Scribd
Upload
12 views9 pages

Understanding Ecosystems and Food Chains

The document discusses ecosystems as interconnected systems where living organisms and their non-living environment function together. It outlines the components of ecosystems, including abiotic and biotic factors, food chains, and ecological pyramids, emphasizing the complexity of energy transfer and feeding relationships. Limitations of current ecological models are also noted, including their inability to account for seasonal variations and the role of humans.

Uploaded by

Deep Bartaria
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
12 views9 pages

Understanding Ecosystems and Food Chains

The document discusses ecosystems as interconnected systems where living organisms and their non-living environment function together. It outlines the components of ecosystems, including abiotic and biotic factors, food chains, and ecological pyramids, emphasizing the complexity of energy transfer and feeding relationships. Limitations of current ecological models are also noted, including their inability to account for seasonal variations and the role of humans.

Uploaded by

Deep Bartaria
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Ecosystem

• Eco- ecological

• System approach
System: a set of interconnected parts which function together as a
complex whole.
✔ Holistic approach not reductionist:
✔ Function:
✔ Structure of and relationship between different parts of the
environment
✔ Focuses on different parts of the system work as one unit.
✔ So allows scientists to understand where adjustment occur
• Environment: as a single system in its entirety, consisting of
interconnected sub systems
Ecosystem

• The living organisms of a habitat and their non living


environment function together as one unit called the ecosystem
• Any recognisable unit of nature contains four components
• Components :
✔ Abiotic: climatic, inorganic substances and organic substances
Biotic:
✔ Producers: autotrophic (auto =self, troph= nourishing) energy
transducers (chiefly plants)
✔ Consumers: heterotrophic, (hetero=other) herbivores,
carnivores (mainly animals)
✔ Decomposers: heterotrophic, Depend on dead organic
matter( mainly microorganisms)
• Manmade ecosystem: agriculture
• Ecosystem degradation: Keystone species
Food chains ( Charles Elton, 1927 in Animal Ecology)

• The transfer of energy from plant sources through a series of


organisms.
• Plant → Herbivore→Carnivore1→Carnivore2
(simple food chain), links mainly 3 to 5
• Food chain relationship are very complex: complex or web
like structure called food web
• Base is always producers or autotrophs.
• Food chain help understand feeding relationships and
interaction between different organisms
• Biological accumulation and biological magnification
Ecological Pyramids

• Charles Elton in 1927


• Classification based on feeding level on the basis of energy source, trophic
relationships
• Graphical relationships
• Relationship that different levels share with each other
• Show relationship between producers, herbivores and carnivores.
(different trophic level i.e. position it occupies in the food chain)
• Shows who consumes what
• Pointed shape
• Animals/Organisms/producers at the base of food chain are abundant while
at end are few (e.g. Grassland) in pyramid of number and biomass
• Pyramid of number, pyramid biomass, pyramid of energy (usually upright)
• But pyramids may be inverted also (e.g. Parasitic food chain (number),
pond/lake ecosystem (biomass), forest ecosystem (energy))
• Biomass measured in kilogram per square meter, energy in kilocalories
Limitations:

1. Seasons not considered. No place for occasional varieties and


variations.
2. Only relevant in straightforward food chains. Overlooks complex
food webs.
3. Nothing on the pace or speed of energy flow
4. Role of humans overlooked
5. No place for saprophytes (e.g. bacteria, fungus, mushrooms etc.)
Read :
Section: 3.4 Energy flow in the ecosystem, pg 54

You might also like