Biosphere Short Notes 1 S.Kobinath (St.

Patrick’s College)
Individual
A single organism belongs to a particular
species and lives in the environment is
referred to as an individual
Community
A group of populations living in the same
locality with inter relationship is known as
a community
Biosphere
All the living organisms on earth, their
habitats and all the interactions between
living beings and habitats are called in the
biosphere
Typical growth curve of population
Phase I - Slow growth phase (Lag phase)
At the stage I , the growth of population is
slow because the number of mature
organisms is less.
Population
The total number of living organisms living in
a certain regain during a definite period of
time is known as population.
Eco system
The interactions between living organisms
and environment are collectively called an eco
system.
Organizational levels in the biosphere
Individual  Species  Population 
Community  Eco system  Biosphere

Phase II - High growth phase

(Exponential phase)
In the stage II, population increases rapidly
because there are more mature organisms
and the environmental conditions are
favorable
Phase III - Declerating phase Phase IV - Stationary phase
In the stage III, Competition among In the stage IV, population becomes balanced.
organisms increase due to the increase of The maximum number of living organisms
population hence part of the population that could be provided with nutrition over a
decreases long period of time.

Biosphere Short Notes 2 S.Kobinath (St.Patrick’s College)

The number of organisms of a species, living in a unit area of a selected habitat is called the
population density.There are four factors that affect the population density.
01. No. of Births
02. No of Deaths
03. Emigrations
04. Immigrations
Growth curve of human population
01. The growth curve of a human population, is J
shape. That means the human population is
still in exponential phase.
02. The development of technology, progress in
medical field and high rate of food production
are some of the reasons for high population
growth.
Flow of energy and Nutritents

Autotrophs / Producers Heterotrophs

Every food chain begins with green plants The animals that cannot produce their own food,
because only they can capture the energy and depend on food produced by other
from sunlight. They are called Producers organisms, belong to this group. They are
because they produce food. known as consumers. The consumers are further

In any eco system primary producers are divided as follows,

green plants  Primary consumers

 Secondary consumers
 Tertiary consumers
Decomposers
Organisms feed on bodies of dead organisms by converting complex organic compounds
into simple compounds are known as decomposers. Saphrophytes like bacteria and fungi
belong to this group. This process is called decomposition

Biosphere Short Notes 3 S.Kobinath (St.Patrick’s College)

 Food chaim & Food web
Foodchain

Grass Grasshopper Rat Owl

Foodchain Foodweb
The by which energy, in the form of
food, passes from a plant to an animal
and then to other animals, is called a
food chain.
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mq;fpfspd; vz;zpf;if mt;
czTr; rq;fpypapd; ,izg;G
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Flow of energy and Nutritents through food chain
 In an ecosystem the energy and materials flow along food chain.
 90% energy is lost at every stage in the food chain.
 The energy is lost mostly in respiration 60% and energy discarded as waste products
30%
 This loss of energy limits the length of a food chain. Therfore most food chains are
limited only about 3 – 4 links.

Ecological Pyramids
Number Pyramids

01. Each block in the pyramid represents the number of organisms 2

at each stage in the food chain. 30
02. The number of organisms at each level decreases because 3250
there is less energy available.
03. Sometimes a pyramid of numbers does not look pyramid shaped

Biosphere Short Notes 4 S.Kobinath (St.Patrick’s College)

Bio Mass Pyramids
01. Biomass is the total mass of the organisms at each stage in a food
chain. This always gets less as you go along a food chain.
02. The biomass at each stage can be drawn to scale as a pyramid of
biomass

Energy Pyramids
01. Only 10% of energy in a trophic level passes to the upper
trophic level. 90% of the energy is dissipated to the
environment.
02. Therefore, the energy in the upper trophic levels is less than
the lower trophic levels. So the energy pyramids are always
upright
Bio Geo Chemical Cycle
 The process of cyclic circulation of essential chemical components through atmosphere,
hydrosphere of biosphere is called bio geo chemical cycle

Carbon Cycle

Biosphere Short Notes 5 S.Kobinath (St.Patrick’s College)

 Nitrogen Cycle
Changing N2 gas in to a more reactive form is called nitrogen fixation.The fixation of
atmospheric nitrogen takes place in three main methods
1. Biological fixation
2. Atmospheric fixation
3. Industrial fixation
 Atmospheric fixation  Biological fixation
 During lightning atmospheric  Free living bacteria in soil
nitrogen is converted to nitric oxide (Azotobacter) and symbiotic bacteria
and nitrogen dioxide. like Rhizobium live inside root nodules
 These oxides dissolve in rain water of leguminous plants that can convert
and are washed in to the soil, where atmospheric nitrogen into NH4+.
they form nitrates

 Industrial fixation Denitrifying

 The denitrifying bacteria like
 Atmospheric nitrogen converts to
pseudomonas and Thiobacillus converts
nitrate during industrial production
nitrates back to atmospheric nitrogen.
of chemical fertilizers.

