CHAPTER-14-ECOSYSTEM
1) The term ecosystem (Gr: Eco-environment: System-interacting and
interdependent complex) was coined by Arthur.G. Tansley(1935).
2) It was earlier called Biocoenosis by Karl Mobius (1877).
DEFN: An ecosystem can be defined as a functional unit of nature, where living
organisms interact among themselves and also with the surrounding physical
environment. OR
An ecosystem is a functional unit of nature in which both biotic communities and
abiotic environment influence each other(Odum). OR
An ecosystem includes a group of organisms interacting among themselves and
with their surrounding environment (Fitz Patrick-1974).
TYPES OF ECOSYSTEM:
It can be classified on various basis i.e.,
A) Based on habitat
B) Based on mode of existence
A) CLASSIFICATION BASED ON HABITAT :
Based on habitat, ecosystem is divided it into two basic categories, namely
a) Terrestrial ecosystem: Ex: Forest, grassland, desert etc.
b) Aquatic ecosystem: Ex: pond, lake, wetland, river and estuary
B) CLASSIFICATION BASED ON MODE OF EXISTENCE:
Based on mode of existence, ecosystem is divided it into two basic categories,
namely
a) Natural ecosystem:
Is the one that develops in nature without interference of man.
Ex: Forest, grassland, desert, pond, lake, wetland, river and estuary etc.
b) Artificial/Anthropogenic ecosystem:
Are man-made ecosystems.
Ex: Crop fields, an aquarium, dam, parks/gardens etc.
COMPONENTS/ PHYSICAL STRUCTURE OF ECOSYSTEM:
1) An ecosystem consists of two interacting components namely-
a) Abiotic component and
b) Biotic component.
2) The components of the ecosystem are seen to function as a unit
under the following aspects:
i) Productivity
ii) Decomposition
iii) Energy flow; and
iv) Nutrient cycling.
SPECIES COMPOSITION:
DEFN: Is Identification and enumeration of plant and animal species of an
ecosystem.
STRATIFICATION:
DEFN: Vertical distribution of different species occupying different levels is called
stratification.
Ex: Trees occupy top vertical strata layer of a forest, Shrubs the second and
Herbs and grasses occupy the bottom layers.
POND ECOSYSTEM:
A pond is a shallow water body.
COMPONENTS OF POND ECOSYSTEM: It consists of
a) Abiotic components: It Includes
i) Water with all the dissolved inorganic and organic substances
ii) Rich soil deposit at the bottom of the pond
iii) Solar input(Light),
iv) Temperature, day-length and other climatic conditions.
These abiotic components regulate the rate of function of the entire pond.
b) Biotic components: It Includes
i) Producers: These are autotrophs like the phytoplankton, some algae and the
floating, submerged and marginal plants found at the edges.
ii) Consumers: These are represented by the zooplankton, the free swimming and
bottom dwelling forms.
iii) Decomposers: Includes the fungi, bacteria and flagellates which are abundant in
the bottom of the pond.
FUNCTIONING OF A POND ECOSYSTEM:
1) It performs all the functions of any ecosystem and of the biosphere i.e.
a) Productivity: Conversion of inorganic into organic material with the help of the
radiant energy of the sun by the autotrophs
b) Consumption of the autotrophs by heterotrophs
c) Decomposition and mineralization of the dead matter by decomposers to
release them back for reuse by the autotrophs.
2) There is unidirectional movement of energy towards the higher trophic levels and
its dissipation and loss as heat to the environment.
PRODUCTIVITY:
DEFN: Productivity of an ecosystem refers to the rate of production of organic matter
per unit area.
This is also called biological production.
A constant input of solar energy is the basic requirement for any ecosystem to
function and sustain.
TYPES OF PRODUCTIVITY:
Productivity in an ecosystem is of two types:
a) Primary production
b) Secondary production.
a) PRIMARY PRODUCTION:
DEFN: Primary production is defined as the amount of biomass or organic matter
produced per unit area over a time period byplants during photosynthesis.
1) It is expressed in terms of weight (g–2) or energy (kcalm–2).
2) The rate of biomass production is called productivity.
3) It is expressed in terms of g–2yr –1 or (kcalm–2)yr–1 to compare the
productivity of different ecosystems.
TYPES OF PRIMARY PRODUCTION: Is of two types
i) Gross primary productivity(GPP)
ii) Net primary productivity (NPP).
i) GROSS PRIMARY PRODUCTIVITY(GPP):
DEFN: Gross primary productivity of an ecosystem is the rate of production of
organic matter during photosynthesis.
A considerable amount of GPP is utilized by plants in respiration.
ii) NET PRIMARY PRODUCTIVITY (NPP):
DEFN: Net primary productivity is the available biomass for the consumption to
heterotrophs(herbiviores and decomposers).
NPP = GPP – R (Respiration losses)
Therefore Gross primary productivity minus respiration losses (R) is the net primary
productivity (NPP).
