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ECOSYSTEM

The living community of plants and animals in any

area together with the non-living components of
the environment – soil, water and air – constitute
an ecosystem.

 An ecosystem is formed by the interaction between

all living (biotic) and non-living things (abiotic)
 Ecosystems are broadly divided on the basis of
habitats - terrestrial or land-based systems and
aquatic or water-based systems.

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ABIOTIC components:

 The geographical, climatic and soil

characteristics form the
non-living or abiotic components.
 These features together provides or creates
conditions that support the biotic community to
live in these specific conditions.
 Solar energy provides practically all the energy for
ecosystems.
 Inorganic substances, e.g., nitrogen, oxygen,
water, sulfur, boron and carbon cycle through
ecosystems.
 Organic compounds, such as proteins,
carbohydrates, lipids, and other complex
molecules, form a link between biotic and abiotic 3
components of the system.

BIOTIC components:
The biotic components of an ecosystem can be classified
according to their mode of energy acquisition.

In this type of classification, there are:

Autotrophs

 Organisms that produce their own food from an energy

source, such as the sun, and inorganic compounds.

Heterotrophs

 Organisms that consume other organisms as a food

source including humans.

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Ecosystem Goods and Services

 Direct values:

◦ Fruit, fodder, fuelwood, etc – personal use

◦ Timber, fish medicinal plants, etc. commercial use

 Indirect values:

◦ Functional values: ecosystem cycles linked to air, water, soil nutrients, climate
regulation, flood and storm protection and erosion prevention.

◦ Non-consumptive use value: scientific research, bird-watching, ecotourism

◦ Option value: maintaining options for the future so that by preserving them
one could take economic benefits in the future

◦ Existence value: these involve the ethical and emotional aspects of the
existence on the nature

 Humans are only a small fragment of the billions of components, both

living and non-living, on the earth.

 In the past many resources such as timber and fuel wood from the
forest were extracted sustainably, this pattern has drastically changed
during the last century.

 The economically powerful section began to use greater amounts or

forest products, while those lived in the forest become increasingly
poor.

 The building of large irrigation projects has led to wealth in those areas
that had canals, while those who remained were dependent on rain-fed
monsoon crops or water supply from perennial rivers.

 The key issue is the need for an equitable distribution of all types of
natural resources. Once we understand how nature’s ecosystem work,
we will realize how we are damaging and destroying the balance in the
nature that is essential for human beings to live on the earth.

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 Ecosystem structure: describes the physical appearance. It

tells us what its different features are and how they are
typical and different from other systems.
 Evergreen, deciduous or coniferous forests differ in structure as thei
component trees differ
 Ecosystem composition: describes the community of plants
and animals within and is linked to the abundance and
variety of species and genetic diversity.
 A forest with different species of plants (trees, shrubs, herbs,
climbers, etc). Animals adapted to different microhabitats
 Ecosystem function: describes how the ecosystem works in
nature – its food chains, food webs, food pyramids and
biogeochemical cycles that run it (water, nutrient, energy
and chemical cycles)
 The ecological succession or variation is based on changes in climate,
temperature, rainfall, energy transfer and biotic (human) influences.

 India is divided into 10 major biogeographic

zones, each of which has its own distinctive
terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems
 These biogeographic zones have different
structure, composition and biogeochemical
nature.
 This is the reason for India’s rich and varied
plant and animal life

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 Natural ecosystem – forests, grasslands,

deserts and aquatic ecosystems such as
ponds, rivers, lakes and the sea
 Human-modified ecosystems – agricultural
land, urban or industrial land use patterns.
 A mosaic of such elements is now referred as
a landscape.
 Human-modified landscapes are referred as
cultural landscapes

Functions of an Ecosystem
 Producers are able to capture the sun's energy
through photosynthesis and absorb nutrients from
the soil, storing them for future use by themselves
and by other organisms. Grasses, shrubs, trees,
mosses, lichens, and cyanobacteria.

 Consumers are organisms that do not have the

ability to capture the energy produced by the sun,
but consume plant and/or animal material to gain
their energy for growth and activity. Consumers are
further divided into three types based on their
ability to digest plant and animal material
 Herbivores eat only plants such as deer, elephant, goat, etc.
 Carnivores eat only animals, such as the snake, lion, tiger
etc.,
 Omnivores eat both plants and animals, such as the black
bear, mice, rat, human etc.

