UNIT-2 Ecosystem

Ecosystem
• A group of organism which are interacting among themselves and also interacting
with environment is called as an Eco-system.

• Ecology- Scientific study of the relationship of the living organism with each other
and with their environment.

• Classification of Ecosystem:
1. Natural Ecosystem
2. Artificial Ecosystem

1. Natural Ecosystem:
• A natural ecosystem is developed and governed by nature.
• These are capable of operating and maintaining themselves without any major
interference by man.
• Types of natural ecosystem based on their habitat are:
• A. Terrestrial Ecosystem
• B. Aquatic Ecosystem
 Ecosystem
A. Terrestrial Ecosystem:
• These ecosystems are related to land.
• Examples: Grassland ecosystem, forest ecosystem and desert ecosystem.
B. Aquatic Ecosystem:
• This ecosystem is related to water, it is further subdivided based on salt content.
• i. Fresh water Ecosystem
• Running water Ecosystem: Example: River, streams (small narrow rivers).
• Standing water Ecosystems: Example: Pond, lake and well

• ii. Marine Ecosystem: Example: sea and sea shores

2. Man Made or Artificial Ecosystem:

• An artificial ecosystem is created and maintained by man for his different needs.
• Examples: Reservoirs, Artificial lakes and gardens, aquarium etc.,
Structure or Components of an Ecosystem
 Abiotic components of ecosystem and
the range of tolerance
• Organisms thrive within a range of abiotic conditions;
altering those conditions can have severe consequences
and can even cause extinction

• Range of conditions to which an organism is adapted is

called its range of tolerance

• Organisms do best in the optimum range

• Outside of that are zones of physiological stress
• Outside of these zones are zones of intolerance
 Limiting factors
• The abiotic factor that is in short supply tends to
regulate population size
• e.g. In freshwater lakes and rivers, Phosphate is needed
by plants and animals for growth
• But its concentration are naturally low
• Eutrophication
 Biotic components
• Habitat
• Ecological niche – How the organism fits into the ecosystem
• Niche of an organism is its functional role while habitat is its “address”.
• A habitat is the physical environment in which a species lives. For example, a
wild horse's habitat is grassland. Its niche is primary consumer, transferring
energy from grasses to secondary consumers (predators) in the ecosystem, and
returning some nutrients to the soil as waste.
• If two species occupy identical niches, competition will eliminate one of them
• Hence two species cannot occupy the same niche for long. This rule is called
the competitive exclusion principle
• Concept of niche is very important to the sustainable management of natural
resources
• Example – control of an insect pest on crops is best achieved through an
understanding of the species’ niche
 Function of an Ecosystem
(i)Productivity: gross primary productivity (GPP) and net primary
productivity (NPP), secondary productivity.

(ii)Decomposition: fragmentation, leaching, catabolism,

humification and mineralisation

(iii) Physical (energy flow):

• First law of thermodynamics, that states that energy can
neither be created nor destroyed, it can only change from one
form to another.
• Second law of thermodynamics, that states that as energy is
transferred more and more of it is wasted.
• Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR).
 Function of an Ecosystem
• Based on the source of their nutrition or food, organisms
occupy a specific place in the food chain that is known as their
trophic level.
 Function of an Ecosystem
• Moreover, in a food chain, the energy flow follows the 10
percent law.
• According to this law, only 10 percent of energy is transferred
from one trophic level to the other; rest is lost into the
atmosphere.
• Tropic level interaction involves three concepts namely:
 Food chain
 Food Web
 Ecological Pyramids

(iv) Biological (food chains, food web, ecological succession),and

(v) Biogeochemical (nutrient cycling) processes

 Function of an Ecosystem
(iv) Biological (food chains, food web, ecological succession):
(A) Food Chain:
• The transfer of food energy from the producers, through a
series of organisms (herbivores to carnivores to decomposers)
with repeated eating and being eaten, is known as food chain.
• In nature, basically two types of food chains are recognized –
grazing food chain and detritus food chain.

