Ecosystem

ECOSYSTEM: Definition
■ The term ‘ecosystem’ was first used by A. G.
Tansley in 1935.
■ Tansley defined ecosystem as 'a particular
category of physical systems, consisting of
organisms and inorganic components in a
relatively stable equilibrium, open and of various
sizes and kinds‘.
■ An ecosystem is a structural and functional unit
of the nature where there is interactions
between living organisms and non-living
components and that determine the flow of
energy and nutrients.
■ e.g. pond ecosystem, forest ecosystem etc.

Ecosystem performs 2 major functions:

■ Primary production by the green plants
■ Flow of energy and nutrients
 Ecosystem: Components
■ Major components of an ecosystem:
■ Abiotic (nonliving) components

■ The atmosphere (air, rainfall, snowfall, temperature etc.)

■ The hydrosphere (water)

■ The lithosphere (earth crust)

■ Abiotic components are the reservoirs of the nutrients like

C, O, H, N, P and S that are uptaken by plants
■ Biotic (living) component

■ Producers -- organisms capable of photosynthesis (e.g.

green plants)
■ Consumers – Primary consumer e.g. herbivores e.g.
grasshopper, Secondary consumer e.g. frog, Tertiary
consumer e.g. birds etc.
■ Decomposers – microorganism (bacteria, fungi etc.)
Types/classification of ecosystems

Ecosystem

Natural Artificial

Terrestria Terrestria Aquatic

lForest l
Agricultural Pond
Grassland Land Canal
Desert Artificial pasture
Aquatic

Freshwater Marine
Ocean
River
Lake Lake
■ What are the various types of ecosystems
in Bangladesh?
What is a biome?
A BIOME is the
largest geographic
biotic unit, a major
community of
plants and animals
with similar life
forms and
environmental
conditions.
 How are biomes formed?
Biomes are distributed across the Earth based primarily on
climate. Therefore, in areas that are far apart, you will
sometimes find similar plants and animals because the
climate is similar.

One factor affecting climate is latitude. Typically, the farther you

move north or south of the equator, the colder the temperature
gets. Another factor affecting climate is elevation. The higher you
go in elevation, the colder the temperature gets.

Biomes usually found at cold latitudes far from the equator are
sometimes also found on high mountains at low latitudes.
Typically, a climb of 100 feet in elevation is equivalent to
traveling 600 miles northward.
 Flow of energy and nutrients in
ecosystem
■ Green plants trap solar energy from
the sun and convert it into chemical
energy.
■ This energy is transferred from one
trophic level to another. At each
transfer level 80-90% of energy is
lost into the space.
■ Plants absorb nutrients from the soil
and use it for the production of
biomass. During decomposition
these nutrients are released back
into the environment. Plalnts again
uptake these nutrients to buildup
their body.
■ Energy flow is
unidirectional/non-cyclic and
nutrient flow is cyclic.
 The Food Chain
■ A food chain shows how energy is
transferred from the producer to the
consumer by eating or being eaten by the
next trophic level. Each trophic level in this
chain is food for the next trophic level.

■ When herbivore is eaten by a carnivore,

only a small amount of energy (10-20%)
is transferred to the carnivore. The
carnivore therefore has to eat many
herbivores to get enough energy to grow.
Number of trophic level is limited upto 4 or
5.

■ Green plants=Primary producer=1st trophic level

■ Herbivore= Primary consumer=2nd trophic level
■ Carnivore= Secondary consumer=3rd trophic level
■ Carnivore= Tertiary consumer= 4th trophic level
 Types of food chains
■ Food chains are of 2 types:
■ 1. Grazing food chain:
■ Food chain that starts from the living green plants and goes to
grazing herbivores, and on to carnivores is known as grazing food
chain.
■ Ecosystems with such type of food chain are directly dependent on
an influx of solar radiation.
■ Most of the ecosystems in nature follow this type of food chain.
■ e.g. grasses →rabbit →Fox
■ 2. Detritus food chain:
■ Food chain that goes from dead organic matter into microorganisms
and then to organisms feeding on detritus (detrivores) and their
predators is known as detritus food chain.
■ This is less dependent on direct solar energy.
■ e.g. dead OM>microbes>nematodes
 Food web
■ Food chains are not isolated.
They are interconnected. These
interconnected food chains form
a food web.
■ Most animals are part of more
than one food chain and eat
more than one kind of food in
order to meet their food and
energy requirements. Thus, food
webs are formed.
Trophic levels: Ecological
Pyramids
■ An ecological pyramid is a graphical
representation of the trophic levels
(nutritional) by which biomass, amount of
energy or number of individuals is shown at
each trophic level in a given ecosystem.

