Introduction

An ecosystem is a community of living organisms in conjunction with the non-living

components of their environment, interacting as a system. These biotic and abiotic
components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy
enters the system through photosynthesis and is incorporated into plant tissue. By
feeding on plants and on one-another, animals play an important role in the movement
of matter and energy through the system. They also influence the quantity of plant and
microbial biomass present. By breaking down dead organic matter, decomposers
release carbon back to the atmosphere and facilitate nutrient cycling by converting
nutrients stored in dead biomass back to a form that can be readily used by plants and
other microbes.

Ecosystems are controlled by external and internal factors. External factors such as
climate, parent material which forms the soil and topography, control the overall
structure of an ecosystem but are not themselves influenced by the ecosystem. Unlike
external factors, internal factors are controlled, for example, decomposition, root
competition, shading, disturbance, succession, and the types of species present.

Ecosystems are dynamic entities—they are subject to periodic disturbances and are in
the process of recovering from some past disturbance. Ecosystems in similar
environments that are located in different parts of the world can end up doing things
very differently simply because they have different pools of species present. Internal
factors not only control ecosystem processes but are also controlled by them and are
often subject to feedback loops.

Resource inputs are generally controlled by external processes like climate and parent
material. Resource availability within the ecosystem is controlled by internal factors
like decomposition, root competition or shading. Although humans operate within
ecosystems, their cumulative effects are large enough to influence external factors like
climate.
Biodiversity affects ecosystem functioning, as do the processes of disturbance and
succession. Ecosystems provide a variety of goods and services upon which people
depend.

A healthy ecosystem will have high species diversity and is not likely to be damaged by
human interactions, natural disasters, and climate changes. Every species within an
ecosystem has a niche, the unique way that a given species uses its environment. New
species are discovered every day and the roles they play in their environment to keep it
healthy.

Soil is also an important part of an ecosystem. It provides important nutrients for the
plants in an ecosystem. It helps anchor the plants to keep them in place. Soil absorbs
and holds water for plants and animals to use and provides a home for lots of living
organisms. The atmosphere provides oxygen and carbon dioxide for the plants and
animals in an ecosystem.
 Component of Ecosystem

Biotic Components of Ecosystem

The living components of an ecosystem are called the biotic components. Some of these
factors include plants, animals, as well as fungi and bacteria. These biotic components
can be further classified, based on the energy requirement source. Producers,
consumers, and decomposers are the three broad categories of biotic components.

 Producers are the plants in the ecosystem, which can generate their own energy
requirement through photosynthesis, in the presence of sunlight and chlorophyll.
All other living beings are dependent on plants for their energy requirement of
food as well as oxygen.
 Consumers include herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores. The herbivores are
the living organisms that feed on plants. Carnivores eat other living organisms.
Omnivores are animals that can eat both plant and animal tissue.
  Decomposers are the fungi and bacteria, which are the saprophytes. They feed on
the decaying organic matter and convert this matter into nitrogen and carbon
dioxide. The saprophytes play a vital role in recycling the nutrients so that the
producers i.e. plants can use them once again.

Abiotic Components of Ecosystem

Abiotic components are the physical and/or the chemical factors that act on the living
organisms at any part of their life. These are also called as the ecological factors. The
physical and chemical factors are characteristic of the environment. Light, air, soil, and
nutrients, etc. form the abiotic components of an ecosystem.

The abiotic factors vary from ecosystem to ecosystem. In an aquatic ecosystem, the
abiotic factors may include water pH, sunlight, turbidity, water depth, salinity, available
nutrients and dissolved oxygen. Similarly, abiotic factors in terrestrial ecosystems can
include soil, soil types, temperature, rain, altitude, wind, nutrients, sunlight etc.

Here, the sun is the energy source. Producers/plants use this energy to synthesize food
in the presence of carbon dioxide and chlorophyll. The energy from the sun, through
several chemical reactions, turns into chemical energy.

The herbivores are dependent on plants for the energy requirements. The carnivores,
in turn, feed on the herbivores and other carnivores. At any level, microbes then
decompose any dead and decaying organic matter. These decomposers, after various
chemical reactions, release molecules back to the environment in the form of chemicals.
The chemicals are again used by the producers, and the cycle starts again.