• “Food chains and energy flow are the functional properties of

ecosystems which make them dynamic. The biotic and abiotic
components of an ecosystem are linked through them”.
 Function of an Ecosystem
 Grazing and Detritus food chains:
 Function of an Ecosystem
• (B) Food web: A complex network of interconnected food
chains of different tropic levels in a Biotic community is termed
as a food web.
 Function of an Ecosystem
• Differences between food chain and food web:
 Function of an Ecosystem
• Significance of food chains and food webs :
• Food chains and food webs play a very significant role in the
ecosystem because the two most important functions of energy
flow and nutrient cycling take place through them.
• The food chains also help in maintaining and regulating the
population size of different animals and thus, help maintain the
ecological balance.
• Food chains show a unique property of biological magnification
of some chemicals.
Energy and nutrient transfer through
ecosystems
 Function of an Ecosystem
• ECOLOGICAL PYRAMIDS : Graphic representation of tropic
structure and function of an ecosystem, starting with producers
at the base and successive trophic levels forming the apex is
knows as an ecological pyramid.
• Ecological pyramids are of three types:
• a) Pyramid of numbers:
 Function of an Ecosystem
(b) Pyramid of biomass: It is based upon the total biomass (dry
matter) at each trophic level in a food chain. The pyramid of
biomass can also be upright or inverted:
 Function of an Ecosystem
c) Pyramid of Energy: The amount of energy present at each
trophic level is considered for this type of pyramid. Pyramid of
energy gives the best representation of the trophic relationships
and it is always upright.
At every successive trophic level, there is a huge loss of energy
(about 90%) in the form of heat, respiration etc. Thus, at each
next higher level only 10% of the energy passes on.
 Ecological Succession
 The process of formation of ecosystem on barren or lifeless ground.

• An important characteristic of all communities is that their composition and

structure constantly change in response to the changing environmental
conditions.

• The gradual and fairly predictable change in the species composition of a

given area is called ecological succession.

• primary succession: Primary succession is the series of community changes

which occur on an entirely new habitat which has never been colonized before.
For example, a newly quarried rock face or sand dunes. The establishment of a
new biotic community is generally slow.

• Secondary succession: Secondary succession begins in areas where natural

biotic communities have been destroyed such as in abandoned farm lands,
burned or cut forests, lands that have been flooded. Since some soil or
 Ecological Succession
• The community which develops as initial community is known as
pioneer community.

• When a system gets stabilized i.e. the final community which

lasts for a longer period is known as “climax community”.

• The stages leading to the climax community are called

successional stages or seres.
Stages of ecological succession
 Process of succession
• Nudation: This is the development of bare area without any form of life.
This area may develop due to topographic (soil erosion by gravity, water,
wind, land slides, volcanic activity, earth quakes etc.) or climatic like floods
drought conditions, melting of glaciers, storms and biotic factors.

• Invasion: This is the successful establishment of life in that area. The

species actually reaches that area from other places the forces of
migration and dispersal. After reaching the new area the process of
successful establishment of special is known as “ecesis”. In plants seeds
germinate, seedlings grow and adults start to reproduce and increase their
number, this process is called “aggregation”.

• Competition and co-action: After aggregation large number of individuals

of species increase in a limited area, develops competition and co-action
for space and nutrition. In this process changes within the community can
be observed and the species is unable to complete with other number of
individuals would be discarded.
 Process of succession
• Reaction: This is the most important stage in the process of
succession. The mechanism of modification of environment
through the influence of living organisms starts in this stage.
As a result of this process changes takes place in soil, soil
structures, water ph, light conditions, temperature etc. of the
environment. Due to all these the environment is modified
and becoming unsuitable for the existing community which
sooner or later is replaced by another community.

