OUR ENVIRONMENT
ENVIRONMENT
• Environment includes - Our physical surroundings like air, water
bodies, soil and all living organisms like plants, animals, human beings
and micro-organisms.
• All the constituents are dependent on one another and constantly
interact with one another.
BIODEGRADABLE WASTE
• Wastes that are broken down into non-poisonous simpler substances in nature
by the action of microorganisms like certain bacteria, fungi etc.
• Examples – compost, cattle dung, leather, tea leaves, food waste, paper,
wood, fecal matter etc.
NON-BIODEGRADABLE WASTE
• Wastes that cannot be broken down into non-poisonous or harmless substances
in nature by any biological process.
• These substances are inert and simply persist in the environment for a long time
and may harm the various components of the ecosystem.
• Examples - DDT, insecticides, pesticides, mercury, lead, arsenic aluminum,
plastics, polythene bags, glass, radioactive wastes.
Biodegradable Vs Non-
biodegradable waste
BIODEGRADABLE WASTE NON-BIODEGRADABLE WASTE
• The wastes that are broken down naturally by • The wastes that are not broken down by the
microbial action. microbes.
• Biodegradation forms harmless and non- • No such action is possible.
poisonous products.
• They release raw materials back to nature. • They do not release raw materials.
• They pollute the environment only when they are • Non-biodegradable wastes pollute the
produced in quantity beyond the capacity of the environment even in small quantity.
environment to degrade them.
• Recycling is possible both naturally or through • Recycling is possible only through human efforts.
human efforts.
ECOSYSTEM
• An ecosystem is a self-contained unit of living
things (plants, animals and decomposers), and
their non-living environment (soil, air and water).
For example; a forest, a pond, a lake, a green
land etc.
• In an ecosystem, energy and matter are
continuously exchanged between living and
non-living components.
• An ecosystem can be both natural or man-
made.
• Some examples of natural ecosystems are grass
land, forest, sea, river, desert, mountain, pond,
lake etc.
• Man made ecosystem – aquarium, zoo etc.
IMPORTANCE OF DECOMPOSERS
• Decomposers help in decomposing the dead bodies of plants and
animals. Therefore, they clean the environment.
• The decomposers release minerals and other raw materials
trapped in organic matter. These are picked up by plants. This
also helps to maintain the fertility of soil.
• The decomposers produce some acids which are useful in
solubilization of some minerals.
• Decomposers help in recycling the materials in the ecosystem.
FUNCTIONING OF ECOSYSTEM
FOOD CHAIN
• The sequence of living
organisms in a
community in which
one organism
consumes another
organism to transfer
food energy, is called
a food chain.
• A food chain is
unidirectional where
transfer of energy
takes place in only
EXAMPLES OF FOOD CHAIN
• Phytoplankton -> zooplankton -> fish -> seal -> great
white shark (AQUATIC FOOD CHAIN)
• Grass -> antelope -> tiger -> vulture (TERRESTRIAL
FOOD CHAIN)
FOOD WEB
• The inter-connected food chains operating
in an ecosystem which establish a
network of relationship between various
species, are called a food web.
• In a food web, one organism may occupy
a position in more than one food chain.
• An organism can obtain its food from
different sources and in turn, may be
eaten up by different types of organisms.
TROPHIC LEVEL
• The various steps in the
food chain at which the
transfer of food (or
energy) takes place is
called trophic levels.
• There is a gradual
decrease in the amount of
energy transfer from one
trophic level to the next
trophic level in a food
chain.
TRANSFER OF ENERGY IN THE
ECOSYSTEM
• Energy is converted from one form to another.
• There is a continuous transfer of energy from one trophic level of organisms to
the next trophic level in a food chain.
• At each trophic level of organisms, some of the energy is utilised by the
organisms for their metabolic activities.
• There is a loss of energy at each energy transfer in various trophic
levels which goes in the environment and remains unutilized.
• Flow of materials in the ecosystem is cyclic but flow of energy is
unidirectional.
TEN PERCENT LAW:
• Proposed by Raymond Lindeman.
• Acc. To the Law – “Only 10% of the
energy entering a particular trophic
level of organisms is available for
transfer to the next higher level”.
OR
• “The energy available at each
successive trophic level is 10% of
the previous level”.
BIOLOGICAL MAGNIFICATION
• The process by which the harmful and toxic
substances enter the food chain and get
concentrated in the body of living organisms at each
successive level in food chain is called BIOLOGICAL
MAGNIFICATION.
• The contaminants might be heavy metals such as
mercury, arsenic, and pesticides such as
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) and DDT.
• These substances are taken up by the organisms
through the food they consume. When the
organisms in the higher food chain feed on the
organisms in the lower food chain containing these
toxins, these toxins get accumulated in the higher
organisms.
