NOTES

AUGUST 2020
Chapter 1: Ecosystems

GRADE : 8 SUBJECT: BIOLOGY

ECOSYSTEM:

• Literally, the term “ecosystem” is derived from the Greek word

“oikos” which means a “house” a dwelling place with the
inhabitants living together and interacting with each other in
some definite ways

• This interaction is primarily for food i.e “eat” and “be eaten”
• Ecosystem has two categories of its components
• The living component (all kinds of plants, animals and
microorganisms) called BIOTIC component
• Non-living components like sunlight, air, water, warmth, etc
collectively called the ABIOTIC component
• Biotic (living)components of a forest consists of the following
sequence of trophic (food) levels
Trophic level - 1 (green plants):
 Trees, bushes, grasses- produce food through photosynthesis ,
thus categorized as producers
(Autotrophs - auto: self, troph: nourishment)
Trophic level - 2
• plant eating animals- the herbivores
• Such as deer, rabbits, rats , pigeons, grasshoppers, bees
• They directly eat the plants
Producer’s vs consumers
• green plants(produces food) are ranked as producers
• The plant eating animals are ranked as consumers(they
consume the food produced by the plants)

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 Consumers:
Primary consumers- an animal that eats plants
May be herbivore or an omnivore
Secondary consumers- an animal that eats primary consumers
May be carnivore or an omnivore
Tertiary consumer- an animal that eats secondary consumers
Plants rat snake peacock

Trophic level - 3
• Flesh eating animals- carnivores
• These are animals which capture their prey(some herbivore)
and eat it
• Examples : tiger wolf, snakes, etc
• These are also described as secondary consumers
Trophic level - 4
• Plants rat snake peacock
• Peacock can be the good example of this third rank of
consumers
• Besides the above mentioned four levels, there is yet another
category the detritivores (dead matter eaters) which consume
the dead organisms of all the levels
Non-living components
• 1. sunlight- production of food by photosynthesis
• 2. air
• 3. water
• 4. Temperature
• 5. soil
Food chain:
• A food chain shows the different organisms that live in a
habitat, and what eats what.

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 • Food chain is the sequence of organisms in which each
organism eats the lower member and is itself eaten by the next
higher member
• A food chain always starts with a producer, which is an
organism that makes food. This is usually a green plant,
because plants can make their own food by photosynthesis.
• A food chain ends with a consumer, which is an animal that
eats a plant or another animal. Here is an example of a simple
food chain:
• Grass gazelle lion
Predators and prey
• A predator is an animal that eats other animals, and the prey is
the animal that gets eaten by the predator.

Grass → Grasshopper → Frog → Hawk

Producer Consumer Consumer Consumer

Primary Secondary Tertiary

consumer consumer consumer

Herbivore Carnivore Carnivore

In the food chain:

• The frog is a predator and the grasshopper is its prey.
• The hawk is a predator and the frog is its prey.
Food chain in the ocean
• Phytoplankton are so small .they are invisible to the naked eye.
They are the foundation of the ocean food chain

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 • Small fishes and crustaceans such as crab eat phytoplankton as
food
• The small animals and fishes who eat phytoplankton then
become food for larger creatures such as the sea turtle
• At the top of the ocean food chain are the large predators such
as sharks and mammals
Food web:
• Food web is a pattern of several interconnecting food chains
• When all the food chains in a habitat are joined up together
they form a food web
• The food chains are never so simple
• These are various alternative interconnections at different
points. Such interconnected food chains are called food webs
• Food webs are very complex, and even biologists have yet to
understand all the dynamics and interactions in food webs
• Here is an example of a food web:

• Although it looks complex, it is just several food chains joined

together. Here are some of the food chains in this food web:
• grass → insect → vole → hawk
• grass → insect → frog → fox
• grass → insect → vole → fox

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 • Notice that the frogs, voles and insects have more than one
predator, but the rabbits and slugs have just one predator.
• This leads to some interesting effects if the population of a
particular organism in the food web decreases. Some animals
can just eat more of another organism if food is in short supply,
while others may starve and die. This in turn can affect the
populations of other organisms in the food web.

What would happen if the grass died?

• The grass is the producer, so if it died the consumers that feed
on it - rabbits, insects and slugs - would have no food.
• They would starve and die unless they could move to another
habitat.
• All the other animals in the food web would die too, because
their food supplies would have died out.
• The populations of the consumers would fall as the population
of the producer fell.
What would happen if the population of slugs decreased?
• Slugs, rabbits and insects all eat grass. If there were fewer slugs
there would be more grass for the rabbits and insects.
• With more food the populations of rabbits and insects would
increase. However, the thrushes would have to eat more
insects to maintain their population, so it is also possible that
the population of insects could decrease.
• This is turn may reduce the populations of voles and frogs.
What would happen if the population of insects decreased?
• There would be more food for the rabbits and slugs, so their
populations would increase.
• However, there would be less food for the frogs and voles, so
their populations would decrease.