• Stabilization: Finally there occurs a stage in the process. Then

the final community or terminal community becomes more or
less stabilized for a longer period of time and it can be
maintain itself on equilibrium with the environment or
surrounding or climate of the area.
 BIOGIOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
(NUTRIENT CYCLING)
• Cyclic exchange of material between the living organisms
and their non-living environment is called Biogeochemical
Cycle.
• Nutrient cycles are of two types:
(a) Gaseous: e.g., nitrogen, carbon, water cycle; reservoir-
atmosphere
(b) Sedimentary: e.g., sulphur and phosphorus cycle; reservoir
is located in Earth’s crust
Water cycle
Sulphar cycle
Phosphorus cycle
Biotic Interaction
 Biosphere
• A physical, chemical and biological system that encompasses
the entire surface of the planet
• Biosphere = Global ecosystem
• Biomes = Regional ecosystems
 Biomes
• A terrestrial portion of the biosphere
characterized by a distinct climate and a
particular assemblage of plants and animals
adapted to it
• Regional variations occur within each biome
• In a biome, abiotic conditions determine the
plant communities that can survive.
• – Determine which animals can subsist
Temperature and precipitation help to determine
vegetation of particular place
 Forest biomes
• forests exist where temperatures are mild to
hot and where rainfall is plentiful
• Tropical, temperate, and coniferous forests
are the three main forest biomes of the world
• Tropical rain forests
– located in a belt around the Earth near the
equator
– help regulate world climate and play vital roles
in the nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon cycles
Tropical rain forests
 Tropical rain forests
• always humid and warm
• Get about 200 to 450 cm of rain a year
• get strong sunlight year-round
• maintain a relatively constant temperature
year-round
• Climate ideal for a wide variety of plants and
animals
• warm, wet conditions also nourish more
species of plants than any other biome does
• Tropical rain forest paradox –
– World’s richest biome grows on some of the
world’s poorest soils
– Not very good for agriculture
• Soils are so poor because life is so rich
• Tropical forests are the lungs of the
planet
 Layers of Rain Forest
• Four main layers above the forest floor are
– Emergent layer:
• Top layer, tallest trees reach heights of 60 to 70 m,
trunk of such trees can measure upto 5 m, emerge into
direct sunlight.
• Animals such as eagles, bats, monkeys, and snakes live
in the emergent layer
– Canopy: Upper and Lower
• Trees can grow >30m tall
• tall trees form a dense layer that absorbs up to 95
percent of the sunlight.
 • canopy can be split into an upper canopy and a lower
canopy
• lower canopy receives less light than the upper canopy
does
• Epiphytes* use the entire surface of a tree as a place
to
live
– Understory
• very little light reaches in this layer,
• Trees and shrubs adapted to shade grow
• Most plants do not grow more than 3.5 m tall

• *a plant that grows on another plant, especially one that is not parasitic, such as the numerous ferns,
orchids etc. growing on tree trunks in tropical rainforests.

• The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phorophytes.

Layers of Rain Forest
• Within India, tropical rainforests are found
– in north-east India (along the Eastern Himalaya, in
Assam, and the hill states),
– in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and
– the Western Ghats mountain chain along the west
coast of India.
 Threats to Rain Forests
• once covered about 20 percent of Earth’s
surface, today only 7 percent
• Some of the major threats are
– Clearing for agriculture, plantations of oil palm,
tea, coffee, and Eucalyptus, roads, reservoirs,
logging for timber, extraction of minor forest
produce, invasions by weedy species, grazing, fire,
climate change, unplanned development and
urbanisation
 – Leads to habitat destruction to animals, plants
and native people
– Loss of culture and tradition of native people
• Trading
– Of valuable and marketable plant species
– Exotic-pet trading
 The Tundra

•Artic tundra is the northern limit to plant growth

•Covers ~10% of the land mass of the earth
•Receives < 25 cm precipitation in a year which
mostly occur during summer
• Deeper layers of soil remain frozen
throughout the year and are called permafrost
– Prevents deep-rooted plants from growing
• Treeless tract characterized by grasses, shrubs
and matlike vegetation adapted to the harsh
climate
• Tundra becomes dotted with shallow ponds
and lakes during summer
– Because evaporation is low and water percolation
is prevented by the permafrost
• Despite harsh conditions, a variety of animals
live year round on Tundra
Musk ox

