FUNCTIONS OF AN ECOSYSTEM

The function of an ecosystem is a broad, vast and complete dynamic system. It can be studied under the following
three heads.
• Energy flow
• Nutrient cycling (biogeochemical cycles)
• Ecological succession or ecosystem development
ENERGY FLOW
Energy is the basic force responsible for all metabolic activities. The flow of energy from producer to top consumers
is called energy flow which is unidirectional. The study of Trophic level interaction in an ecosystem gives an idea
about the energy flow through the ecosystem.

Trophic level interaction

Trophic level interaction deals with how the members of an ecosystem are connected based on nutritional needs.

Energy flows through the trophic levels: from producers to subsequent trophic levels. This energy always flows
from lower (producer) to higher (herbivore, carnivore etc.) trophic level. It never flows in the reverse direction that
is from carnivores to herbivores to producers.

There is a loss of some energy in the form of unusable heat at each trophic level so that energy level decreases from
the first trophic level upwards.

As a result there are usually four or five trophic levels and seldom more than six as beyond that very little energy
is left to support any organism. Trophic levels are numbered according to the steps an organism is away from the
source of food or energy, that is the producer.

The trophic level interaction involves three concepts namely:-

1. Food Chain
2. Food Web
3. Ecological Pyramids
FOOD CHAIN
Organisms in the ecosystem are related to each other through feeding mechanism or trophic levels, i.e. one organism
becomes food for the other. A sequence of organisms that feed on one another, form a food chain. A food chain
starts with producers and ends with top carnivores.

The sequence of eaten and being eaten, produces transfer of food energy and it is known as food chain. The plant
converts solar energy into chemical energy by photosynthesis. Small herbivores consume the plant matter and
convert them into animal matter. These herbivores are eaten by large carnivores.

Types of Food Chains

In nature, two main types of food chains have been distinguished:

i) Grazing food chain

The consumers which start the food chain, utilising the plant or plant part as their food, constitute the grazing
food chain. This food chain begins from green plants at the base and the primary consumer is herbivore.

For example, In terestrial ecosystem, grass is eaten up by caterpillar, which is eaten by lizard and lizard is eaten
by snake.
In Aquatic ecosystem phytoplanktons (primary producers) is eaten by zoo planktons which is eaten by fishes and
fishes are eaten by pelicans.
ii) Detritus food chain
It starts from dead organic matter of decaying animals and plant bodies consumed by the micro-organisms and
then to detritus feeding organism called detrivores or decomposer and to other predators.

The distinction between these two food chains is the source of energy for the first level consumers. In the grazing
food chain the primary source of energy is living plant biomass while in the detritus food chain the source of energy
is dead organic matter or detritus. The two food chains are linked. The initial energy source for detritus
food chain is the waste materials and dead organic matter from the grazing food chain.

FOOD WEB

A food chain represents only one part of the food or energy flow through an ecosystem and implies a simple, isolated
relationship, which seldom occurs in the ecosystems. An ecosystem may consist of several interrelated food chains.
More typically, the same food resource is part of more than one chain, especially when that resource is at the lower
trophic levels. “A food web illustrates, all possible transfers of energy and nutrients among the organisms in an
ecosystem, whereas a food chain traces only one pathway of the food”.

If any of the intermediate food chain is removed, the succeeding links of the chain will be affected largely. The food
web provides more than one alternative for food to most of the organisms in an ecosystem and therefore increases
their chance of survival. For example, grasses may serve food for rabbit or grasshopper or goat or cow. Similarly a
herbivore may be food source for many carnivorous species.

Also food availability and preferences of food of the organisms may shift seasonally e.g. we eat watermelon in
summer and peaches in the winter. Thus there are interconnected networks of feeding relationships that take
the form of food webs.

ECOLOGICAL PYRAMIDS
The steps of trophic levels expressed in a diagrammatic way are referred as ecological pyramids. The food producer
forms the base of the pyramid and the top carnivore forms the tip. Other consumer trophic levels are in between.
The pyramid consists of a number of horizontal bars depicting specific trophic levels which are arranged
sequentially from primary producer level through herbivore, carnivore onwards. The length of each bar represents
the total number of individuals at each trophic level in an ecosystem.

The number, biomass and energy of organisms gradually decrease with each step from the producer level to the
consumer level and the diagrammatic representation assumes a pyramid shape.

