What is an Ecosystem?

Term proposed by British ecologist A. G. Tansley in

1935.

An Ecosystem is a Natural unit. Consisting of all Plants, Animals and Micro- organisms
in an area functioning together with all the physical & chemical (soil, climate, water and light) factors of the environment.

An ecosystem is formed by the interactions between all

living and non-living things.

Eco = The Environment; System = Regularly interacting

and interdependent components forming a unified whole.

Ecosystem = an Ecological system; = A community and its physical environment treated together as a functional system.

Definition A group of organisms interacting among themselves and with environment is known as ecosystem An ecosystem is a community of different species interacting with one another and with their non-living environment exchanging energy and matter

Ecology :
It's the study of ecosystem

Types of Ecosystem:
The kind of organism which can live in a particular ecosystem depends on their physical and metabolic adaptations to the environment. On earth there are many set of ecosystems within a geographical region which are exposed to same climatic conditions & having dominant species with similar life cycle, climatic adaptations and physical structure. This set of ecosystems is called BIOME In the Biosphere, there are Natural & Artificial biomes.

ECOSYSTEM Natural Terrestrial Aquatic Marine Fresh water Lotic or Runnig water Lentic or Standing water Artificial / Man engineered

Natural Biomes (Ecosystems):

Natural ecosystems operate by themselves under natural conditions without interference of man They carry out many functions for us. Wastewater is converted to drinkable water by filtration through natural ecosystems, such as soils. Air pollutants from industries & automobiles are often trapped on leaves or converted to harmless compounds by forests.

 On the basis of particular type of habitat, they are further sub divided as: Terrestrial Ecosystems (Biomes): They are often defined by the land & vegetation types that dominate the community. Terrestrial vegetation has a rapid exchange of oxygen, water & carbon dioxide. Moisture is the major limiting factor, faces the problem of dehydration. Extremes of temperature are more pronounced. Soil acts as highly developed ecological subsystem.

Examples of terrestrial ecosystem are: Forest ecosystem. Grassland ecosystem Desert ecosystem. Aquatic Ecosystems (Biomes): Aquatic ecosystems deal with biotic community present in water bodies. Aquatic organisms have the same basic needs as the terrestrial organisms However difference lies in the form in which they are made available to them. In terrestrial ecosystem, carbon dioxide and oxygen are present in gaseous form, but in aquatic ecosystem these are made available in dissolved state.

Aquatic ecosystems fall into two categories: Freshwater Ecosystem and Marine Ecosystem. Freshwater ecosystem may be: Lotic (Running water) Example: Streams, Rivers, Springs Lentic (Standing water) Examples: Lakes, ponds, swamps Marine ecosystems includes Deep sea and Oceans.

Man-made or Artifical Ecosystems (Biomes):

- Operated or maintained by man himself - Ex: Cropland, gardens

Structure or Components of Ecosystem The Structure or Components of Ecosystem explain the relationship b/w the abiotic and biotic components Two major components
Abiotic components biotic components

 Abiotic components:
Abiotic components are non - living (chemical & physical) factors an eco system collectively form a community They practically provides all the energy for ecosystems. Ex: Climate, soil, water, air, energy, nutrients, etc,.. They are of two forms: (i) Physical components: (energy, climate, raw material and space) Useful for growth and maintance of its member Air, water, soil, sunlight, etc. (ii) Chemical components: ( organic & inorganic) Protein, lipids, carbohydrates, all micro (Al, Co, Zn, Cu) & macro elements (C, H, O, P, N, P, K)

 Biotic components:
Biotic components refer to the living world of an ecosystem. They are in entirety, any living component that affects another organism. They are of two forms:

Autotrophic:
Organisms that produce their own food from an energy source, such as the sun, and inorganic compounds. They are also called PRODUCERS( member of this components) Examples; Green Plants, algae, bacteria, etc.

Heterotrophic: Organisms that consume other organisms as a food source. Examples: Cows; Lions; Vultures

 Structure of an Ecosystem:
Ecosystem can be described according to its Trophic structure. The trophic structure constitutes the levels of feeding (trophic = food) and the feeding relationships of the components of the ecosystem. Trophic structure is the pattern of movement of energy and matter through an ecosystem. All ecosystems must be based upon Autotrophs. Autotrophs (Self feeders) produce organic food for themselves and all members of their community. The green plants (with chlorophyll) & certain bacteria produce food. Since these organisms produce food for all the other organisms, they are known as Producers

 Autotrophs (Greek; auto = self & trophe = nutrition) take energy from the environment in the form of sunlight or inorganic chemicals and use it to create energy-rich molecules such as Carbohydrates.

Green plants & photosynthtic bacteria are able to do this by means of Photosynthesis, where the sun provides the necessary energy. Therefore these green plants are the autotrophic organisms or primary producers in most ecosystems.

 Examples of producers:

Photosynthetic Bacteria

Grasses

Shrubs

Trees

 A Heterotrophs (Greek; heteros = another & trophe = nutrition) are an organisms that uses organic substrates to get its chemical energy for its life cycle. It is the component in which utilization, rearrangement & break down of complex organic substances predominate.

They are dependant upon autotrophic organisms. The members (organisms) of heterotrophic component are called

Consumers
The heterotrophs are further categorized as: Macro- Consumers: Heterotrophs, which in an order as they occur in a food chain are:

1) Herbivores: Also primary consumers, feed directly on living plants or plant residues. They have vegetarian diet.

2) Carnivores: Also secondary/ tertiary consumers, which feed on consumers, i.e. they have non- vegetarian diet. They are also called Predators

3) Omnivores: Consumers, which feed on producers as well as on primary consumers, i.e. they have vegetarian as well as nonvegetarian diet.

 Micro-consumers: Also Saprotrophs/ Detritivores . They are popularly known as decomposers, such as bacteria, fungi, flagellates & actinomyctes. They feed on organic compounds of dead or living protoplasm of plants and animals for their food and energy They absorb some of the decomposition or breakdown products & release inorganic compounds (nutrients) in the ecosystem, making them available again to producers.

In simple words, structure of an ecosystem means: The composition of biological community including species, population, biomass, life history. The quantity & distribution of abiotic materials The range of conditions of existence, such as temperature, light, humidity, wind, wave action etc.

 All organisms must obtain a supply of energy and nutrients from their environment in order to survive. The transformations of energy in an ecosystem begin first with the input of energy from the sun. Because, it is the first step in the production of energy for living things, it is called Primary production. Photosynthesis -- Chemical reaction where green plants use water & carbon dioxide to store the suns energy in glucose. ENERGY is stored in glucose. Glucose is stored as starch in plants

 Energy flow cannot occur in reverse direction. Starts from autotrophic (the producer level, i.e., first trophic level) to Heterotrophic including plant eaters or Herbivores (second trophic level) and so on. The amount of energy decreases with successive trophic levels. Only About 1% of energy from the sun is used by green plants & rest remains unutilized.

Similarly, there is loss of energy in each trophic level.