The Ptarmigan
 Threats to Tundra
• Mining, oil and gas development and other
human activities
• Greatest threat to tundra is in Northern
Alaska
• Except 184 km stretch, 1760 km northern
coastline is open to oil and gas exploration
and development
• 184 km stretch is part of the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), a great wilderness
area
• Efforts are to open that section as well
• Biologists suggests that full scale oil
development will result in 20-40% decline in
the large caribou herds
• and will wipe half of the musk ox population

Caribou
• Population of other animals is also likely to
decline
• Would also result in air, water and noise
pollution
• Oil spills and hazardous waste disposal is also
common in the nearby areas
 Taig
a

• Also known as Boreal forest

• northern coniferous forest that stretches in a
broad band across the Northern
Hemisphere just below the Arctic Circle
• winters are long (6 to 10 months)
• average temperatures that are below freezing
and that often fall to –20°C
• forest floor is dark and has little vegetation
• growing season in the taiga may be as short as
50 days depending on latitude
 Plants of the Taiga
• A conifer is a tree that has seeds that develop
in cones.
• Most conifers do not shed their needle-
shaped leaves, which help them survive harsh
winters
• leaves’ narrow shape and waxy coating retain
water for the tree when the moisture in the
ground is frozen
• conifer’s pointed shape also helps the tree
shed snow
• needles contain substances that make the soil
acidic when the needles fall to the ground
• Most plants cannot grow in acidic soil, which
is one reason the forest floor of the taiga
has few plants
• soil forms slowly in the taiga because the
climate and acidity of the fallen leaves leads to
slow decomposition
 Animals of the Taiga
• has many lakes and swamps that in summer
attract birds that feed on insects, fish, or other
aquatic organisms
• Many birds migrate south to avoid winter in
the taiga
• Some year-round residents, such as shrews
and rodents, may burrow underground during
the winter, because the deep snow cover
insulates the ground
• Some animals, such as snowshoe hares, have
adapted to avoid predation by wolves, and
foxes by shedding their brown summer fur
and growing white fur that camouflages them
in the winter snow

Snowshoe hare
Temperate Deciduous Forests
 Temperate Deciduous Forests
• Dominant plants are deciduous trees that drop their
broad, flat leaves each fall
• An adaptation that greatly reduces evaporation at a time
when the supply of liquid water is limited
• range of temperatures can be extreme
• Summer temperatures can soar to 35°C
• Winter temperatures often fall below freezing, so
little water is available for plants.
• growing season lasts for only four to six months
• receive 75 to 125 cm of precipitation annually
• once dominated vast regions of the Earth,
including parts of North America, Europe, and
Asia
• Characterized by deep, rich soil
• The forest floor in a deciduous forest gets
more light than that of a rain forest does,
more plants such as ferns, herbs, and mosses
grow in a deciduous forest
Desert ecosystem
Cold desert (Ladakh)
 Deserts
• areas that receive < 25 cm of precipitation a year and
have little or no vegetation
• have extreme temperatures
• In India hot desert is spread over six states viz.,
Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Andhra
Pradesh, Karnataka
• Leh and Kargil districts of Ladakh in Jammu &
Kashmir and Lahaul and Spiti along with some parts
of Chamba and Kinnaur districts of Himachal Pradesh
comprise the cold desert area
• Rajasthan is the single largest state having
47% of the total desert area
• Kutch in Gujarat is having 10% of the total
desert area
• Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat are part
of the Great Indian Desert - Thar
 Plants of the Desert