FACTORS AFFECTING PRIMARY PRODUCTIVITY:
Primary productivity depends on
i) The plant species inhabiting a particular area
ii) Variety of environmental factors
iii) Availability of nutrients and
iv) Photosynthetic capacity of plants
Therefore, it varies in different types of ecosystems.
The annual net primary productivity of the whole biosphere is approximately
170 billion tons(dry weight) of organic matter.
Of this, the productivity of the oceans are only 55 billion tons and rest of
course, is on land.
REASON FOR THE LOW PRODUCTIVITY OF OCEAN:
The reasons are:
1) Presence of small floating autotrophic plants( less vascular than their
terrestrial counterparts)
2) Sunlight is not available beyond a certain depth.
3) Minerals and nutrients can be a retarding factor based on location of the
oceans.
4) Photosynthetic capacity of the marine ecosystem is far less than that of
advanced plants and trees on land.
SECONDARY PRODUCTION:
DEFN: Secondary productivity is defined as the rate of formation of new
organic matter by consumers.
DECOMPOSITION:
DEFN: The process of breaking down complex organic matter into inorganic
substances like carbon dioxide, water and nutrients is called decomposition.
RAW MATERIAL FOR DECOMPOSITION:
Dead plant remains such as leaves, bark, flowers and dead remains of animals,
including fecal matter which constitute detritus is the raw material for
decomposition.
STEPS OF DECOMPOSITION:
The important steps in the process of decomposition are:
a) Fragmentation,
b) Leaching,
c) Catabolism,
d) Humification and
e) Mineralisation.
a) FRAGMENTATION: The process of break down detritus into smaller particles by
detritivores (e.g., earthworm) is called fragmentation.
b) LEACHING: The process in which water soluble inorganic nutrients go down into
the soil horizon and get precipitated as unavailable salts is called leaching.
c) CATABOLISM: The process in which bacterial and fungal enzymes degrade
detritus into simpler inorganic substances is called as catabolism.
d) HUMIFICATION: It is a process that leads to accumulation of a dark
coloured amorphous substance called humus.
Humus is highly resistant to microbial action and undergoes decomposition at
an extremely slow rate.
Being colloidal in nature it serves as a reservoir of nutrients.
e) MINERALISATION: The process by which humus is is further degraded by some
microbes to release inorganic nutrients occur is known as mineralisation.
Note:
i) All the above steps in decomposition operate simultaneously on the detritus.
ii) Humification and mineralisation occur during decomposition in the soil.
FACTORS AFFECTING DECOMPOSITION:
The rate of decomposition is affected by various factors which are as follows:
i) OXYGEN: Decomposition is largely an oxygen-requiring process.
ii) CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF DETRITUS:
In a particular climatic condition, decomposition rate is slower if detritus is rich in
lignin and chitin, and quicker, if detritus is rich in nitrogen and water-soluble
substances like sugars.
iii) CLIMATIC FACTORS:
1) Temperature and soil moisture are the most important climatic factors that
regulate decomposition through their effects on the activities of soil microbes.
2) Warm and moist environment favours decomposition whereas low
temperature and anaerobiosis inhibit decomposition resulting in buildup of
organic materials.
ENERGY FLOW:
1) Sun is the only source of energy for all ecosystems on Earth except for the
deep sea hydro-thermal ecosystem.
2) Of the incident solar radiation less than 50 per cent of it is photosynthetically
active radiation (PAR).
3) Plants and photosynthetic and chemosynthetic bacteria
4) (autotrophs), fix suns’ radiant energy to make food from simple inorganic
materials.
5) Plants capture only 2-10 per cent of the PAR and this small amount of energy
sustains the entire living world.
6) This solar energy captured by plants flows through different organisms of an
ecosystem i.e., to consumers and decomposers. Hence there is unidirectional
flow of energy from the sun to producers and then to consumers insisting with
the two laws of thermodynamics.
a) FIRST LAW OF THERMODYMAMICS: Energy can neither be created nor
destroyed but it can be transformed from one form to another.
b) SECOND LAW OF THERMODYMAMICS: Every activity involving energy
transfer is accompanied with dissipation of energy.
FOOD CHAIN:
DEFN: A food chain is a sequence of population/group of organism in which there is
transfer of food energy through a series of repeated eating and being eaten.
A food chain is built on producer-consumer relationship and describes the
structure and functions of various trophic levels and their inter relationship in an
ecosystem.
TROPHIC LEVELS:
Each level of food chain in which there is transfer of energy is called trophic level/
energy level.
A food chain is a linear network consisting of
1) Producers: includes green plants.
Ex 1: In a terrestrial ecosystem, major producers are herbaceous and woody
plants.
Ex 2: The primary producers in an aquatic ecosystem are various species like
phytoplankton, algae and higher plants
2) Consumers:
1) All animals depending on plants (directly or indirectly) for their food needs are
called consumers and also heterotrophs.
