Ecosystem :

1. Ecosystem : Ecosystem is a self regulatory and self sustaining, structural and functional unit
of nature, where the living organisms of the biotic community interact among themselves
and also with the surrounding non-living physical environment of the abiotic community .
The term Ecosystem was first coined by Sir A.G. Tansley in 1935.
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2. Types of Ecosystem : Ecosystem varies greatly in size from a small pond to a large forest or
a sea. Many ecologists also regard the entire biosphere as a global ecosystem, which is a
composite of all local ecosystems on Earth. Since it is difficult to study a complex Ecosystem
at one time, it is convenient to divide it into following categories :
i. Natural Ecosystem : Natural Ecosystem is the one that develops in nature and are
capable of maintaining and operating themselves, without any human support or
interference. It is classified into two basic categories namely terrestrial and aquatic.
• Terrestrial Ecosystem : Forest, grass land and desert.
• Aquatic Ecosystem : Aquatic Ecosystem includes freshwater ecosystem like ponds,
lakes, streams and springs; whereas marine ecosystem like estuaries, sea and ocean.
ii. Man-made Ecosystem : Man-made Ecosystem is the one that are maintained and
manipulated by human beings for different purposes. It is also called as anthropogenic
ecosystem because the physicochemical environment is maintained artificially by human
beings. It includes crop fields and aquarium.

• Biodiversity in Natural Ecosystem is more as compared to Man-made Ecosystem.

• Productivity in Natural Ecosystem is less as compared to Man-made Ecosystem.

iii. Complete Ecosystem : An ecosystem which has all the components of an ideal
ecosystem, is called complete ecosystem. For example : forest and lake.
iv. Incomplete Ecosystem : An ecosystem which is deficient of one or more components, is
called incomplete ecosystem. For example : rainwater pond (without consumers) and
sea bottom (without producers)
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a. Components of Ecosystem : The Ecosystem comprises of two main components :
1. Biotic Components : These are called the Living components of the Ecosystem. It
includes producers, consumers and decomposers :
i. Producers : The green plants or the autotrophs are called the producers of an
ecosystem. They synthesise organic compounds from simple inorganic substances such
as water, carbon dioxide and minerals in the presence of sunlight.
Importance of Producers :
• Producers take up CO2 and releases oxygen into the atmosphere during the process
of photosynthesis. Producers help to maintain CO2 and O2 balance in the nature.
• All other organisms depends directly or indirectly on the producers for organic food
and energy.

ii. Consumers : All other organisms which depends directly or indirectly on producers
(autotrophs) for organic food and energy, are called consumers. They are also called as
heterotrophs. They are differentiated into two types : Herbivores and Carnivores.
iii. Decomposers : Bacteria, fungi and moulds are the main decomposers or reducers of an
ecosystem. They obtain their food by breaking down the dead remains of plants and
animals into simpler inorganic compounds. They are also called as microconsumers,
saprotrophs or mineralisers.

Importance of Decomposers : Decomposers play an important role in the flow of

energy through an ecosystem. They break down the dead remains of plants and
animals, which includes nutrients and energy in the form of organic material present in
their body; into inorganic compounds. This process releases raw nutrients, which
becomes a part of the soil and can be used by the plants again.

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2. Abiotic Components : These are called the Non-Living components of the ecosystem. It
includes light, temperature, water, wind, humidity and day length.

