Chapter 3.

Ecosystem
Definition: An ecosystem is an area where organisms interact with one
another as well as with the nonliving parts of the environment.
 What is an ecosystem?
A biotic community lives in abiotic environment called Biotope.
Biotope provides material as well as energy to Bio community inhabits it.
Bio community and its Biotope together called Ecological system or Ecosystem.
Term Ecosystem pointed by-Arthur G.Tansley.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNF8b7KKJ2I
Components of Ecosystem (structure of ecosystem): A system consisting of biotic
and abiotic components Of a given area is known as ecosystem.
The ecosystem has two components – abiotic and biotic.
1. Abiotic Components(Community): The abiotic components are natural
and do not have life.
Ex:
Water, Air , Sun, Rocks, Soil, minerals, temperature, nutrients, wind.

2. Biotic Components(Community):
The biotic components consist of plants and animals including insects and
bacteria. The biotic components include all living organisms present in the
environmental system.
Ex:
Plants,Animals,Insects,Bacteria
From nutrition point of view, the biotic components can be described under
the following three heads(On the basis of how they attain nutrients)
1.Producers (Autotrophic components):
 Auto(Self) trophic(feeder) organism which makes food itself.
 Include all autotrophs such as plants. They are called autotrophs as they can
produce food through the process of photosynthesis.
 Consequently, all other organisms higher up on the food chain rely on
producers for food.
2. Consumers(Heterotrophic Components):
 Hetero(Other) trophic(feeder) organism which depends on other organism for
food. Which consumes nutrients from other organism means it derives
nutrients from other. It includes non-green plants and all animals which take
food from autotrophs
 or heterotrophs are organisms that depend on other organisms for food.
 Consumers are further classified into primary consumers, secondary
consumers and tertiary consumers.

3.Decomposers(Saprotrophic Components):
 It include saprophytes such as fungi and bacteria.
 They directly thrive on the dead and decaying organic matter.
 Decomposers are essential for the ecosystem as they help in recycling
nutrients to be reused by plants.
Howard T. Odum and Eugene P. Odum divided ecosystem into two main components.
Consumers which eat producers directly or indirectly .Consumers They further divided
into 4 parts on the basis of dependency (division of ecosystem)
Primary consumers(Consumer of first Order)-
The organism which directly eats green plant organism.
They are herbivores() that they rely on producers for food.
Insects, rodents, rabbit, deer, cow, buffalo, goat are some of the common
herbivores
Secondary consumers- They depend on primary consumers for energy. They
can either be a carnivore or an omnivore.
They directly depends on herbivores and indirectly depends on plants
Examples of secondary consumers are sparrow, crow, fox, wolves, dogs,
cats, snakes, etc.
Tertiary consumers are
organisms that depend on
secondary consumers for
food. Tertiary consumers can
also be an omnivore.
Lions, tigers, hawk, vulture, etc.
are considered as tertiary or
top consumers.
Quaternary consumers are
present in some food chains.
These organisms prey on
tertiary consumers for energy.
Furthermore, they are usually
at the top of a food chain as
they have no natural predators.
Characteristics of an ecosystem:
 A ecosystem Is a set of living organisms (which are known as biocenosis), such as animals and
plants, that are related to each other, relate to other (non-living) and their environment.
 Ecosystem components All of them have in common that they share a physical place - called
biotope.
 Main features of an ecosystem Abiotic components of an ecosystem Also known as"abiota"are the
elements that are considered lifeless in a ecosystem , But also interact with each other.
 Among the abiotic components are physical factors such as humidity, light, temperature, wind, dew
and space.
 Biotic components of an ecosystem Also known as"biota"are organisms that have life within an
ecosystem.
 The biotic components can be classified according to the type of feed that characterizes them or
according to their nutritional needs, in autotrophs and heterotrophs.
 Autotrophs are organisms that self-fertilize or nourish themselves.
 In contrast, heterotrophs are those that feed on others. With this, we refer to those animals, fungi
and microorganisms that from the intake of other animals or plants get their energy and their
nutrients.
Functioning of an ecosystem
 Basically for an ecosystem to work requires energy. Energy is what sustains the life of the ecosystem.
The main source of energy in any ecosystem comes from Sun .

 Another function of energy in an ecosystem is the mobilization of both water, minerals and other
physical elements, which allows them to pass from soil, water or air to organisms.

 Even the energy allows these components to pass from one living organism to another to finally
return to the soil, water or air from which they came out, thereby closing the cycle.

 Ecological succession Sometimes some elements of an ecosystem are replaced naturally by another
element over time.

 For example, in the case of vegetation when grass replaces mosses and lichens. Once the
ecosystem regains its equilibrium and the changes cease, it is called the climax.

 From there, the changes that happen are among the same elements, for example, new trees that
replace old trees.

 When the changes happen from the intervention of a human being, it is said that the ecological
succession has anthropogenic causes.
 Biomes Biome refers to large terrestrial ecosystems that are characterized by having the same type
of vegetation.

 In our planet there are many biomes that are determined mainly by the climate (temperature and
rain), the soils and the vegetation.

