UNIT-3 ECOSYSTEMS

CONCEPT OF AN ECOSYSTEM
An 'ecosystem' is a region with a specific and recognizable landscape form, such as a forest,
grassland, desert, wetland or coastal area. The nature of the ecosystem depends on its geographical
features such as hills, mountains, plains, rivers, lakes, coastal areas or islands and is also controlled
by climatic conditions-the amount of sunlight, temperature and rainfall in the region. The
geographical, climatic and soil characteristics form its non-living or abiotic components. These
features create conditions that support a community of plants and animals that evolution has
produced to live in these specific conditions. The living part of the ecosystem is referred to as the
biotic component.
Ecosystems are divided into terrestrial or land-based ecosystems and aquatic or water-based
ecosystems. These form the two main habitat conditions for the Earth's living organisms. All the
living organisms in an area live in communities of plants and animals. They interact with the
abiotic environment and with each other at different points in time for a large number of reasons.
Life can exist only in a small portion of the earth's land, water and atmosphere. At a global level,
the thin skin of the earth on the land, sea and air forms the biosphere.
These geographically distinctive areas contain plants and animals that have adapted themselves to
live in each of these regions. At an even more local level, each area has several structurally and
functionally identifiable ecosystems, such as different types of forests, grasslands, river
catchments, mangrove swamps in deltas, seashores or islands to give just a few examples. Here,
too, each of these forms a habitat for specific plants and animals.

Definition: The living community of plants and animals in any area together with the non- living
components of the environment-soil, air and water-constitute the ecosystem.
Types of Ecosystem:
Ecosystem can be divided into two following categories:
(1) Natural Ecosystem: These systems operate themselves under natural conditions and can
further be divided as -
(a) Terrestrial - For example, forest, grassland, desert, etc.
Soil is the most characteristic feature of terrestrial environment.
(b) Aquatic - It can be distinguished as (1) fresh water - it may be lotic (running water as spring
stream or river) or lentic (standing water as lakes, ponds, pools, puddles, ditch, swamp etc.
(2) marine - it consists of deep bodies such as oceans, seas or estuaries etc.
(2) Man Engineered Ecosystem: Artificial ecosystems are maintained by man himself through
planned manipulations. For example, man tries to control the biotic community and physico-
chemical environment.

STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS OF THE ECOSYSTEM

Ecosystems are composed of variety of abiotic and biotic components that function in an
interrelated fashion.
An ecosystem has two main components or structures:
(1) Abiotic components
(2) Biotic components.
Abiotic components mean non-living components and biotic components mean living
components. Thus, we can now say that an ecosystem consists of non-living environment and
living biological community.
(1) Abiotic Structure or Abiotic Components
The non-living factors or the physical environment prevailing in an ecosystem form the abiotic
components. They have a strong on the structure, relationship of organisms. Abiotic components
are mainly of two types:
1. Climatic Factors: Which include rain, temperature, light, wind, humidity etc
2. Edaphic (soil properties) Factors: Which include soil, pH(potential of hydrogen), topography
(physical characteristics), minerals etc.
The functions of important factors in abiotic components are given below:
 Soils: Soils are much more complex than simple sediments. They contain a mixture of
weathered rock fragments, highly altered soil mineral particles, organic matter and living
organisms. Soils provide nutrients, water, a home and a structural growing medium for
organisms. The vegetation found growing on top of a soil is closely linked to this component
of an ecosystem through nutrient cycling.
 Atmosphere: The atmosphere provides organisms found within ecosystems with carbon
dioxide for photosynthesis and oxygen for respiration. The processes of evaporation,
transpiration and precipitation cycle water between the atmosphere and the earth's surface.
 Solar Radiation: Solar radiation is used in ecosystem to heat the atmosphere and to evaporate
and transpire water into the atmosphere. Sunlight is also necessary for photosynthesis.
Photosynthesis provides the energy for plant growth and metabolism and the organic food for
the other forms of life.
(2) Biotic Structure or Biotic Components :
The biotic components of an ecosystem (or the living components of an ecosystem) is a community
of organisms (like plants and animals), which is made up of many populations. The removal of
even a single population from ecosystem can upset the whole ecological balance. The biotic
community (or living community) of an ecosystem includes the types of organisms:
1. Producers: The green plants have chlorophyll with the help which they trap solar energy and
change it into chemical energy of carbohydrates using simple inorganic compounds name water
and carbon dioxide. This process is known as photosynthesis. As the green plants manufacture
their own food they are known as autotrophs (i.e. auto = self, trophous = feeder) The chemical
energy stored by the producers is utilised partly by the producers for their own growth and survival
and the remaining is stored in the plant parts for their future use.

