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 ECOSYSTEM
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• An ecosystem is a functional unit of

nature, where living organisms
interact each other and also with the
physical environment.

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 ECOSYSTEM STRUCTURE & FUNCTION

Terrestrial ecosystem:
Forest, grassland,
desert etc.

TYPES OF Aquatic ecosystem:

Pond, lake, wetland,
ECOSYSTEMS river & estuary.

Man-made ecosystem:
Crop fields and
aquarium.

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 ECOSYSTEM STRUCTURE & FUNCTION
• Entire biosphere is regarded as global ecosystem.
• In an ecosystem, biotic and abiotic components interact and function as a unit.
• Vertical distribution of different species occupying different levels is called stratification.
E.g. In a forest, trees occupy top strata (layer), shrubs the second and herbs & grasses
the bottom layers.

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ECOSYSTEM STRUCTURE & FUNCTION
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Pond (Aquatic ecosystem)
• A pond is a shallow, simple, self-sustainable
water body that exhibits all basic components
of an ecosystem.
• Abiotic components: Water and soil deposit.
• Climatic conditions: Solar input, cycle of
temperature, day-length etc.
• Autotrophic components: Phytoplankton,
some algae and the floating, submerged and
marginal plants.
• Consumers (heterotrophs): Zooplankton,
free swimming and bottom dwelling forms.
• Decomposers: Fungi, bacteria & flagellates.

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ECOSYSTEM STRUCTURE & FUNCTION
Pond (Aquatic ecosystem)

• Pond performs all the functions of an

ecosystem such as
 Conversion of inorganic into organic
material using solar radiant energy by
the autotrophs.
 Consumption of the autotrophs by
heterotrophs.
 Decomposition and mineralization of
the dead matter to release them back
for reuse by the autotrophs.

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 ECOSYSTEM STRUCTURE & FUNCTION
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Productivity

Decomposition
4 basic
components of
an ecosystem Energy flow

Nutrient cycling

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PRODUCTIVITY
• Solar energy is the basic requirement for an ecosystem
to function and sustain.
• Amount of biomass (organic matter) produced per unit
area over a time period by plants during photosynthesis
is called primary production. It is expressed in weight
(g–2) or energy (kcal m–2).
• The rate of biomass production is called productivity. It
is expressed in g–2 yr–1 or (kcal m–2) yr–1.
• It is divided into gross primary productivity (GPP) & net
primary productivity (NPP).

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PRODUCTIVITY
• Gross primary productivity: It is the rate of
production of organic matter during
photosynthesis. A considerable amount of GPP is
utilized by plants for respiration.
• Net primary productivity (NPP): It is the
available biomass for the consumption to
heterotrophs (herbivores & decomposers). i.e., NPP
is Gross primary productivity minus respiration
losses (R).

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 PRODUCTIVITY
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• Secondary productivity: It is the rate of formation

of new organic matter by consumers.
• Primary productivity varies in different ecosystems
because it depends on
 The plant species inhabiting a particular area
 Environmental factors
 Availability of nutrients
 Photosynthetic capacity of plants

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PRODUCTIVITY

• Annual net primary productivity of whole

biosphere is about 170 billion tons (dry
weight) of organic matter.
• Of this, despite occupying about 70 % of the
surface, the productivity of the oceans is only
55 billion tons.

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 DECOMPOSITION
• It is the breakdown of complex organic matter by
decomposers into inorganic substances like CO2, Steps of Decomposition
water & nutrients.
• It is largely an oxygen-requiring process. 1. Fragmentation
• Raw material for decomposition is called Detritus.
2. Leaching
E.g. dead plant remains (leaves, bark, flowers etc.),
dead remains of animals, fecal matter etc. 3. Catabolism
Detritus
4. Humification

5. Mineralization

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 DECOMPOSITION
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1. Fragmentation: Breakdown of detritus into smaller
particles by detritivores (e.g. earthworm).
2. Leaching: Water soluble inorganic nutrients go down into
soil horizon and precipitate as unavailable salts.
3. Catabolism: Degradation of detritus into simpler inorganic
substances by bacterial and fungal enzymes.
The above three processes occur simultaneously.
4. Humification: Accumulation of humus (dark amorphous
substance) in soil. Humus is resistant to microbial action
and so decomposes very slowly. Being colloidal in nature it
serves as a reservoir of nutrients.
5. Mineralization: It is the release of inorganic nutrients due
to the degradation of humus by some microbes.

