BASIC PRINCIPLES OF ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONING

Ecosystem: An ecosystem is a natural unit consisting of all plants,

animals and micro-organisms in an area functioning together with all
of the non-living physical factors of the environment.

According to British ecologist Arthur Tansley (1935), “An ecosystem

is a system that arises from the integration of all living and non-living
factors of the environment.”

Ecology: Ecology is how living and non-living things affect each

other in their environment.

Concept of Ecosystem: There are no conceptual restrictions on how

large or small a space or an area must be to host an ecosystem, or on
the minimum numbers species or individual organisms to be present.

Early conceptions of an ecosystem were as a structured functional unit

in equilibrium of energy and matter flows among constituent
elements. Some considered this vision limited, and preferred to view
an ecosystem in terms of cybernetics, which, like any other type of
system, is governed by the rules of systems science and cybernetics,
as applied specifically to collections of organisms and relevant abiotic
components. The branch of ecology that gave rise to this view has
become known as systems ecology.

Politically, the concept has become important, since the Convention

on Biological Diversity, (CBD), signed by almost 200 nations. The
CBD formulates the concept in the following definition: "Ecosystem"
means a dynamic complex of plant, animal and micro-organism
communities and their non-living environment interacting as a
functional unit" (Convention on the Biological Diversity, 1992).

Kinds of an Ecosystem

Natural Ecosystems Man-made Ecosystems

Terrestrial Ecosystem Aquatic Ecosystem

Fresh water Ecosystem Marine Ecosystem

Lentic Ecosystem Lotic Ecosystem

 Structure of an
Ecosystem

Non-Living
Living (Biotic) (Abiotic)
Components Components

Producers Organic

Consumers Inorganic

Decomposers Physical

Biotic Components of Ecosystems:

 Producers

Green plants and some bacteria which manufacture their own food.

 Consumers

Animals which obtain their food from producers

 Primary consumers
 Secondary consumers
 Tertiary consumers
 Decomposers

Bacteria and fungi that decompose dead organic matter and convert it
into simpler parts
Abiotic components of an Ecosystem:

 Organic
 Carbohydrates
 Lipids
 Proteins
 Inorganic
 Water
 Ammonia
 Gases
 Climatic
 Rainfall
 Humidity
 Temperature

Functions of an Ecosystem:

 Food chain and Food web

 Energy flow
 Cycling of matter (chemicals)

 Food Chain: The transfer of food energy from the source in

plants through a series of organisms by repeated eating and
being eaten up is referred to as food chain.
 Food Web: The interlocking patterns formed by several food
chains that are linked together are called food webs.
 Flow of Energy in an Ecosystem:
First Law of Energy
Second Law of Energy
10% Rule of Energy
  Biogeochemical cycling: The cycling movement of minerals
from their reservoirs (air, water and soil) to the living
components and back to the reservoirs is called nutrient cycling
or biogeochemical cycles.

Ecological pyramid: The graphical representations of different

trophic levels in an ecosystem is known as Ecological Pyramid

They are used to illustrate the feeding relationships between

organisms.

Types of ecological pyramids:

 Pyramid of Number
 Pyramid of Biomass
 Pyramid of Energy

 Pyramid of Number: To show the number of individuals in

each trophic level. Pyramid of number is upright in case of
grassland and pond ecosystem.

In some cases the pyramid of number will be inverted.

E.g. in case of forest ecosystem.
  Pyramid of biomass: To show the total biomass of individuals
in each trophic level. Pyramid of biomass is better in than
pyramid of number in showing the relationships between
organisms. Pyramid of biomass is upright in case of grassland
and forest ecosystem whereas inverted in case of pond
ecosystem.
 Pyramid of energy: To show the amount of energy transferred
in each trophic level. The pyramid of energy flow is always
upright because there is always loss of energy while moving
from each trophic level. Therefore the energy reaching the next
trophic level is always decreasing.
 Ecological Succession: a series of changes in a community in
which new populations of organisms gradually replace existing
ones.

Forests:

Why do different regions have different biomes?

 Major reasons:-

1. Temperature

2. Precipitation

The mean value of temperature and precipitation determines the

kind of biomes in an area.

 Climate, plants and animal species of region varies with latitude

and longitude.

 The unique thing is that every species has adapted to the

climate and has found its niche in the community.
 WORLD LAND USE PATTERN (FAO IN MILLER, 2004)

BIOME TYPE % OF LAND

FOREST 32

RANGELAND& PASTURE 26

DESERT 20

CROPLAND 11

TUNDRA & WETLANDS 09

URBAN AREAS 02

TOTAL 100
Types of forests:

 Tropical rainforests – hot & humid region

-Annual rainfall- 2000 to 4500 mm.
- Found in south and Central America, Western & Central
Africa, South East Asia, and some islands of Indian & Pacific
Oceans.
- Tropical forests are considered important because it helps in
recycling water.
 Temperate rainforests - Cold in winter and warm & humid in
summer.
-Annual rainfall is 750-2000 mm
-Soil is rich
-Found in western and Central Europe, eastern Asia and eastern
North America.
 Coniferous forests- Many coniferous trees are found in this
region like spruce, fir, pine etc.
-Found in northern parts of Northern America, Europe and
Asia.
-The soil in these forests is acidic and humus-rich.

