CHAPTER 15: OUR ENVIRONMENT

🟢 What is Environment? 💡 Keywords to remember:

 Surroundings = Environment
The environment is the sum total of all living (biotic) and non-living  Living things = Biotic
(abiotic) things that surround and influence an organism.  Non-living things = Abiotic

✅ Components of the Environment:

🌱 Biotic Components
(Living)
🌍 Abiotic Components (Non-
living)
🟢 Ecosystem
Plants, animals, fungi, Air, water, sunlight, temperature,
microorganisms soil, minerals ✅ What is an Ecosystem?
🔁 Interaction: An ecosystem is a self-contained unit of nature where living
These components interact continuously to maintain the balance of organisms interact with each other and with the non-living
nature. components of their environment.

It is the functional unit of the environment.

✅ Example:

A pond: 🟢 Examples of Ecosystems:

 Biotic: Fish, algae, frogs, insects, bacteria. 🏠 Artificial (Man-made)

🏞️ Natural Ecosystems
 Abiotic: Water, light, oxygen, temperature, soil. Ecosystems
Forest, desert, pond, ocean, Aquarium, garden, crop field,
🔶 Why is studying environment river terrarium

important?
 To understand balance in nature. ✅ Components of Ecosystem
 To reduce pollution and human impact.
 To take steps towards sustainability. Ecosystem has two major components:
🔹 1. Biotic Components (Living organisms) 🟢 Example of a Terrestrial Food Chain:

Group Definition Examples 🌿 Grass → 🟢 Grasshopper → 🐸 Frog → 🐍 Snake → 🦅

Eagle
Autotrophs that make their own Green plants,
Producers
food using sunlight algae  Grass = Producer
Heterotrophs that depend on Humans,  Grasshopper = Primary consumer (herbivore)
Consumers
others for food animals  Frog = Secondary consumer (carnivore)
→ Primary Cow, deer,  Snake = Tertiary consumer
Herbivores  Eagle = Top predator
consumers rabbit
→ Secondary
Carnivores (eat herbivores) Frog, snake
consumers ✅ Trophic Levels
→ Tertiary Top predators (eat other
Tiger, eagle
consumers carnivores) Each step in a food chain is called a trophic level.
Break down dead organisms and
Decomposers Fungi, bacteria Trophic Level Organism Type Example
return nutrients
1st Producer Plants, algae
2nd Primary consumer Herbivores like deer
🔹 2. Abiotic Components (Non-living factors) 3rd Secondary consumer Carnivores like frogs
4th Tertiary consumer Snakes, eagles
Factor Examples
Decomposers Saprotrophs Fungi, bacteria
Physical Sunlight, air, water, soil, temperature
Chemical Nutrients like carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus

✅ What are Decomposers?

🟢 Food Chains and Food Webs Organisms that break down dead plants and animals into simpler
substances.
Examples: Fungi and Bacteria
✅ What is a Food Chain?
🔄 They recycle nutrients back into the ecosystem.
A food chain is a sequence in which organisms eat one another and
get energy. ✅ What is a Food Web?
It shows "Who eats whom?" in a linear order.
A food web is a network of interconnected food chains. 1. Sun is the ultimate source of energy for all ecosystems.
2. Producers (plants) absorb solar energy and make food by
It shows how organisms have multiple food sources and are linked to photosynthesis.
many others. 3. This stored energy is passed on to:
o Primary consumers (herbivores)
🕸️ Food Web Example: o Secondary consumers (small carnivores)
o Tertiary consumers (large carnivores)
 Grass is eaten by grasshopper, rabbit, and deer. 4. Finally, decomposers break down dead organisms and release
 Grasshopper is eaten by frog and bird. nutrients back to the environment.
 Rabbit is eaten by fox and eagle.
🔁 Flow is Unidirectional:
📌 Food webs are more stable than food chains because they show
real life interactions. Energy flows in one direction only — it cannot be recycled like
nutrients.

🔍 Key Differences: Once used, it is lost as heat, and cannot return to the sun.

Food Chain Food Web

✅ 10% Law of Energy Transfer
Single pathway Multiple interconnected chains
Less stable More stable Given by Lindeman:
Rare in nature Common in nature Only 10% of energy is passed from one trophic level to the next.
90% of energy is lost as heat, movement, growth, etc.

🔸 Example:
🟢Flow of Energy in Ecosystem & If a plant gets 1000 J of energy from the sun:
10% Law  Herbivore gets 100 J
 Small carnivore gets 10 J
✅ What is Energy Flow?  Top predator gets 1 J

Energy flow in an ecosystem is the unidirectional transfer of energy 📉 As you go higher up, energy decreases sharply.
from the sun → producers → consumers → decomposers.
📊 Visual Representation:
🔆 Step-by-step Explanation of Energy Flow:
🟢 Plants (1000 J)
 ↓ (10%)
🐛 Herbivore (100 J) ✅ What is the Ozone Layer?
↓ (10%)
🐸 Carnivore (10 J) The ozone layer is a thin layer of ozone gas (O₃) found in the
↓ (10%) stratosphere (a layer of Earth’s atmosphere) at a height of about 15–
🦅 Top predator (1 J) 30 km above the surface.