2. Consumers: The animals lack chlorophyll and are unable to synthesize their own food.
Therefore, they depend on the producers for their food. They are known as heterotrophs (i.e.
heteros = other, trophos = feeder). The consumers are of four types:

(a) Primary consumers or First Order: Consumers or Herbivores: These are the animals which
feed on plants or the producers. They are called herbivores. Examples are rabbit, deer, goat, cattle
etc.

(b) Secondary Consumers or Second Order Consumers or Primary Carnivores: The animals
which feed on the herbivores are called the primary carnivores. Examples are: cat, foxes, snakes
etc.

(c) Tertiary Consumers or Third Order Consumers: These are the large carnivores which feed
on the secondary consumers. Example Wolves, owl

(d) Quaternary Consumers or Fourth Order Consumers or Omnivores: They are the largest
carnivores which feed on the tertiary consumers and are not eaten up by any other animal.
Examples are lions and tigers.

3. Decomposers or Reducers: Bacteria and fungi belong to this 'category. They breakdown the
dead organic materials of producers (plants) and consumers (animals) for their food and release to
the environment the simple inorganic and organic substances produced as by-products of their
metabolisms.
These simple substances are reused by the producers resulting in a cyclic exchange of materials
between the biotic community and the abiotic environment of the ecosystem. The decomposers
are known as saprotrophs (i.e. sapros = rotten, trophos = feeder)
ENERGY FLOW IN THE ECOSYSTEM
Every ecosystem has several interrelated mechanisms that affect human life. These are the water
cycle, carbon cycle, oxygen cycle, nitrogen cycle and energy cycle. While every ecosystem is
controlled by these cycles, each ecosystem's abiotic and biotic features are distinct from each other.
All the functions of the ecosystem are in some way related to the growth and regeneration of its
plant and animal species. These interlinked processes can be depicted as various cycles; all these
processes depend on energy from sunlight. During photosynthesis, carbon dioxide is absorbed by
plants and oxygen is released into the atmosphere. Animals depend on this oxygen for their
respiration. The water cycle depends on rainfall, which is necessary for plants and animals to live.
The energy cycle recycles nutrients into the soil on which plant life grows. Our own lives are
closely linked to the proper functioning of these cycles of life. If human activities go on altering
them, humanity cannot survive on Earth.

BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES
1. THE WATER CYCLE/ HYDROLOGIC CYCLE
The hydrologic cycle, also known as the water cycle, collects, purifies and circulates the Earth's
finite water supply. When it rains, the water runs along the ground and flows into rivers or falls
directly into the sea. A part of the rainwater that falls on land percolates into the ground, thus
recharging groundwater aquifers. Water is drawn up from the ground by plants along with nutrients
from the soil. The water then transpires from the leaves as water vapour and returns to the
atmosphere. As it is lighter than air, water vapour rises and forms clouds. The winds blow the
clouds for long distances and when the clouds rise higher, the vapour condenses and changes into
droplets, which fall on the land as rain. Part of this rain gets locked in glaciers. Thus, the processes
of evaporation from water bodies, transpiration from plant leaves, condensation of water vapour,
precipitation and percolation form an endless cycle that replenishes streams, lakes and wetlands.
Furthermore, the above-mentioned natural processes of the water cycle also remove impurities in
water.
While this is an endless cycle on which life depends, human activities are making drastic changes
in the water cycle and its processes through over-extraction of surface water and ground water,
construction of large dams, deforestation and pollution.
 2. THE CARBON CYCLE