The ecological pyramids are of three categories.

1. Pyramid of numbers,
2. Pyramid of biomass, and
3. Pyramid of energy or productivity.
1. Pyramid of numbers
This deals with the relationship between the numbers of primary producers and consumers of different levels. It is
a graphic representation of the total number of individuals of different species, belonging to each trophic level in
an ecosystem.

Depending upon the size and biomass, the pyramid of numbers may not always be upright, and may even be
completely inverted.

(a) Pyramid of numbers - upright

• In this pyramid, the number of individuals is decreased from lower level to higher trophic level.

• This type of pyramid can be seen in grassland ecosystem.

• The grasses occupy the lowest trophic level (base) because of their abundance.

• The next higher trophic level is primary consumer -herbivore (example – grasshopper).
• The individual number of grasshopper is less than that of grass. The next energy level is primary carnivore
(example – rat).

• The number of rats are less than grasshopper, because, they feed on grasshopper. The next higher trophic level

is secondary carnivore (example – snakes). They feed on rats.

• The next higher trophic level is the top carnivore. (Ex. Hawk).

• With each higher trophic level, the number of individual decreases.

(b) Pyramid of numbers – inverted

• In this pyramid, the number of individuals is increased from lower level to higher trophic level.

• A count in a forest would have a small number of large producers, for e.g. few number of big trees.

• This is because the tree (primary producer) being few in number and would represent the base of the pyramid and
the dependent herbivores (Example - Birds) in the next higher trophic level and it is followed by parasites in the
next trophic level. Hyper parasites being at higher trophic level represents higher in number.

• And the resulting pyramid is in inverted shape. A pyramid of numbers does not take into account the fact that the
size of organisms being counted in each trophic level can vary.
• It is very difficult to count all the organisms, in a pyramid of numbers and so the pyramid of number does not
completely define the trophic structure for an ecosystem.

Pyramid of Biomass
In order to overcome the shortcomings of pyramid of numbers, the pyramid of biomass is used. In this approach
individuals in each trophic level are weighed instead of being counted. This gives us a pyramid of biomass, i.e., the
total dry weight of all organisms at each trophic level at a particular time.

Pyramid of biomass is usually determined by collecting all organisms occupying each trophic level separately and
measuring their dry weight. This overcomes the size difference problem because all kinds of organisms at a trophic
level are weighed. Biomass is measured in g/m2.

(a) Upward pyramid

For most ecosystems on land, the pyramid of biomass has a large base of primary producers with a smaller trophic
level perched on top.

The biomass of producers (autotrophs) is at the maximum. The biomass of next trophic level i.e primary consumers
is less than the producers. The biomass of next higher trophic level i.e secondary consumers is less than the primary
consumers. The top, high trophic level has very less amount of biomass.

(b) Inverted pyramid

In contrast, in many aquatic ecosystems, the pyramid of biomass may assume an inverted form.
This is because the producers are tiny phytoplanktons that grow and reproduce rapidly. Here, the pyramid of
biomass has a small base, with the consumer biomass at any instant actually exceeding the producer biomass and
the pyramid assumes inverted shape.
Pyramid of Energy
To compare the functional roles of the trophic levels in an ecosystem, an energy pyramid is most suitable. An energy
pyramid, reflects the laws of thermodynamics, with conversion of solar energy to chemical energy and heat energy
at each trophic level and with loss of energy being depicted at each transfer to another trophic level. Hence the
pyramid is always upward, with a large energy base at the bottom.

Let us explain this with an example. Suppose an ecosystem receives 1000 calories of light energy in a given day.
Most of the energy is not absorbed; some is reflected back to space; of the energy absorbed only a small portion is
utilised by green plants, out of which the plant uses up some for respiration and of the 1000 calories, therefore
only 100 calories are stored as energy rich materials.
Now suppose an animal, say a deer, eats the plant containing 100 cal of food energy. The deer uses some of it for
its own metabolism and stores only 10 cal as food energy. A lion that eats the deer gets an even smaller amount of
energy. Thus, usable energy decreases from sunlight to producer to herbivore to carnivore. Therefore, the energy
pyramid will always be upright. Energy pyramid concept helps to explain the phenomenon of biological
magnification-the tendency for toxic substances to increase in concentration progressively at higher
levels of the food chain.