ECOSYSTEMS

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• Each region shows wide variations in their structural
composition and functions.
• But they are alike in the fact that they consist of living
entities interacting with their surroundings.
• Term ‘Ecology’ – Earnst Haeckel in 1869.
• Greek Oikos – home + logos – study
• Ecology deals with the study of organisms in their
natural home interacting with their surroundings.
• Modern ecologists – Tansley (1935) – Ecosystem
• An ecosystem is a self-regulating group pf biotic
communities of species interacting with one another and
with their non-living environment exchanging energy
and matter. Now ecology is often defined as “the study of
ecosystems”.
Ecosystem – Definition
• An ecosystem is a biological environment
consisting of all the organisms living in a
particular area, as well as all the nonliving,
physical components of the environment with
which the organisms interact, such as air, soil,
water and sunlight.
• Their survival depends upon the maintenance
and regulation of their biotic and abiotic
structures and functions.
• Composed of a number of sub-units, linked
directly or indirectly with each other.
 Key concepts of ecosystem
• An ecosystem is an integrated unit consisting of
interacting plants, animals and microorganisms whose
survival depends upon the maintenance and regulation
of their biotic and abiotic structures and functions.
• The ecosystem is a unit or a system which is composed
of a number of sub-units, that are all directly or
indirectly linked with each other.
• They may be freely exchanging energy and matter from
outside- Open ecosystem or may be isolated from
outside – a closed ecosystem
• Life on the earth is sustained by the flow of energy from
the sun and cycling of nutrients through the ecosystem.
• Energy flow and nutrient cycling through ecosystems
are getting altered by human activities.
Characteristics – structural features
• Composition and organization of biological
communities and abiotic constitute the structure of
an ecosystem.
• I) Biotic structure:
• Based on the feeding relationships of the
components of the ecosystem.
• a) Producers
• b) Consumers
• c) Decomposers
Producers
• All ecosystems must be
based upon autotrophs.
• Autotrophs (literally self
feeders) produce organic
food for themselves and all
members of their
community.
• A few types of bacteria are
able to harness chemical
energy to produce food –
Chemo-autotrophs
• But mostly autotrophs are
green plants which utilize
photosynthesis to harness
energy from sunlight to
produce organic materials,
such as carbohydrates, plus
oxygen– Photoautotrophs
Consumers
• The organic food consumed
(and its energy along with it) is
not broken down all at once. It
travels through many levels of
consumers and decomposers,
allowing each to reap some of
the benefit of the food the
green plants have produced.
• Organisms such as consumers
which depend on others for
food are called heterotrophs.
(hetero = other, troph = food).
• i) Herbivores - eat the green
plants directly (herbivore =
plant eater)
Consumers

• ii) Carnivores - get the plant

food second hand by eating
another animal (carnivore =
meat eater)
• Iii) omnivore = eats all. Human
beings are omnivores because
sometimes we eat the plants
directly and sometimes we eat
animals who have eaten plants,
or even animals who have eaten
other animals.
• But in all cases the organic
materials were originally
produced by plants!
 Decomposers
• Detritivores – feed on parts of dead organisms, wastes
of living organisms, and partially decomposed matter
(e.g. beetles, termites, ants, crabs, earthworms etc.)
• Scavengers and decomposers are also heterotrophs, but
instead of consuming living plants and animals they
consume them in the form of detritus.
• Detritus is decaying organic material and can be
anything from recently dead carrion to bacteria, to
organic waste from plants and animals.
• When they think of scavengers people usually think of
big ones like vultures, but the largest group of
scavengers is the insects.
• Scavengers are the first step in the process which
ultimately will completely break down the organic
matter of detritus into carbon dioxide, water, and
inorganic minerals.
• These substances are then available to plants to convert
back to organic matter and the cycle occurs all over
again.
 II) Abiotic Structure
• The physical and chemical components of an ecosystem constitute its abiotic
structure.
• a) Physical factors:
• Sunlight & shade
• Intensity of solar flux
• Duration of sun hours
• Average temperature
• Maximum-minimum temperature
• Annual rainfall
• Wind
• Latitude and altitude
• Soil type
• Water availability
• Water currents
• B) Chemical factors
• Availability of major essential nutrients like carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus,
potassium, hydrogen, oxygen, sulphur, level of toxic substances, salts, organic
matter
 Nutrient and energy cycling
• The diagram above shows
how both energy and
inorganic nutrients flow
through the ecosystem.
• all energy comes from the
sun, and that the ultimate
fate of all energy in
ecosystems is to be lost as
heat. Energy does not
recycle!!
• So flow of energy is
unidirectional while the
nutrients move in a cyclic
manner from abiotic to biotic
to abiotic.
Functional attributes
• The major functional attributes of an ecosystem are
• i) Food chain, food webs and trophic structure
• ii) Energy flow
• iii) Cycling of nutrients (biogeochemical cycles)
• iv) Primary and secondary production
• v) Ecosystem development and regulation
Trophic structure

