ENVIRONMENT ECOSYSTEM

It is the surrounding where organisms live. It is the place where the biotic and abiotic components interact
with each other.
An organism’s environment changes as it moves from one place The ecosystem remains the same no matter where the organism
to another. travels.
Environment is just a place in time. Ecosystem depends upon all the essential life processes such as
photosynthesis.

OUR ENVIRONMENT-
(There are two types of ecosystems)
NATURAL ARTIFICIAL
Ecosystem which exists in nature on its own without any Ecosystems created by humans is called Artificial
human interference. Ecosystems
E.g.-forest, lake, ocean. e.g.- crop field, aquarium, garden.

Components Of Ecosystem-

 note- Agro-ecosystem is the largest man-made ecosystem.

 other examples are aquariums, botanical gardens, parks, field crops, etc.
BIOTIC COMPONENTS- (of three types) – Consist of Living things
A. Producers- Organisms which can prepare their own food. (all autotrophs) e.g. All Green Plants, blue-green algae.
B. Consumers- Organisms which consume other organisms or their products as their food. (Heterotrophs). The consumers
depend upon producers for their food directly or indirectly. e.g. man, goat, deer, fish, lion, cow etc.
 Primary Consumers- Obtain food directly from producers. E.g. deer, rabbit (transform solar energy in chem. Energy)
 Secondary Consumers- Feed upon Primary Consumers. E.g. snake, dog, cat
 Tertiary Consumers- Animals which kill other animals and are not eaten by other. E.g. Lion, Vulture, Man (obtain
chemical energy from eating other animals).
C. Decomposers-micro-organisms that obtain energy from the chemical breakdown of dead organisms or animals or plant
wastes. These micro-organisms are decomposers as they breakdown the complex organic substances into simple
inorganic substances that go into the soil and are used up once more by the plants. E.g. Bacteria, Fungi.
ABIOTIC COMPONENTS- Consist of inorganic substances like carbohydrates, fats, vitamins etc.
FOOD CHAIN- Food chain is sequence of organisms through which energy is transferred in the form of food by the process of
one organism consuming the other. Or we can see that flow of energy in an ecosystem is called food chain.
On the basis of choice of habitat. food chains are of two types:
(1) Terrestrial food chain It is the food chain present on land. Example- Grass > Grasshopper > Frog > Snake > Eagle
(2) Aquatic food chain It is the food chain in water bodies. Phytoplankton > Zooplankton > Small Fish > Large Fish > shark.
Significance of Food Chain:
a. Exploring food chains helps us see how different creatures in an ecosystem share food and interact.
b. Food chains carry vital energy and resources between the different living parts of an ecosystem.
c. It helps in following the basis mechanism of transfer of food energy and nutrients through various components of nature
d. It helps to understand the movement of toxic substances in an ecosystem and the problem of biological magnification.

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TROPHIC LEVEL- Trophic levels are the various steps or levels in the food chain where transfer of food or energy takes place.
Producers are the first trophic level, herbivores are second trophic level, carnivores or secondary consumers are third
trophic level and large carnivores or tertiary consumers are the fourth trophic level.
FOOD WEB-Food web is the network of various food chains which are interconnected at various tropic levels. Since an
organism can occupy position in more than one food chain, in a food web it occupies more than one trophic level. It opens
alternate pathways for Flow of energy. It increases stability in an ecosystem. Helps endangered animals to grow in number.

10% Law
 when one form of energy is changed to another, some energy is lost to the environment in forms which cannot be used.
 The green plants in a terrestrial ecosystem capture about 1% of the energy of sunlight that falls on their leaves and
convert it into food energy.
 When green plants are eaten by primary consumers, a great deal of energy is lost as heat to the environment, some
amount goes into digestion and in doing work and the rest goes towards growth and reproduction. An average of 10% of
the food eaten is turned into its own body and made available for the next level of consumers.
 Therefore, 10% can be taken as the average value for the amount of organic matter that is present at each step and
reaches the next level of consumers.
 Since so little energy is available for the next level of consumers, food chains generally consist of only three or four
steps. The loss of energy at each step is so great that very little usable energy remains after four trophic levels.
 There are generally a greater number of individuals at the lower trophic levels of an ecosystem, the greatest number is
of the producers.
ENERGY FLOW (or what you conclude from energy flow in food chain and webs?){Can make diagram also (15.4)}
 From the energy flow, two things become clear-
 Firstly, the flow of energy is unidirectional, The energy that is captured by the autotrophs does not revert back to the
solar input and the energy which passes to the herbivores does not come back to autotrophs. As it moves progressively
through the various trophic levels it is no longer available to the previous level.
 Secondly, the energy available at each trophic level gets diminished progressively due to loss of energy at each level.
BIOLOGICAL MAGNIFICATION-Biological magnification is when harmful chemicals become more concentrated as you move
up the food chain. This can be a problem because the highest concentration of these chemicals often ends up in human
bodies since humans are typically at the top of many food chains.
How they enter? These chemicals are either washed down into the soil or into the water bodies. From the soil, these are
absorbed by the plants along with water and minerals, and from the water bodies these are taken up by aquatic plants and
animals. This is one of the ways in which they enter the food chain. As these chemicals are not degradable, these get
accumulated progressively at each trophic level.
OZONE- (Present between 20-26km above sea level). Ozone performs an essential function. It shields the surface of the
earth from ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the Sun. This radiation is highly damaging to organisms, it is known to cause skin
cancer in human beings.
Formation-Ozone (O3) is a molecule formed by three atoms of oxygen, Ozone is a deadly poison Ozone at the higher levels of
the atmosphere is a product of UV radiation acting on oxygen (O2) molecule The higher energy UV radiations split apart
some molecular oxygen (O2) into free oxygen (O) atom These atoms then combine with the molecular oxygen to form ozone.

Depletion-
The amount of ozone in the atmosphere began to drop sharply in the 1980s. This decrease has been linked to synthetic
chemicals like chlorofluorocarbons.

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NOTE: Green dustbin- Biodegradable waste, Blue dustbin- Non Biodegradable waste
METHODS OF WASTE DISPOSAL-
Recycling, landfill, Composting, Incineration, sewage treatment, Biogas production.

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