In conclusion, ecosystems have a complex set of interactions that happen between the
biotic and abiotic components. The components of an ecosystem are linked to each
other through the energy flows and nutrient cycles. Even though ecosystems do not
have clear boundaries, these interactions get affected, even if one factor is changed or
removed. This ultimately has the capacity to affect the entire ecosystem.
Nutrient Cycle
 Energy Cycle

Every ecosystem has several interrelated mechanisms that affect human life. These are
the water cycle, the carbon cycle, the oxygen cycle, the nitrogen cycle and the energy
cycle. While every ecosystem is controlled by these cycles, in each ecosystem its abiotic
and biotic features are distinct from each other. All the functions of the ecosystem are
in some way related to the growth and regeneration of its plant and animal species.
These linked pro-cesses can be depicted as the various cycles. These processes de-pend
on energy from sunlight. During photosynthesis carbon di-oxide is taken up by plants
and oxygen is released. Animals de-pend on this oxygen for their respiration. The water
cycle depends on the rainfall, which is necessary for plants and animals to live. The
energy cycle recycles nutrients into the soil on which plant life grows.
 Ecological Pyramid

An ecological pyramid (also trophic pyramid, Eltonian pyramid, energy pyramid,

or sometimes food pyramid) is a graphical representation designed to show the
biomass or bioproductivity at each trophic level in a given ecosystem.

A pyramid of energy shows how much energy is retained in the form of new biomass at
each trophic level, while a pyramid of biomass shows how much biomass (the amount of
living or organic matter present in an organism) is present in the organisms. There is
also a pyramid of numbers representing the number of individual organisms at each
trophic level. Pyramids of energy are normally upright, but other pyramids can be
inverted or take other shapes.

Ecological pyramids begin with producers on the bottom (such as plants) and proceed
through the various trophic levels (such as herbivores that eat plants, then carnivores
that eat flesh, then omnivores that eat both plants and flesh, and so on). The highest
level is the top of the food chain.
Pyramid of Energy
A pyramid of energy or pyramid of productivity shows the production or turnover (the
rate at which energy or mass is transferred from one trophic level to the next) of
biomass at each trophic level. Instead of showing a single snapshot in time, productivity
pyramids show the flow of energy through the food chain. Typical units are grams per
square meter per year or calories per square meter per year. As with the others, this
graph shows producers at the bottom and higher trophic levels on top.

When an ecosystem is healthy, this graph produces a standard ecological pyramid. This
is because in order for the ecosystem to sustain itself, there must be more energy at
lower trophic levels than there is at higher trophic levels. This allows organisms on the
lower levels to not only to maintain a stable population, but also to transfer energy up
the pyramid. The exception to this generalization is when portions of a food web are
supported by inputs of resources from outside the local community. In small, forested
streams, for example, the volume of higher levels is greater than could be supported by
the local primary production.

Pyramid of biomass
A pyramid of biomass shows the relationship between biomass and trophic level by
quantifying the biomass present at each trophic level of an ecological community at a
particular time.
It is a graphical representation of biomass (total amount of living or organic matter in
an ecosystem) present in unit area in different trophic levels. Typical units are grams
per square meter, or calories per square meter. The pyramid of biomass may be
"inverted". For example, in a pond ecosystem, the standing crop of phytoplankton, the
major producers, at any given point will be lower than the mass of the heterotrophs,
such as fish and insects. This is explained as the phytoplankton reproduces very
quickly, but have much shorter individual lives.

Pyramid of number
A pyramid of numbers shows graphically the population, or abundance, in terms of the number
of individual organisms involved at each level in a food chain. This shows the number of
organisms in each trophic level without any consideration for their individual sizes or
biomass. The pyramid is not necessarily upright. For example, it will be inverted if beetles are
feeding from the output of forest trees, or parasites are feeding on large host animals.
 Ecological Succession

Ecological succession is the process of change in the species structure of an ecological

community over time. The time scale can be decades (for example, after a wildfire), or
even millions of years after a mass extinction.

The community begins with relatively few pioneering plants and animals and develops
through increasing complexity until it becomes stable or self-perpetuating as a climax
community. The "engine" of succession, the cause of ecosystem change, is the impact of
established organisms upon their own environments. A consequence of living is the
sometimes subtle and sometimes overt alteration of one's own environment.

It is a phenomenon or process by which an ecological community undergoes more or

less orderly and predictable changes following a disturbance or the initial colonization
of a new habitat. Succession may be initiated either by formation of new, unoccupied
habitat, such as from a lava flow or a severe landslide, or by some form of disturbance
of a community, such as from a fire, severe withdraw, or logging. Succession that begins
in new habitats, uninfluenced by pre-existing communities is called primary succession,
whereas succession that follows disruption of a pre-existing community is called
secondary succession.