Unit 2: Ecosystems

2.1 What is an Ecosystem ?

An ecosystem is a community of plants, animals and smaller organisms that
live, feed,reproduce and interact in the same are or environment
Or
An ecosystem is a geographic area where plants, animals, and other
organisms, as well as weather and landscape, work together to form a bubble
of life.

2.2 Structure and Function of an ecosystem

Structure of an ecosystem.
The structure of an ecosystem is characterized by the organization of both biotic and
abiotic components. This includes the distribution of energy in our environment. It
also includes the climatic conditions prevailing in that particular environment.
The structure of an ecosystem can be split into two main components, namely:
● Biotic Components
● Abiotic Components
The biotic and abiotic components are interrelated in an ecosystem. It is an open
system where the energy and components can flow throughout the boundaries.

Biotic Components
Biotic components refer to all living components in an ecosystem. Based on
nutrition, biotic components can be categorized into autotrophs, heterotrophs and
saprotrophs (or decomposers).

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Producers 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.

Consumers or heterotrophs are organisms that depend on other organisms for food.
Consumers are further classified into primary consumers, secondary consumers and
tertiary consumers.
● Primary consumers are always herbivores as they rely on producers for
food.
● Secondary consumers depend on primary consumers for energy. They can
either be carnivores or omnivores.
● Tertiary consumers are organisms that depend on secondary consumers for
food. Tertiary consumers can also be carnivores or omnivores.
● 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.
Decomposers 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.
Abiotic Components
Abiotic components are the non-living component of an ecosystem. It includes air,
water, soil, minerals, sunlight, temperature, nutrients, wind, altitude, turbidity, etc.

Function of an ecosystem.
The functions of the ecosystem are as follows:
1. It regulates the essential ecological processes, supports life systems and
renders stability.
2. It is also responsible for the cycling of nutrients between biotic and abiotic
components.
3. It maintains a balance among the various trophic levels in the ecosystem.
4. It cycles the minerals through the biosphere.
5. The abiotic components help in the synthesis of organic components that
involve the exchange of energy.
So the functional units of an ecosystem or functional components that work together
in an ecosystem are:
Productivity – It refers to the rate of biomass production.
Energy flow – It is the sequential process through which energy flows from one
trophic level to another. The energy captured from the sun flows from producers to
consumers and then to decomposers and finally back to the environment.
Decomposition – It is the process of breakdown of dead organic material. The
top-soil is the major site for decomposition.
Nutrient cycling – In an ecosystem nutrients are consumed and recycled back in
various forms for the utilization by various organisms.

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2.3 Types of Ecosystem
An ecosystem can be as small as an oasis in a desert, or as big as an ocean,
spanning thousands of miles. There are two types of ecosystem:
1. Terrestrial Ecosystem
2. Aquatic Ecosystem
Terrestrial Ecosystem
Terrestrial ecosystems are exclusively land-based ecosystems. There are
different types of terrestrial ecosystems distributed around various geological
zones. They are as follows:
● Forest Ecosystem
● Grassland Ecosystem
● Tundra Ecosystem
● Desert Ecosystem
Forest Ecosystem
A forest ecosystem consists of several plants, particularly trees, animals and
microorganisms that live in coordination with the abiotic factors of the
environment. Forests help in maintaining the temperature of the earth and are
the major carbon sink.
Types of Forests
a)Tropical Forest Ecosystem.
b) Temperate Forest Ecosystem.
c) Boreal Forest Ecosystem.
d) Savanna Forest Ecosystem.
Grassland Ecosystem
In a grassland ecosystem, the vegetation is dominated by grasses and herbs.
Temperate grasslands and tropical or savanna grasslands are examples of
grassland ecosystems.
Tundra Ecosystem
Tundra ecosystems are devoid of trees and are found in cold climates or
where rainfall is scarce. These are covered with snow for most of the year.
Tundra type of ecosystem is found in the Arctic or mountain tops.
Desert Ecosystem
Deserts are found throughout the world. These are regions with little rainfall
and scarce vegetation. The days are hot, and the nights are cold.
Desert ecosystem is defined as an interaction between organism, the climate
they live, and any other non- living influences of the habitat.
Deserts are arid regions which are generally associated with warm
temperatures, however cold deserts also exist.

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Deserts can be found in every continent, with the largest deserts located in
Antarctica, the Arctic, Northern Africa, and the Middle East
Types of a Desert Ecosystem
1. Hot and Dry deserts
2. Semiarid deserts
3. Coastal deserts
4. Cold deserts
Aquatic Ecosystem
Aquatic ecosystems are ecosystems present in a body of water. These can be
further divided into two types, namely:
● Freshwater Ecosystem
● Marine Ecosystem
Freshwater Ecosystem
The freshwater ecosystem is an aquatic ecosystem that includes lakes,
ponds, rivers, streams and wetlands. These have no salt content in contrast
with the marine ecosystem.
Marine Ecosystem
The marine ecosystem includes seas and oceans. These have a more
substantial salt content and greater biodiversity in comparison to the
freshwater ecosystem.