 Food chains
 In an ecosystem living beings share the quest for food to surviveIn the case of plants, the need for
food is given by water, natural light, air and minerals present in the soil. In both requires living beings
need the energy that gives them food.

 The way in which energy passes from one living being to another is called the"food chain". Generally
speaking, it happens like this: energy from the sun is taken by plants.

 Herbivores - animals that feed on plants - get some of that energy from plants. And in the upper levels
of the chain, that is, for carnivores, the energy that arrives is even better.
1. It is normally an open system with a continuous, but
variable influx and loss of materials and energy.
2. An ecosystem is an overall integration of the whole
mosaic of interacting organisms and their environment.
3. It is a basic, functional unit with no limits of boundaries.
4. It consists of biotic and abiotic components interacting
with each other.
5. Its functional unit is capable of energy transformation,
circulation and accumulation.
6. An ecosystem is the smallest unit of biosphere.
7. Different types of ecosystem are present in different
areas.
 Biodiversity: Biodiversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth.
Biodiversity refers to the variety of living species on Earth, including
plants, animals, bacteria, and fungi.
 Biodiversity Levels

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6Ua_zWDH6U
1.Ambri Apple 3. Granny Smith

2. McIntosh apple 4. Golden Delicious

5. Honeycrisp 7. Lal Ambri

6. Sunehari 8. Chaubattia Anupam

9. Red Delicious 11. Fuji Apple

10. Tydeman’s Early

12. Red Gold
13. Golden Spur 15. Gala Apple

14. Parlin’s Beauty 16. Irish Peach

17. Starking Delicious 19. Benoni

18. Mollies Delicious

20. Starkrimson
Conservation of Biodiversity :
Project Tiger: Project Tiger was launched by the Government of India with the support of WWF-
International in 1973 and was the first such initiative aimed at protecting this key species and all its
habitats.
Crocodile Conservation: Crocodiles have been threatened as their skin is used for making leather
articles. This led to the near extinction of crocodiles in the wild in the 1960s in India. A Crocodile
Breeding and Conservation Program was initiated in 1975 to protect the remaining population of
crocodilians in their natural habitat and by creating breeding centers. It is perhaps one of the most
successful ex situ conservation breeding projects in the country.
Project Elephant: Project Elephant was launched in 1992 to ensure the long-term survival of a viable
population of elephants in their natural habitats in north and northeastern India and south India. It is
being implemented in 12 States
Orissa – Olive Ridley Turtles: Every year at Gahirmatha and two other sites on the Orissa coast,
hundreds of thousands of Olive Ridley turtles congregate on the beach, between December and April,
for mass nesting. This was the largest nesting site for the Olive Ridleys in the world. In 1999 by the end of
March it was estimated that around 200,000 turtles had nested at the Gahirmatha beach. Marine biologists
believe that only one out of every 1000 eggs actually matures into an adult. There are severe threats to
these nesting sites. Shrinking nesting sites, construction of roads and buildings close to these
rookeries, and other infrastructure development projects hamper nesting. Trawler fishing is another large
threat to the turtles. After its ‘discovery’ in 1974, the beach was notified as a Sanctuary (the
Bhitarkanaika Sanctuary) and was closed for hunting. Recognising the threats to turtles from fishing by
large trawlers, the Orissa Marine Fisheries Regulation Act was passed in 1982. This Act prohibits trawling
within 10 km of the coastline throughout the state and makes it mandatory for all trawlers to use Turtle
Excluder Devices (TEDs). In 2001, the State Government of Orissa declared that a five month period
between January to May should constitute a no-fishing season for a distance of 20 km from the
coastline. Apart form these initiatives; Operation Kachhapa is being coordinated by the Wildlife Protection
Society of India, Delhi and Wildlife Society of Orissa with many local NGOs as partners. The Orissa Forest
Department, WII, Dehra Dun and the Coast Guard are also involved in the Project.
Ex-Situ Conservation: There are situations in which an endangered species is so close to
extinction that unless alternate methods are instituted, the species may be rapidly driven to
extinction. This strategy is known as ex-situ conservation, i.e. outside its natural habitat in a
carefully controlled situation such as a botanical garden for plants or a zoological park for
animals, where there is expertise to multiply the species under artificially managed
conditions.
There is also another form of preserving a plant by preserving its germ plasm in a gene
bank so that it can be used if needed in future. This is even more expensive.
In India, successful ex situ conservation programs have been done for all our three species
of crocodiles. This has been highly successful. Another recent success has been the
breeding of the very rare pygmy hog in Guwahati zoo. Delhi zoo has successfully bred the
rare Manipur brow antlered deer.
Important Indian Acts passed related to Environment and Bio Diversity
1.Fisheries Act 1897
2.Indian Forests Act 1927
3.Mining and Mineral Development Regulation Act 1957
4.Prevention of cruelty to animals 1960
5.Wildlife protection act 1972
6.Water (prevention and control of pollution) act 1974
7.Forest Conservation Act 1980
8.Air (prevention and control of pollution) act 1981
9.Environment Protection Act 1986
10.Biological Diversity Act 2002
11.Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers (recognition of rights) act 2006.