• desert plants have adaptations for obtaining

and conserving water, to live in dry, desert
conditions
• Plants called succulents, such as cactuses,
have thick, fleshy stems and leaves that store
water
• Leaves have a waxy coating that prevents
water loss
Adaptations in desert organisms
• Sharp spines on cactuses keep thirsty animals
away from consuming the plant’s juicy flesh
• many plants’ roots spread out just under the
surface of the soil to absorb as much rain as
possible
• Instead of living in dry conditions, when
conditions are too dry, some plants die and
drop seeds that stay dormant in the soil until
the next rainfall
• new plants quickly germinate, grow, and
bloom before the soil becomes dry again
• Water levels below 50 to 75 percent are fatal
for most plants but some desert plants are
adapted to survive at 30 percent water
Animals of the Desert
• Reptiles, have thick, scaly skin that prevents
water loss.
• Amphibians survive scorching desert summers
by estivating—burying themselves in the
ground and sleeping through the dry season.
• Some animals, such as the elf
owl nest in cactuses to avoid Elf owl
predators
• insects and spiders are
covered with body armor that
helps them retain water
• most desert animals are
nocturnal
• Snakes and lizards excrete a
highly concentrated urine that
reduces water loss
 Deserts in India
• Thar desert
• Cold Himalayan desert
 Thar desert
• one of the smallest deserts in the world
• the most thickly populated deserts in the
world
• exhibits a wide variety of habitats and
biodiversity
• has a high avian diversity
• avian endemicity is very low
 Cold Desert of the Indian Trans-
Himalayas
• Harsh climatic conditions due to
– Inaccessibility to rain
– very high elevation (ranging from 3000 – 5000m
ASL)
• climatic conditions,
– short and dry summers with harsh sunlight (max.
temp. reaching upto 36˚C during the day) to long,
windy and freezing winters (min. temp. touching
-32˚C at night)
 Flora and fauna of ladakh region

Tibetan Snow
antelope leopard
(Ibex)

Ya
k
• displays an extremely fragile ecosystem
• exhibits very less but highly endemic diversity
 Rann of Kutch
• seasonal salt marsh
• one of the largest salt desert in the world
•provides refuge to the last population of
the endangered Asiatic wild ass (Equus
hermionus)
•Supports one of the world's largest
breeding colonies of the greater and lesser
flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber and P.
minor)

Asiatic wild ass Flamingos

Grassland ecosystems
 Grassland ecosystems
• the present day cereal crops are the cultivated
varieties of grasses’ wild ancestors
• Receive rainfall more than deserts and less than
forests i.e. 25 – 75 cm in a year
• Grasses normally attain a height of 2-3 meters
• Bamboo is the tallest grass in the world
• located in different climatic conditions ranging from
near desert conditions, to patches of shola grasslands
• During hot summer, all grasses becomes dry and mix
with soil
– Soils are rich in organic matter and makes the upper layer
of the soil dark
– Good for agriculture
• Grasses are very good soil binders due to fibrous
roots
– Significantly reduce soil erosion
• provide habitat, shelter, and food, both to livestock
and wildlife
• grassland ecosystems are under tremendous grazing
pressures
 Savanna
• Also known as tropical grasslands
• Found in Parts of Africa, western India, northern
Australia, and some parts of South America
• several different types of savannas around the
world
• Not enough rain falls to support forests
• Grassland scattered with shrubs and isolated
trees
• contain a large variety of grazing animals and the
predators that hunt them
• Plants are highly specialized to grow in long periods
of drought.
– have long tap roots that can reach the deep water table,
– thick bark to resist annual fires,
– trunks that can store water, and
– leaves that drop off during the winter to conserve water
• grasses have adaptations that discourage animals
– some grasses are too sharp or bitter tasting for some
animals, but not others, to eat grazing on them
• Many plants of the savanna also have storage organs
like bulbs for making it through the dry season
• Most of the animals have long legs or wings to be
able to go on long migrations
• Many burrow under ground to avoid the heat or
raise their young
• a perfect place for birds of prey like hawks
 Terai grasslands
• consists of patches of tall grasslands
interspersed with a Sal forest
• patches of tall elephant grass are located in
the low-lying waterlogged areas
• Sal forest patches cover the elevated regions
and the Himalayan foothills
• also includes marshes in low-lying
depressions
 Shola grassland
• Found in Western Ghats
• confined to the high altitude (>1700 m)
interspersed with tropical forests
• repeated fires do not permit the forest to
grow
• Overused or frequently burnt grasslands are
degraded and are poor in plant species
diversity
 Wildlife of the Indian grasslands

• Some of the rarest species of wildlife are

found in the grasslands, many of them totally
dependent on them
• Examples -
 Terai grassland