• The producers and consumers are arranged in the

ecosystem in a definite manner and their interaction
along with population size are expressed together as
trophic structure
• The trophic structure constitutes the levels of feeding
(trophic = food) and the feeding relationships of the
components of the ecosystem.
• Each food level is known as trophic level.
 Food chains

• A food chain is the

path of food from a
given final consumer
back to a producer.
• For instance, a typical
food chain in a field
ecosystem might be:
• grass ---> grasshopper
--> mouse ---> snake
---> hawk
• 2 main types of food chains:
• A) Grazing food chain
 B) Detritus food chain
• Grazing food chain
derives its energy
basically from plant
energy, while in the
detritus food chain it
is obtained primarily
from plant biomass,
secondarily from
microbial biomass and
tertiarily from
carnivores.
 Food web
• The real world, of course, is more complicated than
a simple food chain.
• While many organisms do specialize in their diets
(anteaters come to mind as a specialist), other
organisms do not.
• Hawks don't limit their diets to snakes, snakes eat
things other than mice, mice eat grass as well as
grasshoppers, and so on.
• A more realistic depiction of who eats whom is called a
food web; an example is shown below:
Food web
• A network of food chains where different types of
organisms are connected at different trophic levels.
• Food webs give greater stability to the ecosystem.
• If one species is affected, it does not affect other
trophic levels so seriously.
Significance of food chains and
webs
• Energy flow and nutrient cycling take place
through them
• Maintain ecological balance by maintaining the
population size
• Biological Magnification
• Biological magnification is the tendency of
pollutants to become concentrated in successive
trophic levels. Often, this is to the detriment of
the organisms in which these materials
concentrate, since the pollutants are often toxic.
• The "best" example of biomagnification comes from DDT.
• This long-lived pesticide (insecticide) has improved human health in
many countries by killing insects such as mosquitoes that spread
disease.
• On the other hand, it is picked up by organisms in the environment
and incorporated into fat.
• Even here, it does no real damage in many organisms (including
humans). In others, however, DDT is deadly and may have long-
term effects.
• In birds, for instance, DDT interferes with the deposition of calcium
in the shells of the bird's eggs. The eggs laid are very soft and easily
broken; birds so afflicted are rarely able to raise young and this
causes a decline in their numbers.
• The early 1960's - the scientist Rachel Carson - book "Silent Spring" -
led to the banning of DDT - the search for pesticides that would not
biomagnify
• Ironically, many of the pesticides which replaced DDT are more
dangerous to humans, and, without DDT, disease (primarily in the
tropics) claims more human lives.
• Summary:
• In order for a pollutant to biomagnify, the following conditions must
be met:
• The pollutant must be long-lived.
• The pollutant must be concentrated by the producers.
• The pollutant must be fat-soluble.
Ecological pyramid
• An ecological pyramid
(also trophic pyramid or
energy pyramid) is a
graphical representation
designed to show the
biomass or biomass
productivity at each trophic
level in a given ecosystem.
• Ecological pyramids begin
with producers on the
bottom (such as plants) and
proceed through the
various trophic levels The
highest level is the top of
the food chain.
Pyramid of numbers
• An ecological pyramid of
numbers shows
graphically the
population of each level
in a food chain.
• Upright or inverted
pyramids
• Upright – grassland
ecosystem
• Narrow base – forest
ecosystem – trees as
producers
• Parasitic food chain –
inverted pyramid
Pyramid of Biomass
• - shows the total biomass at each
successive trophic level
• - biomass is the total amount of
living matter at a trophic level
• - the pyramids of mass show a
progressive reduction of biomass
in the successive trophic level
• Upright or inverted
• Upright – forest ecosystem
• Inverted – pond ecosystem
 Pyramid of energy
- indicates the total amount of energy present
in each trophic level
- shows the loss of energy from one trophic
level to the next as food is transferred from
one trophic level to the next
• Energy is lost:
• 1) as heat during respiration at every
trophic level
• 2) in uneaten parts
• 3) through undigested matter egested by
consumers
• 4) through waste products excreted
consumers, eg, urea
- Best representation of the trophic
relationships
- Always upright
• Going up each level of the pyramid, less
and less energy is available.
• Only 10% of the energy is available to
next trophic level
 Energy flow in the
ecosystem
• Unidirectional
• Flow of energy in an ecosystem follows the two laws of
thermodynamics:
I law of Thermodynamics states that energy can neither be
created nor destroyed but it can be transformed from one
form to another.
II law of Thermodynamics states that energy dissipates as it is
used or in other words, it gets converted from a more
concentrated to dispersed form.
Energy flow in the ecosystem
• Every ecosystem has several interrelated mechanisms
that affect human life.
• We have already seen that while energy does not cycle
through an ecosystem, chemicals do.
• The inorganic nutrients cycle through more in the
organisms, and also enter into the atmosphere, the
oceans, and even rocks.
• Since these chemicals cycle through both the biological
and the geological world, we call the overall cycles
biogeochemical cycles.
• Each chemical has its own unique cycle.
• Water cycle
• Oxygen cycle
• Nitrogen cycle
• Energy cycle
 Ecological Succession

