ECOSYSTEM

• Definition:
• The living community of plants and animals
in any area together with the non-living
components of the environment such as
soil, air and water, constitute the ecosystem.

• A.G. Tansley (in 1935) defined the Eco-

system as ‘the system resulting from the
integrations of all the living and non-living
actors of the environment’. Thus he
regarded the Eco-systems as including not
only the organism complex but also the
whole complex of physical factors forming
the environment.
Definition
A group of organisms interacting among themselves and with environment is
known as ecosystem.
ecosystem is a community of different species interacting with one another and
with their non living environment exchanging energy and matter.

Example Animals cannot synthesis their food directly but depend on the plants
either directly or indirectly.
 ASPECTS OF ECO-SYSTEM

The eco-system can be defined as any spatial or

organizational unit including living organisms and non-
living substances interacting to produce an exchange of
materials between the living and non-living parts. The
eco-system can be studied from either structural or
functional aspects.

ASPECT OF AN ECOSYSTEM –

 Structural aspect
 Functional aspect
• STRUCTURE OF AN ECOSYSTEM
• The term structure refers to the various components of
an ecosystem.
• An ecosystem has two major components
• Biotic (living) components
• Abiotic (non living) components
Biotic components –
The living organisms (or) living members in an ecosystem
collectively called biotic components (or) biotic
community. Ex: Plants, Animals, Microorganisms
Abiotic (non-living) components –
The non-living components (physical and chemical) of ecosystem
collectively form a community called abiotic components (or) abiotic
community.
Ex: Climate, soil, water, air, energy etc.,

1. Physical components: Include the energy, climate, nutrients and

living space that the biological community needs. They are useful for
the growth and maintenance of its member. Ex: Air, water, soil,
sunlight, etc.,
2. Chemical Components: They are the sources of essential nutrients.
Ex .Protein, lipids, carbohydrates, etc, Macro elements are nitrogen (N),
phosphorus (P), and potassium (K). Micro elements or trace elements
are iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn), boron (B), copper (Cu),
molybdenum (Mo), and silicon (Si).
STRUCTURAL ASPECTS OF ECO-SYSTEM

• Abiotic components : Environmental

factors
Physical Factors
•Light, Topography.
•Temperature, Moisture
Organic components
•Protein, Carbohydrates, Lipids
•link abiotic to biotic aspects.

Inorganic components
•CO2, N
•H2O, C
Classification biotic components
The members of biotic components of an ecosystem are grouped in to
three based on how they get food.
• Producer (Plants)
• Consumer (Animals)
• Decomposers (Micro-organisms)
[Link] (Autotrophs)

By the use of inorganic materials and energy, they

prepare their own food.
Producers synthesise their food themselves through
photosynthesis Ex: All green plants, trees.
Photosynthesis The green pigment called chlorophyll,
present in the leaves of plants, converts CO2 and H2O
in the presence of sunlight into carbohydrates.
6CO2 + 6H2O ----> C6H12O6 + 6O2
This process is called photosynthesis
2. Consumers

They are also known as heterotrophs.

They don’t prepare their own food by
themselves as the producers. It includes all the
heterotrophs.
Herbivores: Animals like a cow, buffalo,
the goat which depend directly on plants
for food. They are primary consumers.
Carnivores: Animals like lions, tigers,
which are flesh-eating animals. They
depend on the herbivores for food. They
are secondary consumers.
Omnivores: Animals like dog, cat which
eat depend on both the plants and
animals
Consumers are further classified as

(i) Primary consumers or Herbivores or Plant eaters:

Primary consumers are also called herbivores, they directly depend on the plants for
their food. So they are called plant eaters.
Examples : Insects, rat, goat, deer, cow etc.

