OUR ENVIRONMENT

CLASS 10TH THEORY BIOLOGY

INTRODUCTION

Ecosystem:- A complex system where Biotic and abiotic factors interact in an

environment is referred to an ecosystem.

Term was coined by AG Tansley in 1935

Examples:- Lakes, Pond, or a forest

Or

It is also defined as a structural & functional unit of the biosphere comprising

living organisms and their non-living environment that interact by means of
food chains and chemical cycles resulting in energy –flow, biotic diversity and
material cycling to form a stable, self-supporting system.

Ecosystem Structure and Function

 Mega ecosystems include oceans, seas, brakish water, ponds, pools,

likes, rivers, streams, forest, grasslands and deserts.
 Mesosecosystem consist of deciduous forest and coniferous forests.
 Microsystems include crop lands, cities, towns, ponds, lakes and rivers.

Types of Ecosystem
A . Nature
1) Natural Ecosystem
These ecosystems operate in the nature by themselves without any
human interference.
Example – pond, lake, meadow, desert etc.
2) Artificial Ecosystem
These are maintained by man and hence are also termed man-made or
man-engineered ecosystems.
Example:- crop lands, orchards, gardens, aquarium etc.

Page 1
Ecosystems

Natural Artificial

Aquatic terrestrial

Fresh water marine grassland desert Forest

Lentic Lotic Wetlands open upwelling Coastal

Eg; eg river eg marshes ocean regions oceans eg. Coral reefs,
Ponds, streams mangrooves
lakes

Types of Ecosystem
 Components of Ecosystem
1) A biotic (non-living) components :- include non-living factors.
a) Inorganic substances
Inorganic substances e.g carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, calcium, phosphorus etc
and their compounds constitute the main abiotic component.

b) Organic compounds
These include carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, nucleic acids etc. these are
present in living organisms and lead organic matter.

c) Climatic factors:
These include light, temperature, humidity, wind, rainfall, water etc and also
called edaphic factors
Example: soil and substrate, topography, minerals, pH etc.

2) Biotic (living) component

a) Producers
These organisms utilise solar energy with the help of photosynthetic pigments
to form glucose from simple inorganic substances. This process is k/as
photosynthesis.

Page 2
 Sunlight
6CO2 + 6 H2O →
C6H12O6 + 6 O2
chlorophyll

Example:- green plants, blue green algae, some bacteria.

b) Consumers
These are mainly the animals. They are unable to synthesize their food.

c) Decomposers (reducers)
These include bacteria & fungi of decay. They obtain food from the organic
materials of dead producers and consumers and their waste products.
Decomposers are also called saprotrophs.
 Omnivores:-
Many animals & human beings eat both plant and animals matter eg:- crow,
bear, dog, cat etc.
 Parasites:-
These live on or inside the body of other organism to obtain their food. E.g.,
Escherichia coli (bacterium), liverfluke, tape tape worm (flat worm).

 Detritivores
These are the organisms which feed on detritus (dead remains of plants &
animals) and breakdown it into smaller fragments. Examples -earthworm,
termites, vultures.

Difference between autotrophs and Heterotrophs

Autotrophs Heterotrophs
1) They are producer organisms 1) They are consumer organisms.
2) These prepare their organic 2) These do not prepare organic
nutrients themselves. nutrients themselves.
3) These usually add O2 to the 3) These add CO2 to the environment.
environment.
4) These include plants and blue 4) These include animals, many
green algae. protests and bacteria and fungi of
decay.
5) These get inorganic materials from 5) These get both organic & inorganic
outside. materials from outside.

Difference between producers and consumers.

Producers Consumers

Page 3
 1) These are capable of synthesizing 1) These cannot synthesize their own
their own food through the food and depend on readymade food.
photosynthesis and are called Hence, they are called heterotrophs.
autotroph.
2.) These possess photosynthetic 2) They don’t have.
pigments.
3)They constitute the first trophic 3) They belong to 2nd & higher trophic
level. level.
4) These trap solar energy & convert 4) They are incapable of trapping
it into chemical energy of organic solar energy.
compounds.
5) They obtain inorganic materials 5) They obtain organic nutrients from
from outside for photosynthesis. outside as food.

Food chain
The biotic factors of the ecosystem are linked together by food.
For example:- the producers form the food for the herbivores. All herbivores
form food for the carnivores. The sequence of the eaters being eaten is called
food chain.

Producers Herbivores carnivores

The various steps in a food chain are called trophic levels. Energy flows
through food chains. This transfer of energy from one trophic level to another
is called energy flow.

The food chains are of many types:-

a) Grazing food chain: starts from plants goes through herbivores and ends
in carnivores.
b) In predator food chain: one animal captures & devours another animal.
The animal which is eaten is called prey and the animal which eats the other
animals is k/as predator. The predator food chain is formed of plants,
herbivores, primary carnivores, secondary carnivores and so on.

Parasitic chain. The plants and animals of the grazing food chain are infected
by parasites. The parasites derive their energy from their hosts. The parasitic
chain is formed with the grazing food chain.
Detritus food chain. Starts from dead organic matter and ends in inorganic
compounds’ organisms which feed exclusively on the dead bodies of animals
& plants are called detritivores’. It include algae, bacteria, fungi, protozoans,
insects earthworms and ducks. These organisms ingest and digest the dead
organic materials.

Page 4
Dead organic materials Detritivores CO 2+H2O
Definition
The sequential interlinking of organisms involving transfer of food energy from
the producers, through a series of organisms with repeated eating and being
eaten is called the food chain.

