GE 10 LESSON 3: ECOSYSTEMS (STUDENTS HAND-OUT)

Ecosystems
An ecosystem is a grouping of organisms that interact with each other and their environment in such a way
as to preserve the grouping. The term Ecosystem was first proposed by A.G. Tansley in 1935.
Ecology is the study of distribution and abundance of organisms, and the flows of energy and materials
between abiotic and biotic components of ecosystems.
1. Natural Ecosystems: These operate under natural conditions without any major interference by
humans.
• Terrestrial Ecosystem: Forest, grassland, desert, etc.
• Aquatic Ecosystem:
 Fresh water: Lotic (running water like spring, stream, or rivers) or Lentic (standing water as lake,
pond, pools, etc.)
 Marine water: Such as deep bodies as ocean or shallow ones as Sea or an estuary.
2. Artificial (human engineered) Ecosystems: These are maintained artificially by man where by
addition of energy and planned manipulation, natural balance is disturbed regularly.
Ecosystem Services
Ecosystem services are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems. These include provisioning,
regulating, and cultural services that directly affect people and supporting services needed to maintain
the other services. Components Of Ecosystems
 Abiotic Components
Abiotic components consists of non-living chemical & physical components such as water, air, nutrients in
the soil or water & Solar Energy. Physical & chemical factors that influence living organisms in land
(terrestrial) ecosystem & aquatic life zones. Abiotic factors can act as limiting factors that keep a population
at a certain level.
Abiotic Components are mainly of two types:
 Climatic factors: (rain, temperature, light, wind, etc. )
 Edaphic factors: (soil, pH, topography, minerals, etc)

 Biotic Components
On the basis of their nutritional (trophic) status, organisms in an ecosystem are broadly divided into
autotrophs and heterotrophs.
 Autotrophs are organisms that can produce their own food such as green plants
(with chlorophyll) and certain bacteria, which obtain their energy from the sun and through
photosynthesis, produce food. These are usually known as producers, since these organisms
produce food for all the other organisms.
 Heterotrophs, known as consumers, depend directly or indirectly upon the autotrophs for their food
Consumers
 Primary consumers: These include herbivorous animals (e.g., rodents, cows, deer, goats,
buffaloes, etc.), which depend on green plants for their food.
 Secondary consumers: These include carnivores and omnivores (e.g., sparrows, crows, foxes,
wolves, dogs, etc.).
 Tertiary consumers: These are top carnivores (e.g., lions, tigers, hawks, vultures, etc.), which prey
upon herbivores and omnivores.

Decomposers
Decomposers and transformers:
These are the living components of the ecosystem such as fungi and bacteria. They decompose the dead
remains of the producers (i.e., autotrophs) and consumers (i.e., heterotrophs) and convert the complex
organic substances into simple organic compounds. These are further broken down by bacteria and
converted into inorganic forms, which are taken up by green plants.
Food Chain
The sequential inter-linking of organisms involving transfer of food energy from the producers, through a
series of organisms with repeated eating and being eaten is referred as food chain. The biotic components
of the ecosystem are linked to each other through food chain. The food chain shows how each living thing
gets its food from the other to gain energy for its growth and survival.
Types of Food Chains - Food chains are of two types:
 Grazing food chain, which, starting from a green plant base, goes to grazing herbivores and on to
carnivores.
 Detritus food chain, which goes from non-living organic matter into micro organisms and then to
detritus-feeding organisms (detritivores) and their predators.
Food Web
Food web is representation of the interlocking food chains that connect all organisms in an ecosystem.
Energy, chemical elements, and some compounds are transferred from creature to creature along food
chains and in complex cases called food webs. All the food chains in an area make up the food web of the
area.
Trophic Level
A trophic level is the position occupied by an organism in a food chain. Trophic levels can be analyzed on
an energy pyramid.
 Producers are found at the base of the pyramid and compromise the first trophic level. Primary
consumers make up the second trophic level.
 Secondary consumers make up the third trophic level.
 Finally tertiary consumers make up the top trophic level.

