UNIT 1 WHY IS ENVIRONMENT IMPORTANT?

Structure
,
1.1 Introduction
Objectives
1.2 What is Environment?
Concept of Environnlent
1.3 Biosphere
Divisions of Biosphere
Atmosphere
Hydrosphere
Lithosphere
1.4 Biomes and Aquatic Life Zones
Different Types of Biomes
Terrestrial Biollles
Aquatic Zones
1.5 Ecosystem
1.6 Components of Ecosystem
Abiotic Components
Biotic Components
Trophic Levels
Food Chain
Food Web
Bioaccumulation and Biomagnification
Pyramids
1.7 Energy in Ecosystem
Flow of Energy in an Ecosystem
Laws of Thermodynamics
1.8 Matter in Ecosystem or Geochemical Cycles
Types of Nutrient Cycles
Gaseous Cycles
Sedimentary Cycle
1.9 Biotic Relations -
Intraspecific Relations
Interspecific Relations
1.10 Homeostasis
System
Feedback Mechanism
Ecosystem Homeostasis
1.1 1 Community and Ecological Succession
Succession in Terrestrial Community
Succession in Aquatic Habitat
General Characteristics of Succession
Ecosystem and Human Intervention
1.12 Overview of Human Population
Population Characteristics
Population Histograms
Types of Histogram
Populations of India
Future of Human Populations: Where Are We Today?
1.13 Constitutional Obligations of a Citizen
Obligation to the Future
Responsibilities and Duties of a Citizen
1.14 Let Us SumUp
1.15 Further Reading
Environmental Concerns
"This Planet has been delivered wholly assembled and in perfect working
- automatic and troublefree operation-in
condition, and is intended for -fully
orbit around its star, the &n. However, to ensure proper functioning all
passenger are requested to familiarize themselves fully with the following
instructions.

Loss or even temporary misplacement of these instruction may result in

calamity. Passenger who must proceed without the benefit of these rule are
likely to cause considerable damage before they cnn learn the proper
operating procedure to themselves.

David R. Brower

1 . INTRODUCTION
Earth is the only planet, among the nine around the sun which supports life.
Despite the vastness of earth, life exists only in a very thin layer enveloping the
earth called biosphere. Sun is the only source of energy which enables
conlinuous interaction among various life forms.

This unit being the first in the course brings out the holistic meaning of the
word 'environment' which in broad terms, includes everything external to an
organism that affect it, including physical as well as living factors. Their
action and interaction make a systeim of relationship called ecosystem. This
unit also deals with structure and properties of ecosystem, basic concepts of
ecosystem functioning and the factors controlling it. It also deals with the
development of ecosystem. The unit kill familiarise you with interactions like
competition, parasitism and mutualism that exist between living beings. This
unit will focus also on how we as living beings interact with other living aid
non living conlponents of the ecosystem. You will also become aware that
ecosystems are able to maintain homeostasis by active effort, resisting the
tendencies toward disorder.

For centuries (liumans have considered the earth and environment as virtually
u~~lirnited
but subtle and gradual changes have altered our environment in may
different ways.

Special mention has been made of human population within the changing
scenario over the years, particularly since the industrial revolution. We hope
that this unit will give you a better understanding of the environment and its
various components. We wish that this unit enables you to use your
intelligence and skills to the best of your advantage for managing our
environment and keeping it healthy for future generations.

Objectives
After reading this unit you will be able to:
explain the term environment biosphere, specie? and population,
define and explain the basic concept of ecosystem, its structure, properties,
hnction, development, control and stability in order to act positively
towards the environment,
 discuss that the flow of energy and cycling of material are central to the Why is Environment
Important?
ecosystem functioning and indiscriminate intervention would lead to
damage and disruption of the environment,
discuss the environmental consequences of the current growth pattern of
human population, and
be aware of your duties and obligations towards environment. I

1.2 WHAT IS ENVIRONMENT?

Each and every living organism has a specific surrounding or medium with
which it continuously interacts, from which it derives its susteilance and to
which it is fully adapted. This surrounding is the 'natural en'VironmentY . The
word 'natural environment' brings to mind broad aspects of landscape, such as
soil, water, desert or mountains wllich can be more exactly described ill terms
of physical influences such as differences in moisture, temperature, texture of
soil, and biological influences. Tlius, environment is defined as, "the sum
total of living and non-living components; influences and events
surrounding an organism".

Broadly the environinent comprises of abiotic (non-living) and biotic (living)

components. (Table 1.1)

Table 1.1: Components of Enviro~ltnent

Abiotic Components I Biotic components
Light Plants
Precipitation Animals iilcluding humans, parasites and micro-
Humidity & Water organisms
Temperature Decomposers
Substrate
Atmospheric gases
Altitude
Latitude .
Seasonal changes
Topography

1.2.1 Concept of Environment

. No organism can live alone without interacting with other organisms so each
organism has other organisms as a part of its environment. You must know
that all animals are directly or indirectly dependent upon green plants. Plants
also depend on animals for a few things such as pollination of flowers and
dispersal of fruits and seeds. Each and everything with which you interact or
which you need Tor your sustenance fonns your environment.

Let us try to understand the concept of environment with an example, Consider

(Fig.1.1). Can you identify the environment of a single carp Gs'h in the pond?
Its environment ca~~.si'sts'.;of
abiotic components such as light, temperature,
including the water &%' !ch rinutrients, oxygen, other gases and organic matter
are dissolved. The biqtic P m e n t consists of microscopic organisms
called plankton as well as dquatic plai~tltsand animals and decomposers. The
plants are of different kinds such as phytoplanktons, partly submerged plants
and trees growing around the edge of the pond. The animals consist of
9
Environmental Concerns zooplanktons, insects, worms, molluscs, tadpoles, frogs, birds and various
kinds of fishes. The decomposers are the saprotrophs like bacteria and fungi.

Fig. 1 .l: Environment of a carp in a pond.

The environnlent of the fish described above is its external environment; living
organisms also possess an internal environment, enclosed by the outer body
surface. The internal environment is relatively stable as compared to the
external environment. However, it is not absolutely constant. Injury, illness or
excessive stress upsets the internal environment. For example, if a marine fish
is transferred to a fresh water environment, it will not be able to survive.

You should realise that the environment is not static. The biotic and abiotic
factors are in a flux and keep changing continuously. The organisms can
tolerate changes in en$konment within a certain range called 'range of
tolerance'.

1.3 BIOSPHERE
You now know the constituents of the environment. You and I live in a defined
area of earth where plants and animals, including ourselves, develop kinship
with one another for life, food, water, shelter, mates etc. This descrete unit has
living and non-living components, which are interdependent and interrelated in
terms of their structure, components and functioning. Such a unit is called
ecosystem. Ecosystems may vary in size froin the smallesl puddle of water to '

large forest, to a biome, to a habitat or to the entire global biosphere or

ecosphere. (Fig 1.2)

-
-
-
-
Fig. 1.2: Biological systems represent a hierarchy of progressively increiesing level of
complexity. Ecosystem represents a highly_complexlevel of organization.
 Before we explain the functioning of the components of the ecosystem let us Why is Environment
Important?
first discuss the larger unit of natural landscape the biosphere.

1.3:l Divisions of Biosphere

Biosphere is that part, of the earth, water and atmosphere in which many Biosphere is that part of
smaller ecosystems exist and operate. Three main subdivisions of the biosphere the ealth where life can
exist. It is a narrow
are: 1) lithosphere, (land) 2) hydrosphere (water), and 3) atmosphere (air) or layer around the surface
the gaseous envelope of the earth which extends upto a height of 22.5 km. of the earth. I f you
Fig. 1.3, shows the idealised scheme of biosphere in relation to hydrosphere, visualise the earth to be
atmosphere and lithosphere. The area of contact and interaction between these the size of an apple the
three components is really important for life, as it is here that the entire life is biosphere would b~ as
thick as its skin.
confined and the basic processes of life, like photosynthesis and respiration
occur.

. .
Fig. 1.3: Idealised scheme of the biosphere.

Living organisms are, mostly, confined to the parts of biosphere that receive Biosphere is absent at
solar radiation during the day. As you can see in (Fig. 1.4) the biosphere extremes of the North and
extends from the floor of the ocean some 11,000 inetres below the surface of South poles, the highest
mountains and the
the earth to the top of the highest mountnins, or about 9,000 metres above the deepest oceans, since
l a t e d is just above and below the sea
sea level. Its most d e n ~ e l ~ , ~ o ~ u region existing conditions there
level. do not support life.
Occasionally spores of
$+
fungi and bacteria do
'Life in the biosphere is abundant between 200 metres (660 feet) below the occur at great height
sutface of the ocean and about 6,000 mctres (20,000 feet) above sea level as beyond 9,000 metres, but
shohn in (Fig. 1.4). they are not metabolically
active, and hence
The energy required for the life within the biosphere comes from the sun represent only dormant
life. ,
without which the biosphere will collapse, The nutrients necessary for living
organisms come from air, water and soil and not from outside and the same"
nutrients are recycled over and over again for life to continue. Living
Environmental Concerns organisms are not uniformly distributed throughout the biosphere.'Only a few
organisms live in the polar regions, while the tropical rain forests possess an
exceedingly rich diversity of plants and animals.

Fig.l.4: Vertical dimensions of the biosphere. Life exists from the highest mountain
peaks to the depths of the ocean. Life at the extremes is however, rare. Most
organisms are limited to a narrow region depicted here between 6000 metres
above sea level and 200 metres below sea level.

1.3.2 Atmosphere
'i
Atmosphere is of vital significan&40 life as all components of air (except inert
ones) serve as key metabolites for living organisms. Table 1.2. shows the
composition of the atmosphere. In this section we will discuss about the
metabolic role of a few .important gases, namely carbon dioxide6 oxygen and
nitrogen, which highligG the importance of atniosphere.

Table 1.2: T h e relative proportions of gases in the lower atmosphere

'
(below 80 kilometres), excluding water vapour.

Nitrous oxide 0.00005

Xenon 0.000009
Ozone 0.000007
Carbon Dioxide Why is Environment
~rnportant?
You must be aware that chlorophyll bearing organisms namely green plants,
green and purple bacteria and blue green algae are the only biological or biotic Carbon dioxide enters the
living world as the. basic
members in nature which manufacture their own food. They do so by the constituent of all organic
process of photosynthesis. In this process they use atmospheric carbon dioxide compounds.
along with water and some minerals such as calcium, potassium, magnesium
etc. in the presence of sunlight to produce organic substances or food such as Chemosynthetic bacteria
glucose (a vital molecule in living things) and oxygen, which is essential for are also producers.
respiration. The carbon and oxygen supplied by carbon dioxide remain in However, unlike plants
these bacteria which occur
i
living matter until death and the C 0 2 returns to the atmosphere, only after in deep ocean trenches
decomposition of the living matter, to complete the cycle as you can see in where sun energy is
Fig.1.5. (Refer further to carbon cycle in subsection 1.8.2 as well) absent, derive energy by
the process of
'chemosysthesis'. They
use hydrogen sulphide,
instead of sun, as the
energy source.

Fig. 1.5: The linkage between carbon dioxide and oxygeli cycle. Plants use carbon
dioxide during photosynthesis and give off oxygen. This oxygen is available to
animals for process of the cellular respiration. Animals breathe out carbon
dioxide; some carbon dioxide is released from decomposition of dead organisms.

Oxygen
Oxygen, an important constituent of the atmosphere, enters the living world Energy is defined as
through respiration, which is a familiar process in both plants and animals the capacity to do
including humans. Oxygen is used by living organisms to oxidize food work
material mainly glucose molecules in order to release energy which is needed
for various activities by organism. Food or nutrient is not only a source of
energy but is also used to build up the organisms' bodies. Respiration atid
photosynthesis, together form a cycle called photosynthesis - respiration
cycle, as you can see in Fig.1.5. This cycle can be depicted as follows:
Sunlight
6C02 + 6 H z 0+ minerals LXXL+> c ~ H+ ~602t
~ o ~
photosynthes~s
(carbon dioxide) -I- (water) + minerals glucose (food) + oxygen
respiration
C6H1206 602 > 6 C O ~ + +6H20 + energy to do work
4-
heat energy
Environmental Concerns Thus nutrients and energy are combined into one entity i.e. biomass by plants.
This food manufactured by green plants is consumed by other organisms.

Nitrogen
Nitrogen is also an essential component of living systems. It is required by
organisms for the synthesis of proteins, nucleic acids, and other nitrogellous
compounds. While looking at table 1.2 you may have noticed that nitrogen
fonns the main constituent of air and it appears that we seem to be living in an
envelope of nitrogen. However, the paradox is that this large amount of
nitrogen is uilavailable to living organisms in the gaseous state (N2). Nitrogen
has to be 'fixed' into 'active' nitrogen largely as nitrates and ammonia by
certain bacteria in order to become available to living organisms. In subsection
1.7.2 you will see how nitrogen becomes available to the living organisms
when you study the nitrogen cycle. ,

1.3.3 Hydrosphere
You may know that water is the most important component of protoplasm;
hence it is essential for life in all living organisms. In metabolic processes, it is
the only source of hydrogen and one of the several sources of oxygen.

Earth is sometimes called the watery planet as this is the only planet in the
solar system which has an abundant supply of water. Water is used by
organism as raw material for various metabolic processes and they draw it .
mainly from the hydrosphere. During the process of metabolism, water
consumed by organisins is partly excreted back into the environment and a .
portion used for building the organisms is returned to the environment after
their death and decay. You will learn about the water movement in the
biosphere when you study the hydrologic cycle in subsection 1.8.2.

