What is an Ecosystem
An ecosystem includes all of the living things
(plants, animals and organisms) in a given
area, interacting with each other and also
with their non living environment (weather,
sun, soil, climate, atmosphere )
Component of Ecosystem
1. Biotic Component
2. Abiotic Component
1. Biotic Component – it contains all the
living organism like plants, animals and
micro-organisms presents in an ecosystem.
The organisms have different nutritional
behavior and are accordingly known as
producers, consumer.
A) Producers or Autotrophs- Producers are
the organisms that can form their food
themselves, eg- green plants, photosynthetic
bacteria.
B) Consumers or hetrotrophs- Consumers
the organisms that can not produce their food
themselves, on the basis of feeding they can be
divided into following types:
Herbivores- mice, rabbit, deer
Carnivore- fox, snakes
Omnivores- turtles, beer
C) Decomposers- are also called saprotrophs
and depend upon dead organic matter.
2. Abiotic Components- These contains
non- living substances-
a) Inorganic components- Water, Hydrogen,
b) Organic components-Protein, fat,
Carbohydrates
c) Physical Components- sunlight, humidity,
wind, rainfall, temperature.
ECOSYSTEM
The term "ecosystem" was first used in 1935 in a publication
by British ecologist Arthur Tansley. He defined it as ‘the
system resulting from the integration of all the living and non
living factors of the environment
The term ecosystem is most preferred where ‘Eco’ implies the
environment and ‘system’ implies an interacting, inter-dependent
complex.
What is Balanced Ecosystem?
An ecosystem is balanced when the natural animals and plants
and non-living components are in harmony- i.e. there is nothing
to disturb the balance. With increasing pollution, change in
migratory patterns, and rise of human population, many
ecosystems are in danger of losing that harmony.
•Terrestrial Ecosystem:
Terrestrial Ecosystem can be found anywhere apart from heavily
saturated places. They are broadly classified into:
•The Grassland Ecosystem:
Grasslands (also called Greenswards) are areas where the vegetation is
dominated by grasses and other herbaceous (non-woody) plants. Grasslands
occupy about 24% of the earth’s surface.
Structure and functions of Grassland Ecosystems
I. Biotic components
1) Producer Organisms
In grassland, producers are mainly grasses; though, a few herbs & shrubs also
contribute to primary production of biomass.
Some of the most common species of grasses are:
Eg- Brachiaria sp, Cynodon sp, Desmodium sp, Digitaria sp.
2) Consumers
In grassland, consumers are of three main types;
a) Primary Consumers
The primary consumers are herbivores feeding directly on grasses. These are
grazing animals such as
Eg- Cows, Buffaloes, Sheep, Goats, Deer, Rabbits etc.
Besides them, numerous species of insects, termites, etc are also present.
b) Secondary Consumers
These are carnivores that feed on primary consumers (Herbivores)
Eg- These include;-Frogs, Snakes, Lizards, Birds, Foxes, Jackals etc.
c) Tertiary Consumers
These include hawks etc. which feed on secondary consumers.
3) Decomposers
These include wide variety of saprotrophic micro- organism like: Bacteria; Fungi;
Actinomycetes.
They attract the dead or decayed bodies of organisms & thus decomposition takes place.
Therefore, nutrients are released for reuse by producers.
II. A biotic components
These include basic inorganic & organic compounds present in the soil & aerial
environment.
The essential elements like C, H, N, O, P, S etc. are supplied by water, nitrogen, nitrates,
sulphates, phosphates present in soil & atmosphere.
•Desert Ecosystem:
The different components of a desert ecosystem are:
(A) A biotic Component:
The A biotic component includes the nutrients present in the soil and the aerial
environment. The characteristic feature of the abiotic component is lack of organic
matter in the soil and scarcity of water.
(B) Biotic Component:
The various biotic components representing three functional groups are:
(a) Producer organisms:
The producers are mainly shrubs or bushes, some grasses and a few trees.
Surprisingly, there are many species of plants that survive in the desert. The
most famous desert plant is the cactus.
(b) Consumers:
These include animals such as insects and reptiles. Besides them, some
rodents, birds and some mammalian vertebrates are also found.
(c) Decomposers:
Due to poor vegetation the amount of dead organic matter is very less. As a
result the decomposers are very few. The common decomposers are some bacte
ria and fungi, most of which are thermopile.
•Aquatic ecosystem
(Imp) Pond Ecosystem: (Diagram is necessary)
Pond ecosystem is a good example of fresh water ecosystem. Sunlight
is the main only source of which active this system. Pond is self
regulating system. Ponds include aquatic plants as well as animal also
so there is Physico- chemical environment is present in pond.
Components of pond ecosystem are as follows:
A biotic components: the chief substances are heat, light, pH value of
water & the basic inorganic and organic compounds such as CO 2,
O2,Ca, N2, amino acids, humic acid etc,
Biotic components: they are as follows:
Producers: these are autotrophic, green plants and some
photosynthetic bacteria. They manufacture complex organic
substances as carbohydrates, proteins, lipids etc. the producers are as
follows:
•Macrophytes: they are mainly rooted large plants. They are also including partly
or completely submerged & floating hydrophytes. The common plants are: Trapa,
Typha,Ezolla, Wolffia.
•Phytoplanktons: they are floating lower plants, most of them are filamentous
algae as ulothrix, spirogyra etc.
Consumers: they are also known as primary consumers. They are feeding plants
& plants remains. They may be large or minute. These are further differentiates as:
A1) Benthos: represents in diagram- they eats plants remains lying on the bottom.
These are known as detritivores.
A2) Zooplanktons: these are chiefly the rotifers as protozoan’s as Euglena,
coleps etc.
Secondary consumers (carnivores): which feed on the primary consumers
these are chiefly insects and fish.
Tertiary consumers: they are including some large fish that eat smaller fish.
Decomposer: they are also known as micro consumers since they absorb only a
fraction of the decomposed organic matter into simpler substances. Such as-
fungi, aspergillus, etc.
What are Ecological Pyramids? Explain the different types of
ecological pyramids giving suitable examples.
Ecological Pyramid:
Charles Elton developed the concept of ecological
pyramids. After his name three pyramids are also called as
Eltonian.
Pyramids. It is a graphical representation or pyramids shaped
diagram which depicts the number of organisms, biomass and
productivity at each trophic level. Ecological pyramids begin
with producers at the bottom and proceed through the
different trophic level.
There are the three types of ecological pyramids as follows:
•Pyramids of number
•Pyramids of biomass
•Pyramids of energy
Pyramids of Number: Pyramids of number is
the geographical representation of the
relationships among the number of producers,
primary consumers (herbivores), secondary
consumers, tertiary consumers and so on in any
ecosystem. There are three types of pyramids of
numbers
Upright
Partly upright
Inverted
* Hyperparasites- a parasite whose host is itself
a parasite.
•Pyramids of Biomass: When we plot the biomass (net dry weight) of
producers, herbivores, carnivores and so on we have a pyramid of
biomass.
Two types of pyramid of biomass are found
•Upright
•Inverted
Pyramids of Energy:
The pyramids of energy are drawn after taking into consideration
the total quantity of energy by each trophic level in an ecosystem
over a period of time. As the quantity of energy available for
utilization in successive trophic level is always less because there
is loss of energy in each transfer, the energy pyramid will always be
upright.