1.

CONCEPT OF AN ECOSYSTEM
2. STRUCTURE OF AN ECOSYSTEM
3. FUNCTION OF AN ECOSYSTEM:

CONCEPT OF AN ECOSYSTEM
• The ecosystem is the functional unit of nature where living organism interacts with each other
and also with their non-living surrounding environment by exchanging energy and matter.
• The term ‘ecology’ was coined by Earnst Haeckel in 1869.
• The term ‘ecosystem’ was described by A.G. Tansley in 1935.

STRUCTURE OF AN ECOSYSTEM
The structure of the ecosystem are made up of two components:
1. Biotic components which includes all the living organisms and since these organisms have
different nutritional behaviour in the ecosystems, they are classified as (3):
A. Producers also called as the autotroph (auto = self, troph = food)
• So from the name itself, we understand that these organisms can produce their own food. Producers
can be further be divided into
a) Photoautotrophs Photo = light
• These are organisms that uses light energy to produce food.

b) Chemoautotrophs Chemo = chemicals

• These organism obtain their energy from chemicals, by reacting with inorganic salts or organic
compounds.
B. Consumers depend on the producer directly or indirectly for their survival. They are also known as
heterotrophs.
• Types:
i. Primary consumer / Herbivores- feed directly on producers. Example rabbit, cow, insect, etc.

ii. Secondary consumer/ Primary Carnivores - feed on herbivores (frog, etc.).

Tertiary consumer/ Secondary Carnivores - feed on other carnivores (lion, snake, big fish, etc.).
iii. Omnivores- feed on both plants and animals. E.g. humans, rats, foxes, etc.
iv. Detritivores - (Detritus feeders or saprotrophs) - feed on dead and decaying organisms. E.g.
earthworms, ants, vulture, etc.
C. Decomposers - Derive nutrition by breaking down complex organic molecules to simpler organic
compounds and ultimately into inorganic nutrients. e.g. various fungi and bacteria

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 2. Abiotic components is a non-living part that shape the environment. The physical and chemical
components of an ecosystem constitutes its abiotic structure. Climate factor, soil factor,
geographical factors, nutrients, energy, and toxic substances are some of the e.g. of abiotic
components.
i. Physical factors: sunlight, temperature, air quality, annual rainfall, wind, soil type, water
availability, etc.

ii. Chemical factors: availability of essential nutrients- carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium,
hydrogen, oxygen and sulphur and levels of toxic substances present in soil or water.

FUNCTION OF AN ECOSYSTEM:
1. Energy flow - Energy is defined as the capacity to do work. The energy flow is the amount of
energy that moves along the food chain or in other word, it is the flow of energy through series of
living things within the ecosystem or the flow of energy from producer to consumer is called the
energy flow. This energy flow is also known as calorific flow. It is unidirectional. Energy flow is
fundamental and happens in all the ecosystems (e.g., aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem).
To understand the energy flow through the ecosystem, we need to study about the trophic levels.
Trophic level is the representation of energy flow in an ecosystem. The trophic level of an
organism is the position it occupies in a food chain.
Trophic level interaction deals with how the members of an ecosystem are connected based on
nutritional needs.
Organisms are either producers or consumers in terms of the energy flow through the ecosystem.
Plants are producers, they take energy from sunlight and convert it into organic material through
the process of photosynthesis.
The flow of energy follows the two laws of thermodynamics:
i. First law of thermodynamics states that energy can neither be created nor be destroyed but
it can be transformed from one form to another.
ii. Second law of thermodynamics states that energy dissipates as it is used or in other words,
it gets converted from a more concentrated form to dispersed form.
At every level there is about 90% loss of energy and the energy transferred from one trophic level
to the other is only about 10% - 10% rule.

Sunlight  Producers  Primary consumers/herbivores  Secondary consumers/primary

carnivores  Tertiary consumers/secondary carnivores.

2. Nutrient cycling – is a system where energy and matter are transferred between living organisms
and non-living part of the environment. Nutrients like carbon, hydrogen, phosphorus, etc. move in a
circular paths through biotic and abiotic components and are therefore known as biogeochemical
cycles.
i. Nitrogen cycle: about 78% nitrogen gas (N2) is present in the atmosphere and it is fixed either by
physical process of lightening or biologically by some microbes (bacteria/ cyanobacteria). It passes
through the food chain, it is firstly taken up by plants and used in metabolism for the biosynthesis
of amino acids, proteins, vitamins, etc.

George Calvis Shabong

 After the death of the plants and animals, the organic nitrogen in dead tissues is decomposed by
several groups of ammonifying and nitrifying bacteria which convert them into ammonia (NH4),
nitrites (NO2) and nitrates (NO3), which again are used by plants.
Some bacteria convert nitrates, into molecular nitrogen or N2 which is released back into the
atmosphere and the cycle goes on. Some nitrogen is lost into deep sediments of ocean.

ii. Carbon cycle: carbon in the form carbon dioxide is taken up by green plants as a raw material for
photosynthesis, through which a variety of carbohydrates and other organic substances are
produced.
Through the food chain it moves and ultimately organic carbon present in the dead matter is
returned to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide by microorganisms.
Respiration by all organisms produces carbon dioxide and this is used by plants.

George Calvis Shabong

 3. Food chain - A food chain maybe defined as the transfer of energy and nutrients through a
succession of organisms, repeated process of eating and being eaten. Or in other words, it is the
transfer of food energy from green plants (producers) through a series of organism with repeated
eating and being eaten link.
E.g. Producer  Primary consumer  Secondary consumer  Tertiary consumer.

i. Grazing food chain

The consumers which start the food chain, utilises the plant or plant part as their food, constitute
the grazing food chain.
E.g. Grasses  Grasshopper  Frog  Snake  Hawk/Eagle.
ii. Detritus food chain
It starts from dead organic matter of decaying animals and plants bodies consumed by the micro –
organisms called detritivores and decomposers.
E.g. leaf litter  earthworm  chicken  hawk.
Thus, the grazing food chain derives its energy from plants while in the detritus food chain it is
obtained primarily from plant biomass, secondarily from microbial biomass and tertiarily from
carnivores.
4. Food web - In nature, there are several food chains, these food chains are not independent of each
other but interlinked to one another. An organism on food chain can be eaten by several other
creatures. Also, bigger carnivores need not always consume a carnivores one step lesser in the food
chain, they may directly consume herbivores. This leads to a complex food webs and not a linear
chain. Thus, we defined food web as a network of food chains where different types of organisms
are connected at different trophic levels, so that there are a number of options of eating and being
eaten at each trophic level. (Fig)

Significance of food chains and food webs:

George Calvis Shabong

 i. Since energy flow and nutrient cycles take place through the food chains and food webs, they play
a very significant role in the ecosystem.
ii. Food chains help in maintaining the ecological balance since it maintain and regulate the
population size of different animals.
iii. Food chains show a unique property of biological magnification of some chemicals.
(Bio magnification/biological magnification is a phenomenon in which non-biodegradable
chemicals/pesticides/heavy metals keep on passing from one trophic level to another and, at each
successive trophic level, they keep on increasing in concentration).

George Calvis Shabong