1.3.4 Lithosphere
The lithosphere helps in the metabolic process of organisms in two ways: i) it
is the only source of most of the minerals for organisms belonging to either
terrestrial or aquatic conditions, and ii) it forms the soil, which is required
mainly by terrestrial plants.

Many other nutrients, in addition to carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen

occur in the lithosphere and the organism requires them as well. All organisms
also need phosphorus, sulphur, sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron,
manganese, cobalt, copper, zinc and probably chlorine. In addition some
organisms may also require for special functions for their survival, nutrients
like aluminium, boron, bromine, iodine, selenium, molybdenum, vanadium,
silicon, strontium, barium and possibly nickel, Movement of these nutrients or
materials through the living orgallisms occur as well. (Refer to table 1.5 in
section 1.8 as well)

1.4 BIOMES AND AQUATIC LIFE ZONES

The terrestrial part of the biosphere is divisible into enormous regions called
biomes, which are characterized, by climate, vegetation, animal life and
general soil ,type. The dozen or more biomes of the earth are spread over
millions o f square kilometres and span entire continents. No two biomes are
 alike. The climate determines the boundaries of a biome and abundance o f Wliy is Environment
Important?
plants and animals found in each one of them. The most important climatic
factors are temperature and precipitation.

Aquatic systems are also divided into distinct life zones, which however are
not called biomes but are very similar, in that they are regions o f relatively
distinct plant and animal life. The major differences between the various
aquatic zones is due to salinity, levels of dissolved nutrients, water
temperature, depth of sunlight penetration.

1.4.1 Different Types of Biomes

We will lean1 about different types of vast ecosystems namely biomes and
aquatic zones on our earth. We call get an idea about both of these ecosystems
by looking at tables 1.3 and 1.4.

1.4.2 Terrestrial Biomes

Let us first study in brief the main features of the various types of terrestrial
ecosystems wit11 the help of Table 1.3 and Fig.1.6.

Table 1.3: Terrestrial biomes. ,

/ Nameof 1 Region I Flora and Fauna I

Biome
1. Tundra Northein most region
adjoining the ice bound
poles
Northern Europe, Asia and
North America but in areas
of more moderate
temperature than tundra.
Also known as boreal forest.
3. Temperate Extends over Central and
Deciduous So~theiilEurope, Eastern
Forest North America; Western
China, Japan, New Zealand
etc, Temperature on an
average is moderate and
rainfall is abundant. These
are generally the most
productive agricultural areas
of the earth
Devoid of trees except stunted
ski-ubs in the southern part, ground
flora includes lichen, mosses and
sedges.
The typical animal; arc reindeer,
arctic fox, polar bear, snowy owl,
lemming, arctic hare, patarmigan.
Reptiles and amphibians are alnlost
absent.
The dominating vegetation is
coniferous evergreens mostly
spruce, with some pine and firs.
The fauna consist of small seed
eating birds, hawks, fur bearing
carnivores, little mink, elks, puma,
Siberian tiger, wolverine, wolves
etc.
he flora includes trees like beech,
oak, maple and cherry.
Most aniinals are the familiar
vertebrates and invertebrates.
Environmental Concerns Nameof 1 Region Flora and Fauna
Biome
4. Tropical Tropical areas of high Tropical rainforest covers only
~ain rainfall in the equatorial about 7% of the earth's surface and
Forest regions, which abound with houses. 40% of the world's plant
life. Temperature is high. and animal species. Multiple
storey of broad-leafed evergreen
tree species are in abundance.
Most animals and epiphytic plants
are concentrated in the canopy or
tree top zones.
Grasses with scattered trees and
fire resisting thorny shrubs.

The fauna include a great diversity

' rodents.
6. Grasslands North America Midwest and
Ukraine: dominated by
grasses. Temperate
conditions with rather low
rainfall.
7. Dessert . Continental interiors with
very low and sporadic
rainfall with low humidity.
The days are very hot but
nights are cold
of grazers and browsers such as
antelopes, buffaloes, zebras,
elephants and rhinoceros; the
carnivores include lion, cheetah,
hyena;,and mongoose, and many
Grasses dominate the vegetation..
The fauna include large herbivores
like bison, antelope, cattle, rodents,
prairie dog, wolves, and a rich and
diverse array of ground nesting
bird.
The flora is drought resistance
vegetation such as cacti,
euphorbias, sagebrush.
Many species of reptiles mammals
and birds occur.

Savanna Thornwood

0"
-----+ Increasing Aridity -----b

Fig.l.6: Simplified scheme of the major terrestrial biomes, arranged along ecoclines of
increasing aridity at different latitudes, showing the predominant influence of
moisture and temperature an the structure of plant communities. '
,
 1.4.3 Aquatic Zones Why is Environment
Important?
Aquatic ecosystem covers more than 70% of the earth's surface and are as
diverse in species as the biomes. Aquatic ecosysteps are distinguished into
fresh water, marine and estuarine ecosystems on the basis of salt content. Their
main charactehstics are given in table 1.4.

Table 1.4: Aquatic Ecosystems.

Characteristics
Fresh Water Ecosystem
(having flowing water) or lentic (still or stagnant
water). Lotic water systems include freshwater
streams, springs, rivulets, creeks, brooks, and rivers.
Lentic water bodies include pools, ponds, some
swamps, b ~ g and
s lakes. They vary considerably in
physical, chemical and biological characteristics.

Marine Ecosystem Nearly three -quarters of earth's surface is covered

by ocean wit11 an average depth of 3,750 m and with
salinity 35 ppt, (parts per thousand), about 90 per
cent of which is sodium chloride.

Estuaries Coastal bays, rivers mouths and tidal marshes form

the gstuaries. In estuaries, fresh water from rivers
meets ocean water, and the two are mixed by action
of tides. ~stuariesare highly productive as
compared to the adjacent river or sea.

1.5 ECOSYSTEM
Each biome can be subdivided into smaller units. For example the desert bionle
of Rajasthan is characterised by arid conditions, sandy, terrain, cacti and
succulent plants. Animals found there are lizards, snakes.

A subdivision of biome such as a pond is called an ecological system or The word ecosysten~;was
ecosystem. The various kinds of organisms that inhabit an ecosystem forms its coined by Prof. Arthur
populations. The term, 'population' has many uses and meanings in other Tansley in 1935. The
' fields of study. In ecology, 'a population is a group of potentially interbreeding prefix 'eco' means
environment.
individuals that occur together in space and time'. The individual comprising a
population are members of the same species.

Populations of plants and animals in the ecosystem do not function

independently of each other. They are always influencing each other and
organising themselves into communities and have functional relationship with
their external environment.

' An ecosystem is defined as, any unit (a biosystem) that includes all the
organisms that function together (the biotic community) i n a given area,
interacting with the physical environment (abiotic component) so t h a t flow
of energy leads to clearly defined biotic structures and cycling of materials
between living and nonliving parts and which is self regulatory based on
feed-back information about the population, and the limiting factors
which control the living and non-living components.
Environmental Concerns The def nition of ecosystem as you can see involves the interaction between
living and non-living components of an ecosystem and input, transfer, storage
and output of energy as well as cycling of essential materials through the
system. Each of these processes is energy dependent. As a result of these
complex interactions, the ecosystem has to adjust to these changes to attain a
state of equilibrium. Fig. 1.7, illustrates this beautifully. Ecosystems differ
greatly in composition, in the number and kinds of species, in the kinds and
relative proportions of non-biological constituents and in the degree of
variations in time and space.

Fig. 1.7: Schematic representation of an ecosystem. The dotted lines represent the
boundary of the system. The three major components are the producers, the
consumers, and the abiotic elements: inactive or dead organic matter, the soil
matrix, nutrients in solution in aquatic ecosystems, sediments, and so on. Tlie
arrows indicate interactions within the system and with the environment.

1.6 COMPONENTS OF ECOSYSTEM

Recall the definition of an ecosystem from Section 1.3.1. Any complete
definition of an ecosystem includes the biotic as well as the abiotic
components and the interaction between the two.

1.6.1 Abiotic Components

One of the important components of the ecosystem are abiotic or nonliving
components about which you have already read in section 1.2 (Refer to table
1.1 as well). The physical or abiotic components are the inorganic and non-
living parts of the world. The abiotic part consists of soil, water, air, and light
energy etc. It also involves a large number of chemicals like oxygen, nitrogen
etc. and chemical as well as physical processes including volcanoes,
earthquakes, floods, forest fires, climates, and weather conditions. There are
numerous chemical processes, but the most important include the carbon,
nitrogen and phosphorous cycles. These physical and chemical processes are
the result of the physical characteristics of the earth: air, moisture, light and
heat, and the various chemical reactions. While each of these abiotic factors
may be studied by itself, however, each of these factor is influenced by and in
turn influences all the other factors.
Abiotic factors are usually the most important determinants of where and how Why is Environment
Important?
well an organism exists in its environment. Although these factors interact with
each other, usually there is one single factor which serves t o limits the range of
an organism. That single factor is called the limiting factor.

Let us now discuss some of the important abiotic factors:

i) Light: Light energy is necessary for green plants to carry on
photosynthesis. All animals are directly or indirectly dependent on the
food substance produced by green plants. The intensity, duration and
wavelength (color) of light are important factors that regulate the life
activities of many living things. Light from the sun (solar energy) is the
ultimate source of energy for all living things. The availability of light
energy differs greatly on different parts of the earth.
ii) Precipitation: Precipitation in the form of fog, rain, sleet, snow, and hail
is one of the most important abiotic factors. Most organisms depend on
some form of precipitation, either directly or indirectly, from underground.
The amount of precipitation differs, depending where on earth you are.
iii) Humidity & Water: Moisture in the air is very necessary for many
plants and animals to function properly. Some animals are, active only at
night when the humidity is higher. Aquatic habitats are subject to
changes in chemical and gas content and to fluctuations of depth. Water
holes in the Everglades of Florida and the Savannah of Africa are
essential for the existence of native wildlife.
iv) Temperature: Many living things carry on their life activities at
temperatures between 30 lo F and 185' F. Some organisms are able to
exist at much lower temperatures. The daily and seasonal temperature
changes of-ten act as limiting factors and determine the number and kind -
of organisms present in a region. Temperature patterns vary with
latitudes and altitudes of the earth.
Substrate: This is defined as the base of material on which an organism
lives. The type of soil, for example, is a limiting factor for the vegetation,
which in turn, may be a determinant for the animal life capable of living
in the habitat. The type of soil will determine such factors as pH amount
and type of minerals present.
vi) Atmospheric gases: Oxygen and carbon dioxide are generally not
limiting factors for terrestrial organisms. These two gases are abundant
in our atmosphere. The atmospheric gases can be limiting factors for
aquatic organisms.
vii) Altitude: Precipitation and temperature both vary with elevation. Usually
precipitation increases with elevation although at extreme elevations it may
decrease. Temperature usually decreases 2-3 degrees per thousand feet.
viii) Latitude: As one moves north or south of the equator, the angle of the .
sun' generally decreases, which results in a decrease in the average
temperature.
ix) Topography: Landforms like mountains, valleys, basins, cliffs, etc. may -
encourage, restrict or isolate organisms.
Seasonal changes: Because of the tilt of the earth on its axis, the angle
of solar radiation varies during the year as one travels fi-om the equator,
Ehvironmental Concerns
Food refers to complex
organic compounds such as
carbohydrates, proteins and
fats. Greenglants first
produce simple
carbohydrates like glucose
and later various complex
carbohydrates, fats and
proteins.
Fragments of decomposing
organic matter is called
detritus
It produces pronounced changes in the weather during the year, giving
rise to seasons like winter, spring, summer, and autumn.
xi) Weather: is the combination of temperature, humidity, preciptation,
wind, cloudiness and other atmospheric conditions at a specific place and
time and has profound affect on organism.
xii) Climate: is the long-term average pattern of weather and influences the
vegetation and organisms of a place.
It is in this abiotic background that biotic organisms i.e. plants, animals and
microbes interact. (See.. Fig.1.7 again)
1.6.2 Biotic Components
The biological or biotic components (Fig.1.8) of an ecosystem interact in an
abiotic background and include:
i) Organisms, basically green plants, certain bacteria and algae, that in the
presence of sunlight can synthesise their own food from simple inorganic
substances. Organisms that are able to manufacture their own food are
called autotrophs or primary producers,
ii) All other organisms that are unable to make their own food but depend on
other organisms for food to meet their energy needs for survival are
called heterotrophs or phagotrophs or consumers.
Among consumers, animals such as goat, cow, deer, rabbit and insects which
eat green plants are called primary consumers or herbivores. Organisms
which eat a herbivore, like a bird that eats grasshoppers are called secondary
consumers. Organisms which eat secondary consumers are called tertiary
consumers. While the primary consumers are herbivores, the secondary and
tertiary consumers are carnivores. Animals like lions and vultures which are
not killed or eaten by other animals are top carnivores.
Secondary and tertiary consumers may be i) predators which hunt, capture and.
kill their prey, ii) carrion feeders which feed on corpses, iii) parasites which are
smaller than the host, and live on or inside the host on which they feed while
the host is alive. The parasites depend on the metabolism of their host for their
food supply. iv) there are some animals which have flexible food habits, as
they eat both plants (therefore are herbivores) and animals (so are carnivores),
They are called omnivores. We (humans) are good examples of an omnivore.
Both the consumers'and producers complete their life cycles and new generation
of population develop while the old ones die. You must be wondering what
happens to the dead. There is a continuous breaking up or decomposition of the '
dead organic matter everywhere in the ecosystem and there is a continuous I
cycling of materials. Certain fungi and bacteria, which are responsible for the
decomposition are called decomposers or saprotrophs or reducers. Most of
the saprotrophs are microscopic and they are all heterotrophic in nature. The role
'
of decomposers is very special and important. Certain decomposers are also
called scavengers. Some animals such as earthworms, soil inhabiting nematodes
and arthropods are also detritus feeders and are called detrivores. They also
contribute to the breaking down of organic matter. Water, carbon dioxide,
phosphates and a number of organic compounds are largely the by-products of
organism activity on dead organisms.
 Why is Environment
Important?
,\ti 1 1 4,
-2\' - Sun
/?I,

Green plants Primary

producers -

Herbivores Primary
consumers

Tertiary
Carnivores consumers

Rg.1.8: Biotic members of the ecosystem and their position In the trophic level.

1.6.3 Trophic Levels \

You are sow aware that an ecosystem is considered as a basic unit, where
complex natural community obtain their food from plants through one, two,
three or four steps and accordingly these steps are known as the first, second, Humans, being omnivores,
third and fourth trophic (Trophe = nourishment) levels or food levels. may belong to more than
(Fig. 1.8), Let us see the trophic levels to which autotrophs and different types one'trophic level;
of heterotrophs belong to:
Green plants (producers); trophic level I - Autotrophs
Herbivores (primary consumers); trophic level 11.- Heteiotrophs
Carnivores (secondary consumers); trophic level I11 - Heterotrophs
Carnivores (tertiary consumers); trophic level IV - Heterotrophs
Top carnivores (quarternary consumers); trophic level V - Heterotrophs
Thus energy also flows through the trophic levels: from producers to
subsequent trophic levels (Fig.1.9). This energy always flows from lower
(producer) to higher (herbivore, carnivore etc.) trophic level. It never flows in
the reverse direction that is from carnivores to herbivores to producers.
Furthermore there is a loss of some energy in the form of unusable heat at each
trophic level so that energy level decreases from the first trophic level '

,
Environmental Concerns upwards. As a result there are usually four or five trophic levels and seldom
more than six as beyond that very little energy is left to support any organism.
The study of trophic level gives us-an idea about the energy transformation in
an ecosystem. Furthermore it provides a usekl conceptual basis to include all
organisms that share the same general mode of feeding into one group which
together are said to belong to the same trophic level. This indicates that
organisms belonging to the same trophic level obtain food through the same
number of steps from the producer. Trophic levels are numbered according to
the steps an organism is away from the source of food or energy, that is the
producer. (see also Fig. 1.12)

Energy lost
as heat

rnoveniedt

Ingestion
consumers

1.9: Energy use by consumers - Energy ingested in food is either digested and dssimilated or
passed through and eliminated In faeces. The assimilated energy is used for various
functions of the body like respiration and movement, reproduction or stored and used for
the growth of new tissues or excreted. When the organism dies the energy stored in
tissues is used by the decomposers. Only the stored materials are available to organisms
at the next trophic level,

1.6.4 Food Chain

Each link in the You now know from the previous section that organisms in the ecosystem are
food chain can also be be related through feeding or trophic levels, that is one organism becomes food
calIed trophic level for the other. A sequence of organisms that feed on one another, form a
food chain as depicted in Fig. 1.10. The arrows in the figure denote the
direction and movement of nutrients and energy from producer to consumer.
Similar to the trophic levels and for the same reasons the links or steps in a
food chain are usually to four or five. I

Decomposer
I

22 Fig.1.10: A pond food chain

Some animals eat only one kind of food and therefore, are members of a single Why is Environment
Important?
food chain. Other animals eat different kinds of food, so they are not only
members of different food chains but may also occupy different positions in Humans are at the end of
different food chains and trophic levels, thus ensuring the survival of their a numbxr of food chain.
species. An animal may be a primary consumer in one'chain, eating plants but
a secondary or tertiary consumer in other chains, eating herbivorous animals or
other carnivores. (See also Fig.1.8)

Since man can do nothing about increasing the amount of light energy and vely
little about the efficiency of energy transfer, he can only shorten the food
chain, to get energy i.e., by eating the primary producers - plants, rather than
animals.

In highly populated countries, people tend to be vegetarians because then the

food chain is the shortest and a given area of land can in this way support
larger number of people. Suppose that a fanner has a crop of wheat and
vegetables. He can eat it directly or feed it to his goats and then eat the goats,
Figure 1.11 shows that a large number of people can be supported on a
vegetarian diet as compared to a non vegetarian diet on a given piece of land.
Thus the sun's energy is used most efficiently if people are vegetarians.

a b

Fig. 1.11: Tlie relative efficiency ofvegetarian and non-vegetarian diets. a) In a

vegetarian diet 25,000 calories support 10 people. b) In the same time 25,000
calories of plant matter support only one person who eats meat,

TYPES OF FOOD CHAINS

In nature, two main types of food chains have been distinguished:

i) Grazing Food Chain: The consumers which start the food chain,
utilising the plant or plant part as their food, constitute the grazing food
chain. This food chain begins from green plants at the base and the In a community of
primary consumer is herbivore, for example: organisms in a shallow sea,
about 30% of the total
grass -+ grasshopper -+ birds -+ hawks or falcon. energy flows via detritus
chains. In a forest with a
ii) Detritus Food Chain: The food chain starts from dead organic matter of large biomass of plants and a
,decaying animals and plant bodies to the micro-organisms and then to relatively small biomass of ,
detritus feeding organism called detrivores or decomposer then to animals even larger portion .
herbivore and to other predators. of energy flow may be via
detritus pathways.
Litter -+springtail (insect) -+sniall spiders (carnivore) All food webs begid with .
autotrophs and end with
The distinction between these two food chains is the source of energy for decomposers
the first level consumers. In the grazing food chain the primary source of
energy is living plant biomass while in the detritus food chain the source
Environmental Concerns of energy is dead organic matter or detritus. The two food chains are
linked, The initial energy source for detritus fobd chain is the waste
materials and dead organic matter from the grazing food chain.

1.6.5 Food Web

A food chain represents only one part of,the food or energy flow through an
ecosystem and implies a simple, isolated relationship, which seldom occurs in
ecosystems. An ecosystem may consist of several interrelated food chains.
More typically, the same food resource is part of more than one chain,
especially when that resource is at one of the lower trophic levels. For instance
a plant may serve as food source for. many herbivores at a time. For example,
grasses can suppoh rabbit or grasshopper or goat or cow. Similarly a herbivore
may be food source for many different carnivorous species. Also food
availability and preferences of herbivores as well as carnivores may shiA
seasonally e.g. we eat watermelon in summer and peaches in the winter. Thus
there are interconnected networks of feeding relationships that take the form of
food webs (Fig. 1.12). A food web illustrates, all possible transfers of energy
and nutrients among the organisms in an ecosystem, whereas a food chain
traces only one pathway of the food.

Fig.l.12: A complex network or web of primary prodl,?cers,consumers and decomposers

illustrated in a typical terrestrial food web in which trophic levels are depicted
by Roman numerals,
1.6.6 Bioaccumulation and Biomagnification Why is Environment
Important?
In this subsection, we will examine how pollutants specially nondegradable
ones m~ve~through the various trophic levels in an ecosystem (Fig. 1.13). By
nondegradabale pollutants we mean those materials, which cannot be
metabolised by the living organisms. For example chlorinated hydrocarbons.
Movement of these pollutants involve two main processes: i) bioaccumulation
and ii) biomagnification.

i) Bi'oaccumulation: refers to how pollutants enter a food chain. In

bioaccumulation there is an increase in concentration of a pollutant from
the environment to the first organism in a food chain.
ii) Biomagnification: biomagnification refers to the tendency of pollutants to
concentrate as they move from one trophic level to the next. Thus in
biomagnification there is an increase in concentration of a pollutant from
one link in a food chain to another.

We are concerned about these phenomena because togetl~erthey enable cven

small concentrations of chemicals in the environment to find their way into
orgallisms in high enough dosages to cause problen~s.In order for
biomagnification to occur, the pollutant must be:
1. long-lived
2. mobile
3. soluble in fats
4. biologically active

Fig.l.13: The figure shows how DDT becomes concentrated in the tissries of organisms
*
through four successive trophic levels in a food chain. The DDT concentration
occurs because it is metabolised and excreted much more slowly than the
nutrients that are passed from one trophic level to the next. So DDT
accumulates in the bodies (especially in fat). The numbers in the figure
represent the concentration values of DDT and its derivatives (in parts per
million or ppm) in the tissues.

If a pollutant is short-lived, it will be broken down before it can become

dangerous. If it is not mobile, it will stay in one place and is unlikely to be
taken up by organisms. If the polhdant is soluble in water, it will be excreted
by the organism. Pollutants that dissolve in fats, however, may be retained for
 Environmental Concerns a long time. It is traditional to measure the amount of pollutants in fatty tissues
of organisms such as fish. In mammals, we often test the milk produced by
females, since the milk has a lot of fat in it and because the very young are
often more susceptible to damage from toxins (poisons). If a pollutant is not
active biologically, it may biomagnify, but we really don't worry about it
much, since it probably won't cause any problems.

i I
1.6.7 Pyramids
You have studied trophic Ievels in subsection 1.6.3.These steps of trophic
levels can be expressed'in a diagrammatic way; and are referred to as
ecological pyramids. The food producer forms the base of the pyramid and the
top carnivore forms the tip. Other consumer trophic levels are in between. The
ecological pyramids are of three categories.
a Pyramid of numbers,
a Pyramid of biomass, and
a Pyramid of energy or productivity.

I . Pyramid of Numbers
This deals with the relationship between the numbers of primary producers and
consumers of different levels (Fig.l.14) It is a graphic representation of the
total number of individuals of different species, belonging to each trophic level
in an ecosystem. For example, we might have the following pyramid for a
grass field as depicted in Fig. l.l4(a) where the base of the pyramid represents
the food production base for other higher trophic levels. The pyramid consists
of a number of horizontal bars depicting specific trophic levels which are
arranged sequentially from primary producer level through herbivore,
carnivore onwards. The length of each bar represents the total number of
individuals at each trophic level in an ecosystem. The number of individuals
drastically decreases with each steps towards higher trophic levels and the
diagrammatic representation assumes apyramid shape and is called pyramid of
numbers.

econdary consumers(1)

Primary consumers (11)

FIg.1.14: Pjrrarnid nl' numbers shows the number of organisms at each troplnic IcveB in the
ecosystem (a) An llpright pyramid of numbers (la) lrn invwteal pye.:rslitl of
n:ipn:k . :.s I
However, it is very difficult to count all the organisms, in a pyramid o f Why is Environment
Important?
numbers and so the pyramid of number does not completely define the trophic
structure for an ecosystem. A pyramid of numbers does not take into account
the fact that the size of organisms being couilted in each trophic level can vary.
A count in a forest would have a small number of large producers, the big
trees, which support a large number of herbivores. As a result the pyramid will
assume an inverted shape as you can see in Fig. 1.14 (b). This is because the
tree is a primary producer and would represent the base of the pyramid and the
dependent herbivores and carnivore will represent the second and third trophic
level respectively. Thus, depending upon the size and biomass, the pyramid of
numbers may not always be upright, and inay even be completely inverted.

Pyramid of Biomass
In order to overcome the shortcomi&s of pyramid of numbers, the pyramid of
biomass is used. (Fig. 1.15). In this approach individuals in each trophic level
are weighed instead of being counted. This wo~lldgive us a pyramid of
biomass, i.e., the total dry weight of all organisms at a each trophic level at a
particular time. Pyramid of biomass is usually determined by collecting all
organisms occupying each trophic level separately and measuring h e i r dry
weight. This overcomes the size difference problem because all kinds of
organisms at a trophic level are weighed. Biomass is measured in g/m2. A t the
time of sampling, the amount of biomass is known as standing crop or
standing biomass. For most ecosystems on land, the pyramid of bioil~asshas-.
a large base of primary producers with a smaller tz-ophic level perched on top.

ertiary consumers (1.5 grams)

econdary consumers (11 grams)

rimary consumers (37 grams)

Producer (807 grams)

-
Pyramid of biomass

~ i ~ ~ l .The
1 4 :pyramid of biomass depicts total weight of organisms supportedlat each
level.
,.

In contrast, in many aquatic ecosystems, the pyramid of biomass may assume

an inverted form. This is because the producers are tiny phytoplanktons that
grow and reproduce rapidly. Here, the pyramid of biomass can have a small
base, with the consumer biomass at any instant actually exceeding the producer'
biomass. The phytoplanktons are consumed about as fast as they reproduce, it
is just that the survivors (they may be few) are reproducing at a phellomenal
rate.
Environmental Concerns Pyramid of Energy
When we wish to compare the functional roles of the trophic levels in an
ecosystem, an energy pyramid is probably the most informative, for the
pyramid shape is not distorted by over emphasis on variations in the size and
weight ofthe individuals. An energy pyramid more accurately, reflects the
laws of themodynan~ics,with conversion of solar energy to chemical energy
and heat energy at each trophic level and with loss of energy being depicted at
each transfer to another trophic level (See section 1.7). Hence the pyramid is
always right side up (Fig. 1.16), with a large energy base at the bottom. A
pyramid of energy must be based on a determination of the actual amount of
energy that individuals take in, how inuch they burn up during metabolism,
how much remains in their waste products, and how much they store in body
tissue.

Secondary consumers
(48 kilocalories)

Priinarv consumers

XVX
(596 kilocalories)

Pyramid of energy

One calorie (cal) is the
amount of heat needed
to raise the temperature
of one cubic centimetre
of water through one
degree centigrade. On5
kilo calorie (k cal =
1000 cal)
'A Number or
Calories
Fig. 1.16: The pyramid of energy depicts the amounts of energy available at each trophic
level.
In energy pyraiii&> given trophic level, always has a smaller energy content
than the trophic level immediately below it. This as you may recall from
section 1.6.? is due to the fact that some energy is always lost as heat while
going up from one trophic level to the next. Let us explain this with an
example. S ~ ~ p p oan
s e ecosystem receives 1000 calories of light energy in a
given day. Most of the energy is not absorbed; some is reilected back to space;
of the energy absorbed only a sillall portioii is utilised by green plants, out of
which the plant uses up some for respiration and of the 1000 calories, therefore
only 100 calories are stored as energy rich materials.

Now suppose an animal, say a deer, eats the plant containing 100 cal of food
energy. The deer uses some of it for its own metabolisin and stores only 10 cal
as food energy. A lion that cats the deer gets an even smaller amount of
Green Plants 100 cal
energy. Thus usabie energy decreases from sunlight to producer to herbivore
Fig. 1.17: Pyramid of to carnivore. Therefore, the energy pyramid will always be upright (see Figure
energy 1.17). Each bar in the pyramid indicates the amount of energy utilistgl at each
showing 'trophic level. The energy inputs and outputs are calculated so that energy flow
energy loss s, can be expressed per unit area of land or volume of water per unit time. The
each higher unit of measupment is kcallm2iy, where k cal represents energy, rn2 represents
level.
unit area and y represents years. '
28
 Why is E~ivironrner~t
1.7 ENERGY IN ECOSYSTEM Important?

-1s you know, by now energy used for all life processes is derived from solar Sun is the ultiinatc source
cnergy. The flow of solar energy is unidirectional. Its immediate implication is of all our energy, which
caters to the necd of our
that an ecosystem will collapse if the sun stops giving out energy. In the ecosystem. It has been
previous subsection you read that solar energy along with nutrients is observed that 30% of the
converted by producers, into food materials and is stored within their bodies. total solar radiation
All the food materials or nutrients that we or other animals consuine are entering our atmosphere is
obtained directly or indirectly from such producers. As a result there is reflected by the earth-
atmosphere system. The
continuous flow of energy from the sun through various organisins and then to remaining 70% of tile
outer spa(.:: Tliis process maintains the life on the earth. Trapping and flow of radiation' is absorbed by the
energy in, illvc.. cir.{-ul ,;onof nutrienis as well, which include the basic earth's atinosphere. Of this
inorganic elements sucll as, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nir- ~l;cnas well as, 19% is absorbed directly
sodium, calcium, and potassium, wl~ichoccur in small am0~11~s. 111 addition, by thc atmosphere and the
rest by the earth surface.
compounds such as; water, carbonates, phosphates and a few others also f o r ~ n
part of living organisms. For an ecosystem to function, it is essential that there
is a conti~~uous flow of energy and cycling of nutrients.

1.7.1 Flow of Energy in an Ecosystem

With the help of the lollowing flow chart, we can interpret tlie f~~nctional
aspect of an ecosysten~or the interactions between various components,wl~ich
involve the flow of energy and cycling of materials (Fig. 1.18).

Fig. 1.18: Natural balilnced ccosystcn~.

Inlplicit in the system, such as autotroph (producer) -+ heterotroph,

(consumer), or producer + herbivore + carnivore relationship, is the
direction of energy movement through the ecosystem. In the process, thc flow
of solar energy is unidirectional and it is converted into chemical energy
through photosynthesis by plants, which also incorporate in their protoplasm a
number of inorganic elements and compounds. These green plants are grazed
subsequently by heterotrophs. This means that chemical energy in the form of
carbohydrates, fats, and proteins as well as a host of other liutrients are
transferred into herbivores. This process continues upto the decomposer level
through the carnivores. Another feature of the process is that the energy
trapped by green plants when transferred from one food level or tropbic level
Environmental Concerns
An ecological rule of
thumb allows a magnitude
of 10 reduction in energy
as it passes from one
trophic level to another. If
herbivores eat 1000 k c 1
k cal will get converted
t
of plant energy, about 1 0
into herbivore tissue,lO k
cal will get into first level
carnivore production, and
1 k cal into second level
carnivore production.
However, data suggest that
a 90 % loss of energy from
one trophic level to
another may be too high.
Transfer of energy from
one trophic level to
another tells the real story,
but such data are hard to
collect.
-
30
to another also undergoes losses at each transfer along the chain. This is
because in an ecosystem, energy is transformed in an orderly sequence (Refer
again to Fig.1.8) and is governed by the two laws of thermodynamics. The
first and second law of thermodynamics are given below:
1.7.2 Laws of Thermodynamics
1) The first law of thermodynamics deals with the conservation of matter
and energy and states that energy cannot be created or destroyed but
can only change from one form to another. For example the energy of
visible light is absorbed by green plants through photosynthesis and is
changed into chemical energy, which.is stored in glucose molecules.
(Refer subsection 1.5.6) So in biological context, this principle means that
"Energy may be transferred or transformed, but it is not lost". This
chemical energy is transformed and used by the cells of the orgallisms
through the process of the metabolism for their various activities. Most of
the energy is used to for metabolic activities, movement, and other
activities of living organisms.
2) The second law of thermodynamics states that part of some useful
energy is degraded into unusable waste as heat energy during every
energy transformation. The waste heat energy escapes into the
. surrounding enviroilrnent. This law clearly operates in the trophic levels
where at each succeeding level some chemical energy of food is
transformed into unusable heat energy. This is because cells of organisms
continuously need energy, which is provided to it mainly in form of ATP
while some energy gets transformed into unusable heat (energy). Since
heat energy cannot do usehl works, more 'energy must be supplied to a
biological system from outside to compensate the inevitable energy loss.
In order to continue to function - organisms and ecosystenls must receive
energy supply on a continuing basis which is provided by the sun. If the
energy supply is interrupted, the cell will be unable to function and
becomes disordered. Such disorganization can be either a cause or a
consequence of cell death. The following diagram (Fig.1.19) depicts the
energy transfers and energy losses and nutrient movernent in an
ecosystem.
-
Energy movement
Nutr~entmovement
4
Fig. 1.19: A diagram illustrating the manlier in which nutrients cycle through an
ecosystem. Energy does not cycle because all that is derived from the sun
eventually dissipates as heat.
From the above figure, we can conclude the following: Why is Environment
Important?
a energy movement is unidirectional (unlike the nutrients which cycle) in an Human intervention in
ecosystem, so the initial energy trapped by an autotroph does not revert natural ecosystem is
back to solar input, growing significantly.
energy that passes from herbivore to carnivore does not pass back to Human impact on the
herbivore from carnivore. As a consequence of this unidirectional and pattern and quanhlm of
energy flow has changed
continuous energy flow, the ecosystem maintains its entity and prevents significantly because of the
collapse of the system. considerable amount of
nutrients cycle in the ecosystem and transfer of nutrients does not involve fossil fuel used by urban,
loss of nutrients like that of energy. This is because the faecal matter, industrial and nlral
communities.
excretory products and dead bodies of all plants and animals are broken The developing
down into inorganic materials by decomposers and are eventually returned countries of the third I
to the ecosystem for reuse by the autotrophs. (Refer Sectionl.5) world lilce India face
perpetual energy
Flow of energy through the ecosystem is a findanlental process which can be shortage. In tl>epresent
day world, energy and
easily quantified if the energy input to theaecosystem and its subsequent prosperity go hand in
transforination from one tropl~iclevel to another can be expressed in terms of hand. The rich
calories. countries have a high
rate of consumption. As
Activity - What would happen if all people in the world become vegetarians? compared to a citizen in
India, a typical person
in the U.S. uses:
Hints: Humans cannot digest most parts of plants, many kind of alga (which 50 - times more steel
are the producer base of most aquatic food chain). So if people were to become 56 - times more energy
herbivores they would be excluded from many food chains. 1 70F times more
synthetic rubber
and newspriilt
1.8 MATTER IN ECOSYSTEM OR GEOCHEMICAL 250 - times more motor I

CYCLES fuel
300 times more plastic
as much grain as five
By now you must be well aware that the living world depends upon the flow of Kenyans, and as much
energy and the circulation of nutrients through ecosystem. Both influence the energy as 35 (a wliole,
abundance of organisms, the metabolic rate at which they live, and the village!) or 500
complexity of the ecosystem, You have already read ill previous sections that Ethiopians.
energy flows through ecosystems enabling the organisms to perform various
kinds of work and this energy is ultinlately lost as heat forever in terms o f the
usefulness of the system. On the other way hand, nutrients of food matter never
get used up. They can be recycled again and again indefinitely. This becomes
clearer when we say that, when we breathe we inay be inhaling several million
atoms of elements that may have been inhaled by the Emperor Akbar or any
other person from history. Nutrients that are needed by organisms in large
amounts are called macronutrients while those, which are needed in traces are
called micronutrients (see Table 1.5). Among the more illan 100 chemicals that
occw in nature about 40 are present in living organisms.

Table 1.5: Chemical elements or mineral nutrients that make up living things.
-

Groups Element Main Reservoir

The reservoirs or pools
Group I Macronutrients - Carbon Atmosphere of nutrients are the
regions where the
which constitute more than Hydrogen Hydrosphere
nutrients occur in bulk.
I percent each of dry Oxygen Atmosphere
organic weight Nitrogen Atmosphere and Soil
Phosphorus Lithosphere
(Cont.)
 -
Environmental Concerns Groups Element Main Reservoir
* Group IT Macronutrients ( Calcium Lithosphere
- which constitute 0.2 to 1 Chlorine ~ithosphere
percent of dry organic Copper Lithosphere
weight Iron Lithosphere
Magnesium Lithosphere
Sulphur Lithosphere and
Sodium Atmosphere
Potassium Lithosphere
Lithosphere
Micronutrients which Aluminium Lithosphere
occur in very miniscule Boron Lithosphere
amounts and constitute less Bromine Lithosphere
than 0.2 percent of diy Zinc Lithosphere
organic weight, although Cobalt Lithosphere
not present in all species Iodine Lithosphere '
Chromium Lithosphere

* Some of the second group of macronutrients may be n~icronutrientsfor some

species and some of the micronutrients may be macronutrients for other
species.

1.8.1 Types of Nutrient Cycles

A nutrient cycle may Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and pl~osphorusas elements and
also be referred to as compounds make up 97% of the mass of our bodies and are more thai195% of
perfect or imperfect the mass of all living organisms. In addition to these about 15 to 25 other
cycle. A perfect nutrient
cycle is one in which elements are needed in some form for the survival and good health of plants
nutrients are replaced as and animals. These elements or mineral nutrients are always in circulation
fast as they are utilised. moving from non-living to living and then back to the non-living coinponents
Most gaseous cycles are of the ecosystem in a more or less circular fashion. This is k~lownas
generally considered as
perfect cycles. In
biogeochemieal cycling (bio for living; geo for atmosphere. There are of two
contrast sedimentary basic types of cycles, depending on the nature of the reservoir:
cycles are considered
relatively imperfect, as (i) Gaseous Cycle - where the reservoir is the atmosphere or the
some nutrients are lost hydrosphere and
from the cycle and get
locked into sediments (ii) Sedimentary Cycle - where the reservoir is the earth's crust.
and so become
unavailable for 1.8.2 Gaseous Cycles
a

immediate cycling.
-
Let us first study some of the most important gaseous cycles; namely water,
carbon and nitrogen. I

Protoplasm, the physical Water Cycle (Hydrologic) -water is one of the most important substances for
basis of life, is made up life. On an average water constitutes 70% of the body weight of an organism.
of 90 - 95% of water. It is one of the important ecological factor, which determines the structure and
Human blood contains
90% of water. function of the ecosystem. Cycling of all other elements is also dependent upon
water as it provides their transportation during the various steps and it also is a
solvent medium for their uptake by organisms.

Water covers about 75% of the eartll's sulface, occui-ring in lakes, rivers, seas
and oceans. The oceans alone contain 97% of all the water dn earth. Mucli of
the remainder is frozen in the polar ice and glaciers. Less than 1% water is
present in the form of ice-free fresh water in rivers, lakes, and aquifers.
Yet this relatively negligible portion of the planet's water is crucially
 Why is Environment
Important?

Oceans
( 97.6 percent

and ghciers
1.8699
[J
percent

Ground water 0.5 percent (

Rivers, lakes, inland seas 0.02 percent
Soil moisture 0.01 percent
Atmosphere 0.0001 percent

Fig. 1.20: Global distribution of water. Majority of the world's supply of water is in the
oceans. The readily available fresh water is found as ground water in porous
rock beds. Although ice sheets and glaciers hold a large amount of fresh water,
their turn over is too slow to be usable.

The hydrologic cycle (Fig. 1.21) is the movement of water fiom oceans to
atmosphere by evaporation and from atmosphere to oceans and land by
precipitation in the fonn of rain or snow, from land to oceans by nm off, rrom
streams and rivers and subsurface ground water flow, and from land to
atmosphere by evaporation again. This cycle is driven by solar energy in
which about one third of all solar encrgy is dissipated on cycling about
10 x lo2' g of water, which is nearly 0.004% of the total; and this is all the
time moving in t l ~ ccycle. The rest of the earth's water as you know already is
in cold storage (in the form of glaciers and ice).

Figures in diagram based on; , Total water Fmh water

mean annual global Oceans 97% ice sheets and glaciers 75%
precipitation of 100 units Fresh water 3% ground water 25%
lakes b.396
soil moisture 0.06%
atmosphere 0.035%
rivers 0.03%

Fig. 1.21: The water or hydrological cycle depicting most of the major pathways of water
movement through the ecosystem - but it does not depict the more recent
pathways that have been created due to human activities
Environmental Concerns The Carbon Cycle
Carbon is present in the atmosphere, mainly in the form of carbon dioxide
(C02). It is a minor constituent of the atmosphere as compared to oxygen and
nitrogen (Refer again to table 1.5). However, as you are well aware without
carbon dioxide life could not exist, for it is vital for the production of
carbohydrates through photosynthesis by plants and is the building block of
life. It is the element that anchors all organic substances from coal and oil to
DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid: the compound that carries genetic information).

Fig. 1.22: (a) Generalized global carbon cycle. The carbon cycle The atmosphere
contains about 740 x 1012kilogram (kg) of carbon, while the oceans hold
approximately 43,000 x 1012kg. Deforestation and burning of fossil fuels
contribute about 1 x 1012and 5 x 1012kg annually, respectively, of which about
3 x 1012accumulates in the atmosphere. Some of tile remaining 3 x 10" kg is
dissolved into the oceans, but the fate of much of this carbon dioxide is yet to be
traced.

Carbon is returned to the environment about as fast as it: is removed. Figure

1,22 illustrates the global carbon cycle. Carbon froin the atlliospheric pool
moves to green plants, and then to animals. Finally, from them directly to the
atmosphere by process of respiratian at various trophic levels in the food chain
or to bacteria, fungi and other micro-organisms that return it to atmosphere
through decomposition of dead organic matter. Somc carbon however enters a
long term cycle. It may accumulate as undecomposed organic matter as in the
peaty layers of bogs and moorlands or as insoluble carbonates (for exainple the
insoluble calcium carbonate ((CaC03) of various sea shells) which accunlulate
in bottom sediments in aquatic systems. This sedimentary carbon eventually
turns into sedimentary rocks such as lime stone and dolomite and may take a
long time to be released. In deep oceans such carbon can remained buried for
millions of years till geological movement may lift these rocks above sea level.
These rocks may be exposed to erosion, releasing their carbon dioxide, Why is Environment
Important?
carbonates and bicarbonates into steams and rivers: hard water has usually
flowed throcgh lime stone at some point, picking up carbonates which they
accumulate as 'fur' in kettles when .the water is boiled. Fossil fuels such as
coals, oil and natural gas etc. are also part of the carbon cycle which may
release their carbon compounds after several of years. These fossil h e l s are
organic compounds that were buried before they could be decomposed and
were subsequently transformed by time and geological processes into fossil
fuels. When fossil fuels are burned the carbon stored in them is released back
into the atmosphere as carbon-dioxide.

Carbon cycle basically involves a continuous exchange of carbon dioxide

between the atmosphere and organisms on one hand, and between the
atmosphere and the sea, on the other. The immediate source of carbon dioxide
for exchange in the oceans is restricted to surface layers of water.

The carbon balance of the biosphere as a whole is moderated by exchange of

COa between the atmosphere and oceans (which are the richest source of
carbon today). The oceans contain about 50 times more COz than the
atmosphere. This regulates atmosphere COz level to 0.032% despite
photosynthetic uptake.

Scientific concerns over the linked problems of increased atmospheric COz

concentrations, massive deforestation and reduced productivity of the oceans
due to pollution will be discussed in coming units.

The Nitrogen Cycle

Nitrogen is an essential constituent of protein which is a building block of all Volcanoes are also
living tissue. It constitutes nearly 16% by weight of all the proteins. There important sources of
is an inexhaustible supply of nitrogen in the atmosphere but the elemental form nitrogen. They have been
emitting small quantities of
cannot be used directly by most of the living organisms. Nitrogen needs to be nitrogen for centuries and
'fixed', that is, converted to ammonia, nitrites or nitrates, before it can be taken contribute significantly to
up by plants. Nitrogen fixation on earth is accomplished in three different the nitrogen reservoir of
ways: (i) by certain free-living and as well as bluegreen algae (e.g. Anabaena, the atmosphere.
Spirulina) symbiotic bacteria and blue green algae, (ii) by man using industrial
processes (fertilizer factories) and (iii) to a limited extent by atmospheric
phenomenon such as thunder and lighting. At present, the amount fixed by
man industrially, far exceeds the amount fixed by biological and atmospheric The symbiotic bacteria
actions. capable of fixing
atmospheric nitrogen live
As you can see from Figure 1.23, ilitrogen at any time is tied up in different in the root nodules of
'compartments' or 'pools' - the atmosphere, soil and water, and living leguminous plants like
beans, peas, alfalfa etc.
organism. The periodic thunderstorms convert the gaseous nitrogen in the In agricultural ecosystem
atmosphere to ammonia and nitrates which eventually reach the earth's surface legumes of approximately
througl~precipitation and then into the soil to be utilized by plants. More 200 species are the pse-
importantly, however, are certain microorganisms capable of fixing atmospheric eminent nitrogen fixers.
nitrogen into ammonium ions ( N H ~ These ~ . include freeliving nitrifying In non-agricultural
systems some 12,000
bacteria (e.g. aerobic Azotobacter and anaerobic Clostridium) and symbiotic species ranging from
nitrifying bacteria living in association with leguininous plants and symbiotic cyanobacteria to nodule-
bacteria living in nonleguminous root nodule plants (e.g. Rhizobium) as well as bearing plants, are
blue green algae (eg. Anabaelza, Spirulina). Ammonium ions can be directly responsible for nitrogen
taken up as a source of nitrogen by some plants, or are oxidized to nitrites or fixation. /

nitrates by two groups of specialised bacteria: Nitrosomonas bacteria promote 35

Environmental Concerns transformation of ammonia into nitrite. Nitrite is then further transfoimed into
nitrate by the bacteria Nitrobacter.

The nihates synthesised by bacteria in the soil are taken up by plants and
converted into amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins. These
then go through higher trophic levels of the ecosystem. During excretion and
upon the death of all organisms nitrogen is returned to the soil in the fomm of
ammonia. Certain quantity of soil'nitrates, being highly soluble in water, are
lost to the system by being transported away by surface run-off or ground
water. In the soil as well as oceans there are special denitrifyiilg bacteria (e.g.
Fseudomonas), which convert the nitrateslnitrites to elemental nitrogen. This
nitrogen escapes into the atmosphere, thus completing the cycle.

Nitrogen has become a pollutant because of human intrusion into the natural
cycle and this can disrupt the balance of nitrogen in the air.

Fig.1.23: Generalized nitrogen cycle.

1.8.3 Sedimentary Cycle

Phosphorus, calcium and magnesium circulate by means of the sedimentary
cycle. Sulphur is to some extent intaymediate, since two of its compounds
hydrogen sulphide (H2S) and sulphur dioxide (SOz), add a gaseous coillponent
to its normally sedimentary cycle. The element involved in the sedimentary
cycle normally does not cycle through the ahnosphere but follows a basic
pattern of flow through erosion, sedimentation, mountain building, volcanic
activity and biological transport through the excreta of marine birds. The
sulphur cycle is a good example for illustrating the linkage between air, water
and the earth's crust, and hence, a brief account of this cycle is given.

Sulphur Cycle
The sulphur cycle is mostly sedimentary except for a short gaseous phase.
(Fig. 1.24) The large sulphur reservoir as mentioned before is in the soil and
sediments where it is locked in organic (coal, oil and peat) and inorganic Why is Environment
Important?
deposits (pyiite rock and sulphr~rrock) in the form of sulphates, sulphides and
organic sulphur. It is released by weathering of rocks, erosional runoff and
decomposition by bacteria and fungi of organic matter and is carried to
terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in salt solution. Sulphur is found in gaseous
forms like hy& *nsulphide and sulphur dioxide in small quantities in the
atmosphere, wtll. is thti:, a small reservoir. Sulphur enters the atmosphere
{I

fi-om several sources lilce volcanic eruptions, combustion of fossil fuels, from
surface of ocean and from gases released by decomposition. Atnlospheric
hydrogen sulphide also gets oxidised into sulphur dioxide (SO2). Atmospheric
SO2 is carried back to the earth after being dissolved in rainwater as weak
sulphuric acid (H2S04). Whatcver the source, sulphur in the f o m ~of sulphates.
( ~ 0 ~is'take
~ ) up by plants and incorporated through a series of metabolic
processes into sulphur bearing amino acid which is incorporated in the proteins
of autotroph tissues. It then passes through the grazing food chain. Sulphur
bound in living organism is carried back to the soil, to the bottom of ponds and
lakes and seas through excrelion and deconlposition of dead organic material.
Under aerobic conditions h n g i like Aspergillus and Neurospora and under
anaerobic conditions the bacteria like Escherichia and Proteus are largely
responsible for the decomposition of proteins.

= oxidation

m = mobilization
im = immobilizatiog

Fig.1.24: The sulphur cycle showing the two reservoirs namely, sedimentary and gaseous.
Major sources from human activity arc the burning of fossil fuels and acid
drainage from coalmincs.

In anaerobic soils and sediments hydrogen sulphide is formed by sulphate

reducing bacteria like Desulfavibrio. Species of Beggiatoa oxidise hydrogen
sulphide to elemental sulphur and species of Thiobacillus oxidise it to sulphate,
There are also green and purple sulphur photosynthetic bacteria that oxidise
hj;drogen sulphide to elemental sulphur.

You should bear in mind that the nutrient cycles discussed here are only a few
of the many cycles present in the ecosystem. You should also be aware that
these cycles usually do not operate in independently but interact with each
other at some point or the other. This can be been clearly in Fig.1.25.
Environmental Concerns
 Why is Environment
1.9 BIOTIC RELATIONS Important?

The biological community is a complex network of interactions. These

interactions take place not only among different individuals of the population
of the same species intraspecific relation but also among individuals of
different species in a community - interspecific relations.

1.9.1 Intraspecific Relations

The interactions between members of the same species are known as
intraspecific relations and these are frequently very strong varying from open
conflict to gregariousness (social togetherness). Some species like inoose are
quite solitary while some animal populations exhibit varying degrees of social
organisation. Many species exhibit territoriality i.e., individuals compete for
the 'rights' over some poriions of their habitat. The winner uses the territory
and the losers have to leave. Territoriality serves to diminish destructive
competition for resources such as food or habitat etc. by limiting the number of
organisms of a species in a given area.

Intraspecific relations are also expressed in pattern of hierarchy of species or

dorninanl and subordinate relationship in the population, The dominant -
subordinate relationships are more prominent when the choices for inates
arises. Extreme social organisation is found in the structure of colonies of
insects like termites, ants and bees. Let us see how intraspecific relalionships
affect the population.

Population growth, when resources are not limited

Population growth can be determined by looking at factors tl~at.tendto increase
the number of individuals in thal population, like birth and im~nigrationand
chose factol-sthat tend to decrease the number like death and emnimgration.By
looking at table 1.6 you can see [he factor that increase or decrease the
populations. For example by looking at the table you can note that higher
reproductive potential of a species increases its population while low
reproductive potential decreases it.

Table 1.6: Population growth depends on the net effect of all the given factors.
These factors in turn are the result of species characteristics and
environmental conditions
Factors Increase in Population Decrease in Population
I . Reproductive High Low
potential
2. Number of individuals Large small
capable of reproduction
3. Food nlentv Scarce
1 4. I-labitat Space available Space not available
5. Clirnale favourable
6. Irumigration high
7. Emigration low
8. Disease Low Hi fill
9. Predation Low high
- ---^. _

L
Let us imagine [hat we select a single bacterium and allow all its descendents
to grow hnd reprocluce without any restriction. In a month this bacterial colony
r 39
 Environmental Concerns
Fig.1.26: The J-shaped curve
of population
growth of a species.
. Species like bacteria and
I mice which can produce a
large number of offspring
in a short time have high
biotic potential while
larger species like
elephants and humans that
produce only a few
offspring have a low biotic
potential.
would be larger than the visible universe and it would be expanding outwarc
at the speed of light. All populations have the potential for explosive growtl
under optimal growth conditions because nearly all mature individuals can
produce offspring.
Population with a positive rate of natural increase grow large each year. Thc
expected increase (I) for a year can be calculated by multiplying the rate of
natural increase (r) by the current population size (N)
I=rN
b 2.d
where r = - N = Number of individuals
N
b = birth rate
d = death rate
This formula indicates that population growth is exponential: which mea
that population size increases by an ever larger amount each year under
favourable coliditions. When a graph is plotted for the populatioil size, the
resulting growth curve is J shaped as shown in Figure 1.26. This type of
exponential growth occurs mly under conditions of unlimited resources.
However, Except under laboratory conditions, no population can expect
find resources unlimited for population growth. In unlimited resources a~
ideal environmental conditions, a species can produce offspring at the
maximum rate. This is called biotic potential. We will discuss these conce
in greater details in section 1.13 dealing with human population.
Population growth when resources are limited
If the chief resources such as food and space are limited, a habitat cannot
support any populatibn beyond a certain size. If the population goes beyoiid i
limit, resources limitation shows its adverse effects on population by
increasing death rates and decreasing birth rates and population density
declines to a limit set by available resources in the habitat. The maximum
number of individuals of a population that its enviro~~ment can support
and sustain is called the carrying capacity (K). The carrying capacity is a
concept related to sustainability. It is usually defined as the maximum
number of individuals of a species that can be sustained and supported b
the environment in a given area.
Population size is believed to level off at the carrying capacity (K) of the
environment (Fig. 1.27). When carrying capacity is reached the11N = K and r
yalue will be zero. In other words, birth rate equal death rates and population
should maintain a steady state equilibrium. However, as the population .
increases in size, there will be more competition for the available space and
food, which in turn will affect population growth. I
All the limiting factors that reduce the growth rate of a population
constitute environmental resistance. These factors include predation,
competition for resources, food shortage, disease, adverse climatic conditions
and unsuitable habitats. So what happens to the J-shaped curve that you have
studied earlier due to limiting factors? You will see that it changes to S shape
or to a sigmoid curve: (Fig. 1.27)
 Exponential
Dynamic steady.state-phase
II Why is Environmeot
Important?

Time
Fig.:1,27: The J-shaped curve is converted to an S-shaped curve when a population
encounters environmental resistance and tl~resl~oldof ally one of the limiting
factors is exceeded.

When we are talking about carrying capacity it is'also important to talk about
11s the carrying capacity of the earth. For the human population, the cai~ying
capacity depends in part on our value for the environment. So we have to
question ourselves as to whether we want our f~lturegeneration to live short
lives in crowded surroundings without a chance to enjoy the Earth's scenery
and diversity of life? Or do we hope that our descendants will have a life of
to high quality and good health? Once we choose a goal for the quality of life, we
~d can use scientific information to understand what the carrying capacity might
be and how we might achieve it.
1ts
1.9.2 Interspecific Relations
Interspecific relations involve more complex iiiteraction since the set of
environmental factors influencing each of the interacting species !re often so
different. The relation may be direct and close as bet*een a tiger and deer, or
L indirect and remote as between an elephant and a beetle.

There are several interspecific relationships between different species. W e will

be dealing with three main types of relationships namely - symbiotic relations,
competition and predation

I. SYMBIOTIC RELATIONS
Y Some time two types of organisms have a permanent relationship in which at
least one depends upon the other for survival. This is called a symbiotic
relationship or.symbiosis. There are several types of symbiosis, out of which
we will deal only a few namely Parasitism, Mutualism and Commensalism.
Tapeworm and malarial
i) Parasitism is an interaction in which one species, namely the parasite parasite have become
benefits and the other, the host, is harmed. For the parasite (which is adapted to a totally
much smaller in size) the host is a source of both food and shelter. A well parasitic life.
adapted parasite does not kill its host, otherwise its source of nourishment
would be lost. Parasites generally have.higher teproductive rate and
exhibits a greater host specificity. They are often highly specialized in
structure, physiology and life history patterns, Because of host -
specificity many parasites can live in only one or a few related host
species, and such intimate host - parasite interaction could be potentially
i limiting to both the population.
ii) Mutualism is a symbiotic relationship that is beneficial to both
organisms. Lichens are a well known example of mutualism. Lichen
consists of fungi and algae growing in close association with one
Environmental Concerns another. The fungi can hold water but cannot produce their own food
due to lack of chlorophyll while the algae cannot hold water but can
produce their food when supplied with water. Thus these two
organisins combine their functions by living together and both get
enough food and water. There are several cxamples of mutualism of
plants and animals in nature.
iii) Commensalism is a symbiotic relation in which one organism benefits z
the other is unaffected. An example of coinmensalism is that of the rcm
fish and shark. Remora, a small fish attaches itself to the under side of
shark from where it feeds on leftovers from the shark's meals and gets f
transport. The presence of the remora does not benefit the shark but
neither does it harm the shark.

11. COMPETITION
Competition occurs in nature usually, but not necessarily, when resources liE
food, space, mates etc. are limited. Resource limitation leading to competitil
is implicit in Drawin's idea on struggle for existence and survival of the fitte
What happens when two related species compete for the same resource? Thi
outcome usually depends on how 'competitive' the species are. If one specic
is competitively superior, it will eventually exclude the other species from tl-
habitat, a phenomenon referred to as 'Gause's Principle of Competitive
Exclusion', named after the Soviet biologist G.F. Gause (Fig. 1.28). If both ;
equally strong competitors, the outco~nedepends on the initial conditions; ar
, uncertain and unstable coexistence is possible. If however, both species are
weak competitors, both could co-exist p.eacefully indefinitely in the same
habitat.

c time (days) ,
Fig. 1.28: Competition between two species of Paramecium. When grown separately, Pi
caudatum (a) and P. aurella (b) established stable populations (c) When grow
'
together,'P.aurelia (bold line) drove the other species (dotted lines) toward
extinction.
Gause's competitive exclusion principle states that two species having Why is Environment
Important?
identical requirements cannot occupy the same 'niche' indefinitely. So what is
the niche of a species? A niche is the unique functional role or place of a 1. Habitat niche - where it
species in an ecosystem (Fig. 1.29). It is a description of all the biological, lives
physical and chemical factors that a species needs to survive, stay healthy and 2. Food niche - what is eats
or decomposes & what
reproduce. A niche is unique for a species, that means no two species have species it competes with
exactly identical niches. Niche play an important role in conservation of 3. ~eproductive'niche- how
organisms. If we have to conserve a species in its native habitat we should be and when it reproduces.
knowledgeable about the niche requirements of the species and should ensure 4. Physical & chemical niche
that all requirements of its niche are fulfilled. - temperature, land shape,
land slope, humidity &
other requirement.

Fig.1.29; A niclie is unique for a species. No two species have exactly tlie same niches. If
two species (lid have identical niclies then coinpetition for the sanie food and
living space would mean that one species would either die out or be driven
away.

111. PREDATION
This is an interaction in which one organism, the predator kills another, nanlely
the prey for food. This is a process of paramount importance not only i n
natural ecosystems but to man as well, because he is either directly a predator
himself or has to deal with natural predators which ace directly harmfill to him
or kill prey that are beneficial to him.

First let us consider the importance of predation in nature. Following are its
important roles:
Environmental Concerns 1) Predation helps to channelise the energy fixed by photosynthetic pi
through different trophic levels. ,
2) Predators can bring down the intensity of interspecific competition
community by selectively preying on the competitively superior spc
and thus keeping their densities low. This permits the weaker speci
persist in the habitat.
3) Predators also appear to be responsible for maintaining high specie:
diversity in many biological communities. Experimental removal o
predators from a community has been known to lead to the eliminat
some species and a general decline in species diversity.
4) Predators in some cases can regulate the population densities of thei
Predation is obviously not beneficial to the individual organism that
killed and eaten as food, but could be very beneficial to the prey
population as a whole.

In an ideal situation, the prey and predator populations show what are ca
6coupledoscillations' over a period of time. Let us see how these oscil
occur in a habitat with plenty resources, prey numbers start increasing.
result predators get more food & produce more offspring. With increasin
predator population in the habitat, more and more prey are killed, bringi~
down their populatiol~size eventually. Now due to low density of prey'ir
habitat the predators cannot obtain enough food and so their number star
falling. These events lead to oscillation in densities of both prey and prec
It is important to mention that the situation will turn out different if the
predator is not prudent or is too efficient at killing prey. This could resuli
killing of every prey individual, driving the prey species to extinction. TI.
would subsequently lead to elimination of the predator as well, due to
starvation.

I . HOMEOSTASIS
In order to find solutions for environmental problems the understanding c
systems and rates of change occurring in the systems illcluding the ecosy!
is essential. 1

110.1 System
A system, may be broadly defined as any part of the universe that car
isolated for the purposes of observntipn and study. Some systems may
physically isolated - for example bacteria culture in a petri dish - or may
isolated in our minds or in a computer database. In another way you can
visualise a system as a set of components or parts that function together tc
as a whole. A single organism may be considered a system as may be a ri1
your office, a city or a thermal' power plant. On a much larger scale, you
already know that biosphere is also a system.
At every level in environmental science we have to deal with a variety oP
" i
systems that may range from simple to complex and irrespective of how v
approach environmental problems its is necessary that we have an
understanding of the systems and of how various parts of the systems int
with one another, Systems may be open or closed. A system, which is op
with respect to some factor, exchanges that factor with other systems. Th
Ocean is an open system in regard to water, which it exchanges with the,
44 atmosphere. A system that is.closed in regard to some factor does not ex6
 that factor with other systems. Earth is an open system in regard to energy and Why is Environment
Important?
a closed system (For all practical purposes) in regard to material.

All these systems in order to operate smoothly need to maintain their existing
constant condition. This capacity of a system to self regulates or self
maintain itself is called homeostatis. What keeps the system fairly constant is
a feedback mechanism. The feed mechanism provides environmental
information to which a system responds.

1.10.2 Feedback Mechanism

Systems respond to inputs and have outputs. Our body for instance is a
complex system. If by chance you ellcounter a snake, whicll you think is
poisonous, then the sight of the snake is an input. Our body reacts to the input.
The adrenaline level in our blood rises; our heart rate increases and the hair on
:d our body may rise. Our response - perhaps standing still or moving away from
Lions the snalte - is an output.
a Feedback, a special type of system response occurs when the output of the
systemalso serves as input and leads to changes in the state of the system. A
classic example of feedback is temperature regulations in human (Fig. 1.30).
The normal temperature for humans is 37°C. We call such a norm - a set
point: When the temperature of the environment rises the sensory mechanisms
tor.
in the skin detect .the change (input) and the body responds physiologically.

Stilnulus
(input)

tern

)act
~ e, r

I Effectors I
ract Fig. 1.30: Negative and positive feedback mechanisms. In negative feedbadk the response
en inhibits or reverses any change from the normal. Positive feedback leads to
e further change in the same direction. Negative feedback brings the system back
to the set point. Positive feedback leads away from the set point and can
hange damage the system.
Concerns A message is sent to brain, which automatically relays the message to the
receptors which enhances increase in blood flow to skin, induce sweating anc
stimulate behavioural responses. Water excreted through the skin evaporates
cooling the body. The person may also respond behaviourally: as on feeling
hot (input) he or she may move into the shade as a result of which the
temperature would return to nolmal. This is an example of negative feedbac
since the systems response is in the opposite direction from the input, and ha1
or reverses any deviation movement away from set point (an increase in
temperature leads due to response a decrease in temperature).

In the case of positive feedback, an increase in input leads to a further increa

in output. For example if the enviro~lmentaltemperature bccomes extreme ar
the body temperature keeps on increasing correspondingly the hoineostatic
system of the body breaks down, which is because when it gets too hot, the
body is unable to lose heat fast enough to maintain normal temperature, as a
result of which the metabolism speeds ups, raising body temperature until the
person dies of heat stroke. Thus a situation in which feedback reinforces
change, driving the system to higher and higher or lower and lower values is
called positive feedback.

i
Negative feedback is generally desirable as it is stabilizing. 1t.usually leads t
a system that remains in a constant condition. Positive feedback often called
vicious circle is destabilizing.

1.10.3 Ecosystem Homeostasis

Let us see how the feedback in an ecosystem helps to maintain homeostasis or
balance. The ecosystem as you must know by now is a dynamic system, wher
a lot of events occur, like plants eaten by animals, which in turn are eaten by
other animals. Water and nutrients flow in and out of the system and the
weather changes. However, despite all these events the ecosystem persists anc
recovers from minor disturbances due to homeostatis. Consider a grassland
which has suffered from drought due to which plants do not grow well and
which have a mice population. The mice that feed on grass become
malnourished due to lack of food, When this happens, their birth rates
decreases. Furthermore, the hungy inice retreat to their burrows and sleep. B j
doing so, they require less food and are exposed less to predators. As a result
their death rates decreases. Their behaviour protects their own population ,
balance as well as that of the grasses, which are not being eaten, while the mick
hibernate (sleep). Thus you can see that the ecosystem has maintained its
balance or ecological homeostasis as a result of negative feedback mechanism,
which is the prime regulatory mechanism for the ecosystem as a whole. You
must be fully aware by now that in an ecosystem several kinds of organisms ar;
present. Thus all the organisms in an ecosystem are part of several of different
feedback loops. A feedback loop may be as a defined relationship in which a
change in some original rate alters the rate of direction of further change.