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 Decomposers they feed on dead organic matter that includes the

insects, fungi, algae and bacteria both on the ground and in the
soil that help to break down the organic layer to provide
nutrients for growing plants. There are many millions of these
organisms in each square metre of grassland.

 All these are part of food chains with 4 or 5 links in each

chain that ultimately form a food web.
 Each of the food chain uses solar energy.
 A trophic level is the position occupied by an organism in
a food chain. Trophic levels can be analyzed on an energy
pyramid.
 At each level of the food pyramid, energy is used up for
the living activities of plants and animals.
 The amount of living matter at each level is called
Standing Crop or Standing Biomass

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 It is a chain consisting of producers,

consumers, decomposer, each at different
trophic level. Each chain has four to five links.
 Someone is the food of other.
 Two major food chains
◦ Grazing- Starts from producers that is green
plants – terrestrial, marine, pond ecosystem
◦ Detritus- Starts with dead organic matter-
Mangrove Ecosystem

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Small Large
algae snail crocodile
fish fish

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Terrestrial Food Chain

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 No food chain is isolated.

 Organisms act at various levels in different
food chains.
 Feed on more than one type of organism.
 Form a Complex Food Web.
 Thus, “Food Web - is a network of food
chains where different types of organisms
are connected at different trophic levels”
 Hence, there are a no. of options of eating
and being eaten at each trophic level.

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 Energy and nutrient flow

 Maintain population of different species and thus

maintain Ecological Balance.

 If the links in the chains that make the web of life

are disrupted due to human activities, it leads to
the loss or extinction of species and the food web
breaks down

 Bio magnification: a rather harmful phenomenon.

Eg: build up of DDT in higher animals.
(Case Study- Pesticides - Diclofenac in Vultures.)

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 Every ecosystem has several interrelated

mechanisms that affect human life
 These are water cycle, carbon cycle, oxygen
cycle, nitrogen cycle and energy flow
 Every ecosystem is controlled by these cycles
while having specific biotic and abiotic features
 The energy cycle, recycles nutrients into the soil
on which plant life grows
 If human activities go on altering them, no life
can survive on earth

 Energy is defined as the capacity to do work. For

living organisms, it is the basic force responsible
for running all the metabolic activities.

 The transfer of energy from producer level to top

consumer level is called energy flow and it is
unidirectional. At each transfer, a large proportion
of energy is lost in the form of heat.

 This flow of energy helps in maintaining bio

diversity.

 About 80% of energy is lost during flow of energy

from one trophic level to the next one.

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 Nutrients are important functional attribute.

 These nutrients are available to biotic
components through natural resources
 These nutrients are thus cycled through
BIOGEOCHEMICAL cycles.
 Nutrients are decomposed, converted by
micro-organisms and ready to use again. Thus
cycle continues.
 Water, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Carbon.
 Nutrients if not returned back would end up
and not be available for future use.
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 The energy in the ecosystem can be depicted in

the form of a food or energy pyramid.
 Different food chains in an ecosystem are
interlinked and form a food web
 Each step of the food web is called a trophic level
 These trophic levels together form the ecological
pyramid
 These may be of 3 types:
◦ Pyramid of number
◦ Pyramid of biomass
◦ Pyramid of energy

 Represents Number of individual organism at

each level.
 May be Upright or inverted.
 Upright- Forest, grassland and inverted -
parasitic food chain

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Upright –
Grassland
& Pond

Inverted- Parasitic food Narrow Pyramid- Forest 37

Chain

 Based on total biomass, i.e., dry matter at

every level in a food chain
 Upright or Inverted.

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 Amount of energy at
each trophic level.
 Always Upright
 Energy goes on
reducing at each
level.
 Loss in the form of
heat, respiration.
 Shows sharp decline
from producers to
top carnivores.

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ECOLOGICAL SUCCESSION

 In a particular area, one community of species may be

replaced by another community; The progressive replacement
of one community by another till the development of stable
community in a particular area is called as ecological
succession.

 It is a process through which ecosystems tend to change over

a period of time.

 Some processes are seasonal environmental changes while

others may take much longer periods of time, extending to
several decades

 So, if permitted to do so without human interference, a

cleared or open area will gradually be converted into a
grassland, then a shrub land and finally a woodland and
forest

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Primary succession.
If an area in any of the basic
environments (such as terrestrial, fresh-water or
marine) is established by organisms for the first
time, the succession is called primary succession.