Impact of human activities and natural forces on the forest:

 Clearing and burning of the forests for agriculture, cattle rearing

and timber extraction.

 Clear cutting and conversion of forest land in hilly areas for

agriculture, plantation and housing.

 Forests affected by acid deposition originating from industries.

 Pesticides spraying to control insects in forest plantation leads

to poisoning all the way up the food chain and unintended loss
of species.
  Dams build in forest areas for hydropower and water drown
huge areas, destroying species and depriving people of their
land.

 In wilderness areas like the Arctic, oil exploration and military

activities disrupt the ecosystem, contaminating areas and lead to
decline of species.

 The harvesting of old growth forests destroys crucial habitat for

endangered species.

GRASSLANDS:

 Grasslands are regions where average precipitation is high

(250-1500mm) for grass and for trees to grow.

 Rainfall is erratic and uncertain in these regions.

 Regions found are central &South America, sub equatorial

Africa &South Australia, South India.

 Soils rich and deep ideal for grasses.

 Used as grasslands for grazing livestock.

 Savannas are tropical grasslands with widely scattered clumps

of low trees.

 Large scale conversion of grasslands into croplands as they are

well suited to agriculture.

Desert:

 A desert is a landscape form or region that receives very little

precipitation. <250 mm per annum.
 It covers 1/5th of earth’s land surface.
 Most of the deserts are composed of sand (ergs) and rocky
surface.
  Other deserts known as cold desert is fully covered by ice and
almost no vegetation.
 Temperature ranges from 50 degree C to nearly zero level
within a single day.
 These have high biodiversity. Plants and animals have different
morphological and anatomical modifications to reduce water
loss from the body.
 Water budget =P-PE(+/-)S
Where P = precipitation
PE = potential evaporation
S = amount of surface storage of
water
If PE exceeds enormously from P then a dry condition prevails
and if it continues then deserts get formed.

Types of deserts:

Hot desert

 Formed of ergs.

 Water is very scarce.

 Temperature is very high during day and very low at night.

 Vegetations known as ‘xerophytes’ have modifications like

pulpy stem to store water and wax covered thorny leaves to
reduce transpiration. The roots are very long to reach the water
table.

 Animals such as reptiles, rodents, wolves etc hide themselves in

daylight and come out at night.
Cold deserts

 Commonly known as ‘tundra’

 Land is covered by a thick layer of ice.

 Whatever falls remains frozen.

 Vegetation is very on the surface.

 The leaves are covered by wax.

 Animals have thick layer of fat under the skin and a fur coating
above it.

Importance for man:

 We think desert as a non arable waste land but it contains lot of

minerals which can be harvested by making judicial use of it.
 The top soil is fertile but very susceptible to erosion. It can be
saved by afforestation.
 Minerals like silica, gypsum, borates are very commonly found.
 It’s a very big area which should be converted into arable.

Aquatic Ecosystem:

Aquatic organisms are affected primarily by the water’s depth,

temperature, flow, and amount of dissolved nutrients.

 Water Depth :
-Water depth strongly influences aquatic life because sunlight
penetrates only a relatively short distance through water.
-The sunlit region near the surface in which photosynthesis can
occur is known as the photic zone.
-The photic zone may be as deep as 200 meters in tropical seas,
but just a few meters deep or less in rivers and swamps.
-Photosynthetic algae, called phytoplankton, live in the photic
zone.
 -Zooplankton—tiny free-floating animals—eat phytoplankton.
This is the first step in many aquatic food webs.
-Below the photic zone is the dark aphotic zone, where
photosynthesis cannot occur.
-Many aquatic organisms live on, or in, rocks and sediments on
the bottoms of lakes, streams, and oceans.
-These organisms are called the benthos, and their habitat is the
benthic zone.
-When the water is shallow enough for the benthic zone to be
within the photic zone, algae and rooted aquatic plants can
grow.
-When the benthic zone is below the photic zone,
chemosynthetic autotrophs are the only primary producers.

 Temperature and Currents:

- Aquatic habitats are warmer near the equator and colder
near the poles.
-Temperature in aquatic habitats also often varies with depth.
The deepest parts of lakes and oceans are often colder than
surface waters.
-Currents in lakes and oceans can dramatically affect water
temperature because they can carry water that is significantly
warmer or cooler than would be typical for any given latitude,
depth, or distance from shore.
 Nutrient Availability:
-Organisms need certain substances to live, such as oxygen,
nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus.
-The type and availability of these dissolved substances vary
within and between bodies of water, greatly affecting the types
of organisms that can survive there.