Lesson2.

Ecosystem and Biodiversity

2.1. ECOSYSTEM

An ecosystem is a community of organisms that interact with each other and non-living components for sustainable
development and adaptation to changing conditions. There are different type of ecosystems around us which involves
living organisms and non-living organisms. If we combine all the ecosystems present on earth, it is called Biosphere.

CONCEPT OF ECOSYSTEM

In an ecosystem, the interaction of life with its environment takes place at many levels. A single bacteria in the soil
interacts with water, air around it within a small space while a fish in a river interacts with water and other animals, rivals
in a large space. . Considering the operational point of view; the biotic and abiotic components of an ecosystem are so
interlinked that their separation from each other is practically difficult. So, in an ecosystem both organisms (biotic
communities) and an abiotic environment (rainfall, temperature, humidity) each influence the properties with other for
maintenance of life.

STRUCTURE OF ECOSYSTEM

A structure of Ecosystem comprise of

•The Composition of biological communities including, species number, biomass, life history, and distribution in space.

•The quantity and distribution of non-living material, such as nutrient water, etc.

•The range of conditions of existence such as temperature, light.

FUNCTION OF ECOSYSTEM:

•The rate of biological energy flow i.e. production & respiration rates of the community.

•The rate of material or nutrient cycles

•Biological or ecological regulation including both regulation of organism by environment and regulation of environment
by the organisms.

COMPONENTS OF AN ECOSYSTEM

Non Living Components: (Abiotic) Non-living components are the physical and chemical factors that directly or
indirectly affect the living components e.g. air, water, land, rock etc. Non-L, water, land, rock etc. Non lliving components
are also called Abiotic components. Physical factors include sunlight, water, fire, soil, air, temperature etc. Chemical
factors include moisture, salinity of water, soil nutrients, oxygen dissolved in water etc.
Living Components: Living components in an ecosystem are either producers or consumers. They are also called
biotic components. Producers can produce organic components e.g. plants can produce starch, carbohydrates,
cellulose from a process called photosynthesis. Consumers are the components that are dependent on producers for
their food e.g. human beings and animals.

Biotic Components are further classified into 3 main groups

1.Producer (Autotrophs): The green plants have chlorophyll with the help of which they trap solar energy and change
it into chemical energy of carbohydrates using simple inorganic compounds namely, water and carbon dioxide. This
process is known as photosynthesis. They are classified into two categories based on their source of food.

a)Photoautotrophs: An organism capable of synthesizing its own food from inorganic substances using light as an
energy source. Green plants and photosynthetic bacteria are photoautotrophs.

b)Chemotrophs: Organisms that obtain energy by the oxidation of electron donors in their environments. These
molecules can be organic (chemoorganotrophs) or inorganic (chemolithotrophs)

2.Consumers (Heterotrophs): 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= others, trophs= feeder).The Consumers are of 4 types:

(a) Primary Consumer: ( Herbivores) i.e. Animal feeding on plants, e.g. Rabbit, deer, goat etc.
(b) Secondary Consumers: The animals feeding on herbivores are called secondary Consumer or primary carnivores.
e.g. Cats, foxes, snakes.
(c) Tertiary Consumers: These are large carnivores which feed on secondary consumers. e.g. Wolves
(d) Quaternary Consumers: They are also called omnivores. These are largest carnivores which feed on tertiary
consumers and are not eaten up by any other animals. e.g. lion and Tiger.

3.Decomposers or Detrivores:Bacteria & fungi belong to this category. They break down the dead organic matter of
producers & consumers for their food and release to the environment the simple inorganic and organic substance.
These simple substances are reused by the producers resulting in a cyclic exchange of material between biotic & abiotic
environments. Eg: Bacteria, Earth worms, Beetles etc

2.2. ENERGY FLOW IN AN ECOSYSTEM

•Biological activities require energy which ultimately comes from the sun. Solar energy is transformed into chemical
energy by a process of photosynthesis; this energy is stored in plant tissue and then transformed into heat energy
during metabolic activities.
•Thus in the biological world the energy flows from the sun to plants and then to all heterotrophic organisms. The flow of
energy is unidirectional and non-cyclic. This one way flow of energy is governed by laws of thermodynamics which
states that:
(a) Energy can neither be created nor be destroyed but may be transformed from one form to another
 (b) During the energy transfer there is degradation of energy from a concentrated form
(mechanical, chemical, or electrical etc.) to a dispersed form (heat).

MODELS OF ENERGY FLOW IN ECOSYSTEM

1.​ Single Channel Energy Flow Model
The flow of energy in an ecosystem takes place through the food chain and it is this energy flow which keeps the
system going. The most common feature of this energy flow is that it is unidirectional or one way flow or single
channel flow. Unlike the nutrients (carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, etc.) which move in a cyclic manner and
are reused by the producers after moving through the food chain, energy is not reused in the flood chain. It flows
from producers to herbivores to carnivores and so on.

