Energy Sources

Energy from the sun is captured by green plants, algae, cyanobacteria, and photosynthetic protists. These organisms convert solar energy into the chemical energy needed by all living things. Light availability can be an important force directly affecting the evolution of adaptations in photosynthesizers. For instance, plants in the understory of a temperate forest are shaded when the trees above them in the canopy completely leaf out in the late spring. Not surprisingly, understory plants have adaptations to successfully capture available light that passes through the canopy. One such adaptation is the rapid growth of spring ephemeral plants such as the spring beauty (Claytonia virginica) ((Figure)). These spring flowers achieve much of their growth and finish their life cycle (reproduce) early in the season before the trees in the canopy develop leaves.

Figure 3. The spring beauty is an ephemeral spring plant that flowers early in the spring to avoid competing with larger forest trees for sunlight. (credit: John Beetham)

In aquatic ecosystems, the availability of light may be limited because sunlight is absorbed by water, plants, suspended particles, and resident microorganisms. Toward the bottom of a lake, pond, or ocean, there is a zone that light cannot reach (because most wavelengths except for the shortest blues are absorbed by the water column). Photosynthesis cannot take place there and, as a result, a number of adaptations have evolved that enable living things to survive without light. For instance, aquatic plants have photosynthetic tissue near the surface of the water. You can think of the broad, floating leaves of a water lily—water lilies cannot survive without light. In environments such as hydrothermal vents, some bacteria extract energy from inorganic chemicals because there is no light for photosynthesis.

The availability of nutrients in aquatic systems such as oceans is also an important aspect of energy or photosynthesis. Many organisms sink to the bottom of the ocean when they die in the open water; when this occurs, the energy found in that living organism is sequestered for some time unless ocean upwelling occurs. Ocean upwelling is the rising of deep ocean waters that occurs when prevailing winds blow along surface waters near a coastline ((Figure)). As the wind pushes ocean waters offshore, water from the bottom of the ocean moves up to replace this water. As a result, the nutrients once contained in dead organisms become available for reuse by other living organisms.

Figure 4. Ocean upwelling is an important process that recycles nutrients and energy in the ocean. As wind (green arrows) pushes offshore, it causes water from the ocean bottom (red arrows) to move to the surface, bringing up nutrients from the ocean depths.

In freshwater systems, such as lakes, the recycling of nutrients occurs in response to air temperature and wind changes. The nutrients at the bottom of lakes are recycled twice each year: in the spring and fall turnover. The spring-and-fall turnover are seasonal processes that recycle nutrients and oxygen from the bottom of a freshwater lake to the top of the lake ((Figure)). These turnovers are caused by the formation of a thermocline: layers of water with temperatures that are significantly different from those above and below it.

In wintertime, the surface of lakes found in many northern regions is frozen. However, the water under the ice is slightly warmer, and the water at the bottom of the lake is warmer yet at 4 °C to 5 °C (39.2 °F to 41 °F). Water is densest at about 4 °C; therefore, the deepest water is also the densest. The deepest water is oxygen-poor because the decomposition of organic material at the bottom of the lake uses up available oxygen that cannot be replaced by means of oxygen diffusion into the surface of the water, due to the surface ice layer.

Art Connection

Figure 5. The spring and fall turnovers are important processes in freshwater lakes that act to move the nutrients and oxygen at the bottom of deep lakes to the top. Turnover occurs because water has a maximum density at 4 °C. Surface water temperature changes as the seasons progress, and denser water sinks.

How might turnover in tropical lakes differ from turnover in lakes that exist in temperate regions? Think of the variation, or lack of variation, in seasonal temperature change.

Show Solution

Tropical lakes don’t freeze, so they don’t undergo spring turnover in the same way temperate lakes do. However, stratification does occur, as well as seasonal turnover.

In springtime, air temperatures increase and surface ice melts. When the temperature of the surface water begins to approach 4 °C, the water becomes heavier and sinks to the bottom. The water at the bottom of the lake is then displaced by the heavier and denser surface water and, thus, rises to the top. As that water rises to the top, the sediments and nutrients from the lake bottom are brought along with it. This is called the spring turnover. During the summer months, the lake water stratifies, or forms layers, with the warmest water at the lake surface.

As air temperatures drop in the fall, the temperature of the lake water cools to 4 °C; therefore, this causes fall turnover as the heavy cold water sinks and displaces the water at the bottom. The oxygen-rich water at the surface of the lake then moves to the bottom of the lake, while the nutrients at the bottom of the lake rise to the surface ((Figure)). During the winter, the oxygen at the bottom of the lake is used by decomposers and other organisms requiring oxygen, such as fish. It is important to note, however, that the relative transparency of ice also allows the penetration of the shorter wavelengths of visible light so that photosynthesis, especially by algae can continue.