Biotic Components : Abiotic Component :

• These are called the living components • These are called the non-living
of the ecosystem. components of the ecosystem
• Biotic components includes producers, • Abiotic components includes light,
consumers and decomposers. temperature, etc.
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 3. Difference between Biotic and Abiotic components :
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b.
1. Structure and Function of Ecosystem : The interaction of various biotic and abiotic
components results to the formation of the physical characteristic structure for each
type of ecosystem.
The important structural features of an ecosystem are :
i. Species Composition : Each ecosystem has different groups of species depending on the
geography, climatic conditions and topography. Species Composition is calculated by the
identification and enumeration of plant and animal species present in an ecosystem.
ii. Stratification : The vertical distribution of different species occupying different levels in
an ecosystem, is called Stratification. For example : Long trees occupy the top most
strata or layer of the forest, whereas shrubs forms the second layer and herbs and
grasses forms the third layer.
iii. Standing Crop : The total amount of living matter present in various tropic levels of the
ecosystem, is called Standing crop. The standing crop is measured in terms of the
number of plants per unit area or in terms of biomass (i.e. total mass of organism).
iv. Standing State : The total amount of inorganic nutrients present in the soil of an
ecosystem, is called Standing state.

The four main important functional aspects of an ecosystem are :

i. Productivity. iii. Energy Flow.
ii. Decomposition. iv. Nutrient Cycling .

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2. Pond Ecosystem : To understand the ethos of an aquatic ecosystem, let us take an
example of a small pond. A pond is fairly a self sustainable unit and rather a simple
example to explain the complex interactions in an aquatic ecosystem.
Pond has both Abiotic and Biotic components :
• The Abiotic component includes the water with all the dissolved inorganic and organic
substances with the rich soil deposited at the bottom of the pond.
• It also includes the solar input, the cycle of temperature, day length and other climatic
conditions that regulate the rate of function of the entire pond.

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• Producers : The green plants or the autotrophs are called the producers of the pond
ecosystem. They synthesise organic compounds from simple inorganic substances such as
water, carbon dioxide and minerals in the presence of sunlight. The autotrophic components
includes the phytoplankton (microscopic marine algae) and the floating, submerged and
marginal plants at the edges.
• Consumers : The consumers include the zooplankton. They are called the primary
consumers in aquatic ecosystem because they feed on phytoplankton.
• Decomposers : The decomposers includes the fungi, bacteria and flagellates. They are also
known as saprotrophs or reducers.
This pond ecosystem performs all the essential functions of any ecosystem and of the
biosphere as a whole :
• Producers (or autotrophs) synthesise organic compounds from simple inorganic substances
such as water, carbon dioxide and minerals in the presence of sunlight.
• Consumption of autotrophs by heterotrophs.
• Decomposers decompose the dead organic materials by mineralisation and release them
back for reuse by the autotrophs.
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3. Productivity : Primary production is defined as the amount of biomass or organic matter
produced per unit area over a time period by plants during photosynthesis. It is
expressed in terms of weight (gm-2) and energy (kcal m-2).
The rate of biomass production per year, is termed as Primary productivity. It is
expressed in terms of gm-2 yr-1 and (kcal m-2) yr-1. This is used to compare the productivity
of different ecosystems.
Note : A constant supply of sunlight is the basic Secondary Productivity : Secondary
requirement for the proper functioning of any Productivity is defined as the rate of formation
ecosystem. of new organic matter by consumers.

The Primary Productivity is divided into two categories :

• Gross Primary Productivity : Gross Primary Productivity is equal to the total production of
organic matter in an ecosystem during photosynthesis. A considerable amount of GPP is
utilised by plants in respiration (R).
• Net Primary Productivity : Net primary productivity is equal to
NPP = GPP – R
Gross Primary Productivity minus respiration losses (R). Net Primary

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Productivity is the available biomass for the consumption of heterotrophs (herbivores and
decomposers).

Annual net primary productivity of the whole biosphere is about 170 billion tons
(dry weight) of organic matter. Of this, despite occupying about 70% of the surface
of earth, the productivity of water bodies is only 55 billion tons, because very less
light is available in water bodies for photosynthesis.