The Bengal Florican One-horned Rhinoceros

Hispid Hare
Pygmy Hog
Wild Buffalo Hog Deer

Swamp Deer
Shola grasslands

the Nilgiri Tahr

 AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
• In aquatic life zones, water is abundant and
temperature relatively constant
• Abundance and diversity of life forms are
determined principally by energy and nutrients
• aquatic ecosystems are divided into freshwater
ecosystems and marine ecosystems
• Freshwater ecosystems include
– Lakes and ponds, rivers and streams, wetlands
• Marine ecosystems include
– coastal areas of marshes, swamps, and coral reefs as
well as the deep, vast oceans.
• Aquatic organisms are grouped by their location
and adaptations.
• Three groups of aquatic organisms include
– Plankton:
• Many food chains begin with a group of producer
organisms
– the phytoplankton (free floating, photosynthetic
organisms, mostly algae, diatoms)
• Phytoplankton are consumed by microscopic
zooplankton
(single-celled protozoans, and multicellular crustaceans
• Zooplankton form the second trophic level of many aquatic
food chains
– Nekton:
• free-swimming organisms, such as fish, turtles, and whales
– Benthos
• bottom-dwelling organisms, such as mussels, worms, and
barnacles
• Many benthic organisms live attached to hard surfaces
 Freshwater ponds and
lakes
• Ponds are relatively small and shallow hence
sunlight penetrates to the bottom providing
plenty of energy for all aquatic forms
• Lakes are deeper than ponds and generally
contain four distinct zones –
– Littoral zone:
• Shallow waters at the margin of a lake where rooted
vegetation often grows
• Contains abundant phytoplankton and rooted
vegetation
Zones of lake
 • Some plants remain submerged throughout its life
others have flowers and leaves floating on the water’s
surface
– Limnetic zone:
• Commonly called “open water”
• Extends downward to the point at which light no longer
penetrates
• Main photosynthetic body of a lake, produces
the food that supports most other aquatic life forms
• Also a major source of O2 for zooplankton, bacteria and
fishes
– Profundal zone:
• Lies beneath the limnetic zone in deeper lakes and
extends to the bottom
• No sunlight reaches and oxygen levels remain
fairly low
• Fishes can survive in this zone by consuming food of
other zones
– Benthic zone:
• Home to organisms that tolerate cool temperatures and
low oxygen levels like snails, clams, aquatic worms
Rivers and streams

• Rivers and streams are

– Complex ecosystems
– generally well oxygenated
due to large surface area and agitation
– Currents also facilitates oxygenation
• Streams are open ecosystems as they receive
many nutrients from bordering ecosystems
• All the material received, feeds the aquatic
food web
 Freshwater Wetlands
• areas of land that are covered with fresh
water for at least part of the year
• Two main types – Marshes and Swamps
– Marshes contain non-woody plants
– Swamps are dominated by woody plants
 Fresh water Marshes
• tend to occur on low, flat lands and have little
water movement
• benthic zones are nutrient rich and contain
plants, numerous types of decomposers, and
scavengers
• attract many migratory birds from temperate
and tropical habitats
 Fresh water Swamps
• occur on flat, poorly drained land, often near
streams
• dominated by woody shrubs or water-loving
trees, depending on the latitude and climate
• Ideal habitat for many amphibians, such as
frogs
 Saltwater life zones
The coastal life zones
• Estuaries, seashores, coral reefs
 Estuaries
• an area in which fresh water from a river mixes
with salt water from the ocean
• Rich life zones, as streams and rivers transport
many nutrients, incoming tides carry
nutrients from the ocean
• waters mix in such a way that the estuary
becomes a nutrient trap
• Most estuaries are located near coastal
wetlands
– salt marshes, mangrove swamps, and
mud flats
• Estuaries and coastal wetlands form the estuarine
zones
• Estuaries are very productive ecosystems
because they constantly receive fresh
nutrients from the river and from the ocean
• Estuarine zone provides food, shelter, and
breeding grounds for millions of organisms
• one of the most altered ecosystem on the
earth due to –
– Dams on the rivers: reduce flow of water, capture
nutrients
– Coastal wetlands have been drained to build
homes, factories etc.
– These activities destroys habitat for fish and other
species
 Salt Marshes
• develop in estuaries where rivers deposit their
load of mineral-rich mud
• also acts as a nursery in which many species of
shrimps, crabs, and fishes find protection
when they are small
 Mangrove Swamps