Temperature

Temperature affects the physiology of organisms as well as the density and state of water. Temperature exerts an important influence on living things because few living things can survive at temperatures below 0 °C (32 °F) due to metabolic constraints. It is also rare for living things to survive at temperatures exceeding 45 °C (113 °F); this is a reflection of evolutionary response to typical temperatures near the Earth’s surface. Enzymes are most efficient within a narrow and specific range of temperatures; enzyme degradation can occur at higher temperatures. Therefore, organisms either must maintain an internal temperature or they must inhabit an environment that will keep the body within a temperature range that supports metabolism. Some animals have adapted to enable their bodies to survive significant temperature fluctuations, such as seen in hibernation or reptilian torpor. Similarly, some Archaea bacteria have evolved to tolerate extremely hot temperatures such as those found in the geysers within Yellowstone National Park. Such bacteria are examples of extremophiles: organisms that thrive in extreme environments.

The temperature (of both water and air) can limit the distribution of living things. Animals faced with temperature fluctuations may respond with adaptations, such as migration, in order to survive. Migration, the regular movement from one place to another, is an adaptation found in many animals, including many that inhabit seasonally cold climates. Migration solves problems related to temperature, locating food, and finding a mate. For example, the Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea) makes a 40,000 km (24,000 mi) round-trip flight each year between its feeding grounds in the southern hemisphere and its breeding grounds in the Arctic Ocean. Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) live in the eastern and western United States in the warmer months, where they build up enormous populations, and migrate to areas around Michoacan, Mexico as well as areas along the Pacific Coast, and the southern United States in the wintertime. Some species of mammals also make migratory forays. Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) travel about 5,000 km (3,100 mi) each year to find food. Amphibians and reptiles are more limited in their distribution because they generally lack migratory ability. Not all animals that could migrate do so: migration carries risk and comes at a high-energy cost.

Some animals hibernate or estivate to survive hostile temperatures. Hibernation enables animals to survive cold conditions, and estivation allows animals to survive the hostile conditions of a hot, dry climate. Animals that hibernate or estivate enter a state known as torpor: a condition in which their metabolic rate is significantly lowered. This enables the animal to wait until its environment better supports its survival. Some amphibians, such as the wood frog (Rana sylvatica), have an antifreeze-like chemical in their cells, which retains the cells’ integrity and prevents them from freezing and bursting.

Water

Water is required by all living things because it is critical for cellular processes. Since terrestrial organisms lose water to the environment, they have evolved many adaptations to retain water.

• Plants have a number of interesting features on their leaves, such as leaf hairs and a waxy cuticle, that serve to decrease the rate of water loss via transpiration and convection.
• Freshwater organisms are surrounded by water and are constantly in danger of having water rush into their cells because of osmosis. Many adaptations of organisms living in freshwater environments have evolved to ensure that solute concentrations in their bodies remain within appropriate levels. One such adaptation is the excretion of dilute urine.
• Marine organisms are surrounded by water with a higher solute concentration than the organism and, thus, are in danger of losing water to the environment because of osmosis. These organisms have morphological and physiological adaptations to retain water and release solutes into the environment. For example, Marine iguanas (Amblyrhynchus cristatus), sneeze out water vapor that is high in salt in order to maintain solute concentrations within an acceptable range while swimming in the ocean and eating marine plants.

Inorganic Nutrients and Soil

Inorganic nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, are important in determining the distribution and the abundance of living things. Plants obtain these inorganic nutrients from the soil when water moves into the plant through the roots. Therefore, soil structure (particle size of soil components), soil pH, and soil nutrient content together all play an important role in the distribution of plants. Animals obtain inorganic nutrients from the food they consume. Therefore, animal distributions are related to the distribution of what they eat. In some cases, animals will follow their food resource as it moves through the environment.

Other Aquatic Factors

Some abiotic factors, such as oxygen, are important in aquatic ecosystems as well as terrestrial environments. Terrestrial animals obtain oxygen from the air they breathe. Oxygen availability can be an issue for organisms living at very high elevations, however, where there are fewer molecules of oxygen in the air. In aquatic systems, the concentration of dissolved oxygen is related to water temperature and the speed at which the water moves. Cold water has more dissolved oxygen than warmer water. In addition, salinity, currents, and tidal changes can be important abiotic factors in aquatic ecosystems.

Other Terrestrial Factors

Wind can be an important abiotic factor because it influences the rate of evaporation, transpiration, and convective heat loss from the surface of all organisms. The physical force of wind is also important because it can move soil, water, or other abiotic factors, as well as an ecosystem’s organisms.

Fire is another terrestrial factor that can be an important agent of disturbance in terrestrial ecosystems. Some organisms are adapted to fire and, thus, require the high heat associated with fire to complete a part of their life cycle. For example, the jack pine (Pinus banksiana) requires heat from fire for its seed cones to open ((Figure)). Through the burning of pine needles, fire adds nitrogen to the soil and limits competition by destroying undergrowth.

Figure 6. The mature cones of the jack pine (Pinus banksiana) open only when exposed to high temperatures, such as during a forest fire. A fire is likely to kill most vegetation, so a seedling that germinates after a fire is more likely to receive ample sunlight than one that germinates under normal conditions. (credit: USDA)