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DECOMPOSITION
Factors influencing decomposition
• Chemical composition of detritus: Decomposition
rate is slower in detritus rich in lignin & chitin. It is
quicker, if detritus is rich in nitrogen and water-
soluble substances like sugars.
• Climatic factors (temperature & soil moisture):
Warm and moist environment favour
decomposition. Low temperature & anaerobiosis
inhibit decomposition resulting in buildup of
organic materials.

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ENERGY FLOW
• Sun is the only source of energy for all ecosystems
(except deep sea hydro-thermal ecosystem).
• Of the incident solar radiation, less than 50% is
photosynthetically active radiation (PAR).
• Plants and photosynthetic & chemosynthetic bacteria
(autotrophs), fix solar radiant energy to make food.
• Plants capture only 2-10% of the PAR. This energy
sustains the entire living world.
• Ecosystems obey 2nd Law of thermodynamics. They
need a constant supply of energy to synthesize the
molecules. It helps to counteract the entropy.

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 ENERGY FLOW
Producers (Autotrophs)
• The are organisms that synthesize food.
• In a terrestrial ecosystem, major
producers are herbaceous & woody
plants.
• Primary producers in an aquatic
ecosystem are phytoplankton, algae and
higher plants.
• The energy trapped by the producer is
either passed on to a consumer or the
organism dies.

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 ENERGY FLOW
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Consumers (heterotrophs)
• These are animals that directly or indirectly
depend on plants for food. They include:
 Primary consumers (herbivores): Feed on
plants. E.g. insects, birds, mammals,
molluscs etc.
 Secondary consumers (primary carnivores):
Feed on herbivores. E.g. frog, fox, man etc.
 Tertiary consumers (secondary carnivores):
Feed on primary carnivores. E.g. tiger, lion etc.

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ENERGY FLOW
• The chain of feeding relationship between
different organisms is called a food chain. It is 2
types:
• Grazing Food Chain (GFC): Here, primary
consumer feeds on living plants (producer). E.g.

• Detritus Food Chain (DFC): Here, primary

consumer feeds on dead organic matter
(detritus). Death of organism is the beginning of
the DFC.

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 ENERGY FLOW
• Detritus is made up of decomposers (saprotrophs) such as fungi & bacteria. They
secrete digestive enzymes that breakdown detritus into simple, inorganic materials,
which are absorbed by them. Thus they get energy & nutrients.

Pseudomonas – Mushroom – A decomposing fruit due to

a decomposer bacterium a decomposer fungus action of fungus

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 ENERGY FLOW
• In an aquatic ecosystem, GFC is the major
conduit for energy flow.
• In a terrestrial ecosystem, a much amount of
energy flows through the DFC than through GFC.
• DFC may be connected with GFC at some levels.
Some organisms of DFC are prey to the GFC
animals. Some animals (cockroaches, crows
etc.) are omnivores. These interconnections of
food chains make a food web.

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 ENERGY FLOW
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A specific place of organisms in the food chain is known as their trophic level.

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 ENERGY FLOW
• The amount of energy decreases at successive trophic levels.
• When an organism dies, it becomes dead biomass (detritus). It is an energy source for
decomposers.
• Organisms at each trophic level depend on those at the lower trophic level for energy.

Dead
biomass

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 ENERGY FLOW
• Each trophic level has a certain mass of
living material at a particular time called
as the standing crop. It is measured as the
biomass (mass of living organisms) or
number in a unit area.
• Biomass of a species is expressed in terms
of fresh or dry weight. It is more accurate
measurement.
• Number of trophic levels in GFC is
restricted as it follows 10% law (only 10%
Energy flow through different trophic levels of energy is transferred to each trophic
level from the lower trophic level).

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ECOLOGICAL PYRAMIDS

• The representation of a food chain in

the form of a pyramid is called
ecological pyramid.
• The base of a pyramid represents
producers (first trophic level). The
apex represents tertiary or top level
consumer.
• Ecological pyramids are 3 types:
• Pyramid of number
• Pyramid of biomass
• Pyramid of energy

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 ECOLOGICAL PYRAMIDS
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a) Pyramid of number
E.g. grassland ecosystem.