(ii) Secondary consumers (primary carnivores) (Meat eaters):

Secondary consumers are primary carnivores, they feed on primary consumers.
They directly depend on the herbivores for their food.
Ex: Frog, cat, snakes, small birds, etc.,

(iii) Tertiary consumers (Secondary carnivores) (Meat-eaters) :

Tertiary consumers are secondary carnivores, they feed on secondary consumers.
They depend on the primary carnivores for their food. Ex: Hawk, Eagle, Tiger, Lion,
etc.,
Omnivore:

Organisms that feed both on plants and animals. Ex: Human, rat, birds.

Detritivore:

They feed on dead organisms, wastes of living beings and partially

decomposed matter. Ex: Termites, earthworm, ants etc.
3. Decomposers

They are also known as detritivores.

Decomposers attack the dead bodies of producers and consumers, and decompose
them into simpler compounds.

They use organic compounds as the source of energy from the producers and
consumers.

In an ecosystem, decomposers play a vital role, as the complex substances are

broken down into simpler forms.

Such a simpler form can be further utilized again by the other organisms.

It includes different soil bacteria, fungi, worms, and flies.

When the animals die they get decomposed because of decomposers. Even plants,
fruits start rotting, it’s because of decomposers.

Decomposers play the important role in metabolizing waste products.

Example of decomposer: Mushroom
Functions of Ecosystem
Energy
Cycles
Food
Evolution
Chains

Nutrient
Diversity
Cycles
 Functional aspects
1) Energy cycles

 The energy cycle is based on the flow of

energy through the ecosystem.
 Energy from sunlight is converted by
plants themselves into growing new plant
material which includes leaves, flowers,
fruit, branches, trunks and roots of plants.
 During photosynthesis carbon dioxide is
taken up by plants and oxygen is released.
 Animals depend on this oxygen for their
respiration.
 Photosynthesis process is a biological
concept which converts light energy to
chemical energy
2) Food chains

 Plants can grow by converting the sun’s

energy directly into their tissues, they are
known as producers in the ecosystem.

 The plants are used by herbivorous animals as

food, which gives them energy.

 The carnivores in turn depend on herbivorous

animals on which they feed.

 Thus the different plant and animal species

are linked to one another through food
chains

 Each food chain has three or four links.

 3) Diversity-
Inter linkages between organisms
 The different plant and animal species
are linked to one another through
food chains.
 Each food chain has three or four
links. However as each plant or
animal can be linked to several other
plants or animals through many
different linkages.
 These inter-linked chains can be
depicted as a complex food web.
 This is thus called the ‘web of life’
that shows that there are thousands
of interrelationships in nature
• 4) Nutrient cycles- (Biogeochemical
cycles)
 Biogeochemical cycles are pathways of
transport & transformation of nutrient
 These consists of Two types –
• Gaseous cycles e.g. Carbon cycle,
Nitrogen cycle etc.
• Sedimentary cycle e.g phosphorus
cycle, sulphur cycle etc.
 Carbon is released from ecosystem as
carbon dioxide gas by the process of
respiration.
 This CO2 gas is used by plants to prepare
carbohydrates which is used by animals
as food.
 Animals and plants again release CO2
through respiration.
• 5) Evolution -

 Ecological succession is a process

through which ecosystems tend to
change over a period of time.
 If a forest is cleared, it is initially
colonized by a certain group of species
of plants and animals, which gradually
change through an orderly process of
community development.
 One can predict that an opened up area
will gradually be converted into a
grassland, a shrub land and finally a
woodland & a forest
 Evolution of man from Monkeys is the
result of ecological succession.
 Division of Ecosystem
• The ecosystem can be divided, from the
energetic view point into three types of
organisms: producers, consumers, and
reducers. These can be explained as under:
(1) Producer
• Photosynthetic algae, plants and bacteria are the producers
of the ecosystem; all other organisms depend upon them
directly or indirectly for food

(2) Consumers
• Consumers are herbivorous, carnivorous, and omnivorous
animals; they eat the organic matter produced by other
organisms.