Most of the carbon dioxide enters the living world through photosynthesis. The organic
compounds synthesized are passed from the producers (green plants) to the consumers (herbivores
and carnivores). During respiration, plants and animals release carbon back to the surrounding
medium as carbon dioxide. The dead bodies of plants and animals as the body wastes, which
accumulate carbon compounds, are decomposed by micro-organisms to release carbon dioxide.
Thus, the key events in carbon cycle are the complementary reactions of respiration and
photosynthesis.
 3. THE OXYGEN CYCLE
Oxygen required for respiration in plants and animals enters the body directly from the
surrounding medium (air or water). Oxygen returns to the surroundings in the form of
carbon dioxide or water. It also enters the plant body as carbon dioxide and water during
photosynthesis and is released in the form of molecular oxygen as a by-product in the same
process for use in respiration. Thus, cycle is completed.

4. THE NITROGEN CYCLE:

Nitrogen is important to every life and even the atmosphere contains about 71% of the nitrogen.

Nitrogen of the atmosphere is in the elemental form and cannot be used as such by living
organisms. It has to be "fixed" i.e. combined with other elements such as hydrogen, carbon or
oxygen to become usable for the green plants.

Nitrogen is continuously entering into the air by the action of denitrifying bacteria and returning
to the cycle through the action of lightening and electrification. Thus, nitrogen in the atmosphere
or in the soil can go through many complex chemical / biological changes, be combined into living
and non-living material, and return back to the soil or air in a continuing cycle. This is nitrogen
cycle. It can further be explained using four steps-

1) Nitrogen fixation -The conversion of nitrogen gas (N₂) into nitrates and nitrites through
atmospheric, industrial and biological process called nitrogen fixation. Atmospheric nitrogen must
be processed, or fixed into a useable form to be taken by plants. This fixation is done by bacteria
have the nitrogenase enzyme that contains gaseous nitrogen to produce ammonia.
2) Ammonification - When a plant or animal dies or an animal excretes, the initial form of nitrogen
is organic. The Bacteria or fungi convert the organic nitrogen. into ammonium (NH4+) this process
is called ammonification.

3) Nitrification - The conversion or ammonium to nitrate is performed by nitrifying bacteria. They

convert ammonia to nitrites (N0₂) then into nitrates (N0₃). It is important for the ammonia to be
converted to nitrates or nitrites because ammonia gas is toxic for plants.

4) Denitrification- Denitrification is the release of nitrates (NO₃) back into nitrogen gas (N₂)
Completing the Nitrogen cycle. The process is performed by bacteria.

5. THE ENERGY CYCLE:

The energy cycle is based on the flow of energy through the ecosystem. The energy from sunlight
is converted by the plants themselves into growing new plant material, which include the leaves,
flowers, fruit, branches, trunks and roots of plants. Since 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 herbivores as food, which gives them energy. A large part of this energy is used up for the
metabolic functions of these animals such as breathing, digesting food, supporting growth of
tissues, maintaining blood flow and body temperature. Energy is also used for activities such as
looking for food, finding shelter, breeding and rearing the young ones. The carnivores in turn,
depend on the herbivores on which they feed. Thus, the different plant and animal species are
linked 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 interlinked chains be depicted as a complex food web. This is thus called the "web of life"
that show that there are thousands of interrelationships in nature.
 6. INTEGRATION OF CYCLES IN NATURE:

The above cycles are a part of global life processes. These biogeochemical cycles have specific
features in each of the ecosystems. These cycles are linked to those of adjacent ecosystems,
although their characteristics are specific to the plant and animal communities in the region. This
is, in turn, related to the geographical features of the area, the climate, and the chemical
composition of the soil. Together, the cycles are responsible for maintaining the life on earth. If
mankind disturbs these cycles beyond the limits that nature can sustain, they will eventually break
down and lead to a degraded Earth on which man will not be able to survive.