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ECOLOGICAL PYRAMIDS
b) Pyramid of biomass

• It shows a sharp decrease in

biomass at higher trophic levels.

• Inverted pyramid of biomass: Small

standing crop of phytoplankton supports
large standing crop of zooplankton.

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ECOLOGICAL PYRAMIDS
c) Pyramid of energy
• Primary producers convert only 1% of the energy in the sunlight
available to them into NPP.

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ECOLOGICAL PYRAMIDS

• Any calculations of energy content, biomass, or numbers has

to include all organisms at that trophic level.
• The trophic level represents a functional level, not a species as
such. A given species may occupy more than one trophic level
in the same ecosystem at the same time. E.g. A sparrow is a
primary consumer when it eats seeds, fruits, peas, and a
secondary consumer when it eats insects and worms.
• In most ecosystems, all the pyramids are upright, i.e.,
producers are more in number and biomass than the
herbivores, and herbivores are more in number and biomass
than the carnivores. Also energy at a lower trophic level is
always more than at a higher level.

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 ECOLOGICAL PYRAMIDS
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Examples for inverted pyramids
• Insects feeding on a big tree.
• Pyramid of biomass in sea is inverted because the biomass of
fishes far exceeds that of phytoplankton.

• Pyramid of energy is always upright, because when energy flows from a trophic
level to the next trophic level, some energy is always lost as heat at each step.
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ECOLOGICAL PYRAMIDS

Limitations of ecological pyramids

 It does not take into account the same
species belonging to two or more
trophic levels.
 It assumes a simple food chain that
almost never exists in nature; it does
not accommodate a food web.
 Saprophytes are not included in
ecological pyramids even though they
play a vital role in the ecosystem.

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ECOLOGICAL SUCCESSION
• It is a gradual, slow and predictable
change in the species composition of an
area leading to a climax community
(community that is in equilibrium with
the environment).
• In this, some species colonize an area and
increase in number, whereas other
species decline and disappear.
• The entire sequences of communities that
successively change in an area are called
sere. Individual transitional communities
are termed seral stages (seral
communities).

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 ECOLOGICAL SUCCESSION
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• In the successive seral stages there is a

change in species diversity, increase in
number of species and organisms and an
increase in the total biomass.
• The present day communities are due to
succession of millions of years. Succession
and evolution would have been parallel
processes at that time.
• Succession is 2 types:
 Primary succession
 Secondary succession

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ECOLOGICAL SUCCESSION

Primary Succession
• The succession taking place in areas where
no living organisms ever existed.
• E.g. newly cooled lava, bare rock, newly
created pond or reservoir.
• Before a biotic community is established,
there must be formation of fertile soil
through natural processes. So the primary
succession is a very slow process.

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ECOLOGICAL SUCCESSION

Secondary Succession
• The succession taking place in an area
after the existed organisms are lost.
• E.g. abandoned farm lands, burned or cut
forests, lands that are flooded.
• Since some soil or sediment is present,
succession is faster than primary
succession.
• The species that invade depend on the
condition of the soil, availability of water
etc.

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 ECOLOGICAL SUCCESSION
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• In succession, changes in vegetation affect

food & shelter of animals. Thus, as
succession proceeds, the number and
types of animals & decomposers also
change.
• Natural or human induced disturbances
(deforestation, fire etc.) convert a
particular seral stage to an earlier stage.
They create new conditions that
encourage some species and discourage
or eliminate other species.

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 ECOLOGICAL SUCCESSION
SUCCESSION OF PLANTS
• Based on the nature of the habitat, plant
succession is 2 types: hydrarch & xerarch.
 Hydrarch succession: It takes place in
wetter areas. The series progress from
hydric to mesic conditions.
 Xerarch succession: It takes place in dry
areas. The series progress from xeric to
mesic conditions.
• Hence, both hydrarch & xerarch successions
lead to medium water conditions (mesic,
the climax community).
The species invading a bare area are called pioneer species.
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ECOLOGICAL SUCCESSION
SUCCESSION OF PLANTS
Primary succession on rocks
(xerophytic habitat)
• Here, Lichens are pioneer species. They
secrete acids to dissolve rock, helping in
weathering & soil formation.
• Lichens → small plants like bryophytes (they
need only small amount of soil) → bigger
plants → stable climax forest community
(mesophytic).
• The climax community remains stable as long
as the environment remains unchanged.