Ecological Pyramids
An ecological pyramid (also trophic pyramid,eltonian pyramid,or food pyramid) is a graphical representation
designed to show the biomass or bio-productivity at each trophic level in a given ecosystem.
Ecological pyramids are of three types:
 Pyramid of numbers
 Pyramid of biomass
 Pyramid of energy
Biomass
Biomass means the total combined weight of any specified group of organisms. The biomass of the first
trophic level is the total weight of all the producers in a given area. Biomass decreases at higher trophic
levels.
• Pyramid of Numbers – It represents the number of individual organisms at each trophic level. Can
be upright or inverted, depending upon the type of ecosystem and foodchain.
• Pyramid of Biomass - It is based upon the total biomass (dry matter) at each trophic level in a food
chain. The pyramid of biomass can also be upright or inverted.
• Pyramid of Energy - An energy pyramid is a graphical model of energyflow in a community. It is
always upright.
Lindeman 10% Rule
According to this law, during the transfer of energy from organic food from one trophic level to the next, only
about ten percent (10%) of the energy from organic matter is stored as flesh. The remaining is lost during
transfer, broken down in respiration, or lost to incomplete digestion by higher trophic level. The 10% law
was introduced by Raymond Lindeman in 1942.
Nitrogen cycle – Nitrogen cycle can be affected by man in five major ways:
• Fertilizer production (mainly nitrates and ammonium salts) to grow more food by increasing yields,
and replenishing lost nitrogen from the soil.
• Burning of fossil fuels in cars, power plants, and heating which puts nitrogen dioxide into the
atmosphere. I
• Increasing animals wastes (nitrates) from more people and from livestock and poultry grown in
ranches.
• Increased sewage flows from industry and urbanization.
• Increased erosion of and runoff nearby streams, lakes and rivers from cultivation, irrigation,
agricultural wastes, mining, urbanization and poor land use. Model of Nutrient Cycle
• Nutrients (chemicals, minerals or elements) are circulated around the ecosystem and recycled
continually. Gersmehl identified three storage compartments.
• Litter: the surface layer of vegetation which may eventually become humus.
• Biomass: the total mass of living organisms, per unit area.
• Soil: the nutrients store in soil (weathered material) and semiweathered material.

Feedback Mechanism
Feedback is the effect that change in one part of an ecosystem or social system has on the very same part
after passing through a chain of effects in other parts of the system.
• Negative feedback provides stability. All ecosystems and social systems have hundreds of
negative feedback loops that keep every part of the system within the bounds necessary for the
whole system to continue functioning properly.
• Positive feedback stimulates change. Positive feedback is responsible for the sudden appearance
of environmental problems and many other rapid changes in the world around us.

Ecological Succession
Ecosystem changes with time in respect to changing environmental conditions. Ecological succession is
the orderly process of change in the community structure of an ecological community over time. The
community begins with relatively few pioneering plants and animals and develops through increasing
complexity until it becomes stable or selfperpetuating as a climax community.

BIODIVERSIT Y
Biodiversity is defined as the totality of genes, species and ecosystems of a given region, i.e. the combined
diversity at all levels of biological organisation. It is the variety and variability of life form and the ecological
complexes in which they occur. The term was first coined by Walter G. Rosen(1985),however the term was
popularized by the American sociobiologist Edward Wilson(1988)

Hierarchial levels of Biodiversirty:

1)Species Diversity
2)Genetic Diversity and
3)Ecosystem/Community/Habitat Diversity

Loss of biodiversity:
Loss of biodiversity in a region may lead to
1)decline in plant production
2)lowered resistance to environmental changes such as drought.
3)increased variability in certain ecosystem processes such as plant productivity, water use, pest & disease
cycles.

Major causes of biodiversity loss:

i)Habitat loss and fragmentation ii)over exploitation iii)Alien species invasions
v)Co-extinctions and mass extinctions, , v) overexploitation , vi) urbanization,
vii)pollution viii) Global climate change Biodiversity conservation

Reasons for conservation can be grouped into three categories: a)narrow utilitarian-for deriving
direct economic benefit from nature.
b)broad utilitarian-as biodiversity plays a major role in many ecosystem services.
c)ethical-we need to realise that every species has an intrinsic value and we need to pass on our biological
legacy to future generations.

How to conserve biodiversity:

• In-situConservation– Threatened /endangered plants and animals are provided with urgent
measures to save from extinction within their natural habitat
Biodiversity hotspots – regions with very high levels of species richness and endemism. Norman Myers
developed the concept of hotspots in 1998 to designate priority areas for insitu conservation. They are the
most threatened reservoir of biodiversity on earth. In India 2 hotspots are there,e.g.Western ghats, and the
Eastern Himalayas
• Ex-situ Conservation –Threatened animals & plants are taken out from their natural habitat &
placed in a setting where they can be protected and given care as in botanical gardens, zoological
gardens, seed/pollen/gene banks etc.