Pichavaram Mangroves

Sundarbans Mangroves

Bhitarkanika Mangroves
 Mangrove Swamps
• Swamps located along coastal areas of tropical
and subtropical zones e.g. Sundarbans
• mangrove trees dominate mangrove swamps
• Mangrove trees, grow partly submerged in
the warm, shallow, and protected salt water of
mangrove swamps
• swamps help protect the coastline from
erosion and reduce the damage from storms
• provide the breeding and feeding grounds for
a variety of animal species
 Environmental Functions of Wetlands
• act as filters or sponges by trapping and filtering
sediments, nutrients, and pollutants, which keep these
materials from entering lakes, reservoirs, and oceans
• control flooding by absorbing extra water when rivers
overflow
• buffering shorelines against erosion
• providing spawning grounds and habitat for commercially
important fish
• providing habitat for rare, threatened, and endangered
plants and animals
• providing recreational areas for activities such as fishing,
bird watching, hiking, photography
 The Shoreline
• Generally rocky or sandy regions
• Supports a variety of specially adapted
organisms
• Abundant sunlight and nutrients account for
much of the biological diversity in this zone
 Coral reefs
• Found in relatively warm and shallow waters
in the tropics or nearby regions (subtropics)
• A coral reef:
– Consists of calcium carbonate or limestone
produced by various species of algae and by
colonies of organisms, the stony corals called
Coral polyps
– Coral reefs take thousands of years to form
• Aquatic equivalent of tropical rain
forests
• Home to a dazzling variety of organisms
Coral reef
• Highly vulnerable and experiencing considerable
damage due to –
– Ships, divers
– Sediment is a troublesome pollutant in coral reefs
– It reduces sunlight and photosynthesis in the
organisms that live in mutualistic relationship with
many species of corals
– Heavy sedimentation can bury a reef, choking the life
out of it
• Many of the world’s coral reef s are dead or dying
as a result of warming ocean waters possibly due
to global climate change
• The richest coral reefs in India are around the
Andaman and Nicobar islands and in the gulf
of Kutch.
 The marine ecosystem
• The ocean floor slopes downward away from
landmasses and then drops more steeply
– Gradually sloping region is called the continental
shelf
– More steeply falling region is the continental
slope
– Bottom of the deep ocean is called abyssal
plain
• Ocean is divided into four ecologically distinct
life zones:
– Neritic zone:
• equivalent to the littoral zone of lakes
• Lies above the continental shelf
• Varied in width from 15 to 150 km away from dry land
• Relatively shallow water, abundant sunshine, water
relatively warm and well oxygenated
• Nutrients come from streams and rivers which support
various organisms
• Most commercial fishing operations in the oceans
concentrate in the neritic zone
- The euphotic zone:
• Ocean equivalent of the limnetic zone of the lakes
• Open water region, extends to about 200 meters
below the ocean’s surface
• Abundant sunlight supports numerous species of
phytoplankton which support a variety of
zooplankton
• Phytoplankton also produce plenty of oxygen
• However due to low nutrients, it is not very
productive
• Hence although it covers 90% of ocean’s surface, it
produces only ~10% of commercial fish each year
- Bathyal zone:
• Beneath the euphotic zone, a region of
semidarkness
• Zone is too dark to support
photosynthesis
• Characterized by lack of photosynthetic organisms
and low oxygen levels
• Still the zone is home to a variety of fish and other
organisms which feed on organisms “raining
down” from above
- Abyssal zone:
• Beneath the bathyal zone
• A region of complete darkness
• Contains no photosynthetic organisms and is
characterized by low oxygen levels
• Most animals of the zone are either predators or
scavengers
• To live in this zone, an animals must be adapted to
extremely cold water, high water pressure, low
oxygen, and complete darkness
• Sediment in this zone is often rich in nutrients
• Deep ocean floor is populated with variety of
creatures
• Thank you

125