(3) Reducers
• Reducers are heterotrophic organisms like animals; they are
fungi and bacterial that decompose dead organic matter.
 TYPES OF ECOSYSTEM

Natural ecosystem:
These operate themselves under natural conditions.
Based on habitat types, it can be further classified into three types.
• Terrestrial ecosystem: This ecosystem is related to land.
Ex: Grassland ecosystem, forest ecosystem, desert ecosystem,
croplandetc.,
• Aquatic ecosystem: This ecosystem is related to water.
Ex: Rivers, Pond, lake,sea… and sea shores…

It is further sub classified into two types

a)Fresh Water Ecosystem-lake,pond,grasslands
b)Ocean Ecosystem-Marine,island etc
 General Classification-
[Link] ecosystems like coral reef, desert
2..Urban ecosystem
[Link] ecosystem
[Link] Ecosystem
[Link] ecosystem-Taiga
[Link] ecosystem-Tundra
[Link] yellow stone ecosystem
• General characteristics of Ecosystem
An area of land contained with plants and animals which are adapted
according to climatic condidtions of environment in the region is called as
“Biome”.
Types of ecosystem in world/Biomes Biome:
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
[Link] Forest
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
[Link] forest
[Link]
 Functions OF ECOSYSTEM

The functioning of an ecosystems may be understood by

studying the following terms.
• Energy and material flow.
• Food chains
• Food webs
• Food pyramids
 ENERGY FLOW IN THE ECOSYSTEMS

• Energy is the most essential requirement for all living organisms.

• Solar energy is the only source to our planet earth.
• Solar energy is transformed to chemical energy in photosynthesis by the
plants (Primary producers).
• Some amount of chemical energy is used by the plants for their growth and
the remaining is transferred to consumers by the process of eating.
• Thus the energy enters the ecosystems through photosynthesis and passes
through the different tropic levels or feeding levels.
FOOD CHAINS
Definition-
•“There sequence of eating and being
eaten in an ecosystem is known as food
chain” (or) “Transfer of food energy from
the plants through a series of organisms is
known as food chain”
• A food chain always starts with plant life
and ends with animal.
• When the organisms die, they are all
decomposed by microorganism (bacteria
and fungi) into nutrients that can again be
used by the plants.
• • At each and every level, nearly 80-90%
of the potential energy gets lost as heat.
FOOD WEB

• The interlocking pattern of various food

chains in an ecosystem is known as food
web.
• In a food web many food chains are
interconnected, where different types of
organisms are connected at different
tropic levels, so that there are a number
of opportunities of eating and being eaten
at each tropic level.
• Grass may be eaten by insects, rats,
deer's, etc., these may be eaten by
carnivores (snake, fox, tiger).
• Thus there is a interlocking of various
food chains called food webs
Tropic Levels (T1,T2, T3, T4, T5) (or) Feeding levels

The various steps through which food energy passes in an ecosystem is called as
tropic levels.

The tropic levels are arranged in the following way,

• The green plants or producers represent first tropic level T1,
• The herbivores or primary consumers represent second tropic level T2.
• The carnivores or secondary consumers represent third tropic level T3.
• The tertiary consumers are fourth tropic level T4.
• Finally decomposers represent last tropic level T5.
Types of Ecological pyramids
• Pyramid of numbers.
• Pyramid of energy.
• Pyramid of biomass.
Pyramid of Biomass
• It represents the total amount of biomass (mass or weight of
biological material or organism) present in each tropic levels.
Ex: A forest ecosystem
• The above figure shows that there is a decrease in the biomass from
the lower tropic level to the higher tropic level.

•This because the trees (producers) are maximum in the forest, which
contribute a huge biomass.

•The next tropic levels are herbivores (rabbit, deer) and carnivores
(snakes, fox).

•Top of the tropic level contains few tertiary consumers (lion, tiger), the
biomass of which is very low.
Pyramid of Energy

• This pyramid indicates not only the amount of energy flow at each
level, but more importantly, the actual role the various organisms play in
the transfer of energy.

• An energy pyramid illustrates how much energy is needed as it flows

upwards to support the next trophic level.

• Always there is a huge loss of energy.