2.​ Double Channel or Y-shaped Energy Flow Model

The double channel or Y-shaped energy flow model depicts the simultaneous working of grazing(animals feeding
on growing plants (grass) and detritus food chains (dead plants and animals; organic waste) in an ecosystem. In
nature, both grazing and detritus food chains are interconnected in the same ecosystem. For example, dead
bodies of small animals that were once part of the grazing food chain become incorporated in the detritus food
chain as do the faces of grazing food animals. Functionally, the distinction between the two is the time lag
between the direct consumption of living plants and ultimate utilization of dead organic matter.

3.​ Universal Energy Flow Model

Which represents the basis for a general explanation of ecosystem trophic flows. The model can be applied to
any living components, whether it is plant, animal, microorganism, individual, population or trophic group. Such a
model may depict the food chain as already shown in previous models or the bioenergetics of an entire
ecosystem.
FOOD CHAIN, FOOD WEB, & ECOLOGICAL PYRAMIDS

FOOD CHAIN:
​ In the food chain, each organism eats the smaller organisms and is eaten by the larger one. All those organisms
which are interlinked with each other through food to gather constitute the ecosystem. Each food chain has three main
topic levels: Producer lever, Consumer level, and Decomposer level. If any of the intermediate stages of the food chain
is removed, the succeeding links of the food chain will be affected.

Types of Food Chains:

a) Grazing Food Chain: This type of food chain starts from living green plants and goes to grazing herbivores and onto
carnivores. An ecosystem with such a type of food chain directly depends upon solar energy for their food requirements.
Most of the ecosystem in nature follows this type of food chain.

b) Detritus food Chain: This type of food chain goes from dead organic matter onto microorganisms and then to the
organisms feeding on detritus and their predators. Such ecosystems are less dependent on direct solar energy.

c) Parasitic Food Chain: This type of food chain starts from big hosts and ends with parasitic organisms.

ECOLOGICAL PYRAMIDS

The different species in a food chain are called tropic levels. Each food chain has 3 main trophic levels: producer,
consumer, and decomposers. Graphical representation of these trophic levels is called Ecological Pyramids or
Eltonian pyramids devised by an ecologist “Charles Elton”

3 Types of Ecological Pyramids:

I.​ Pyramid of Number- Shows the number of organisms at each level of the food chain. (Count of Organisms)
 ●​ The forest ecosystem is an example of a Partially upright ecosystem since fewer producers support more
primary consumers (e.g. a single tree is capable of supporting a large number of Primary consumers) but
afterward, the Pyramid attains the normal shape since there are fewer secondary and tertiary consumers.
●​ In the inverted pyramid of numbers, the organisms that are dependent on lower trophic levels grow closer to the
apex as in the case of the Parasitic Food Chain. E.g. In this food chain the primary producer is a large tree that
supports a large no. of parasites or hyper-parasites as primary and secondary consumers. Thus the resultant
shape of the pyramid is inverted.

Pyramid of Number = Counts how many organisms

Pyramid of Biomass = Measures how heavy those organisms are

II.​ Pyramid of Biomass- Shows the total mass (weight) of living things at each level. (Weight of Living Organisms)
●​ Pyramid of Biomass includes the total weight of the organic matter i.e. Biomass, at each trophic level.
●​ The Pyramid of Numbers does not give any idea of weight since it does not take into account the varying
shapes and sizes of the organisms, so to fulfill the shortcoming of the ‘Pyramid of Numbers’ the ‘Pyramid
of Biomass’ has been introduced.
●​ In the upright pyramid, the total weight of the producer is larger than the total weight of the consumers.
Example- In the case of a forest ecosystem, the tree that is the producer/autotroph has larger biomass
compared to primary or secondary consumers like birds, insects, etc. Thus, the attained shape is upright.
●​ In the case of the inverted pyramid, the total weight of the producer is smaller than the total weight of
the primary or secondary consumers.
Example- In the case of an aquatic ecosystem, phytoplankton(microscopic, plant-like organisms that live
in aquatic environments) which support smaller fishes have lesser biomass, while at the next trophic
level, the herbivore fishes have lesser biomass than the carnivore fishes. Thus, we attain an inverted
shaped pyramid.
III.​ Pyramid of Energy-Shows the flow of energy from one level to the next. (Flow of energy through food chain)

●​ The pyramid of energy represents the total amount of energy present at each trophic level per unit area
per unit of time and energy is generally expressed in terms of Kcal/m2/day or Kcal/m2/year.
(Kilocalorie/meter2/day)
●​ The pyramid of energy is always upright since the total energy available for utilization for the successive
trophic level is less than the energy available for the previous trophic level. Successive reduction in
energy is due to the use of energy for activities like respiration or simply due to heat loss.
CLASSIFICATION OF ECOSYSTEMS

Due to the abiotic factors, different ecosystems develop in different ways. These factors and their interaction
between each other and with biotic components have resulted in formation of different types of ecosystems as
explained below. Ecosystems may be natural or artificial.

