Introduction

The term "ecosystem" was first used in a publication by British ecologist Arthur
Tansley. Tansley devised the concept to draw attention to the importance of
transfers of materials between organisms and their environment.He later refined
the term, describing it as "The whole system,including not only the organismcomplex, but also the whole complex of physical factors forming what we call the
environment".Tansley regarded ecosystems not simply as natural units, but as
mental isolates. Tansley later defined the spatial extent of ecosystems using the
term ecotype.
G. Evelyn Hutchinson, a pioneering limnologist who was a contemporary of
Tansley's, combined Charles Elton's ideas about tropic ecology with those of
Russian geochemist Vladimir to suggest that mineral nutrient availability in a lake
limited algal production which would, in turn, limit the abundance of animals that
feed on algae. Raymond Lindeman took these ideas one step further to suggest
that the flow of energy through a lake was the primary driver of the ecosystem.
Hutchinson's students, brothers Howard T. Odum and Eugene P. Odum, further
developed a "systems approach" to the study of ecosystems, allowing them to
study the flow of energy and material through ecological systems.

Objectives:
The main purpose of this study is to apply the knowledge of business
administration in the field of sustainable development. We the students of business
administration will work in various development projects in our near future.
Knowledge based on environmental management and ecosystem will help us to
apply our knowledge effectively and efficiently in various projects. Our natural
resources are scarce and limited. We should ensure the best use of our natural
resources and should also keep the reserve level at present rate. This assignment
will help us to understand the vulnerable situation of our environment and will
help us for taking undertakings which will improve the present situation of
environment pollution. Our environment is buildup of different ecosystem.
Diversity of ecosystem and their interconnectivity is needed for the survival of the
earth. We should save our earth for our future generation and for this study of
ecosystem is essential. Environmental pollution, global warming etc. are result of
industrialization. As we are students of business so to ensure future green
economy we should learn about ecosystem, types and functions of ecosystem.

Ecosystem:
An ecosystem is a community of living organisms (plants, animals and microbes)
in conjunction with the nonliving components of their environment (things like
air, water and mineral soil), interacting as a system. These biotic and abiotic
components are regarded as linked together through nutrient cycles and energy
flows.As ecosystems are defined by the network of interactions among organisms,
and between organisms and their environment, they can be of any size but usually
encompass specific, limited spaces (although some scientists say that the entire
planet is an ecosystem).
Energy, water, nitrogen and soil minerals are other essential abiotic components of
an ecosystem. The energy that flows through ecosystems is obtained primarily
from the sun. It generally enters the system through photosynthesis, a process that
also captures carbon from the atmosphere. By feeding on plants and on one
another, animals play an important role in the movement of matter and energy
through the system. They also influence the quantity of plant
and microbial biomass present. By breaking down dead organic matter,
decomposers release carbon back to the atmosphere and facilitate nutrient
cycling by converting nutrients stored in dead biomass back to a form that can be
readily used by plants and other microbes. Ecosystems are controlled both by
external and internal factors. External factors such as climate,the parent
material which forms the soil and topography, control the overall structure of an
ecosystem and the way things work within it, but are not themselves influenced by
the ecosystem. Other external factors include time and potential biota. Ecosystems
are dynamic entitiesinvariably, they are subject to periodic disturbances and are
in the process of recovering from some past disturbance.Ecosystems in similar
environments that are located in different parts of the world can have very
different
characteristics
simply
because
they
contain
different
species.Theintroduction of non-native species can cause substantial shifts in
ecosystem function. Internal factors not only control ecosystem processes but are
also controlled by them and are often subject to feedback loops.

Components of ecosystem:
There are 2 Components in ecosystem:
1. Abiotic
2. Biotic
Biotic Components are divided into 4 types:
1) Producer
2) Consumer
3) Decomposer
4) Transformer

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The explanation of Ecosystem Components is given below:

1.Biotic Components: are the living things that shape an ecosystem. A biotic
factor is
any
living
component
that
affects
another organism,
including animals that consume the organism in question, and the living food that
the organism consumes. Each biotic factor needs energy to do work and food for
proper growth. Biotic factors include human influence.Biotic components are
contrasted to abiotic components, which are non-living components of an
organism's environment, such as temperature, light, moisture, air currents, etc.
i) Producers: Most ecosystems get their energy first from sunlight. A producer is a
living thing, like a plant, that can take the Suns energy and store it as food.
Another word for produce is make. Producers make their own food. Kapok and
banana trees are common producers in a tropical rainforest ecosystem.
ii)Consumers :Other members of ecosystems cannot make their own food. A
consumer must feed on other living things to get food and energy.Another word
for consume is eat. Consumers eat other living things. A herbivore is a
consumer that eats only plants. A carnivore is a consumer that eats only animals. A
consumer that eats both plants and animals is called an omnivore. There are many
consumers in a tropical rainforest ecosystem. Insects,caterpillars, and monkeys
feed on the plants and trees. These herbivores are eaten by carnivores such as
ocelots and pumas.
Consumer are divided into three types:
a)Primary consumer:The components those feed on producers.
b)Secondary consumer:Those who feed on primary consumers.
c)Tertiary consumers:Those who feed on primary and secondary consumers.
iii) Decomposers: Producers and consumers in an ecosystem create waste and
both eventually die. If waste and dead organisms are not somehow broken down,
the nutrients they contain would not become available for other living organisms
in that ecosystem. The waste would pile up and potentially harm living things.
Imagine what it would be like in your neighborhood if the trash was not taken
awayyou would not be able to stay there for very long without getting sick. A
decomposer is a living thing that consumes waste and dead organisms to get
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energy. Decompose means to break down. Decomposers break down material