2.4 Energy flow, Food chain, Food web and ecological Succession.
Energy Flow
The chemical energy of food is the main source of energy required by all living
organisms. This energy is transmitted to different trophic levels along the food
chain. This energy flow is based on two different laws of thermodynamics:
First law of thermodynamics, that states that energy can neither be created
nor destroyed, it can only change from one form to another.
Second law of thermodynamics, that states that as energy is transferred more
and more of it is wasted.
Energy Flow in Ecosystem
The energy flow in the ecosystem is one of the major factors that support the
survival of such a great number of organisms. For almost all organisms on
earth, the primary source of energy is solar energy. It is amusing to find that
we receive less than 50 per cent of the sun’s effective radiation on earth.
When we say effective radiation, we mean the radiation, which can be used by
plants to carry out photosynthesis.

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Most of the sun’s radiation that falls on the earth is usually reflected back into
space by the earth’s atmosphere. This effective radiation is termed as the
Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR).
Overall, we receive about 40 to 50 percent of the energy having
Photosynthetically Active Radiation and only around 2-10 percent of it is used
by plants for the process of photosynthesis. Thus, this percent of PAR
supports the entire world as plants are the producers in the ecosystem and all
the other organisms are either directly or indirectly dependent on them for
their survival.
The energy flow takes place via the food chain and food web. During the
process of energy flow in the ecosystem, plants being the producers absorb
sunlight with the help of the chloroplasts and a part of it is transformed into
chemical energy in the process of photosynthesis.

This energy is stored in various organic products in the plants and passed on
to the primary consumers in the food chain when the herbivores consume
(primary consumers) the plants as food. Then conversion of chemical energy
stored in plant products into kinetic energy occurs, degradation of energy will
occur through its conversion into heat.

Then followed by the secondary consumers. When these herbivores are

ingested by carnivores of the first order (secondary consumers) further
degradation will occur. Finally, when tertiary consumers consume the

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carnivores, energy will again be degraded. Thus, the energy flow is
unidirectional in nature.

Moreover, in a food chain, the energy flow follows the 10 percent law.
According to this law, only 10 percent of energy is transferred from one trophic
level to the other; rest is lost into the atmosphere. This is clearly explained in
the following figure and is represented as an energy pyramid.

Trophic level
The producers and consumers in the ecosystem can be arranged into different
feeding groups and are known as trophic level or the feeding level.

● The producers (plants) represent the first trophic level.

● Herbivores (primary consumers) present the second trophic level.
● Primary carnivores (secondary consumers) represent the third trophic
level
● Top carnivores (tertiary consumers) represent the last level.

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Food Chain
There are basically three different types of food chains in the ecosystem, namely –
Grazing food chain (GFC) – This is the normal food chain that we observe in which
plants are the producers and the energy flows from the producers to the herbivores
(primary consumers), then to carnivores (secondary consumers) and so on.
Saprophytic or Detritus food chain (DFC) – In this type of food chain, the dead
organic matter occupies the lowermost level of the food chain, followed by the
decomposers and so on.
Parasitic food chain (PFC) – In this type of food chain, large organisms either the
producer or the consumer are exploited and therefore the food passes to the smaller
organism.

Food Web
A food web consists of all the food chains in a single ecosystem. Each living thing in
an ecosystem is part of multiple food chains. Each food chain is one possible path
that energy and nutrients may take as they move through the ecosystem.

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 Image showing Food Chain and food web

Ecological Succession.

Succession is the order of colonization of species in an ecosystem from a barren or

destroyed area of land. Mosses and lichens are the first species that inhabit an area.
They make the area suitable for the growth of larger species such as grasses,
shrubs and finally trees.

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

Ecological succession is the steady and gradual change in a species of a given area
with respect to the changing environment. It is a predictable change and is an
inevitable process of nature as all the biotic components have to keep up with the
changes in our environment.
The ultimate aim of this process is to reach equilibrium in the ecosystem. The
community that achieves this aim is called a climax community. In an attempt to
reach this equilibrium, some species increase in number while some others
decrease.
In an area, the sequence of communities that undergo changes is called sere. Thus,
each community that changes is called a seral stage or seral community.
All the communities that we observe today around us have undergone succession
over a period of time since their existence. Thus, we can say that evolution is a
process that has taken place simultaneously with that of ecological succession. Also,
the initiation of life on earth can be considered to be a result of this succession
process.
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.
Cyclic Succession
This is only the change in the structure of an ecosystem on a cyclic basis. Some
plants remain dormant for the rest of the year and emerge all at once. This
drastically changes the structure of an ecosystem.

Seral Community
“A seral community is an intermediate stage of ecological succession advancing
towards the climax community.”

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A seral community is replaced by the subsequent community. It consists of simple
food webs and food chains. It exhibits a very low degree of diversity. The individuals
are less in number and the nutrients are also less.

Examples of Ecological Succession

Following are the important examples of ecological succession:
Acadia National Park
This national park suffered a huge wildfire. Restoration of the forest was left to
nature. In the initial years, only small plants grew on the burnt soil. After several
years, the forest showed diversity in tree species. However, the trees before the fire
were mostly evergreen, while the trees that grew after the fire were deciduous in
nature.
Ecological Succession of Coral Reefs
Small coral polyps colonize the rocks. These polyps grow and divide to form coral
colonies. The shape of the coral reefs attracts small fish and crustaceans that are
food for the larger fish. Thus, a fully functional coral reef exists.

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