lawns, lakes and ponds. Organic products obtained from this component do not play a significant role in the life of the city. Without food, fuel, electricity and water, the city is doomed.

The growth of cities and the rapid urbanization of territory have changed our planet, probably more so than other human activities. The land area occupied by cities in different parts of the world ranges from 1 to 5%. Influencing vast environments at the entrance and exit, the city largely changes nature and has an indirect impact on territories located at a considerable distance from it. For example, the demand for products made from forests forces large areas of forest to be cut down.

Per unit area, the city consumes significantly more energy than the countryside. Heat, dust and other substances generated as a result of the functioning of the city pollute the air and significantly change the climate. As a rule, cities are warmer, more cloudy, less sunny, more drizzle and fog than the surrounding countryside.

It should be taken into account that the functioning of cities affects the pollution of the atmosphere and water even at a considerable distance from them.

The city generally produces little or no food or other organic matter. Speaking about the city as an ecosystem, one should not be limited to the limits of its development, it is necessary to take into account the vast environments at the entrance and exit.

Natural, natural ecosystems were formed as a result of the action of the forces of nature. They are characterized by:

• The close relationship between organic and inorganic substances
• A complete, vicious circle of the circulation of substances: starting from the appearance organic matter and ending with its decay and decomposition into inorganic components.
• Resilience and ability to self-heal.

All natural ecosystems are defined by the following features:

• 1. species structure: the number of each species of animal or plant is regulated by natural conditions.
  2. Spatial structure: all organisms are arranged in a strict horizontal or vertical hierarchy. For example, in a forest ecosystem, tiers are clearly distinguished, in an aquatic ecosystem, the distribution of organisms depends on the depth of the water.
  3. Biotic and abiotic substances. The organisms that make up an ecosystem are divided into inorganic (abiotic: light, air, soil, wind, humidity, pressure) and organic (biotic - animals, plants).
  4. In turn, the biotic component is divided into producers, consumers and destroyers. Producers include plants and bacteria that, with the help of sunlight and energies create organics from inorganic substances. Consumers are animals and carnivorous plants that feed on this organic matter. Destroyers (fungi, bacteria, some microorganisms) are the crown of the food chain, as they produce the reverse process: organics are converted into inorganic substances.

artificial ecosystems

Artificial ecosystems are communities of animals and plants that live in conditions created for them by man. They are also called noobiogeocenoses or socioecosystems. Examples: field, pasture, city, society, spaceship, zoo, garden, artificial pond, reservoir.

by the most simple example artificial ecosystem is an aquarium. Here, the habitat is limited by the walls of the aquarium, the influx of energy, light and nutrients is carried out by man, he also regulates the temperature and composition of the water. The number of inhabitants is also initially determined.

First Feature: All artificial ecosystems are heterotrophic, i.e. consuming prepared food. Take for example the city - one of the largest artificial ecosystems. The influx of artificially created energy (gas pipeline, electricity, food) plays a huge role here. At the same time, such ecosystems are characterized by a high yield of toxic substances. That is, those substances that in the natural ecosystem later serve for the production of organic matter often become unusable in artificial ones.

Another one distinguishing feature artificial ecosystems - an open cycle of metabolism. Take for example agroecosystems - the most important for humans. These include fields, orchards, vegetable gardens, pastures, farms and other agricultural lands on which a person creates conditions for the removal of consumer products. A part of the food chain in such ecosystems is taken out by a person (in the form of a crop), and therefore the food chain becomes destroyed.

The third difference between artificial ecosystems and natural ones is their species scarcity.. Indeed, a person creates an ecosystem for the sake of breeding one (rarely several) species of plants or animals. For example, in a wheat field, all pests and weeds are destroyed, only wheat is cultivated. This makes it possible to get the best harvest. But at the same time, the destruction of organisms “unprofitable” for humans makes the ecosystem unstable.

Comparative characteristics of natural and artificial ecosystems

It is more convenient to present a comparison of natural ecosystems and socio-ecosystems in the form of a table: