A PROJECT REPORT ON

STUDY OF ECOSYSTEM

SIMPLE
ECOSYSTEM

A PROJECT REPORT ON THE STUDY

OF POLLUTED SITE

RIZVI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

Rizvi complex, off. Carter road, Bandra, Mumbai-400050

A PROJECT REPORT ON THE STUDY

OF POLLUTED SITE

T.E.(ELECTRONICS)

PREPARED BY: DINESH AUTI

REPORT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF

REQUIREMENT OF TERM WORK FOR ENVIRONMENTAL
STUDIES

----------------

--------------------

-----------------

Ms. Rupali Thorat

EVS In charge

Prof. Nargis Shaikh

Head of Department
Electronics

Dr. Varsha Shah

Principal

PREFACE
It is important for all of us to understand our surroundings, the interaction
of various life forms within it, the interaction of our environment with us
and how human beings change these interactions.
It is also important to educate people about the changed interactions.
We have to find out practical, technological and sustainable solutions and
value that will help us to develop lifestyles which will enable all people,
now living and those yet to be born to have a better quality of life.
This project would help you understand ecosystems and how the
different elements that constitute our world, both living and non-living,
interact with each other in the cycles of nature and in turn how human
beings get affected by disturbances in the ecosystems upon which we
depend for our sustenance.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
CONTENTS

Before I begin enlightening our readers, you that is, I express a sincere
1 Overview
vote
of thanks to our E.V.S teacher, whose insight into the matter helped
2 Etymology
me
a lot while
I was working on this project. It was her timely help and
3 Examples
of ecosystems
wise
suggestions, without which this document would not have been
3.1 Biomes
possible.
Her teachings and overall knowledge about the environment and
4 Classification
related
issuesservices
are the foundation pillars for this project.
5 Ecosystem
6 Ecosystem legal rights
7 Function and biodiversity
study of ecosystems
8.1 Ecosystem dynamics
8.2 Ecosystem ecology
9 See also
10 References
11 Further reading
12 External links

Overview
Central to the ecosystem concept is the idea that living organisms interact with
every other element in their local environment. Eugene Odum, a founder
of ecology, stated: "Any unit that includes all of the organisms (ie: the
"community") in a given area interacting with the physical environment so that
a flow of energy leads to clearly defined trophic structure, biotic diversity, and
material cycles (i.e.: exchange of materials between living and nonliving parts)
within the system is an ecosystem."

Etymology
The term ecosystem was coined in 1930 by Roy Clapham to mean the
combined physical and biological components of an environment. British
ecologist Arthur Tansleylater refined the term, describing it as "The whole
system, including not only the organism-complex, but also the whole
complex of physical factors forming what we call the environment". Tansley
regarded ecosystems not simply as natural units, but as mental isolates. Tansley
later defined the spatial extent of ecosystems using the term ecotope.
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living
in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving, physical components of the
environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water, and
sunlight.[1]
is all the organisms in a given area, along with the nonliving
Examples ofIt ecosystems
(abiotic) factors with which they interact; a community and its physical
agro-ecosystems
environment.[1]
The entire array of organisms inhabiting a particular ecosystem
Agroecosystem
is called
a community.[1] In a typical ecosystem, plants and

Aquatic ecosystem
other photosynthetic
organisms are the producers that provide the food.
Chaparral

[1] Ecosystems
can be permanent or temporary. Ecosystems usually form a

Coral
reef
number of food webs.[2]
Desert

Forest
Ecosystems
areYellowstone
functional units
consisting of living things in a given area, nonEcosystem
Greater
living
and physical factors of their environment, not together through
chemical
Human ecosystem

nutrientLarge
cyclemarine
and energy
flow.[citation needed]
ecosystem

Littoral zone
1. Natural
Lotic
1. Terrestrial ecosystem
Marine
ecosystem
2. Aquatic ecosystem

Ecosystem
Pond 1.
Lentic, the ecosystem of a lake, pond or swamp.
Prairie
2. Lotic, the ecosystem of a river, stream or spring.
Rainforest
2. Artificial, environments created by humans.
Riparian zone
Savanna
Steppe
Subsurface Lithoautotrophic Microbial Ecosystem