Some bacterias help in Nitrogen Cycle

01. Nitrosomnas Bacteria convert Ammonium (NH4+) Salts in to Nitride (NO2-)

02. Nitrobacter Bacteria convert Nitride (NO2-) salts in to Nitrate (NO3-)
03. Azatobacor Bacteria convert Nitrogen (N2) in to Ammonium (NH4+) Salts
04. Pseudomonous Bacteria convert Nitrate (NO3-) in to Nitrogen (N2)

Ammonification
Due to microbial activity on ded bodies of organisms, the nitrogenous compounds convert
to ammonium compounds known as ammonification

Biosphere Short Notes 6 S.Kobinath (St.Patrick’s College)

Nitrogen Cycle

Environmetal Pollution The different types of waste materials found

 Discharge of pollutants, which cause in the environmnet
deleterious effects on natural 1. Agro chemical waste
environment is called environmental 2. Industrial waste
pollution. 3. Greenhouse gases
 Environmental pollution are divided 4. Heavy metals
in to Soil pollution ,Water pollution , 5. Particulate matter
Air pollution 6. Electronic waste
7. Nuclear waste
Excessive usage of agro chemicals Discharge of industrial effluents to the
The artificially synthesised chemicals for environment
agricultural practices are called agro The waste materials that discharge after the
chemicals. Mainly agrochemicals include production process which cannot be used
chemical fertilizers, weedicides, again are called industrial wastes.
insecticides, and fungicides. The discharge of these industrial wastes to the
They are used to get short term benefits, environment causes harmful impacts on the
but they cause many ill effects on the environment.
environment and hazardous to health. Eg:- Hydrocarbon

Biosphere Short Notes 7 S.Kobinath (St.Patrick’s College)

Emission of green house gases Green house gases
Carbondioxide, water vapour, methane, 1. Carbondioxide
ozone and CFC absorb radiation given out 2. Sulphurdioxide
from the earth and some of it re-radiates 3. Oxides of Nitrogen
back to the earth's surface. This is called 4. Methane
greenhouse effect and these gases are 5. Chloro Fluoro Carbon (CFC)
called greenhouse gases. 6. Water vapour

Accumulation of heavy metals in the Electronic wastes

environment
The metals with high density and higher
relative molecular mass are called heavy
metals.
Eg: Mercury,Arsenic, Chromium
The electrical and electronic accessories
which are stopped permenantly from
reselling, and selling are called e-waste.
Electronic wastes due to the modern
technology are added to the environment at a

Cadmium Lead ,Copper Zinc higher rate

Nuclear waste Effects of environment pollution......

 Nuclear-waste The radio active and 1. Global warming
high toxic materials discarded by 2. Depletion of Ozone layer
nuclear preparation centres and 3. Photo chemical smog
nuclear weapons are known as nuclear 4. Biomagnification
wastes 5. Acid rain
 Uranium and plutonium are the main 6. Eutrophication
elements used as nuclear fuels.
Global warming

 The amount of carbon dioxide and other green house gases in the atmosphere is getting
greater. This may trap more infra red radiation, and make the atmosphere warmer, this
is called the enchanced green house effect, and is possible effect on the earth’s
temperature is called global warming.
 A rise in temperature would also affect the climate in many parts of the world.

Biosphere Short Notes 8 S.Kobinath (St.Patrick’s College)

Depletion of Ozone layer
 Ozone is a gas made up of tri – oxygen molecules (O3)
 This ozone layer acts as a protective shield to prevent the entry of harmful UV
radiation to the earth surface.
 But gases like CFC and nitric oxide (NO) destroy ozone layer by detaching O2 . CFC at
higher atmosphere obtain solar radiation and is converted to atomic chlorine. This
atomic chlorin reacts with O3 and breaksdown ozone molecules.