Secondary succession.
If the area under established has been
cleared by whatsoever factor(such as burning,
grazing, clearing, felling of trees, sudden change in
climatic factors, etc.) of the previous plants, it is
called secondary succession.

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Autogenic succession.
 After the succession has begun, in most of
the cases, it is the community itself (as a result of
its reactions with the environment) modifies its
own environment and, thus, causing its own
replacement by new communities. This course of
succession is known as autogenic succession.

 The most frequent successional changes occur

seasonally in a pond ecosystem.
 This ecosystem fluctuates from a dry terrestrial
(land) habitat to the early aquatic stage in the
monsoon.
 After the monsoon, the pond shrinks and reverts to
its dry stage in summer when its aquatic life
remains dormant.
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Terrestrial Ecosystems Aquatic Ecosystems

Forest Pond
Grassland Lake
Semi-arid areas Wetland
Deserts River
Mountains Delta
Islands Marine

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 ABIOTIC COMPONENTS:
Climate factors(Temp, light, rainfall). Moreover, light condition
are different due to complex stratification in the plants.
 BIOTIC COMPONENTS:
1.Producers: mainly Trees, shrubs, ground vegetation, etc.,
2.Consumers:
◦ Primary consumers : These are herbivores that include
animals feeding on tree leaves, ants, beetles, grass
hoppers, etc., and large elephants, deer, squirrels, etc
◦ Secondary consumers : These are carnivores, like snakes,
birds, lizards, fox, etc. feeding on herbivores.
◦ Tertiary consumers : These are top carnivores like lion
tiger, etc. that eat carnivores of secondary level
3.Decomposers: Bacteria, fungi

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 Emergent layer
 Canopy layer
 Under storey
 Shrub layer
 Ground layer or
forest floor

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A forest ecosystem is the one in which a tall and dense

trees grow that support many animals and birds.
 Forest occupies 40% of the world’s land.
 Total forested land area is ~22% in India. The Tree
cover is 2.89%* of the geographical area of the
country.

There are two broad division of forests in India:

 Coniferous Forests
 Broad-leaved Forests
Evergreen Forests
Deciduous Forests
Thorn Forests
Mangrove Forests

*Ref: 16th biennial assessment of India’s forests by Forest Survey of India, under MOEFCC, 2020
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Coniferous forests:
 A Conifer is a tree that produces its seeds in
cones. The Pine tree is the most common
example.
 These grow in the Himalayan mountain region
 Temperatures are low
 Tall trees with needle like leaves and downward
sloping branches.
 Conifer leaves conserve water with the thick, waxy
layer that covers their leaves.
 They have cones instead of flowers and seeds and
are called gymnosperms (non-flowering)

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Broad-Leaved Forests

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Evergreen forests:
 Grow in the high rainfall areas of Western Ghats,
North-eastern India and the Andaman & Nicobar
Islands
 Shed few of their leaves throughout the year and
there is no dry leafless phase. Looks green always
 Trees overlap each other to form a continuous
canopy, hence very little light penetrates down to
the forest floor.
 Therefore, only shade-loving plants can grow in
the ground layer and barks of trees are covered in
moss
 Rich animal and insect life

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Deciduous forests:

 Found in areas with moderate amount of seasonal

rainfall, also known as monsoon forests
 Forests with majority of teak trees are there, comes
under this category
 Shed their leaves during winter season and hot summer
months.
 In March or April, just before monsoon, they regain
fresh leaves and grow rigorously during rainy season. In
this way, they follow leaf-fall and canopy regrowth
periods
 Ground level vegetation is thick as light can penetrate
easily onto the forest floor
 The moist deciduous forests are found along the
foothills of the Himalayas, eastern slopes of the Western
Ghats, and Odisha.
 Teak, sal, shisham, mahua, amla, kusum,
and sandalwood etc. are the main species of the moist
deciduous forests.
 Dry deciduous forests are found in the regions that
receive precipitation between 70 and 100 cm
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Thorn Forests