Several physiognomic-ecological
classification systems are available:
Classification
Physiognomic-Ecological Classification of Plant Formations of the Earth:
a system based on the 1974 work of Mueller-Dombois and Heinz
Ecosystems
have become
particularly
since "describes
Ellenberg,[7]
and developed
by important
UNESCO.politically,
This classificatie
the Convention
on Biological
Diversityvegetation
(CBD) - ratified
by 192
the above-ground
or underwater
structures
andcountries
cover as definesobserved
"the protection
of ecosystems,
natural
andThis
the maintenance
in the field,
described as
planthabitats
life forms.
classificationofis
viable fundamentally
populations of aspecies
in natural surroundings"[6]
as hierarchical
a commitment of
species-independent
physiognomic,
ratifying
countries.
This has created
thewhich
political
toaccount
spatiallyecological
identify
vegetation
classification
system
alsonecessity
takes into
ecosystems
and
somehow
distinguish
among
them.
The
CBD
defines
an
factors such as climate, elevation, human influences such as grazing,
"ecosystem"
a "dynamic
complex
of plant,such
animal
and micro-organism
hydric as
regimes
and survival
strategies
as seasonality.
The system
communities
and
their
non-living
environment
interacting
as
a
functional
unit".
was expanded with a basic classification for open water formations".[8]
Land Cover Classification System (LCCS), developed by the Food and
Agriculture
Organization
(FAO).[9]
With the
need of protecting
ecosystems,
the political need arose to describe and
Forest-Range
Environmental
Study
developed
by
identify them efficiently. Vreugdenhil et al.Ecosystems
argued that (FRES)
this could
be achieved
the Unitedby
States
Service for use in the United
States.[10]
most effectively
usingForest
a physiognomic-ecological
classification
system, as
ecosystems are easily recognizable in the field as well as on satellite images.
They argued that the structure and seasonality of the associated vegetation,
Several
classification
systems are
available,
an efforthumidity,
is being and
made
or flora, aquatic
complemented
with ecological
data
(such asand
elevation,
by
the United
Geological modifiers
Survey (USGS)
and thepartially
Inter-American
drainage),
are States
each determining
that separate
distinct sets of
Biodiversity
Network
(IABIN)
to design
complete
species. This Information
is true not only
for plant
species,
but alsoa for
speciesecosystem
of animals,
classification
system
that
will
cover
both
terrestrial
and
aquatic
ecosystems.
fungi and bacteria. The degree of ecosystem distinction is subject to the
physiognomic modifiers that can be identified on an image and/or in the field.
Where necessary, specific faunaelements can be added, such as seasonal
concentrations of animals and the distribution of coral reefs.

The study of ecosystems

Introduction of new elements, whether biotic or abiotic, into an ecosystem tend
to have a disruptive effect. In some cases, this can lead to ecological collapse or
"trophic cascading" and the death of many species within the ecosystem. Under
this deterministic vision, the abstract notion of ecological health attempts to
measure the robustness and recovery capacity for an ecosystem; i.e. how far the
ecosystem is away from its steady state.
Often, however, ecosystems have the ability to rebound from a disruptive agent.
The difference between collapse or a gentle rebound is determined by two
factorsthe toxicity of the introduced element and theresiliency of the original
ecosystem.
Ecosystems are primarily governed by stochastic (chance) events, the reactions
these events provoke on non-living materials and the responses by organisms to
the conditions surrounding them. Thus, an ecosystem results from the sum of
individual responses of organisms to stimuli from elements in the environment.
The presence or absence of populations merely depends on reproductive and
dispersal success, and population levels fluctuate in response to stochastic
events. As the number of species in an ecosystem is higher, the number of
stimuli is also higher. Since the beginning of life organisms have survived
continuous change through natural selection of successful feeding, reproductive
and dispersal behavior. Through natural selection the planet's species have
continuously adapted to change through variation in their biological
composition and distribution. Mathematically it can be demonstrated that
greater numbers of different interacting factors tend to dampen fluctuations in
each of the individual factors.

Given the great diversity among organisms on earth, most ecosystems only
References

changed
very gradually, as some species would disappear while others would
Biology Concepts & Connections Sixth Edition, Campbell, Neil A. (2009), page 2, 3 and G-9.
move in.
Locally, sub-populations continuously go extinct, to be replaced later
Retrieved
2010-06-14.
through dispersal of other sub-populations. Stochastists do recognize that
1. ^ (1996) Geosystems: An Introduction to Physical Geography. Prentice Hall Inc.
certain
intrinsic regulating mechanisms occur in nature. Feedback and response
2. ^ Odum, EP (1971) Fundamentals of ecology, third edition, Saunders New York
mechanisms
at the
species
level
regulate
population
levels,
most Ecology
notably
3. ^ a b Tansley,
AG (1935).
"The
use and
abuse of vegetational
terms
and concepts".
16:
through territorial behaviour. Andrewatha and Birch[19]suggest that territorial
behaviour
tends to keep populations at levels where food supply is not a
284307.
limiting
factor.
stochastists
seetheir
territorial
a regulatory
4. ^ Tansley,
AGHence,
(1939) The
British islands and
vegetation.behaviour
Volume 1 of 2.as
Cambridge
mechanism
at the
level but
University
Press,species
United. Kingdom.
484 not
pg. at the ecosystem level. Thus, in their
vision,
ecosystems
are not regulated by feedback and response mechanisms
5. ^ United
Nations Environment Programme. Convention on Biological Diversity. June 1992.
from the (eco)system itself and there is no such thing as a balance of nature.
UNEP Document no. Na.92-78. Reprint

6. ^ Mller-Dombois & Ellenberg: "A Tentative Physiognomic-Ecological Classification of Plant

Formations of the Earth".

If ecosystems are governed primarily by stochastic processes, through which its

subsequent state would be determined by both predictable and random actions,
they may be more resilient to sudden change than each species individually. In
the absence of a balance of nature, the species composition of ecosystems
would undergo shifts that would depend on the nature of the change, but entire
ecological collapse would probably be infrequent events.