ECOLOGICAL SUCCESSION
Ecological succession is a process through which ecosystems tend to change over a period of time.
Succession can be related to seasonal environmental changes, which create changes in the
community of plants and animals living in the ecosystem. Other successional events may take
much longer periods of time, extending to several decades. 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 a cleared or open area will
gradually be converted into a grassland, a shrubland and finally a woodland and a forest, if
permitted to do so without human interference. There is a tendency for succession to produce a
more or less stable state at the end of the successional stages. The most frequent example of
successional changes occurs in a pond ecosystem, where it fluctuates from a dry terrestrial habitat
to the early colonization stage by small aquatic species after the monsoon, which gradually passes
through to a mature aquatic ecosystem, and then reverts back to its dry stage in summer when its
aquatic life remains dormant.

Definition

“Ecological succession is a series of changes that occur in an ecological community over time.”

Characteristics of Ecological Succession:

Ecological succession is characterized by the following features:
(1) It tends to progress from unstable biotic community to stable biotic community i.e. complete
adjustment with the environment.
(2) Its general stages are so regular and directional that an ecologist can often predict the sequence
of future communities.
(3) It tends to progress from simple food chains to complex food webs.
(4) The habitat tends to modify from aquatic or dry, conditions to mesic (moderately wet)
conditions.
(5) Succession of plant and animal communities occurs side by side. However, plant succession is
easily visible.

Types of Ecological Succession

These are the following types of ecological succession:

Primary Succession

Primary succession is the succession that starts in lifeless areas such as the regions devoid of soil
or the areas where the soil is unable to sustain life.

When the planet was first formed there was no soil on earth. The earth was only made up of rocks.
These rocks were broken down by microorganisms and eroded to form soil. The soil then becomes
the foundation of plant life. These plants help in the survival of different animals and progress
from primary succession to the climax community. If this primary ecosystem is destroyed,
secondary succession takes place.
Secondary Succession

Secondary succession occurs when the primary ecosystem gets destroyed. For eg., a climax
community gets destroyed by fire. It gets recolonized after the destruction. This is known as
secondary ecological succession. Small plants emerge first, followed by larger plants. The tall trees
block the sunlight and change the structure of the organisms below the canopy. Finally, the climax
community arrives.

There are seven different types of seres:

Types of Seres Explanation

Hydrosere Succession in aquatic habitat.

Xerosere Succession in dry habitat.

Lithosere Succession on a bare rock surface.

Psammosere Succession initiating on sandy areas.

Halosere Succession starting in saline soil or water.

Senile Succession of microorganism on dead matter.

Eosere Development of vegetation in an era.

FOOD CHAIN:

Introduction
A food chain explains which organism eats another organism in the environment. The food chain
is a linear sequence of organisms where nutrients and energy are transferred from one organism to
the other. This occurs when one organism consumes another organism. It begins with the producer
organism, follows the chain and ends with the decomposer organism. After understanding the food
chain, we realise how one organism is dependent upon another organism for survival.

What is a Food Chain?

A food chain refers to the order of events in an ecosystem, where one living organism eats another
organism, and later that organism is consumed by another larger organism. The flow of nutrients
and energy from one organism to another at different trophic levels forms a food chain.

