Ecosystems and Ecology Ecosystems and Ecology Author: Prof Koos Bothma Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license. BIOMES, ECOSYSTEMS AND BIOREGIONS The concepts of biomes, ecosystems and bioregions are vital in the management and conservation of renewable natural resources. The major difference between these concepts lies in the principle of scale. Biomes are major biotic units with similar and characteristic biota and structure. While there are several distinctive global biomes their boundaries may merge and become indistinct. Biomes are high-level hierarchical and consequently simplified biotic units, within specific restraints imposed by their physical environment. The terrestrial biomes are characterized by their dominant plants which support specific types of animal. The principal global terrestrial biomes are: temperate deciduous forests, temperate coniferous forests, tropical forests, grasslands, tundras and deserts. Other biomes occur regionally. For example, in South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland the biomes are fynbos, the succulent Karoo, the NamaKaroo, grasslands, savannas, the Albany Thicket, deserts, forests and the Indian Ocean Coastal Belt. Within these biomes there are numerous bioregions and ecosystems. Full details of the biomes and bioregions appear in Mucina and Rutherford (2006) in the reference below. Namib Desert, Gobabeb, Namib Naukluft National Park, Namibia - June 1978 Ecosystems occupy the next hierarchical level of scale and reflect a specific set of interrelationships between various organisms and their physical environment (see Section 3). Their biotic component consists of plants, animals and micro-organisms that are the producers, consumers and decomposers, which harness the solar energy that reaches the Earth. It is estimated that most of the 15.3 x 108 gram calories per square metre of solar energy that reaches the Earth’s surface is dissipated by dust or is consumed by water evaporation with only a small fraction becoming available for plant photosynthesis. At 1|Page Ecosystems and Ecology each level of transfer in an ecosystem food chain 80 to 90 per cent of the energy being transferred is lost as heat. This limits most food chains to four or five hierarchical levels. Humans have only recently become the apex of the global food chain but are already placing a severe strain on ecosystems by destroying the energy base levels on which their survival depends. The oceans are mostly unproductive and humans largely utilize the apex predatory fishes of the oceanic food chains as a source of nutrition. Bioregions are composite spatial terrestrial units within an ecosystem that possess similar biotic and physical features and processes on a regional scale. In the Savanna Biome of South Africa, for example, there are six bioregions: the mopaneveld, the sub-escarpment savanna, the Kalahari duneveld, the Lowveld, the central bushveld, and the eastern Kalahari bushveld. Elsewhere in southern Africa the miombo and Brachystegia woodlands are additional major bioregions. A bioregion is therefore an intermediate biotic level between a biome and a vegetation unit. In a bioregion specific biota are central in importance but the concept of a bioregion focuses on plant diversity rather than on animal diversity. Lowveld savanna, Satara, Kruger National Park, South Africa - May 1971 2|Page