Plants and Fungi: Ecosystem Essentials

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Plants and Fungi Ecosystem Essentials

• Biology 2410
• Utah State University

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Course Outline

• Three weeks Diversity
• Plants
• Fungi
• Bryophytes
• Fourth week Human impact on ecosystems
• Environmental impact study

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Diversity
50 years from now

• 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

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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

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Grading

• Flower, leaf, fungus, bryophyte assignments 10
  points each
• Collection 20 points
• Ecosystem report 20 points
• Midterm 20 points
• Final 30 points

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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!
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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.

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Ecosystem Needs Energy Flow

• Most energy from sun
• Some from earths core as heat
• Photosynthesis converts suns light energy to
  chemical energy
• Chemical energy transformed into
• Other forms of chemical energy
• Heat energy
• Kinetic (motion) energy
• Light energy

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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
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Chemical energy converters

• Rely on other organisms for previous energy
  capture via photosynthesis or use of earths heat
  energy (thermophilic bacteria)
• Fungi
• Animals
• Bacteria
• Archaebacteria

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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?

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Ecosystem Structure

• Physical
• Location
• Topography
• Rock type
• Biotic
• Species present and their abundance and
  distribution

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Plants

• 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

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Plants additional contributions

• Food
• Soil stability
• Soil creation
• Protection
• Shade

www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/ plants/plantae.html
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Plant Diversity

• Green algae
• Mosses
• Liverworts
• Ferns
• Gymnosperms
• Flowering plants

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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)

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Chitin and Cellulose

• Chitin polymer of glucosamide
• Cellulose polymer of glucose

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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
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Fungi additional contributions

• Food
• Drink
• Disease
• Medicine
• Bioremediation