✅ Why Are Food Chains Short? ✅ Composition:

 Due to energy loss, only 3-4 trophic levels can be supported.  Ozone = O₃ = 3 oxygen atoms combined together.
 Not enough energy is left at higher levels to support more  It's different from the oxygen (O₂) we breathe.
organisms.

✅ Importance of the Ozone Layer:

✅ Why Do Top Predators Need More
Space? ☂️ It acts as a protective shield for life on Earth by:

 They need more food (and hence more prey), since energy is  Absorbing harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun
very limited at the top.  Preventing skin cancer, eye cataracts, and damage to crops
 That’s why tigers, lions, and eagles are fewer in number. and animals
 Maintaining ecological balance
✅ Role of Decomposers in Energy Flow
🔬 How is Ozone Formed Naturally?
Though decomposers don't receive energy through trophic levels,
📌 Ozone Formation:
 They break down dead matter
 Recycle nutrients back to soil for producers to use again. 1. UV radiation from the sun splits O₂ molecules into single O
atoms.
🔁 They close the nutrient loop, but not the energy loop. 2. These single O atoms combine with other O₂ molecules to form
O₃ (ozone).

🟢 Reaction:
O₂ + UV light → O + O
🟢Ozone Layer and Its Depletion O + O₂ → O₃ (Ozone)

✅ This is a natural process in the stratosphere.

❌ Ozone Depletion – What’s the Problem? Problem Impact
Ecosystems Harm to plankton, aquatic life
🔹 What is Ozone Depletion?

Thinning or reduction of the ozone layer due to human-made 🌍 What Has Been Done?
chemicals, especially CFCs (Chlorofluorocarbons).
✅ Montreal Protocol (1987)
🟢 What are CFCs?
An international agreement where countries pledged to stop using
 CFC = Chlorofluorocarbon CFCs and other ozone-depleting substances.
 Used in:
o Refrigerators
o Air conditioners ✅ Is the Ozone Layer Recovering?
o Aerosol sprays
o Foam packaging ✔️ Yes!
Thanks to global efforts like the Montreal Protocol, the ozone layer is
❗ When released into the air: slowly healing, and is expected to return to normal levels in a few
decades.
 CFCs rise up and reach the stratosphere.
 They break ozone molecules and convert them into ordinary
oxygen (O₂), reducing ozone concentration.

🟢 Reaction:
🟢Waste Management –
CFCs → Release Cl atoms → Cl + O₃ → ClO + O₂
Biodegradable & Non-
This leads to the “ozone hole”, especially over Antarctica.
Biodegradable Wastes
📉 Effects of Ozone Depletion:
✅ What is Waste?
Problem Impact
Waste refers to unwanted or unusable materials produced by human
Skin issues Skin cancer, sunburns activity.
Eyes Cataracts
Crops Reduced yield Waste is usually generated through:
  Domestic activities (kitchen, packaging) 1. Pesticides sprayed on crops
 Industrial processes 2. Entered soil/water → absorbed by plants
 Agriculture 3. Eaten by insects → eaten by fish → eaten by birds →
 Construction concentration increases

🔺 Top-level consumers have the highest concentration, even if

✅ Classification of Waste: exposure was small at the start.

Fate in
Type of Waste Meaning Examples
Environment ✅ Problems with Improper Waste
🟢
Can be Kitchen waste, Easily Disposal:
broken down paper, cow dung, decomposed, no
Biodegradable naturally by vegetable peels, long-term
Waste Problem Effect
microbes dead plants pollution
Open dumping Soil pollution, breeding of flies and disease
Cannot be
🔴 Non- Plastic, glass, Accumulates, Burning waste Air pollution, toxic gases
broken down
biodegradable metal cans, causes pollution,
easily by Mixing wet & dry
Waste pesticides harms life Difficult to recycle or compost
microbes waste
Block drains, choke animals, never
Plastic bags
decompose
🔍 Why Non-Biodegradable Waste is
Dangerous?
🛠️ What Can We Do?
 Does not decompose → Stays in the environment for years
 Pollutes land and water 🔹 3Rs: Reduce – Reuse – Recycle
 Harms or kills animals if ingested
 Can enter the food chain and cause long-term damage  Reduce: Avoid waste (e.g., say no to plastic bags)
 Reuse: Use jars, containers again
 Recycle: Use waste to make new things
🔬 Biological Magnification
The increase in the concentration of harmful chemicals (like DDT 🔹 Waste Segregation
or mercury) as they move upward in the food chain.
Separate wet (biodegradable) and dry (non-biodegradable) waste at
home to help proper disposal.
📊 Example:
🔹 Eco-friendly habits:

 Carry cloth or jute bags

 Use steel bottles instead of plastic
 Compost kitchen waste
 Avoid single-use plastics