Now let us consider another important parameter of ecosystem balance, which

is species diversity, Species diversity - the number of different species and
their relative abundance - in a given ecosystem accord the stability or
persistence to the ecosystem under small or moderate environmental stress.
High species diversity tends to increase long-term persistence of the
ecosystem. This resilience is due to the fact that risk is spread more widely
with the presence of many different species and the linkages between them.
 An ecosystem having several well-adjusted species has more ways available to Why is Environment
d Important?
respond to most environmental stresses. For example, in an ecosystem
> endowed with complex food web, the loss or drastic reduction of one species
does not threaten the existence of others, as Most con*sumershave alternative
food supplies. Ih contrast, the highly specialised ecosystem, planted with only
:k one kind of crop (monoculturin'g) plant like wheat or rice is liigbly v'ulner'able
ts to destruction from a single plant pathogen or pest. The essence of the above
discussion is that most balanced ecosystems contain many different types of
species and that the presence of many types of or high species diversity imparts
stability to the ecosystem.
se r
ld The ability of an ecosystem to cope with any disturbance or disruption is
however limited and fails in cases of positive feedbacks like fires (destruction
of landscape), over exploitation (widespread mining, deforestation), excessive
simplification (monoculture, plantation, crop fields) or extreme and prolonged
stresses (like drought, pollution). In extreme cases the homeostatic mechanism
are overshadowed leading to ecosystem degradalion.

It is essential that we sl~ouldcheck and control our actions, so that we do not

overload the ecosystem and disrupt its homeostasis.

Activity
Discuss how monoculturing can cause disaster in Indian farming,

1.11 COMMUNITY AND ECOLOGICAL SUCCESSION

You will recall fro111subsection 1.5.2 that a community is also called biotic
community. It is a group of interacting populations living in a given area. It
represents the living pait of an ecosystem and functions as a dynamic unit with
trophic levels, an i ~ i eflow
r ~ and
~ a cycling of nutrients as described earlier.
Some of the species interactions such as predator-p ey relationships,
mutualism and cornpetition have been described earlier. (see subsection 1.922).

The organizational components of a biotic community seem to us for the most

part to be static or suspended in time. However, biotic communities do exhibit
progressive change as part%oftheir normal developmenl. Com~n~~rlities for
example, change in response to climatic and geological forces as well as in
response to the activities of their inhabitants. In some cases even within n
parlicular climate, the inhabitants of a location are not h e same from one year
.to the next. Organisms that live in a given location may change [he
environment by their very presence or activities. An environrner~tthat favoured
an organism earlier may over time becomes progressively less favourable to
them and may become more favourable to other life forms. Thus one type of
organism may make way for another.

~he,orklerl~ process of change or replacement of.some inhabitants or

species of the conhunity in an area, through time is known as community
development or more traditionally as ecological succession.
E.coolgica1 succession, on lhe basis of the force responsible for.tlie chang'e.or
succession are of two kinds: (1) autogenic succession - where ecolbgical
succession is the product of the organisms-themselves and (2) Allogenic.
succession - where succcssion occurs due to outside Iorces particul,arly
physical forces such as fire or flood which regularly affect change. In most
 Environmental Concerns
Seres of particular
environments tend to
follow similar successions
and may therefore be
classified according to
environment for example,
a hydrosere develops in an
aauatic environment as a
result of the colonisation
of open water; and a
halosere develops in a salt
I
-A
..,. marsh.
,
I
I,
cases, succession is a result of both autogenic and allogenic factors although
one or the other may have triggered the process.
Allogenic succession is less predictable than autogenic succession. For
example, the sudden bloom of unexpected opportunistic species such as weeds
often interrupts an orderly progression of species during succession. The
accidental introduction of congress weed (Parthenium sp.) along with wheat
imported from the USA (PL480) into India is a good example of opportunitic
species. Often one population does not give up its place for the next
gracefully. On the contrary species are often quite persistent and seemingly
resist their own displacement.
Ecological succession includes both (1) primary and (2) secondary succession.
Each succession stage or the series of sequential changes in its entirety is
known as a sere and each sere is made LIP of a series of seral communities
(seral stages).
1.11.1 Succession in Terrestrial community
1. Primary succession occurs where no community exists before, such as
rocky outcropping, newly formed deltas, sand dunes, emerging volcanic
islands and lava flows. An example, which can be used as a model s&winR
development of primary successibn, is the invasioil and colonisation of bare
rock as on a recently created volcanic island.
Trees and shrubs are unable to grow on barelrock due to insufficieilt soil.
Primary succession sere thus begins with lichens. Lichens can invade and
colonise such areas, coming in, by various methods of dispersal and gaining
a foot hold by means of their tenacious, water-seeking fungal component anc
thus forming the first community, very appropriately often called the p i o ~ ~
community. (Fig.1.31). Lichens are soil builders, producing weak acids that
. very gradually erode the rock surface. As organic products and sand particle
accumulate in tiny fissures, mosses, larger plants, such as grasses also get an
opportunity to establish themselves and begin a new seral stage. In time
lichens that made the penetration of plant roots possible are no longer able ti
compete for light, water and minerals and will be succeeded by larger and ,
more nutrient demanding plants such as shrubs and trees.
Ultimately "the final stable and self perpetuating community which is in
equilibrium with its environment", is formed and this is qalled climax ,
community. The climax community is the most productive commuility that'
the environment can sustain. The animals of such a community also exhibit
succession, which to a large extent is governed by the plant succession, but ,
'
is also influenced by the types of animals that are able to migrate from
neighbouring communities. I
I
A climax community is more complex and is dominated by a few species
that came Iate in the succession. The community becomes self perpetuating 1
and its appearance remains the same though there is constant replacement of
individuals. The nature of the climax is determined by environmenta1 I
conditions such as temperature, humidity, soil cl~aracteristics,topographic
!
features and so on. A climax community has much less tendency than a
I
earlier successional communities to alter its environment in a manner
injurious to itself. Fig. 1.3 1 illustrates the primary ecological succession in a,
terrestrial habitat.
1
 The succession on bare rock out croppings is initially an extremely slow Why is Environment
process with a sere often lasting- hundreds of years or more. But once soil Important?
formation has begun, the process usually accd~erates: Succession in other though succession ends
with the establishment of
types of habitat may be slow. It has been estimated that succession from a climax community, this
sand dune to climax' forest community on the shores of Lake Michigan took does not mean that a
about a thousand years. climax community is
static. It does change
Fir, birch
and white spruce though slowly, even when
community .. A. the climate is constant. It
will change rapidly
however, if the
community is disturbed in
black spruce
some way.

Fig. 1.31: The orderly series of species replacement during succession can be seen in this
sequence of plants from a bare rock outcropping to a fir-birch-spruce
community. Pioneering lichens and mosses begin the soil-building process,
followed by the invasion of increasingly larger plants until a more stable long-
lived, climax forest community emerges.

2. Secondary succession occurs where a community has been disrupted, sucli

as previously burned or neglected farms reverting to the wild, or a forest
community that has been subjected to 'forest clearing' or a mining area that
has been reclaimed (Fig. 1.32).

Fig.1.32: A community formed through secondary su&:'ession subsequent to the area

being reclaimed after limestone mining.
Environmental Concerns
Secondary succession in
grassland communities is
much faster, taking 20 to
40 years while on the other
hand, fragile disturbed
tundra may require many
hundreds of years to
recover, if it ever does.
Lakes and ponds rich in
nutrients and high in
productivity are called
eutrophic (true foods),
while those with limited
nutrient supply and little
productivity are termed
oligotrophic.
In secoi1dar-y succession, the basic features are similar to those of primar
succession, but the seres occur at a more rapid pace. This is possible
because the soil is already fonned and available. Secondary succession
said to occur when the'surface is completely or largely denuded of
vegetation but has already been influenced by living organisms and has i
organic component: I11 such areas seeds, spores and plant propagates, su
as rhizomes may be present in the ground and thus influence the successi
As'secondary succession progresses, the initial invader species are
eventually replaced by plants froin surrounding communities. Larger, fa,
growing trees appear and may block the sunlight and so a new generatior
shade -tolerant shiubs emerge below the canopy of trees. Finally there i
general blending with the surrounding community. Such a transition ma7
take well over 100 years, depending on the cornn?unity.
In both primary and secondary succession the flora and fauna, of
suirounding areas are major factors influencing the types of plants and
animal entering the succession through chance dispersal and migration.
1.1 1.2 Succession in Aquatic Habitat
Aquatic habitats also undergo community development or succession althou
such changes may be held in check by shortages of nutrients. Succession in
ponds and lakes take place as a result of eutrophication. Eutrophication
means changes brought about by increase in nutrients carried by strean
and runoff from the land.
The general trend in fresh water bodies is towards increased eutrophication E
thus increased community growtll, but the deficiency of any of the essential
nutrient rnay reverse the trend.
Fig. 1.33: Succession in a pond.
As the commul~itydevelopment in a fresh water body progresses, the
sediments increase and the depth decreases, The shores are crowded by littort
zone plants, which extend further and further into the water body, followed b;
I
increasing numbers of water tolerant shore plants (Fig.1.33). Unless this
progress is interrupted, the water body will be transformed into a marsh and ;
Environmental Concerns Natality - is an expression of the production of new individual in the
population. In human population natality is equivalent to the birth rate, and is
usually expressed as the number of births per year per thousand persons in the
population. The growth rate of the population can be zero or positive but neve
negative.

The natality rate of the population is expressed by

L
where B = birth or natality rate
Nn = number of newboi-ns, and t = time.

Mortality refers to death rate of individuals. In a population, members die du

to various causes, such as malnutrition, disease, accidents and old age.
Mortality is also expressed as death per year per thousand persons in the
population.

where d = mortality or death rate

D = total number i f death and t = time
Migration is the niovement of people to new hoines either within tlie
boundaries of a countly (internal migration) or across the boundaries to anothe
country (international migration). Only international inigration can affcct the
growth of population within a countly. In some countries migration is large
enough to have a significant effect on the growth rate.
-"
Emigration is the entry of people into a city or couiltry and this also affects
the population.
Thus in order to take account of the movement of people in calculatiilg
population growth, we must add the ne$ migration (which is negative if
emigration is greater than migration), to the population count.

1.12.2 Population Histograms

A population histogram (Fig. 1.34) is a bar graph, drawn for a particular y2ear,
in which each horizqntal b a r represents a particular age group of thc
population. The length of the bar on the left tells us the number of percentage
of male (of the total population) in this age group, and tlie saille is shown for
female on the right. A histogram can tell us a n~rmberof things such as:
1) The Age structure of the population i.e., the percentage of the population
in a significant age group, such as those who are dependent on others for
support, or those who can do productive work.
2) The sex composition i.e. the number (percentage) of males and females in
each age group, from which we can also tell the number of females in the
reproductive ages 15 - 44.
3) The impact of growth and changes in the population over several decades
in the recent past, and
4) The likely growth of the population in'the next few decades, at the current
growth rates.
 1.12.3 Types of Histogram Why is Environment
Important?
j
Expansive histogram - The population histograin with an expanding base is
. called an expailsive histogram. It is typical for the developing countries,
:r
whose populations are growing very rapidly. (Fig. 1.34a)

Constrictive histogram - In this type of histogram the base is smaller

(constrictive). As you can see in Fig. 1.34 bywhich depicts a population
constrictive histogram of USA, there are fewer children being born in each 5 -
year group than before. However, this does not mean that the population in the
United States'is not growing. You can see a definite bulge during the year 50-
65 during which period there was a 'baby boon^'. As this bulge passes through, '
the reproductive years this will result in more children than the parents. Thus -
e even if China's one child - per - couple policy was enforced during early
1980's, China did not achieve its goal of stabilizing population at 1.2 billion in
the year 2000. Instead, it grew to 1.3 billion in 2000 and will inevitably
increase to about 1.5 billion by 2025.

Stationary histogram - In this type of histogram (Fig. 1.34 c) each bar is not
very different till we come to the age groups (over 75 years) where death rates
are significant. This means that for inany years the average family size has just
been sulficient to replace itself. Such a population is not growing at all, hence
the name stationary.

Expansive Constructive Near stationary

Rapid growth : Kenya Slow growtlr : United States Decline in growth : Austria

Year of birth.

Percentage of population Percentage of population Perdentage gf population

Pig.1.34: Population histograms for Kenya, the United States and Austria

. 53
Environmental Concerns 1.12.4 Population of India

India next only to China is one of the most populated countries in the wo
Although India occupies only 2.4% of the total area of the world it suppc
over 15.6% of the world population, as revealed by statistics.

On sunday August 15, 1999, India's population passed one billion mark. Ea
year India is adding 18 million people (roughly another Australia). U.N.
demographers project that by 2050 it will have added another 530 millioil
people for a total of more than 1.5 billion. If India coiltinues on the
demographic path as projected, it will overtake China by 2045, becoming tht
world's most populated countiy, but there are doubts as to whether the natur

-
resource base will support such growth.

Demographers estimate that even if India could reduce its average family s
to 2.2 children (replacement level fertility) in the next 33 years its cun
population would continue to grow until it reaches two billion by 2100.

1.12.5 Future of Human Population: Where Are We today?

Global population has quadrupled in 100 years, a rate of increase unlcnow~~ il
previous history. Especially since 1960, several developments have
dramatically reduced infant and child mortality throughout the world. (The u
of DDT to eliminate the mosquito - borne malaria; childhood immunizations
and antibiotics). During the same period, the "Green Revolution" has greatly
boosted food output through the cultivation of new disease resistant, high yic
hybrid varieties of wheat. These changes have been greatly responsible for a
dramatic increase in human population.

The global earth population crossed 6 billion mark in September 1999. Duri!
this decade it will increase by another billion, the fastest population growth i,
history. It was only 2 billion in 1930. Every second about three people are
added to the world; every day a quarter of a million are added. Evely year,
about 87 million people are added to the world. A recent joint statenlent by t
U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the British Royal Society finds that
population is growing at a rate that will lead to doubling by 2050.

