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Ecosystems – II
Ashwani Sharma, PhD
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Biomes
A biome is a geographical area that has a particular climate and sustains a
specific community of plants and animals
• The main factors affecting the distribution of biomes is temperature and
rainfall
• These factors will vary according to latitude and longitude, as well as
altitude and proximity to the ocean
There are a number of different biomes found across the continents,
including:
• Tropical rainforests – hot and humid environments near the equator with
dense vegetation and high biodiversity
• Taiga – coniferous forests near the poles that have cold temperatures and
little precipitation (moisture trapped as snow / ice)
• Deserts – dry and arid environments that display extreme temperature
conditions (hot and cold)
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Steepe
Prairie
Veld
Pampas
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Flow of energy in a food chain
ECOLOGICAL PYRAMIDS
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Recycling of nutrients in an ecosystem
NUTRIENTS RECYCLING
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Primary and Secondary successions
ECOLOGICAL SUCCESSION
Ecological Succession
Ecological succession describes the process by
which a sequence of increasingly complex
communities develop over time
• The organisms which first colonise the region
are called pioneer species and typically consist
of lichen or moss
• The climax community is reached when
succession has ended and the community has
all of its characteristics
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Succession Types
• Primary Succession
• Secondary Succession
Primary Succession
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Secondary Succession
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Primary Succession Following Glacial Retreat
• Glacial retreat exposes bare rock for
colonisation, so regions further from the
glacier have had more time to develop life
• Hence regions further from the glacier are
expected to contain larger trees common to a
climax community, while regions closer to the
glacier are expected to contain plant life
common to the earlier stages of primary
succession
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Disturbance influxes the structure and rate of change within ecosystems
ECOLOGICAL DISTURBANCES
Environmental Disturbance
• Environmental disturbances may cause
fluctuations to the structure and rate of
change within ecosystems
• Environmental disturbances may be natural or
artificial (human induced) in origin
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Natural Disturbances
• A natural environmental disturbance may give
rise to secondary succession – where one
ecosystem is replaced by another
• Secondary succession occurs when succession
starts on existing soil following the upheaval of a
pre-existing ecosystem
• This upheaval results in the removal of existing
biota and allows a new ecosystem to develop on
the site of the old
• Because the soil is already developed, dominance
is usually achieved by the fastest growing plants
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Oligotrophic lake Eutrophic lake
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Lake Baikal
• Oldest lake
• Deepest lake
• Largest lake
Thank you
[Link]@[Link]
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