2) Consumers are further catogerised as follows:
a) Primary consumers:
i) They feed on the producers, the plants
ii) The primary consumers will be herbivores.
Ex: Some common herbivores are insects, birds and mammals in terrestrial
ecosystem and molluscs in aquatic ecosystem
b) Secondary consumers:
i) The animals eat other animals which in turn eat the plants (or their produce) are
called secondary consumers
ii) The secondary consumers that feed on herbivores are carnivores, or more
correctly primary carnivores.
iii) Those animals that depend on the primary carnivores for food are called
secondary carnivores.
TYPES OF FOOD CHAIN:
It is of 2 types :
a) Grazing food chain (GFC)
b) Detritus food chain(DFC)
a) GRAZING FOOD CHAIN (GFC) :
A simple grazing food chain (GFC) is depicted below:
b) DETRITUS FOOD CHAIN:
I. The detritus food chain (DFC) begins with dead organic matter.
II. It is made up of decomposers which are heterotrophic organisms, mainly fungi
and bacteria.
III. They meet their energy and nutrient requirements by degrading dead organic
matter or detritus.
IV. These are also known as saprotrophs (sapro: to decompose). Decomposers
secrete digestive enzymes that breakdown dead and waste materials into
simple, inorganic materials, which are subsequently absorbed by them.
DIFFERENCES B/N GFC & DFC
TROPHIC LEVELS:
DEFN: Each level/a place an organisms occupies in the food chain in which there is
transfer of energy is called trophic level/energy level.
The food chain of an ecosystem has the following trophic levels:
a) First trophic level(T1):
The producers occupy first trophic level.
b) Second trophic level(T2):
The herbivores(primary consumer) occupy second trophic level.
c) Third trophic level(T3):
The carnivores (secondary consumer) to the third trophic level.
CHARACTERS:
1) Organisms at each trophic level depend on those at the lower trophic level for
their energy demands.
2) The amount of energy decreases at successive trophic level.
3) Each trophic level has a certain mass of living material at a particular
time called as the standing crop which is measured as the mass of
living organisms (biomass) or the number in a unit area.
4) The number of trophic levels in the grazing food chain is restricted as
the transfer of energy follows 10 per cent law.
TEN PERCEENT(10%) LAW:
This was put forth by Lindemann(1942).
It states that “during transfer of food energy from one trophic level to another, only
10% is stored at higher trophic level while the remaining 90% is lost in respiration,
decomposition and is wasted in the form of heat.”
OR
“Only 10 per cent of the energy is transferred to each trophic level from the lower
trophic level.”
FOOD WEB:
DEFN: It is the natural interconnection of food chains existing in an ecosystem
IMPORTANCE OF FOOD WEB:
1) It increases the stability of food chain by providing alternative source
of food.
2) It helps in checking of overpopulation of highly found species of
plants and animals.
ECOLOGICAL PYRAMIDS:
DEFN: An ecological pyramid is a graphical representation of ecological
parameters like number of individuals, biomass or energy flow present at various
levels of food chain.
This was put forth by Charles Elton(1927). Hence these are called Eltonian
pyramids.
TYPES OF ECOLOGICAL PYRAMIDS: It is of 3 types namely
a) Pyramid of number
b) Pyramid of biomass and
c) Pyramid of energy.
:a) PYRAMID OF NUMBER:
DEFN: It is a graphical representation of the number of individuals in various trophic
levels of food chain per unit area in a stepwise manner with producers at base and
carnivores at top.
CHARACTERS:
1) The pyramid of number may be upright, i.e., producers are more in number
than the herbivores and herbivores are more in number than the carnivores.
Ex: Lake/pond ecosystem
2) It may be also inverted( Ex: Parasitic food chain) or spindle shaped(Ex: Tree
ecosystem)
b) PYRAMID OF BIOMASS:
DEFN: It is a graphical representation of the biomass(Total amount of living/organic
in an ecosystem at any time) matter of individuals in various trophic levels of food
chain per unit area in a stepwise manner with producers at base and carnivores at
top.
CHARACTERS:
1) This pyramid is upright/straight.
2) The pyramid of biomass in sea is also generally inverted because the
biomass of fishes far exceeds that of phytoplankton.
c) PYRAMID OF ENERGY:
DEFN: It is a graphical representation of energy present at any given time/annually
per unit area at different trophic levels of food chain in a stepwise manner with
producers at base and carnivores at top.
CHARACTERS:
Pyramid of energy is always upright, can never be inverted, becausewhen energy
flows from a particular trophic level to the next trophic level, some energy is
always lost as heat at each step.
LIMITATIONS OF ECOLOGICAL PYRAMIDS:
1) It does not take into account the same species belonging to two or more
trophic levels.
2) It assumes a simple food chain, something that almost never exists in nature.
3) It does not accommodate a food web.
4) More over, saprophytes are not given any place in ecological pyramids even
though they play a vital role in the ecosystem.
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