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 • This means less food for the foxes and hawks. However, there
are likely to be more rabbits and thrushes for them to eat, so
their populations are likely to stay the same.
Ecological pyramids:
• An ecological pyramid is a graphic representation of the
relationship between individuals present in the various trophic
levels of a food chain with producers forming the base and top
carnivores at the tip
• Developed by Charles Elton(1927)
• It can be upright, inverted or spindle shaped

• Same thing generally happens in a food chain. For example, let

us take a food chain with tiger at the top
Grass deer tiger
• A grown up tiger must have eaten several deers in its life-time
and each one of these deers must have eaten hundreds and
thousands of grass twigs
• This was in terms of number of individuals consumed at each
level.
• Similarly, weight wise or more approximately mass-wise
relationship can be indicated in a food chain
• Largest mass is consumed at the first level (grass deer),
which does not lead to the same mass of flesh of the deers
• Next, again the total mass of flesh of deers eaten by the tiger in
its life time must have been several times that of its own body
mass.
• Thus these two types of pyramids( of numbers and of biomass)
in a certain forest can be supposedly represented somewhat as
follows
• Pyramids of numbers
• The population of each organism in a food chain can be shown
in a sort of bar chart called a pyramid of numbers.

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 • It is the simplest type of ecological pyramid
• The number plants may be estimated using a quadrat
• The number of small animals may be estimated by using traps,
nets and beating branches
• The number of large animals such as birds, may be found by
observing and counting
• An ecological pyramid is divided into layers and tiers
• There is one tier for each species in the food chain
• Bottom tier- used to display about producer
• Second tier- used for primary consumer
• Above tier- used for other consumers
• Size of the tier(wider the bar) represents number of species in
the habitat
Example:
Think about this food chain:
• clover → snail → thrush → hawk
• Clover is a plant and it is the producer in this food chain. Its bar
goes at the bottom of the pyramid:

• Energy is lost to the surroundings as we go from one level to

the next, so there are fewer organisms at each level in this food
chain.

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 • A lot of clover is needed to support the snail population. A
thrush eats lots of snails, and a hawk eats lots of thrushes, so
the population of hawks is very small.

Tigers (secondary consumer)

(Dozens)

(Hundreds) Deers (primary consumer)

(millions) Grass twigs (producer)

(Pyramids of numbers)

Other pyramid shapes:

• Sometimes the pyramid of numbers doesn't look like a pyramid
at all.
• This could happen if the producer is a large plant such as a tree,
or if one of the animals is very small. Remember, though, that
whatever the situation, the producer still goes at the bottom of
the pyramid.

An oak tree is very large so many insects can feed on it

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 Fleas are very small and lots of them can feed on a rabbit
Pyramid of biomass:
• A pyramid biomass is a more accurate indication of how much
energy is passed on at one trophic level
• Biomass is the mass of living material in each organism
multiplied by the total number of organisms in that trophic
level
• This makes it easier to compare the food value of a smaller
number of larger organisms
• Pyramids of biomass usually are a true pyramid shape(each
level is smaller than the one below it)
• The biomass in each trophic level is always less than the trophic
level below
• This is because biomass is a measure of the amount of food
available
• When animal eat, only a small proportion of their food is
converted into new tissue, which is good for the next trophic
level
• Most of the biomass that animals eat is either not digested, or
used to provide the energy needed for staying alive

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 Tigers Least

Deers Lesser

Grass maximum

(Pyramids of biomass)

Energy flow:
• There is the decrease in the content and flow of energy with
the rise in trophic level
• Only 10% of the herbivore productivity is utilised for raising
productivity of primary carnivores
• Higher carnivores similarly are able to retain only 10% of
energy present in primary carnivores. It is called 10% law
proposed by Lindeman in 1942

Role of decomposers:
Decomposers
 Decomposers are nature's recyclers as they break down
the organic matter found in the dead bodies of plants and
animals.
 The term 'organic matter' refers to the matter that comes
from living organisms.
 Decomposers are chiefly the micro-organisms such as
bacteria and fungi in the form or yeasts and moulds that
break down bodies of dead organisms and release
compounds that can be used by producers.

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  Some of these compounds include nitrogen, phosphorus
and magnesium. There are more than 100 000 different
types of decomposer organisms.
 Bacteria and fungi produce chemicals,
called enzymes that digest dead material.
 The digested material then provides a food source for
other organisms in the soil.
 This makes the role of a decomposer extremely important
in an ecosystem. Without them, organic matter would pile
up on the ground and plants would not receive the
required nutrients necessary for their survival.
 The decomposing process greatly increases the nutrient-
load of an ecosystem which allows for greater biodiversity.

Scavengers
 Scavengers are also important in an ecosystem. A
scavenger is an animal, bird or insect that feeds on dead
or decaying matter.
 They are useful to the ecosystem as they feed on and
break down the remains of dead animals and plants.
 Any remains left behind by the scavengers are then
broken down even further by decomposers.
 Scavengers include vultures, blowflies, wedge-tailed
eagles and foxes.
 Many large carnivores that hunt regularly such as hyenas
and lions will also scavenge if necessary and given the
chance.
Detritivores
 Other organisms that perform similar roles to
decomposers and scavengers are the detrivores.
 A detrivore is a plant or animal that feeds on the organic
remains or other organic debris from other organisms.
 They recycle detritus, which is decomposing organic
material and return it to the food chain.

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  Earthworms, millipedes, woodlice and dung beetles are
examples of detritus feeders.
 Earthworms eat the rotting plant leaves and other debris
and help to aerate and mix the soil.
 Other detritus feeders such as dung beetles eat faeces,
which often contain considerable nutrients.
 Some of the detritus that is consumed by the detrivores
may already have been partially or fully decomposed by
decomposers.

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