 Found in arid and semi-arid regions of India

 Tropical thorn forests are found in the areas, which receive
rainfall less than 50 cm.
 Found in the areas of south west Punjab, Haryana,
Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh.
 Babool, ber, and wild date palm, khair, neem, khejri, palash,
etc. are the important species of tropical thorn forests.
 Thorny plants, called xerophytic species, are able to
conserve water. Some have thin leaves while some have
thick waxy leaves to reduce water loss during transpiration
 Root system is fibrous or long to enable them to reach
water at great depths.
 Presence of thorns reduces water loss and protects from
herbivores

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Mangrove Forests

 According to the India State of Forest Report, 2019, the mangrove

cover in India is 4,975 sq km, which is 0.15% of the country's total
geographical area.
 West Bengal has the highest percentage of area under total
Mangrove cover followed by Gujarat and Andaman Nicobar
Islands.
 Grow along the coasts especially in the river deltas
 Plants are uniquely adapted to grow in a mix of saline and fresh
water
 Grow very well in muddy areas covered with silt that the rivers
have brought down
 Have breathing roots, known as pneumatophores, that emerge
from the mud banks

 Largest Mangrove Forest: Sundarbans in West Bengal are the

largest mangrove forest regions in the world. It is listed as
a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
 The forest is home to the Royal Bengal tiger, Gangetic
dolphins and Estuarine crocodiles.
 Bhitarkanika Mangroves: The second largest mangrove forest in
India is Bhitarkanika in Odisha created by the two river deltas of
River Brahmani and Baitarani.
 Godavari-Krishna Mangroves, Andhra Pradesh: The Godavari-
Krishna mangroves extend from Odisha to Tamil Nadu.
 The deltas of the Ganges, Mahanadi, Krishna, Godavari, and
the Cauvery rivers contain mangrove forests.
 The backwaters in Kerala have a high density of mangrove
forest.
 Pichavaram in Tamil Nadu has a vast expanse of water covered
with mangrove forests. It is home to many aquatic bird species.
 West Bengal has 42.45% of India’s mangrove cover, followed
by Gujarat 23.66% and A&N Islands 12.39%.

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Significance of Mangroves

• Ecological Stabilisation: Ecologically mangroves are

important in maintaining and building the soil, as a
reservoir in the tertiary assimilation of waste.

• They provide protection against cyclones.

• They play a significant role in promoting land accretion,
fixation of mud banks, dissipation of winds, tidal and
wave energy.
• Mangroves and Tides: The dense tangle of roots allows the
trees to handle the daily rise and fall of tides.

• Most mangroves get flooded at least twice per day.

• Coastal Stabilisation: Mangrove forests stabilize the
coastline, reducing erosion from storm surges, currents,
waves, and tides.

• Water Purification: Mangroves improve the water quality by

absorbing nutrients from runoff that might otherwise
cause harmful algal blooms offshore.

• Both coral reefs and seagrass beds rely on the water

purifying ability of mangrove forests to keep the water clear
and healthy.
• Storing Blue Carbon: Mangroves make up less than 2% of marine
environments but account for 10-15% of carbon burial.
• Once the leaves and older trees die they fall to the seafloor
and take the stored carbon with them to be buried in the
soil.
• This buried carbon is known as “blue carbon” because it is
stored underwater in coastal ecosystems like mangrove
forests, seagrass beds and salt marshes.
• Supporting Biodiversity: The mangrove ecosystem also supports
an incredible diversity of creatures including some species
unique to mangrove forests.
• They provide habitat and refuge to a wide array of wildlife
such as birds, fish, invertebrates, mammals and plants.

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Forest Utilisation

Ecological Importance of Forests

 Control the flow of water in streams and rivers
 Reduces the surface run-off of rain water and allow water to be
stored in underground aquifers
 Prevents soil erosion (it takes thousands of years for soil to re-
form)
 Regulate the local temperature (cooler and moist under the
tree shade
 Absorb CO2 and release O2
 Sequester (collect and store) carbon that is released into the
atmosphere due to the burning of fossil fuels
 Source of new industrial products, new medicines and new
varieties of plants developed from wild varieties.