Primary Productivity of an ecosystem depends upon the following factors :

• Plant species inhabiting a particular area. •
Primary productivity of land is more
Availability of nutrients in the soil. •
as compared to the primary
Photosynthetic capacity of plants. •
productivity of water bodies.
Variety of environmental factors.
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4. Decomposition : The process by which decomposers breakdown complex organic matter
into simple inorganic substances like carbon dioxide, water and nutrients; is called
Decomposition.
The earthworms are called the farmer’s friend because they help in fragmentation of
detritus and loosening of the soil. Both these processes are helpful for the
decomposition of dead organic matter at faster rate.
Detritus is called the raw material for decomposition. It includes the dead remains of plants
(leaves, barks and flowers) and of animals including fecal matter. Decomposition is largely an
aerobic process which requires oxygen for it processing.
The process of decomposition occurs in the following steps :
i. Fragmentation : The process by which Detritivores (eg: earthworms) break down
detritus into smaller particles, is called Fragmentation.
ii. Leaching : The process by which water soluble inorganic nutrients go down into the soil
horizon and gets precipitated as unavailable salts, is called Leaching.
iii. Catabolism : The process of degradation of detritus into simple inorganic substances by
bacterial and fungal enzymes, is called Catabolism.
iv. Humification : Humification is the process of accumulation of a dark coloured
amorphous substance called humus. It is highly resistant to microbial actions and

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 undergoes decomposition at an extremely slow rate. Being colloidal in nature it serves
as a reservoir of nutrients.
v. Mineralisation : The process by which humus is further degraded by some microbes to
release inorganic substances, is called Mineralisation.
Note : It is important to note that all the above steps in decomposition operate simultaneously
on the detritus. But Humification and Mineralisation occurs during decomposition in the soil.
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5. Factors affecting the rate of Decomposition :
• Effect of oxygen : Decomposition is largely an oxygen requiring process, absence of
oxygen inhibits decomposition.
• Neutral and slightly alkaline soils are rich in detritivores and hence increases the rate
of decomposition.
• Effect of chemical composition : Decomposition rate is slower, if the detritus is rich in
lignin and chitin. It is quicker, if detritus is rich in nitrogen and water soluble substances
like sugars.
• Warm and moist environment speed up decomposition, whereas low temperature and
anaerobiosis inhibit decomposition, which results to the formation of organic materials.
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6. Energy Flow in Ecosystem : Energy Flow in an ecosystem is the unidirectional movement
of energy from external environment through successive tropic levels and again back to
the external environment. This follows the first law of thermodynamics, which states
that energy can neither be created nor can be destroyed. It can be only transformed
from one form to another.
Sun is the only source of energy for all the ecosystems on earth, except for the deep sea
hydrothermal ecosystem.

Note : No energy that is trapped into an organism remains in it forever.

The energy trapped by the producers, is either passed to the consumers
or to the environment when the organism die.

 The energy flow in an ecosystem also follows the second law of thermodynamics, which
states that there is a natural tendency of any isolated system to increase the entropy.
Therefore, in an ecosystem when energy is transferred from one tropic level to another,

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 some part of energy is lost in the form of heat due to respiration into the surroundings.
This loss of energy in the form of heat due to respiration, overall increases the entropy
of the system.

Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) : Of the total incident solar radiation, less than 50%
of it, is called the Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR). It is the amount of light available
for photosynthesis by the plants and photosynthetic bacteria (autotrophs). It ranges between
400-700 nanometer. But the plants capture only 2-10% of this PAR.
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7. Law of 10% Energy Transfer in Ecosystem : According to the Law of 10% Energy
Transfer in an ecosystem, it states that in a grazing food chain the transfer of energy is
restricted by 10% law; which means that only 10% of the energy is transferred from the
lower tropic level to the higher tropic level.
From this above statement, we can state that the
Lower tropic level --> Higher energy
top consumers gets the least energy, whereas the
Higher tropic level --> Lower energy
producers contains the most amount of energy.
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c. Food Web : When a number of food chains
1. Food Chains : In an ecosystem, there is interconnect with each other forming a
transfer of food from one organism to web like pattern, is called Food Web.
another organism, this food transfer makes
a type of chain, which is known as food chain. The main two types of food chain that
operates in an ecosystem are :
i. Grazing Food Chain (GFC) : The grazing food chain (GFC) is a type of food chain in which
the energy at the lowest tropic level is acquired via photosynthesis.
Note : The grazing food chain always begins with producers like green plants. In a grazing
food chain, energy comes from the Sun.
ii. A simple Grazing Food Chain (GFC) is depicted below :
Green plants (Producers)---> Goat (Primary consumers)---> Men (Secondary consumers)