■ Ecological pyramids are of three types:

■ Pyramids of biomass: When biomass is
shown in each trophic level then it is known as
pyramid of biomass.
■ Pyramid of energy: When amount of energy
is shown in each trophic level then it is known
as pyramid of energy.
■ Pyramids of number: When number of
individuals is shown in each trophic level then
it is known as pyramid of number.
 Inverted pyramid of number:

■ Biomass of trophic
level depends upon
reproductive
potential and
longivity of the
member
 Trophic levels: Ecological
Pyramids
■ Producers — bring energy from nonliving sources into
the community;

■ Primary consumers — eat the producers, which makes

them herbivores in most communities;

■ Secondary consumers — eat the primary consumers,

which makes them carnivores;

■ Tertiary consumers — eat the secondary consumers.

 Soil food web: Top-down and Bottom-up Regulations on nutrient
cycling
■ Bottom-up regulations (solid dark line):
Resources at one trophic level influence the biomass
and nutrient content of the next highest trophic level.
Organisms can also exert indirect bottom-up control of
decomposers and available nutrients (dashed black
lines) through the production of excreta and through
death (the production of detritus).
■ Primary producers also have indirect effects on nutrient
cycling by supplying carbon to heterotrophic microbes,
either by exuding soluble organic compounds into soil,
sediment, or water that influence nutrient
mineralization, or by supplying carbon to symbiotic
organisms such as N-fixing microbes and mycorrhizae
that influence nutrient availability.
■ Top down regulations (Solid gray lines): It
represent effects on nutrient cycling that occur through
consumption effects on biomass or nutrient content of
lower trophic levels (e.g., by changing nutrient content
either within individuals or by changing species
composition), or by inducing defenses. Higher trophic
levels can also exert indirect top-down effects on
nutrient cycling (dashed gray lines) by altering the
feeding behavior (e.g., prey and location) of their prey.
Factors affecting Biodiversity
 Factors affecting Biodiversity
■ Factors that increase
biodiversity:
■ 1. Physically diverse habitat:
■ Physically diverse habitat is positively
correlated with biodiversity. More
habitat diversity supports more species
e.g. more plant species support more
microbial species in soil. More diversity
in soil types supports more biodiversity
in habitat.
■ 2. Moderate environmental
disturbance:
■ Moderate environmental disturbance
supports maximum biodiversity.
Diversity is lowest at the highest grazing
and the lowest grazing sites in a
grassland.
 Factors affecting Biodiversity

■ Factors that increase

biodiversity:
■ 3. Variation in environmental
conditions:
■ Larger the variation in environmental
condition larger the number of species. e.g.
tropical country has the number of plant
species.
■ 4. Middle stage of succession:
■ The highest biodiversity is found at the
middle of the succession and the lowest is
at the initial and the climax stages.
■ 5. Evolution:
■ Due to mutation in organism variation is
created. Then new species is created.
 Factors affecting Biodiversity
■ Factors that decrease biodiversity:
■ 1. Environmental stress:
■ Any kind of environmental stress, fast or
slow, cause loss of biodiversity.
■ 2. Large environmental disturbance:
■ Causes loss of biodiversity.
■ 3. Extreme environmental conditions:
■ It reduces biodiversity.
■ 4. Severe limitations of an
environmental resources:
■ Severe limitations cause reduction of
biodiversity. Diversity is highest at the
intermediate productivity.
 Factors affecting Biodiversity
■ Factors that decrease
biodiversity:
■ 5. Introduction of non-native
species:
■ Introduced alien species may
become invasive and suppress
the growth of othr species cause
biodiversity loss. Lantana camara
is invasive alien species that
reduces biodiversity in forests.
■ 6. Geographic isolation:
■ Geographic isolation of an
ecosystem will increase the
diversity.
Relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem
functions

■ Three hypothetical relationships between plant

species richness and ecosystem functions are
possible:

■ 1. Linear relationship:
■ Ecosystem functions are linearly positively
correlated with the plant specie richness.
However, no strong scientific data are available
in favor of this hypothetical relationship between
plant species richness and ecosystem functions.
There was one paper published in Nature
showing the positive relation ship but lateron it
was provd the the paper was with sampling
error. Identity of speies s more important.
 Relationships between biodiversity and
ecosystem functions
■ 2. Redundancy relationship:
■ Ecosystem function is zero at 0 species number and
it increases with the increase of species richness and
after certain number of species function becomes
static indicating redundancy of species richness at a
time with respect to ecosystem function. At multiple
species level, resource partitioning occurs among the
coexisting species and maximum use of resources
occurs leading to the optimum biomass production.

■ 3. Idiosyncratic relationship:
■ There is no clear patter of relationship between
ecosystem function and plant species richness.
Sometimes functions increase sometimes decrease
with the increase of number of species. This results
indicate the importance of species identity but not
the species richness per se. For exampl, if legume
species is present in the quadrat it will show more
productivity of biomass and more nutrient
availability.