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Threats to the Forest Ecosystem

 The increasing use of wood for timber, wood-pulp, fuel
food
 Resources are used at a faster rate, leaving very little or no
time for the forest to regrow
 Monocuture plantations for timber, etc leads to loss of
biodiversity as well as affect the local people who depend
upon or use wild plants
 Developmental activities together with urbanization,
industrialization
 Increasing use of consumer goods made from forest
resources
 Shrinking of forested areas due to conversion into
agricultural land
 Mining and building dams

Consequences of Forest Destruction

 Survival of Tribal people will become difficult. These
depend directly on forests for food, fuel, household uses,
farm implements, etc.
 Urban people and agriculturists who directly or indirectly
depend on forest may not get required resources
 Insect (bees, butterflies, moths, etc) population decreases
resulting in less pollination of crops and fruit trees,
leading to decline in yield
 Soil erosion, flash floods, ground water table shrinkage
 Illegal extraction of wood results in severe forest
degradation and desertification
 Wild animals lose their habitat, leading to extinction of
endangered species

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Conservation of Forest Ecosystems

 Sustainable lifestyles
 Reducing, reusing and recycling goods made out of forest
products
 Reusing paper and packaging
 Switching to alternative sources of energy instead of fuel
wood or thermal power
 Growing more trees to replace those that are cut down
 Afforestation for fuelwood and timber
 Protecting through national parks and wildlife sanctuaries

 Grasslands occur in a wide range of landscapes in which

vegetation is predominantly grasses and small annual flora
 A majority of grasslands occur where forests have been
degraded by fires and cattle grazing
 These cover areas where rainfall is usually low and/or soil depth
and quality is poor.
 The low rainfall prevents the growth of a large number of trees
and shrubs but is sufficient to support the growth of grass
cover during the monsoon.
 The small grasses and shrubs become dry and the exposed
portion of the grass above the ground dies in summer. In the
next monsoon, the grass cover grows back from the root stock
and seeds of previous year.
 This change gives the grasslands a highly seasonal appearance
having growth periods and being followed by a dormant phase.
 There are tropical (Savannas), temperate (Pampas, Prairies,
Veldts, Steppes and polar grasslands in the world.

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There is a variety of grasslands in India

depending on local climatic conditions
 Semi-arid grasslands in Western India, parts
of Central India and in the Deccan plateau
 Shola grasslands on hill-slopes alongside
the extremely moist evergreen forests in
South India
 The high altitude cold pastures in the
Himalayas
 Tracts of tall elephant grass in the low lying
terai savanna belt south of the Himalayan
foothills.
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 ABIOTIC COMPONENTS:
Climate factors (Temp, light, rainfall), C, H, O, N

 BIOTIC COMPONENTS:
1.Producers: variety of grasses and shrubs, elephant grass,
colorful flowering plants, medicinal plants, interspersed with
sal forest ecosystem, thorn forest ecosystems, etc.,

2.Consumers:
Primary consumers : cow, deer, etc.
Secondary consumers : snakes, birds, etc.
Tertiary consumers : hawks, eagle

3.Decomposers: Bacteria, fungi

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 Biogeochemical factors control the quality of

grasses, fauna
 Sequester carbon above the ground during grazing
season and retain in the roots during non-grazing
periods.
 This is a vital system that addresses the effects of
climate change
 If destroyed by repeated fires or overgrazing, cannot
regenerate
 Incorrectly labelled as wasteland by local people who
use these as their pastureland
 Such areas should be sustainably used by rotating
gazing cycles so that they have time to regenerate.

 Grazing areas for rural communities

 Grass is used to thatch house and farm-sheds.
 Thorny bushes and tree branches used as fuel wood
 Maintain unique biodiversity
 A storehouse of carbon
 Grassland Protected Areas provide recreational use
and wildlife viewing

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 Over Grazing and repeated fires

 Conversion into irrigated farms as in the case of
raising sugarcane crop in Deccan region
◦ Water intensive crop, lands become saline after continuous
irrigation, useless in few years
 Conversion into industrial areas
◦ Provide short-term economic goal but long-term ecological
loss
◦ Considered as wasteland

◦ Rotational grazing practices – areas should be

closed for grazing after few years
◦ Collect and stock grasses for feeding cattle rather
than allowing them for free-grazing
◦ Repeated firs must be prevented and rapidly
controlled
◦ Soil and water management in hilly areas
◦ Creation on sanctuaries and national parks
◦ Should not be converted into plantation of trees

