III. THEORETICAL ECOLOGICAL IMPACTS OF SOLAR CONVERSION SYSTEMS Ecosystem Structure In order to study the response of an ecosystem to some form of perturbation, the components of the ecosystem as well as ecosystem processes and functions must be taken into account. An ecosystem has two major components, the organisms (biotic part) and the environment that controls or influences the functions and processes of the organisms (mostly abiotic). Because ecologists are biologists by training, they set a primary emphasis on the organisms, considering the other parameters as controlling, limiting, or trigerring factors. Changes in organism behavior or function within an ecosystem is, in all probability, a response to a change in one or many of the influencing factors. For this reason great interest might be placed on physical or chemical factor changes but only because these changes ultimately cause biotic change. Biotic Components of the Ecosystem. The biotic part of an ecosystem can best be described by following biological energy flow through the system. The organisms in an ecosystem are divided into producers and consumers. One set of organisms produces food or energy for another set which is the consumer. The plants are the primary producers. They convert solar energy to usable biochemical energy that is then available for all other food (trophic) levels in the ecosystem. Only those few types of ecosystems that have an inflow of biochemical energy from outside the system, such as an
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