Efforts to conserve biodiversity:

Convention on Biological Diversity(CBD) The three main goals of CBD are
1)Conservation of biological diversity
2)Sustainable use of components and
3)Fair and equitable sharing of benefits

Indian efforts:
Taking cognizance of the provisions of the CBD,India has enacted an umbrella legislation called the
Biological Diversity Act,2002 and also notified the Biological Diversity
Rulkes,2004.Its primary aim is to endorse the main goals of CBD suiting to India‘s national needs and
circumstances. India will host the 11th Conference of Parties(COP) (known as RIO+20)in October2012.
WATER
POLLUTION
Most (about 97%) of the water on earth is present in the seas and oceans. It is too salty to be of any use for
drinking, agriculture and industrial purposes. The remaining 3% is fresh water; 75% of which is locked up in
the polar ice caps and in glaciers and quite deep under the earth’s surface as underground water. The
fresh water, which we can use, comes to us from two sources:
i) Surface water - Rain and snow are good natural resources of fresh water. It is estimated that of all
the precipitation (rain water and snow) that falls on the earth, about one-third is absorbed by the plants and
another one-third seeps down into the soil and the remaining one third runs off the surface into streams
and rivers. This part of precipitation, which runs off to form streams, rivers and lakes, is called the surface
water.
ii) Ground water - The part of precipitation that seeps into the ground as a result of gravity and fills
the pores between soil particles and rocks under it is called ground water. The water bearing layers of soil
and rocks are called aquifers. Ground water is very important for agricultural and industrial purposes.
Ground water in the form of wells and springs is often the only source of water supply especially in villages
and small towns.
Water Pollution – Parameters
When this contamination reaches beyond certain allowed concentrations, it is called pollution and the
contaminants are called the pollutants. Water pollution may be defined as the contamination of streams,
lakes, seas, underground water or oceans by substances, which are harmful for living beings.

Water may be called polluted when the following parameters stated below reach beyond a specified
concentration in water -
i) Physical parameters. Colour, odour, turbidity, taste, temperature and electrical conductivity
constitute the physical parameters and are good indicators of contamination.
ii) Chemical parameters: These include the amount of carbonates, sulphates, chlorides, fluorides,
nitrates, and metal ions. These chemicals form the total dissolved solids, present in water.
iii) Biological parameters: The biological parameters include matter like algae, fungi, viruses, protozoa
and bacteria. The life forms present in water are affected to a good extent by the presence of pollutants.
The pollutants in water may cause a reduction in the population of both lower and higher plant and animal
lives. Thus, the biological parameters give an indirect indication of the amount of pollution in water. Water
Pollutants –
(i) Domestic and Municipal Pollutants :
The sewage contains garbage, soaps, detergents, waste food and human excreta and is the single largest
sources of water pollution. Disease causing microogranisms enter the water system through sewage
making it infected. Typhoid, chloera, gastroenteritis and dysentery are commonly caused by drinking
infected water. Water polluted by sewage may carry certain other bacteria and viruses cannot grow by
themselves, but reproduce in the cells of host organisms. They cause a number of diseases, such as, polio,
viral hepatitis and may be cancer which are resistant to like the organic matter are oxygen demanding
substances. They are responsible for deoxygenation of water-bodies which is harmful for aquatic life.
(ii) Industrial Pollutants :
Many industries are located near rivers or fresh water streams. These are responsible for discharging their
untreated effluents into rivers like highly toxic heavy metals such as chromium, arsenic, lead, mercury, etc.
along with hazardous organic and inorganic wastes. River Ganges recives wastes from textile, sugar,
paper and pulp mills, tanneries, rubber and pesticide industries. Most of these pollutants are resistant to
breakdown by microorganisms ,therefore damage the growth of crops and the polluted water is unsafe for
drinking purposes.
(iii) Agricultural Waste:
Manure, fertilizers, pesticides, wastes form farms, slaughterhouse, poultry farms, salts and silt are drained
as run-off from agricultural lands. Consumption of water rich in nitrates is bad for human health especially
for small children.
(iv) Physical Pollutants:
Physical pollutants can be of different types. Some of them are discussed below (a) Radioactive
Wastes :
Radionucleides found in water are radium and potassium-40. These isotopes originate from natural
sources due to leaching from minerals. Radioactive materials enter human body through water and
food, and may be accumulated in blood and certain vital organs. They cause tumours and cancer.
(b) Thermal Sources:
 Various industries, nuclear power plants and thermal plants require water for cooling and the resultant
hot water is often discharged into rivers or lakes.
(c) Sediments : Soil particles carried to streams, lakes or oceans form the sediments. The
sediment become polluting due to their large amount. Soil erosion defined as the soil carried
by flood water from crop land, is responsible for sedimentation. The sediments may damage
the water body by introducing a large amount of nutrient matter.
(v) Petroleum Products:
Petroleum products are widely used for fuel, lubrication, plastics manufacturing, etc. and happen to be
poisonous in nature. Crude oil and other related products generally get into water by accidental spillage
from ships, tankers, pipelines etc. Besides these accidental spills, oil refineries, oil exploration sites and
automobile service centres pollute different water bodies. Oil slick which floats on the water surface causes
death of marine life and severely affects the ecosystem of the ocean.