Natural Ecosystem: It consists of Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecosystems which are maintained naturally. These
ecosystems operate by themselves under natural conditions without any major interference by man. Based upon
the particular kind of habitat, these are further divided as:
•Terrestrial as forest, grassland, desert etc.
•Aquatic which may be further distinguished as Freshwater which may be lotic (running water as springs, stream,
river) or lentic (standing water as lake, pond, pools, ditch, swamps, etc.)
•Marine Ecosystems: as an ocean or shallow ones like sea or estuary etc.

Artificial Ecosystem: These are maintained or created artificially by man. The man tries to control the biotic
community as well as the physico-chemical environment. Eg: Artificial pond, urban area development. These
are maintained by man where, by addition of energy & planned manipulations natural balance is disturbed
regularly. For eg : croplands like maize, wheat, rice-fields etc., where man tries to control the biotic community as
well as physico-chemical environment are artificial ecosystems

Pond Ecosystem:
A pond is a good example of a freshwater ecosystem, made up of abiotic (non-living) and biotic (living)
components.

Abiotic Components

Non-living factors that support life in the pond: Sunlight, temperature (heat), pH, CO₂, oxygen, nitrogen,
phosphates, calcium, etc.

Biotic Components

Living organisms, divided into different groups:

 1. Producers (Make their own food using sunlight)
Macrophytes: Large aquatic plants (e.g., Hydrilla, Trapa, Typha)
Phytoplankton: Tiny floating plants like algae

2. Consumers (Depend on producers for food)

Primary Consumers (herbivores):

Benthos: Bottom-dwelling organisms
Zooplankton: Small animals like rotifers, protozoa that eat phytoplankton
(zooplankton-consisting of small animals and the immature stages of larger animals. They are usually larger than
phytoplankton)
Secondary Consumers (small carnivores):
Insects, small fish, water beetles that eat zooplankton

Tertiary Consumers (top carnivores):

Large fish, turtles that eat smaller fish and insects

3. Decomposers
Bacteria and fungi that break down dead plants and animals, recycling nutrients back into the system

Role in Ecosystem:

All these components work together to maintain energy flow and nutrient cycling in the pond.

2.2 BIODIVERSITY

The word biodiversity is a combination of two words: “biological and diversity” and refers to the variety of life on the
Earth. Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given species, ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet.
Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems.

1. Genetic Diversity: Genetic diversity is the “raw material” that permits species to adjust to a changing world whether
these changes are due to natural factors or are caused by human factors. It refers to the variation at the level of
individual genes and provides a mechanism for populations to adapt to their ever-changing environment. Eg: Human
beings

2. Species Diversity: Species diversity refers to the different types of living organisms on Earth. This includes the many
types of birds, insects, plants, bacteria, fungi, mammals, and more. Many differing species often live together in
communities depending on each other to provide their needs. A species can be defined as a group or population of
similar organisms that reproduce by interbreeding within the group. Members of a species do not normally reproduce
with members of any other species. Members of a specific species possess common characteristics that distinguish
them from other species and this remains constant regardless of geographic location.

3. Ecosystem Diversity: Ecological diversity or ecosystem diversity is the variety of biological communities, such as
forests, deserts, grasslands and streams that interact with one another and with their physical and chemical (nonliving)
environments. It relates to the different forms of life which are present in any one particular area or site, in more precise
terms, it concerns the different species of a particular genus which are present in an ecological community.
VALUES OF BIODIVERSITY

1.​ Consumptive Value

Biodiversity is very important because it provides us with things we use directly, like food, medicine,
and fuel. We eat many types of plants and animals such as cows, goats, chickens, ducks, and fish.
Countries like Israel and China grow a lot of fish in fish farms (aquaculture).

Many medicines also come from plants, fungi, and bacteria. For example: Penicillin (an antibiotic)
comes from a fungus;Tetracycline (an antibiotic) comes from bacteria; Quinine (used for malaria) comes
from the Cinchona tree​
Even fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas were formed from dead plants and animals over millions of years —
so they also come from biodiversity. In short, biodiversity gives us food, medicine, and fuel that are essential
for daily life.

2.​ Productive Value

Some plants and animals provide products that people sell and use. For example, elephant tusks, deer
musk, silk from silkworms, wool from sheep, and animal fur are all sold in markets. Some plants like the Calabar
bean were used as poison, and daisy plants helped discover Pyrethrum, which is used in mosquito coils. Even
bacteria like Bacillus thuringiensis help by killing harmful insects.

3.​ Social Value

Many plants and animals have important roles in religion and culture. For example, Tulasi, mango leaves,
and banana leaves are used in worship, and animals like cows, snakes, bulls, and peacocks are considered
sacred in some cultures.

4.​ Ethical Value

People feel happy knowing that all species exist, even if they don’t use them directly. For example,
animals like kangaroos and giraffes don’t give us anything directly, but we want them to be alive. Some species,
like the dodo and a special kind of pigeon, have disappeared forever.

5.​ Aesthetic Value

People love visiting natural places to enjoy wildlife and nature’s beauty. This kind of travel is called
eco-tourism and it makes a lot of money every year. Also, being close to nature helps reduce stress and makes
people feel better compared to staying in buildings all day.