Photo chemical smog Biomagnification

It’s a yellow coloured mist that is formed Collection of toxic chemical pollutants along
due to combine effects of smoke and fog with food chains from one trophic level to the
which causes eye irritation and causes other is called biomagnification.
weakness in vision Dichloro Diphenyl Trichloro Ethane (DDT)"
Poly Chlorinated Biphenyl (PCB),accumulate
in the body of organisms.
Acid rain Methods of releasing SO2 to the
The pH is about 5.6 of natural rain water. environment........
Sometimes this pH decreases, that is  When using coal as a fuel During
acidity of rain increases. The reason for the  Combustion of petroleum During
increase of acidity in rain is due to increase  Combustion of vulcanized rubber products
of sulphurdioxide, sulphurtrioxide and  During bacterial activity on organic matter
nitrogendioxide in the atmosphere.  During eruption of volcanoes

Eutrophication
 Phosphate and nitrate concentration in reservoirs increases due to waste materials from
industries, agrochemicals, faecal matter and detergents. As a result, algae grow
excessively and form a green coloured foamy layer. This incident is known as
eutrification.
 The over populated algae die due to competition and anaerobic bacteria act on these
dead matter and emit gases such as hydrogen sulphide ammonia, methane which result
an unpleasant odour and BOD level increases.

Biosphere Short Notes 9 S.Kobinath (St.Patrick’s College)

 Growth of non contagious diseases and dissabilities
Non contagious diseases.
Diseases which are not spread from one
person to the other are called as non
contagious diseases.
Eg:- Cancers, Pulmonary diseases,
Heart diseases and Diabetes
Acute renal failure
Temporarily for a few hours or days is a
feature of acute renal failure. It is often
reversible with immediate treatment.
Chronic renal failure
Chronic renal disease causes gradual loss
of kidney function which is not reversible
Measures that can be taken to avoid CKD
01. Prevent using agrochemicals and foot
for which agrochemicals are used
02. Control diabetes and high blod pressure
03. Minimizing the frequent urine
infections during childhood or adult
04. Drink 3.5 – 4.5liters of clean water
daily
05. Take quick medicinal trtements for skin
allergies.
Biosphere Short Notes
Causes for Non contagious diseases.
1. Excessive consumption of tobacco and
liquor
2. Wrong food habits
3. lack of physical exercises are the causes
for these diseases.
Symptoms of renal failure
 Patches due to clinical kidney disease
 Urinary urgancy may occur frequently at
night
 Little or no urine output
 Pain in the back
 Swelling of feet and ankle
 Weakness, pale skin
 Urine contain protein ” Rashes on palm
and soles
Factors that have been identified to be
contrtibuting to CKD
01. Toxic elements emmited by Algae
02. Come into contact with agrochemicals
03. Heavy metals such as Cd, Pb, As
04. Drinking water with floride
05. Dehydration
06. Using drugs without any control
07. Consumption of liquor
10 S.Kobinath (St.Patrick’s College)
Sustainable development and Multi Cropping
environmental management Cultivating different types of crops in the
Sustainable agriculture uses- A sustainable same lan. This method reduces the risk of
develpoments could be excepted by spread of diseases and reduce of spread f
reforestation, use f traditional knowledge resistant pests
and technology, carbon foot print, Biological pest control
minimizing food miles, waste management The biological pest control is the use of
and energy management. another plant, animal or a microorganism
which donot harm the cultivation in order to
destroy pest.
Carbon footprint Water footprint
The amount of carbondioxide released into The amount of fresh water utilized in the
the atmosphere as a result of the activities production or supply of the goods and services
of a particular individual, organization or used by a particular person or group.
community is a carbon footprint.
Food mile
The distance over which a food item is transported during the journey from producer to
consumer, is known as food mile.
Waste management & Energy management

The waste handling technique named 4R is Energy management.

practised in waste management Planning and monitoring of energy production
 Reuse and consumption is referred to as energy
 Reduce management.
 Replace Reasons for energy crisis
 Recycle 01. Drastic growth of human population
02. Increase of the number of industries
Montreal protocol to control the gases
03. Over consumption of energy
which harm the ozone layer
04. Wasting energy
Kyoto protocol to minimize the emission
05. Non investigation of renewable energy
of greenhouse gases
resources

Biosphere Short Notes 11 S.Kobinath (St.Patrick’s College)

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Biosphere Short Notes 12 S.Kobinath (St.Patrick’s College)

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