from waste and dead organisms, and the molecules are returned to the ecosystem.
Fungi and bacteria are decomposers in many ecosystems. Decomposers are
important and can be called natures recyclers.
iv) Transformers:Those who act on dead remains of producers and consumers and
finally transform the complex organic structures into similar in organic form.
2)Abiotic Components:In biology and ecology, abiotic components include
physical conditions and non-living resources that affect living organisms in terms
of growth, maintenance, and reproduction. Resources are distinguished as
substances or objects in the environment required by one organism and consumed
or otherwise made unavailable for use by other organisms.Component degradation
of a substance by chemical or physical processes, e.g. hydrolysis. All non-living
components of an ecosystem is called abiotic components.

Functions of Ecosystem
In an ecosystem there are two processes proceeding simultaneously:
1 ) Energy flow and
2 ) Nutrient cycle
These are described below:
1) Energy flow: Although matter circulates, energy cannot be reused indefinitely.
Solar energy is converted by the photosynthetic producers (plants) into chemical
energy in the form of plant carbohydrates. Herbivores consume the plant
carbohydrates and so this chemical energy is transferred to them. Carnivores
consume herbivores. So the energy is circulated further to the next trophic level.
In these animals, this chemical energy is converted mostly into mechanical energy
(work done) and heat. The heat is lost to the atmosphere at each trophic level. At
the cell level, chemical energy in the food molecules is transferred into usable
energy and stored as ATP (adenosine triphosphate) molecules. The body cells use
the energy stored in ATP for synthesis of new chemical compounds and their
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transport and for mechanical work. It is estimated that 90% of the energy is used
up at each trophic level and only 10% of it is transferred to the next trophic level.
Finally, at the last trophic level (decomposer) no energy is left for recycling.
Hence, energy flows from sun through producers to consumers in a single
direction only. The decreasing energy level at each step sets the limit of trophic
levels to a maximum of 4 or 5. It is the continual trapping of light energy by green
plants that makes good this loss and maintains the uninterrupted flow energy in an
ecosystem.
It is found that there is maximum energy at the producer (plant) level and as you
go further and further the energy in food goes on decreasing. Therefore, the
herbivores get more energy rich food, than carnivores
2) Nutrient cycle:A nutrient cycle (or ecological recycling) is the movement and
exchange of organic and inorganic matter back into the production of living
matter. The process is regulated by food web pathways that decompose matter into
mineral nutrients. Nutrient cycles occur within ecosystems. Ecosystems are
interconnected systems where matter and energy flows and is exchanged as
organisms feed, digest, and migrate about. Minerals and nutrients accumulate in
varied densities and uneven configurations across the planet. Ecosystems recycle
locally, converting mineral nutrients into the production of biomass, and on a
larger scale they participate in a global system of inputs and outputs where matter
is exchanged and transported through a larger system of biogeochemical cycles.
Particulate is recycled by biodiversity inhabiting the detritus in soils, water
columns, and along particle surfaces (including 'Aeolian dust'). Ecologists may
refer to ecological recycling, organic recycling, biocycling, cycling,
biogeochemical recycling, natural recycling, or just recycling in reference to the
work of nature. Whereas the global biogeochemical cycles describe the natural
movement and exchange of every kind of particulate matter through the living and
non-living components of the Earth, nutrient cycling refers to the biodiversity
within community food web systems that loop organic nutrients or water supplies
back into production. The difference is a matter of scale and compartmentalization
with nutrient cycles feeding into global biogeochemical cycles. Solar
energy flows through ecosystems along unidirectional and noncyclic pathways,
whereas the movement of mineral nutrients is cyclic. Mineral cycles
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include carbon cycle,sulfur cycle,nitrogen, water cycle, phosphorus cycle, oxygen

cycle, among others that continually recycle along with other mineral nutrients
into productive ecological nutrition. Global biogeochemical cycles are the sum
product of localized ecological recycling regulated by the action of food webs
moving particulate matter from one living generation onto the next. Earths
ecosystems have recycled mineral nutrients sustainably for billions of years.

Conclusion
From the above discussion it can be well said that, we should make
environmental safety and profit vice versa. To ensure sustainable
development and blue economy the knowledge of ecosystem is
must. However, Bangladesh is a country enriched with several types
of ecosystems, like- marine ecosystem, forest ecosystem, mangrove
ecosystem etc. As a LDC country we are trying to achieve economic
growth. Our country is a low-lying country which will be one of the
worst victim of global warming. In order to ensure economic growth
with sustainable development we need a better understand of our
ecosystems.
Until otherwise we will not achieve our goal as well as we will be
the top sufferer country for global warming.

Refferences
1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecosystem
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2) http://forest.mtu.edu/kidscorner/ecosystems/definition.html
3) http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/nwepecosystems.html
4) http://www.ecosystemlife.com/
5) http://www.unep.org/ecosystemmanagement/