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 Deserts are dry places with unpredictable and infrequent

precipitation.
 Extremely specialized and sensitive ecosystems that are
easily destroyed by human activities
 The precipitation rate is far less than the evaporation
rate.
 There are tropical, temperate and cold deserts in the
world.
 In India, deserts and semi-arid areas are mainly located
in Western India and the Deccan Plateau.
 The climate is extremely dry.
 Cold deserts occur in Ladakh and in the high plateaus of
Himalayas 82

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 The most typical desert landscape in India is the Thar desert in

Rajasthan.
 This has patches of sand dunes and semi-arid scrubland.
 It has also areas covered with sparse grasses and a few shrubs
which grow if and when it rains.
 In most areas of the Thar, rainfall is scanty and sporadic. In
some areas, it may rain once every few years.
 The Rann of Kutch are highly specialized arid ecosystems. In
summer, they are similar to desert ecosystem. However, they
are converted to salt marshes during monsoon as these are
low lying areas near the sea.
 The Great Rann of Kutch is the only breeding colony of the
flamingis in our country.
 The Little Rann of Kutch is the only home of the wild ass in
India.
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 Abiotic components include, light, temperature,

minerals.
 Biotic Components:
◦ Producers : These are thorny shrubs also known as scrubland,
especially bushes, some grasses, and few trees.
E.g. Cacti, Xerophytes, mosses
◦ Consumers: The most common animals are reptiles, and insects,
there are some rodents, and birds, and above all ship of desert
camels, feed on tender plants.
◦ Decomposers: These are very few as due to poor vegetation the
amount of dead organic matter is less. They are some fungi and
bacteria.

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 Use for camel, cattle and goat grazing in

Rajasthan and Gujarat and sheep grazing in
the Deccan Plateau in Maharashtra and
Karnataka
 Areas along the water courses have been
sued for growing crops such as jower
(sorghum) and bajra (millet)
 Natural grass and local varities of crops can
be used for genetic engineering and
developing semi-arid landcrops in future

 Development strategies and human

population growth
 Conversion into farmland through extensive
canal irrigation system
 Canal water evaporates rapidly, bringing the
salts to the surface. The region becomes
highly unproductive as it has been turned
into a saline tract
 The over-extraction of ground water through
tube wells lowers the ground water table,
creating even drier environment

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 Desert people have traditionally protected

their water resources.
 The Bishnoi community in Rajasthan is known
to have protected their khejdi trees and
blackbuck for several generations.
 Development of national parks and wildlife
sanctuaries
 Sustainable form of development that takes
care of the special needs of the desert into
account.

The aquatic system deals with water bodies.

The
major types of organism found in this
ecosystem.

1.Fresh water ecosystem :Ponds, river, stream,

lake.
2.Salt water ecosystem: oceans and estuaries.

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POND ECOSYSTEM:

 It contains algae, plants, insects, fish, etc

 Pond is temporary, seasonal, gets polluted easily.
 When a pond begins to fill during rains, its life forms such as
algae, insects, snails, worms emerge from the floor of the
pond where they have remained dormant during the dry
phase.
 Gradually more complex animals like crabs, frogs, fishes
return to the pond.
 There are floating weeds in the deeper parts, rooted plants
along the edges in the muddy floor. These are known as
emergent vegetation such as grasses.
 As the pond fill in the monsoon, a large number of food
chains are formed including the detritus feeders, thus
completing the nutrient cycle in it.

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 LAKE ECOSYSTEM:

Characteristic:
 Permanent water bodies, may be natural or more
frequently artificially created by the construction of
dams and tanks
 It is usually developed for irrigation and drinking,
water storage or industrial use or for hydroelectric
power generation.
 May be oligotrophic, eutrophic, volcanic, etc.

 Algae are the producers. Some specialized fishes

such as catfish, feed on the detritus on the muddy
bed of the lake. They are called bottom dwellers or
bottom feeders.

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Lake ecosystem:
 Littoral zone
light penetrates to the bottom,
allowing aquatic plants to grow.
 Limnetic zone
the open water area where light
does not generally penetrate all the way to
the bottom.
 Euphotic zone
the layer from the surface down to
the depth where light levels become too low
for photosynthesis.
 Benthic zone
the bottom sediment.

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 Well oxygenated, no. of animals are less.