The food chain also explains the feeding pattern or relationship between living organisms. Trophic
level refers to the sequential stages in a food chain, starting with producers at the bottom, followed
by primary, secondary and tertiary consumers. Every level in a food chain is known as a trophic
level.
The food chain consists of four major parts, namely:

 The Sun: The sun is the initial source of energy, which provides energy for everything on
the planet.
 Producers: The producers in a food chain include all autotrophs such as phytoplankton,
cyanobacteria, algae, and green plants. This is the first stage in a food chain. The producers
make up the first level of a food chain. The producers utilize the energy from the sun to
make food. Producers are also known as autotrophs as they make their own food. Producers
are any plant or other organisms that produce their own nutrients through photosynthesis.
 Consumers: Consumers are all organisms that are dependent on plants or other organisms
for food. This is the largest part of a food web, as it contains almost all living organisms.
It includes herbivores which are animals that eat plants, carnivores which are animals that
eat other animals, parasites that live on other organisms by harming them and lastly the
scavengers, which are animals that eat dead animals.
Here, herbivores are known as primary consumers and carnivores are secondary consumers. The
second trophic level includes organisms that eat producers. Therefore, primary consumers or
herbivores are organisms in the second trophic level.

 Decomposers: Decomposers are organisms that get energy from dead or waste organic
material. This is the last stage in a food chain. Decomposers are an integral part of a food
chain, as they convert organic waste materials into inorganic materials, which enriches the
soil or land with nutrients.
Decomposers complete a life cycle. They help in recycling the nutrients as they provide nutrients
to soil or oceans, that can be utilised by autotrophs or producers. Thus, starting a whole new food
chain.

Types of Food Chain

The food chain is classified into two different types based on the produced energy:

1. Grazing food chain

2. Detritus food chain

What is the Grazing Food Chain?

The grazing food chain is a type of food chain in which energy at the lowest trophic level is
acquired via photosynthesis. The grazing food chain begins with producers like green plants, who
create their own food through the process of photosynthesis and later move from herbivores to
carnivores. In the grazing food chain, energy is acquired from the sun. Based on the sequence of
organisms, grazing food chain is further classified into two different types:
 1. Predator chain - Here, one animal consumes another animal. The animal that is being
eaten is known as the prey and the animal that is eating the prey is known as the predator.
The sequence of organisms generally increases in size.
2. Parasitic chain- Here, the plants and animals in a grazing food chain are infected by
parasites. The sequence of organisms generally decreases in size.
Examples of Grazing Food Chain

The grazing food chain is a type of food chain, in which the flow of energy is transferred between
the autotrophic plants and plant eating animals – herbivores.

For example:

 Phytoplankton → Zooplankton → Fishes → Larger fishes (whale)

The phytoplankton is attacked by zooplankton and finally, the zooplankton is attacked by fishes
and followed by the larger predators.

 Grasses → Rabbits → Wolves→ Larger predators(Siberian Tiger)

The grasses are attacked by rabbits and finally, the rabbits are attacked by wolves and followed by
the other predators.

Herbs/ small plants/ grass → Deer → Wolves →Larger predators(Black Bears)

The small plants or grass is eaten by a deer and the deer is later eaten by a Wolf and followed by
the other predators.

What Is the Detritus Food Chain?

The detritus food chain begins with dead organic materials. The organisms feeding on the dead
and decaying matter are referred to as detritivores. These detritivores are eaten by predators. The
detritus food chain produces a large amount of energy to the ecosystem. Detritus food chains are
found in a variety of places such as the bottom of the ocean, sea, ponds and also in lakes.

Example of Detritus

 Dead organic wastes → Micro organisms → Detritivore organisms

The type of food chain that starts with the dead organic wastes.

Here, the food chain starts with the dead organic wastes. These wastes are consumed by
microorganisms like bacteria or fungi. Later, these microscopic organisms are consumed by other
detritivore organisms like snails, earthworms and so on.
Food Web:

Several interconnected food chains form a food web. A food web is similar to a food chain but the
food web is comparatively larger than a food chain. Occasionally, a single organism is consumed
by many predators or it consumes several other organisms. Due to this, many trophic levels get
interconnected. The food chain fails to showcase the flow of energy in the right way. But, the food
web is able to show the proper representation of energy flow, as it displays the interactions between
different organisms.

When there are more cross-interactions between different food chains, the food web gets more
complex. This complexity in a food web leads to a more sustainable ecosystem.