FOOD CHAINS IN NATURE

Trophic levels
The distinct sequential steps in the food chain where transfer of energy occurs
are referred to as different tropic levels.
1st trophic level – the producer level:
The plant eaters (herbivores)
nd
2 trophic level - The primary consumer level;
The flesh eater (carnivores)
rd
3 trophic level – the secondary consumer level.

Page 5
 Trophic Levels

Characteristics of Food Chain

1. It involves a nutritive interaction between the living organisms of an
ecosystem.
2. It is always in straight line.
3. There is unidirectional flow of energy from sun to producers.
4. There are 3 or 4 trophic levels in the food chain or maximum of 5 trophic
levels.
5. At each transfer, generally 80 – 90% of energy is lost as heat in
accordance with 2nd law of thermodynamics.
Food WEB:
Definition:
It is the network of food chains which become interconnected at various
trophic levels. So as to form a number of feeding connections amongst
different organisms of a biotic community.’

Page 6
Characteristics of Food web
1) It is never straight.
2) It provides alternative pathways of food availability.
3) It makes the ecosystem more stable.
4) It help in checking the overpopulations.
5) It helps in ecosystem development.

Flow of energy in an ecosystem

 The ultimate source of energy, used by living organisms, is the sun.
 Only 1% of total solar radiations falling on the earth are captured by
green plant.
 When herbivores eat plants a 10% energy is lost as heat to the
environment, according to the 2nd law of thermodynamics.
 As amount of energy goes on decreasing at each trophic level, food
chains usually consists of only 3 or 4 steps and maximum of 5 steps.

Ten percent Law

It was given by Lindeman in the year 1942; According to this law only 10% of
energy entering a particular trophic level of organism is available for transfer
to the next higher trophic level.

1000 Joule Sun

Of light energy
(1% absorbed)

10 % of 10 Joule 10 % of 0 Joule
Plants →
Deer →
Lion
energy energy

10 Joules energy 1Joule energy 0.1 joule energy

Available as plant food available as flesh as flesh
(1st trophic level) food (2nd Trophic level) (3rd Trophic level)
Sample problem

1. Calculate the amount of energy available to lion in the following food

chain it plants have 20000 J of energy available from the sun.

Plants Deer Lion

Page 7
Solution:
20,000 J Sun
(1%)

10 % of 200 J 10 % of 20 J
Plants →
Deer →
Lion (
energy energy
20,000× 1=200 J 200× 1=200 J 20× 10=2 J
¿ ( ¿ ( )
100 100 100

200 J 20 J 2J

Q. Why the number of trophic levels in a food chain is limited?

Ans. Food chain generally consist of 3 or 4 steps because after that the
energy available for the next organisms will be so small that it will be
insufficient to sustain the life of that organism.

Biomagnification

The phenomenon that involves progressive increase in concentration of

harmful non-biodegradable chemicals at different trophic levels in a food chain
is called biomagnifications.

Or

The increase in concentration of harmful chemical substances like pesticides

in the body of living organisms at each trophic level of a food chain is called
biological magnification.

Solid waste:

It comes from residence, cattle sheds, industries, agriculture fields, and many
other places.

Types of solid wastes

1) Biodegradable wastes

These include substances such as household garbage, human urine, and

faecal matter (sewage), agricultural residues and several industrial wastes.

Harmful effects

1. Decomposition of biodegradable wastes results in the production of foul

smell.

Page 8
2. Biodegradable wastes may also black the drains, creating pools of
water which become the breeding sites of mosquitoes.

3. it also reduces the fertility of the soil leading to reduction in crop yields.

2) Non-Biodegradable wastes;

The waste that can not be degraded by natural means i.e., by the actions of
microorganisms, into simpler, harmless substances in due course of time.

Harmful Effects

Some of the substances such as pesticides, industrial chemicals, heavy

metals and radioactive substances are very harmful.

Excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides, and dumping of industrial chemical

wastes affects the soil fertility and reduces the crop yield.

Modes of waste disposal

1. Recycling of wastes

Paper, plastics, metals can be recycled by sending them to respective

recycling units.

2. Land fills

In urban areas, majority of the solid wastes are buried in low lying areas to
level the uneven surface of land.

3. Preparation of compost

Household waste can be converted into compost and used as manure.

4. Incineration

It is the process of burning of substances at high temperature (more than

1000°C) and ultimately converting them into ashes.

5. Production of biogas and manure.

Biodegradable wastes can be used in biogas plants to generate biogas and

manure.

It is a cheap source of fuel, manure, a cheap fertilizer.

Page 9
Ozone depletion

 Global environment is formed by 3 parts atmosphere, hydrosphere and

lithosphere.
 Four main layers are
Troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere and thermosphere.
 Ozone is a form of oxygen. A molecule of ozone contains three oxygen
atoms (O3).

UV radiations
O3 ⇔
O2 + [O]
¿ sun
Oxygen Oxygen Atom
 90% of the total atmospheric ozone is concentrated between 18-26 Km
above in the stratosphere.
 Ozone layer in the stratosphere acts as a shield to protect all types of
life from harmful UV radiations.
 The thinning of ozone layer is as ozone depletion.
 It depleted by CFCS, CH4 and oxides of nitrogen.
 Ozone hole was 1st discovered over Antarctica in 1985.
 Amount of ozone is measured by DOBSON SPECTROMETER and is
expressed in Dobson units (DU).

Effects of ozone depletion

i) It causes skin cancer.
ii) These cause damage to eyes and also can cause increased incidence
of cataract diseases in eyes.
iii) These cause damage to immune system by lowering the body
resistance to diseases.

In 1987, the united nations environment programme (UNEP) succeeded in

forging a agreement between actions to freeze CFCs production at 1986
levels.

Page 10