Detritus Food Chain (DFC) : The detritus food chain (DFC) is a type of food chain which begins
with dead organic matter. It is made up of decomposers or saprotrophs, which are

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 heterotrophic organisms, mainly fungi and bacteria.
They meet their energy and nutrient requirements by degrading the dead organic matter
or detritus.
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2. Tropic Level : In an ecosystem, tropic levels are Note : The amount of energy
specific levels occupied by different organisms; decreases at successive tropic levels.
based on their feeding relationship with other
organisms (i.e. based on their mode of nutrition and food).
i. First Tropic Level or T1 : This tropic level consists of producers which produces food
from inorganic materials with the help of solar energy.
ii. Second Tropic Level or T2 : This tropic level consists of herbivores, which feed on plants.
They are also called as primary consumers. Some common herbivores are insects, birds
and mammals in terrestrial ecosystem, whereas molluscs in aquatic ecosystem.
iii. Third Tropic Level or T3 : This tropic level consists of the Carnivores. They are mainly of
two types :- Primary Carnivores and Secondary Carnivores. Primary carnivores are those
which feed on the herbivores, whereas secondary carnivores are those which feed on
the primary carnivores.

Examples :
i. Primary Producers : First Tropic Level (Producers or plants) Phytoplankton, grass, trees.
ii. Primary Consumers : Second Tropic Level (Herbivores) Zooplankton, grasshopper,
cow.
iii. Secondary Consumers : Third Tropic Level (Carnivores) Birds, fishes, wolf.
iv. Tertiary Consumers : Fourth Tropic Level (Top Carnivores) Man, Lion.
iv. Fourth Tropic Level or T4 : This tropic level consists of the top carnivores, which usually
feed on the secondary carnivores.
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3. Ecological Pyramid : Ecological pyramid is the graphical representation of relationship
between producers and consumers in terms of number, biomass and energy; in the
form of pyramid.
Note : In the pyramid structure, the base (broader part) always represents the producers or the
first tropic level, whereas the apex (narrow part) represents the top level consumer or last
tropic level.
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4. Types of Ecological pyramids : Ecological pyramids are of 3 types :

i. Pyramid of Number : It represents the relationship in terms of numbers, between the
producers and consumers in an ecosystem.
It can be :
• Upright : In grassland ecosystem.
• Inverted : In tree ecosystem, when large tree is eaten by small insects.
ii. Pyramid of Biomass : It represents the relationship in terms of biomass, between the
producers and consumers in an ecosystem.
It can be :
• Upright : In grassland ecosystem.
• Inverted : In pond ecosystem because small standing crop of phytoplankton supports a
large number of zooplankton.
iii. Pyramid of Energy : It represents the relationship in terms of energy flow, between the
producers and consumers in an ecosystem. It is always upright because energy is lost as
heat at each step.

A tropic level represents a functional level and not a Tertiary

single species as such. Therefore, a given specie Consumers : 10 J
may occupy more than one tropic level in the same Secondary
ecosystem at the same time. For example : a Consumers : 100 J
sparrow is a primary consumer when it eats seeds,
Primary Consumers : 1000 J
fruits and peas; whereas a secondary consumer
when it eats insects and worms. Primary Producers : 10000 J

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5. Limitations of Ecological pyramids :
• The ecological pyramids does not take into account the same species belonging to
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 two or more tropic levels.
• It assumes a simple food chain, which almost never exists in nature. It does not
explain food webs.
• Saprotrophs (or Decomposers) are not given any position in the ecological pyramids.
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