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 ECOLOGICAL SUCCESSION
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SUCCESSION OF PLANTS
1 4
Primary succession in water
• Phytoplankton (pioneers) → free-floating
angiosperms → rooted hydrophytes → sedges,
grasses → trees (climax community is a forest).
2 5
• With time the water body is converted into
land.

3 6 7

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 NUTRIENT CYCLING
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• The amount of nutrients like carbon,

nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium etc. present in
the soil at any given time, is referred to as
the standing state. It varies in different kinds
of ecosystems and also on a seasonal basis.
• Nutrients are never lost from the ecosystems.
They are recycled again and again.
• The movement of nutrient elements through
various components of an ecosystem is called
nutrient cycling (biogeochemical cycles).

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 NUTRIENT CYCLING

The reservoir is atmosphere.

Gaseous cycle
E.g. Nitrogen & Carbon cycles.
Types of
Nutrient cycles
Sedimentary The reservoir is Earth’s crust.
cycle E.g. Sulphur & Phosphorus cycles.

Environmental factors (soil, moisture, pH, temperature, etc.) regulate the rate of
release of nutrients into the atmosphere. The reservoir meets with the deficit of
nutrients due to imbalance in the rate of influx and efflux.

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NUTRIENT CYCLING
Carbon Cycle
• Reservoir of carbon: Atmosphere (about
1%), organisms (49% of dry weight), oceans
(71% dissolved carbon. It regulates the
amount of atmospheric CO2), fossil fuel etc.
• Carbon cycling occurs through atmosphere,
ocean and through living & dead organisms.
• 4×1013 kg of carbon is fixed in the biosphere
through photosynthesis annually.
• A major amount of carbon returns to the
atmosphere as CO2 through respiration.
• Processing of wastes & dead organic matter
by decomposers also release CO2.

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 NUTRIENT CYCLING
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Carbon Cycle
• Some amount of the fixed carbon is lost
to sediments and removed from
circulation.
• Burning of wood, forest fire and
combustion of organic matter, fossil fuel
and volcanic activity are other sources for
releasing CO2 in the atmosphere.
• Role of human activities in carbon cycle:
Deforestation, burning of fossil fuel etc.
has increased the rate of release of CO2
into the atmosphere.

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NUTRIENT CYCLING
Phosphorous Cycle
• Phosphorus is a constituent of biological
membranes, nucleic acids & cellular energy
transfer systems.
• Many animals use phosphorus to make shells,
bones and teeth.
• The natural reservoir of phosphorus is rock (in the
form of phosphates).
• When rocks are weathered, minute amounts of
phosphates dissolve in soil solution and are
absorbed by the plants. Herbivores and other
animals obtain this from plants.
• The waste products and the dead organisms are
decomposed by phosphate-solubilising bacteria
releasing phosphorus.
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 NUTRIENT CYCLING
Differences between carbon and phosphorous cycles

Carbon cycle Phosphorous cycle

Atmospheric input is higher Much smaller

There is gaseous exchange Gaseous exchange is

b/w organism & environment negligible

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 ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
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• The products of ecosystem processes are called

ecosystem services.
• Ecosystem services of a healthy forest:
 Purify air & water
 Mitigate droughts & floods
 Cycle nutrients
 Generate fertile soils
 Provide wildlife habitat
 Maintain biodiversity
 Pollinate crops
 Provide storage site for carbon
 Provide aesthetic, cultural & spiritual values

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ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
• Robert Constanza and his colleagues have tried to
put price tags on nature’s life-support services.
• Researchers have put an average price tag of US $
33 trillion a year on fundamental ecosystems
services. This is nearly twice the value of the global
gross national product GNP (US $ 18 trillion).
• Out of this total cost, the soil formation accounts
for about 50%.
• Contributions of other services like recreation &
nutrient cycling are less than 10% each.
• The cost of climate regulation and habitat for
wildlife are about 6 % each.

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THE END
Prepared by: K.C. MUHAMMED ALI
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