 It is fresh flowing water, DO is high, rich in nutrients.
 Can have sandy, rocky or muddy bed, each type having its
own species of plants and animals.
 As deforestation occurs in the hills, the water in the streams
that once flowed throughout the year becomes seasonal.
 This leads to flash floods during rains and waer shortage
when the streams dry up after the monsoon.
 The nutrient cycles of the aquatic system are closely linked
to that of the stream or river bank’s terrestrial ecosystem.
 There is a constant two way energy flow as many fauna
such as ambhibians, molluscs and reptiles tend to use both
the water and land habitats.

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Marine ecosystems:(Ocean ecosystem)

 The Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea and Bay of
Bengal constitute the marine ecosystem on
India

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 The ocean bottom is the benthic zone

 water itself (or the water column) is the
pelagic zone.
 neritic zone is that part of the pelagic zone
that extends from the high tide line to an
ocean bottom less than 600 feet deep.
 Water deeper than 600 feet is called the
oceanic zone.
 sunlit zone (euphotic zone), enough light
penetrates to support photosynthesis.
 Twilight zone (Disphotic zone) where very
small amounts of light penetrate.
 Ninety percent of the space in the ocean lies
in the midnight zone (Aphotic zone) which
is entirely devoid of light.
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 Fish, crustacea, turtles and marine mammals live off the

coast.
 The shallow areas near Kutch and around the Andaman and
Nicobar Islands have some of the most incredible coral reefs
in the world. Coral reefs are second only to tropical
evergreen forest in their richness of species.
 Highly productive and covers large part of the earth’s
surface.
 Millions of algae, fish, etc live in it and dependent on its
biogeochemical cycles, tides and the weather.
 Used by coastal fisherfolk for their livelihood.
 In the past fishing was done at a sustainable manner. Now
with the growth of intensive fishing using giant nets and
mechanised trawler boats, the fish catch in the Indian Ocean
has dropped significantly

ESTUARINE ECOSYSTEM:
An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal area at the mouth of
river, where river joins the sea.
Characteristics:
 All estuaries have a mix of fresh and saline sea water. Thus, they are
connected to river systems and the sea through a connection at one
end.
 One of the most productive and dynamic coastal ecosystem found on
both West and East coasts. These are transition zone.
 Aquatic brackish water ecosystems that act as hotspots of coastal
biodiversity of great social economic value
 Water characteristic are periodically changed.
 The living organism in this ecosystem have tolerance. These are
breeding areas for marine fish, crustacea and feeding areas for avi-
fauna
 Salinity is the highest during the summer while it is the lowest during
winter.

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 In coastal plains, river deltas open into a wide aquatic

ecosystems that in turn opens through an outlet into the sea.
The sea water flows in and out with each tide. Thus, it is
extremely dynamic. In the monsoon fresh water enters the
estuary while in summer, it is more saline.

 Most estuaries have a central deeper channel and smaller

channels with shallow edges which are the feeding zones of
aquatic birds. This is seen at the Thane estuary near Mumbai.

 Several of our estuary are similar to a coastal lake with a

connection to the sea. This is seen at the Chilka lake in
Odisha.

 River deltas are often linked to estuarine systems as the tide

flows into the delta from the sea from the multiple channels.
This is seen in the Sundarbans.

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 A great source of income for local fishefolk – fish, crabs,

shrimps, seagrass and algae, etc.

 Used as ports for trading vessels

 Currently thermal power plants use them for sea water for
cooling their plants

 Effluent discharge from industries, altered sea levels due to

climate change, change in the river flow due to dams and
developmental projects damage these fragile ecosystems

 Should be conserved as sanctuaries and national parks and

ecologically sensitive areas.

 Any developmental activity in the vicinity must include a

carefully carried out ecological assessment to study possible
damage.

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 A large part of the Thane estuary is owned by

the Godrej industries who have nurtured and
maintained its ecology.
 They have planted mangroves in their part of
the creek which has led to creating a
breeding space for fish and Crustacea
 The mangroves now prevents siltation and act
as barrier against storms and cyclones.
 It is a major green lung for Mumbai.

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 Many of our day-to-day activities create some

negative impact on the earth’s welfare.

 To reduce this, we need to introspect and act

towards minimizing wasteful behavior.

 Each ecosystem is affected by our lifestyle; this is

incompatible with nature.

 We depend on urban, industrial, agricultural,

pastoral, river, marine and other integrated
ecosystems.

 We need to preserve these for a better future. This is

referred as public-private participation in the
management of these ecosystems.

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