Ecosystems change with time in response to changing

environmental conditions.
• Natural, gradual changes in the types of species
that live in an area; can be primary or secondary
• The gradual replacement of one plant
community by another through natural
processes over time.
• Definition: Ecological succession is defined as
an orderly process of changes in the
community structure and function with time
mediated through modifications in the
physical environment and ultimately
culminating in a stabilized ecosystem known
as climax.
 Ecological succession starting on different
types of areas or substrata are named
differently as follows
(i) Hydrarch or Hydrosere: starting in watery
area like pond, swamp, bog.
(ii) Mesarch: starting in an area of adequate
moisture
(iii)Xerarch or Xerosere: starting in a dry
area with little moisture
Lithosere – starting on a bare rock
Psammosere – starting on sand
Halosere – starting on saline soil
 Process of succession
(i) Nudation:
(ii) Invasion
(iii)Competition and coaction
(iv) Reaction
(v) Stabilization
• Primary Succession
• Begins in a place without any soil
• Sides of volcanoes
• Landslides
• Flooding
• Starts with the arrival of living things such as
lichens that do not need soil to survive
• Called PIONEER SPECIES
http://botit.botany.wisc.edu

http://www.saguaro-juniper.com/
 Primary Succession
• Soil starts to form as lichens and the
forces of weather and erosion help break
down rocks into smaller pieces
• When lichens die, they decompose,
adding small amounts of organic matter to
the rock to make soil
http://www.life.uiuc.edu
 Primary Succession
• Simple plants like mosses and ferns can
grow in the new soil

http://www.uncw.edu
http://
uisstc.georgetown.edu
 Primary Succession
• The simple plants die, adding more
organic material
• The soil layer thickens, and grasses,
wildflowers, and other plants begin to take
over

http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu
 Primary Succession
• These plants die, and they add more
nutrients to the soil
• Shrubs and tress can survive now

http://www.rowan.edu
 Primary Succession
• Insects, small birds, and mammals have
begun to move in
• What was once bare rock now supports a
variety of life

http://p2-raw.greenpeace.org
 Secondary Succession
• Begins in a place that already has soil and
was once the home of living organisms
• Occurs faster and has different pioneer
species than primary succession
• Example: after forest fires
http://www.geo.arizona.edu
http://www.ux1.eiu.edu
http://www.agen.ufl.edu
 Climax Community
• A stable group of plants and animals that
is the end result of the succession process
• Does not always mean big trees
– Grasses in prairies
– Cacti in deserts