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Ecosystem Structure Forest

The document discusses the structure of forest ecosystems, highlighting the composition of abiotic and biotic components, including various types of forests found in India such as tropical, subtropical, temperate montane, and alpine forests. It details the dominant plant species in each forest type and categorizes consumers into primary, secondary, and tertiary levels, along with the role of decomposers in the ecosystem. The information emphasizes the diversity and ecological significance of forest ecosystems in India.

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6 views

Ecosystem Structure Forest

The document discusses the structure of forest ecosystems, highlighting the composition of abiotic and biotic components, including various types of forests found in India such as tropical, subtropical, temperate montane, and alpine forests. It details the dominant plant species in each forest type and categorizes consumers into primary, secondary, and tertiary levels, along with the role of decomposers in the ecosystem. The information emphasizes the diversity and ecological significance of forest ecosystems in India.

Uploaded by

eshwarkarthigasaru
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Course-M.Sc.

III semester

E-content-Online class dt 21/8/20 & 28/8/20

Structure of Ecosystems

Forest ecosystem

According to Hanson (1962), a forest can be defined as a stand of trees growing close together with
associated plants of various kinds. In India the forest cover is about 23 percent of the total area of
Indian Territory. A forest ecosystem is dominated by trees with other small size plants. Forests are
natural plant communities with dominance of phanerophytes and occupy nearly 40 percent of the
total land globally. Structure of an ecosystem explains composition of its abiotic and biotic
components as following:-

Abiotic components are all the same like any ecosystem with environmental variations. These
include inorganic and organic substances found in the soil and atmosphere. Soil and climatic factors
are deciding ones in forest biotic composition. Biotic components include producers ,which is
dominated by large and medium size tree. There are following types of forests in India :-

1.Tropical forests:- These are characterized by the greatest diversities of species. They occur near
the equator,within the area bounded by latitudes 23.5 degrees N and 23.5 degrees S. One of the
major characteristics of tropical forests is their distinct seasonality : winter is absent, and only two
seasons are present (rainy and dry ).

(a) Tropical moist forests – These are also called tropical rain forests. The important plants are
Terminalia, Dipterocarpus, Garcinia, Sterculia, Calamus, Shorea, Albizzia, Pothos, Vitis,
Cinnamomum, Bauhinia, etc.

Tropical moist deciduous forests dominantly include species of Tectona, Terminalia, Grewi,
Dalbergia, Lagerstroemia, Eugenia, Boswellia, etc.
(b) Tropical dry forests :-

2. Sub tropical forests- These forestsare found in the area of high rainfall and temperature difference
between winter and summer are less marked.They are found upto an altitude of 1800 metres in
north and 1500 metres in the south.

(a) Wet hill forests – The important plants found in the southern state wet hill forests are species of
Eugenia,Terminalia, Murraya, Gymnosporia, Ficus, Atylosia, Pterocarpus,Lantana etc. In the northern
belt species such as Calamus, Populus, Quercus, Betula, Garcinia, Almus, Cedrella etc
(b) Dry evergreen forests - Acacia modesta, Olea cuspidata, etc.
(c) Pine forests – Species of Pinus, Quercus, Berberis, Carissa, Bauhinia, etc.

3. Temperate Montane forests -


(a) Wet temperate forests – Hopea, Balanocarpus, Pterocarpus, Artocarpus, Myristica, etc.
(b) Moist temperate forests - Berberis, Spiraea,etc.
(c) Dry temperate forests – Daphne, Indigofera, Artemesia, Desmodium, etc.

Alpine forests- These forests are found at the altitude of 2900-6000 metres. In India,alpine flora
occurs in Himalayan area between 4500-6000 m. Plants growing at the altitude of 2900-6000
metres. At lower altitudes conifers and dwarf trees are found. The common plants are Pinus,
Juniperus, Abies, Betula, Rhododendron, Pyrus, Salix, etc.

In India, there is great variation in climate and due to this reason composition of producer also
varies. They grow in diverse habitat, eg., in tropical moist deciduous forests dominant tree species
are Tectona grandis, Butea frondosa, Shorea robusta and Lagestroemia parviflora and in temperate
coniferous forests, temperate deciduous forests species of Quercus, Acer, Betula, Thuja, Picea,
Abies, Pinus, Cedrus, Juniperus, Cedrus, Rhododendron, etc. are commonly found.

Consumers :-
Primary consumers- These are herbivores which feed on tree leaves as ants, flies, beetles, leaf
hoppers, bugs, spiders, etc., and larger animals grazing on shoots and/herbs or fruits of producers as
elephants, deer, moles, squirrels, shrews, flying foxes, mongoose etc.

Secondary consumers- These are carnivores and feed on primary consumers, eg. Snakes, birds,
lizards, fox etc.

Tertiary consumers- These are top consumers,eg., lion tiger, etc. They eat upon carnivores of
secondary consumers level.

Decomposers-

These are wide variety of microorganisms like fungi namely Aspergillus, Polyporus, Alternaria,
Fusarium, Trichoderma, etc., bacteria, such as Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Clostridium etc.
Actinomycetes (Streptomyces) are also important among decomposers.

Topic contd. -

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