It seems clear that in the next century, the earth will have to support twice as
many humans as it does today. Can our planet do this? Cleai.ly, the answer i
We are maintaining our present population of 6 billion oilly by rapid depletio
our resources: ground water, topsoil, tropical forests, biodiversity, fossil fuel:
clean air, etc. Today, approxiniately 40 per cent of the earth's photosyntlietit
productivity is used or influenced by human activities. Thus we will have to
the consequences of over population and degradation o r our environment.

The question arises can we build a "sustainable society"? For an answer in th

affirmative we have to make profound changes on a global level. We have to
develop international policies to regulate critical resources such as fresh wate
forests, fossil fuels, and the atmosphere and take steps to minimize the damah
that has already taken place. Now is the time to tackle serious problems
because to delay will have dire consequences.

Activity ,

Try to find out the population data of your city/village/State for at least past 3
years and try to plot a graph. Make your inferences by observing the graph.
 What is the shape of curve and why it is so? Has the population gone up or Why is Euvironment
Important?
down during these years? Identify the factors responsible for the population
.ld. level. Discuss the factors you think are responsible for growth or downfall of
lrts population growth. Also suggest ways to reduce the population as we are
seeing high population growth rate in India and we need sustainable
development.
2 tl
-- - - - -

1 CONSTITUTIONAL OBLIGATIONS OF A CITIZEN

In the later part of this course you will learn about the laws or legislations
11 . pertaining to the environment. We have national and international laws on
environment. However, the fact is that enviroilment knows no boundaries. If
the snow melts from polar caps, all the cities lying in low areas of the world
ize will get flooded. In case of a nuclear disaster, deadly radiations are bound to
:nt travel as much as the climate permits as radiations do not know boundaries of
citylstate/countiy/continent or direction. Radiations are going to affect who
ever comes on their route. So the environment is our's not his or her's.

It is our constitutional obligation to care for the erlvironment and have

1
sustainable development. This is more important because Nature does not have
rights. This question can be debated long. It is time now to think about nature
se
seriously and carefully and this can probably be done through Environmental
Ethics,
Id 1.13.1 Obligation to the Puture
The most important question that comes to our mind is what do we owe to our
'future generations'? These questions have beconle Inore relevant because we
1g know that modem technology is affecting the environment in ways that will
1 last hundred and thousand years. The particular coilcerns are:
Long-term climatic change resulting from land-use changes, urbanisation
I1e and technological activities.
* The destruction of forests and fertile agricultural soils.
0 Radioactive wastes from nuclear power plants.
0. Worldwide spread of non-radioactive toxic chemicals.
0 Environmental effects of thermonuclear war.
s no. 0 The direct effects of rapid increases in human population.
n of
The long term impacts of apparently short - term technological benefits,
'7
such as the iinpact on natural systenls caused by rapid advances in genetic
engineering.
face
1.13.2 Responsibilities and Duties of a Citizen
I
Before reading about responsibilities and duties you should know about the
extent of major damage to the environnlent due to human activities. These
r, details and data of damage to the environment have been provided by 'peter J.
,e Bryant and are as follows:
e We have already transfonned or degraded 39 - 50% of earth's land surface
(agriculture as well as urban)

3 I
Biodiversity and conservation - A Hypertext Book by Peter J. Bryant.
Environmental Concerns e We use 8% of the primary pl.oductivity of the oceans (25% from upw
areas and 35% from temperate continental shelf'areas).
e We have increased atmospheric COz concentration by 30%.
e We use more than half of the accessible fresh water sources.
a Over 50% of terrestrial nitrogen fixation is caused by huinan activit~
of nitrogen fertilizer, planting of nitrogen-fixing crops, release of re;
nitrogen from fossil fuels into the atmosphere).
e On many islands, more than half of plant species have been introducl
humans; on continental areas the fraction is 20% or more.
e About 20% of bird species have become extinct in the past 200 1
almost all of them because of human activity.
About 22% of marine fisheries have been overexploited or depleted,
more are at the limit of exploitation

These problems seem to be too difficult to be solved but there should be sc

initiation. Individuals can become involved in improving the environmen
which encoinpasses a wide range of approaches.

As we have explained, you will study in coming units that environineiltal

problems are in part, the result of the growing number of hunlan beings or
earth. This means individual actions, summed over, due to a large numbel
people, can have great influence on the environment. There are a wide ran
environmental issues so it becomes confusing as to: in which of the many
environmental issues one should participate. We think one n~ustattend to i
problem that has the most personal meaning and then try to find solutions.
People should help themselves rather than lookii~gtowards authority for
answers and solutions. We hope that after reading this course you would
participate in the efforts designed to address the environmental issues, whi
challenge us today.

3.14 LET US SUM UP

Environment is the sum total of living and non-living components that
suqound and influence an organism. Living components are called bio
components while non-living coinponents are called abiotic coinponen
The biosphere is that region of water, earth, atmosphere and where life
systems exist. Within the biosphere there are several major regions
containing specific types of ecosystems. The major terrestrial regions a
called biomes, which are characterised by their dominant vegetation. T
other portion of the biosphere is the aquatic zone.
An ecosystem is the simplest entity that can sustain life. At its most bat
an ecosystem is fonned of a variety of individual organisms both plant!
and animals which interact with each other and with their physical
environment. It sustains two processes, the cycling of chemical elemen
and flow of energy. It is self-regulatory based on feedback infoiemation
-
given by its living and non-living components. Ecosystems are conside
functional units of nature having no specific size or limits. Ecosystems
highly dynamic entities. They have evolved effective hoineostatic
mechanism for self regulation through feedback. I

* The abiotic components of the ecosystem consist of physical factors su

as light, temperature, rainfall, water, nutrients etc. The biotic componei
the ecosystem consists of autotrophs or producers and heterotrophs or
 consumers and decomposers. These organisms belong to different trophic Why is Environment
Important?
levels. Trophic levels tell us how far the organism is removed from the
plant in its level of nourishment and which organisms share the same
general source of nutrition.
0 Sun is the main source of energy needed for functioning of an ecosystem.
(use The flow of energy through the ecosystem is gt one-way process or is
ctive unidirectional. The sequence of organisms through which the energy flows
is known as food chain. Two main types of food chain can be distinguished
namely grazing and detritus food chain. The flow of energy is governed by
the two laws of thermodynamics. First Law of thermodynamic states that
ears, energy cannot be created or destroyed while the second Law says that as
energy is used to do wor;k, some energy is wasted as heat at each
transformation. As a result of this all living systellls need a continuous
supply of energy. The loss of energy at each trophic level limits the number
of trophic levels in a food chain to four or five.
Several intersecting food chains form a food'web, which depicts the pattern
of food consumption in an ecosystem.
Trophic relationships of an ecosystem can bc represented graphically in the
form of ecological pyramids. The base of the pyramid represents the
producers and the successive tiers represent the subsequent highcr trophic
levels. Ecological pyramids are of three types: (i) pyranlid of number -
depicting the number of individual organisms at each trophic level; (ji)
pyramid of biomass - representing total weight of living organisms at each
trophic level and (iii) pyramid of energy - showing the amount of energy
utilised at successive trophic levkls. ,

Nondegradable pollutants often accumulate (bioaccun~ulation)<andmagnify

(biomagnification) at each trophic level in the food chain and inay become
lethal when compared to the amount initially introduced into the biosphere.
The nutrients in an ecosystem are continuously cycled and recycled.
Nutrients essential to organisms are distributed in various chemical forms
in air (atmosphereJ, soil or rock (lithospherc), water (hydrospl~ere)and
living beings. Over timd elements move from one sphere to another in
biogeocllemical cycles. Key cycles described in the unit are water, carbon,
oxygen, nitrogen and sulphur. Soil microorganisnls play a key role in
cycling of elements, particularly nitrogen and sulphur.
In general some chemical element may cycle quickly compared to others.
Biogeocheinical cycles that include a gaseous phase in the atmosphere tend
to have more rapid recycling than those that do not.
Ecosystenl succession occurs when a series of commiinities replace one
le another. Each community changes the environment to make conditions
favourable for a subsequent community and unfavourable for itself till the
ic, climax comnlunity is established. The first plants to colonise an area are
called pioneer community. The final stage of succession, which is quite
stable, is called the climax community. The stages leading to clifnax
community are called successional stages or seres. When succession is
brought about naturally by the living inhabitants, the process is called
autogenic succession, while changes brought about by outside forces is
are , called allogenic succession.
The pattern of interaction between living things are at1important dimensioil
in an ecosystem and include intraspecific relations - interactions between
members of same species and inter specific relations -interactions between
members of different species.
 Environmental Concerns e Human population throughout history has been quite small but has been
increasing- since the onset of the industrial revolution. It has now back
being growing is an explosive manner.
e Human populations have specific characteristics such as density, natalit
and mortalily, age str-uctui-e,biotic polential dispersal or migration and
growlh rate. Population histogra~nsare helpful in showing tlie recent
history of a population as well as its sI101.t-termgrowth trends. We
i k

e
distinguish three types of histogram: expansive, constrictive and station;
The future of human population with current trends is bleak, due to rap;,
depletion of resources, over crowding and destruction of the ecosystem.
The future lies in slowing down population growth rapidly enough to
ensure a smooth demographic transition in the developing countries, fail
which, large-scale disasters inay occur. L

--- -

3.15 FURTHER READING

1. Basic Ecology - Eugene P. Odum.
2. Biology Today Vo12 - Sandra S. Gottfr-ied
3. Biology the Science of Life - Robert A.
4. Biology an Exploration of Life - Carol H. Mc Fadden and WilIian~T.
Keeton.
5. Biological Science, NPO Green, G.W, Stout, D. J . Taylor.
6. Biology - Ruth Bernstein & Stephen Bernstein
7. Concepts of Ecology. Edward J. Kormondy.
8. Demography http:/lwww.trini ty.edulinkearIlcle~1iogr~i~~~1it1nl.
9. Environmental 'Science - A framework for decision making. Daniel D.
Chiras.
10. Environmental Science - Earth is a living planet. Daniel Botkin and
Edward Keller.
11. Elements of Ecology - Robert Leo Smith and Tliomas M. Smith.
12. Huinan Environnient - Block- 1 (AHE-01).
13. Human population Growth li'lt~~:/Idarwin.bio.uci.edu/-sus~ain/,
. 14. Heath Biology - James E. McLaren, Lissa Rolundo.
15. INDIA: Quantitative Fi-eedom, Democracy, Progress -
inalaiva@cs.colostate.edu
16. Population Council/Asia-India, ~ ~ ~ ~ : / / \ \ ~ w w . ~ ~ ~o.?c L
) ~'~oI ~ ~IsI~I:cI ~/ ~ ~
17. Population and human developluent - the key connect~ons-
l1tlp://www.ueop~ea11~~1~~net~nell~I0~.
18. Slandwd Grade Biology - James Tol~aracc
19. Wallace Jack L. King Gerald P, Sanders.
 UNIT 2 NATURAL RESOURCES
Structure
2.1 Introduction
Objectives
2.2 Resource Availability and Potential
Air
Water
Forest Resources
Biological Resources (Biodiversity)
Food Resources
ing Land
Mineral Resources
Energy: Non-conventional Renewable Sources of Energy
2.3 Resource Scarcity and Degradation
2.4 Optimum Resource Potential and Utilisation
Waste Recycling
Land Use
Utilisation of Forest Resources
Conservation and Efficient Use of Water Resources
Conservation of Mineral Resources
2.5 Activities
2.6 Let Us Sum Up
2.7 Further Reading

2.1 INTRODUCTION
In the previous unit you have studied what constitutes your environment and
how ecosystem supports myriad living organisms including human beings. You
have also understood the importance of environment. In the present unit we shall
discuss the resourcks or the wealth, nature has given to us as these are essential
for survival and future development. Therefore, it is our prime concern to use
our natural treasures wisely and judiciously. Our demand on natural resources is
rapidly increasing. However, it is believed that thd resources are being used
indiscriminately. This is partly because of the tre~ncndousincrease in our
population and partly there is lack of realisation on our part that these resources
are limited and will be exhausted one day. Our industrial and technological
development has surpassed the rate at which thesc resources are being used. It is
significant to lllentivll here thal, for centuries, the resources of some of thc
countries have bcen exported as raw material to dominant 01.developed
countries. The poor countries still have to cxpor( sonlc precious mineral.: co ti~c
same coui.lti.ies which are now called dc\,eloped countries. For e,uamyle wrc arc
now-a-days exporting cadmium, a silvury mctal, to Sol.cign ~:uuntrittsso as tcr
earn foreign cwcncy to meet out other necessi~ies.The iiletal I;s extrcmel,
usefill and is used for a variety of pilrposcs Jlkzmaking chdrni~lrnr ~ b foi s
nuclear reactors and cadmium-silver cell:, for electl-o~licwatches c:: ?LS nf ;!G~.Y
wz are not able to make much use of this precirpus metal due to low level of
technological developlnent in our country. If tonlorrow ou: min!2ral resel-ires,of
this metal are exhausted. c inay bc f ~ ~ r c etodimport it at m~iclxhigl~ercu::t
Some countries which are im?ortilig this rneta; ma;,.--j:. , : i ~ x k :litlg
; it and t h y
may sell it at an exorbitailt price when 111.~;.;L,:c~,:.at.< .:xha~stt:i:.

There is another reason to conserve and safeguard our natural resources as their'
supply is not unlimited and in fact some of the resources occur only in scant 59