EST Unit-3
EST Unit-3
HR: 08 MARKS:12
COURSE OUTCOMES
CO- c : Conserve Ecosystem and Biodiversity.
CHAPTER 03- Ecosystem and Biodiversity
DEFINITION - ECOSYSTEM
The term “Ecosystem” was first coined by A.G.Tansley, an English botanist, in 1935.
The living community of plants and animals in any area together with the non-living
components of the environment such as soil, air and water, constitute the
ecosystem.
ASPECTS OF ECO-SYSTEM
The eco-system can be defined as any spatial or organizational unit including living
organisms and non-living substances interacting to produce an exchange of materials
between the living and non-living parts.
Structural aspects
Ecosystem
Aspects of
Functional
aspects
STRUCTURAL ASPECTS OF ECO-SYSTEM
Biotic Components : Organisms
Producers
• Plants
Consumers
• Animals
Decomposers
• Micro organisms
Functions of Ecosystem
Energy
Cycles
Food
Evolution
Chains
Nutrient
Diversity
Cycles
Functional aspects
1) Energy cycles
.
Functional aspects
Functional aspects – 2) Food chains
Plants can grow by converting the sun’s energy directly into their tissues, they are known as
producers in the ecosystem.
The plants are used by herbivorous animals as food, which gives them energy.
The carnivores in turn depend on herbivorous animals on which they feed.
Thus the different plant and animal species are linked to one another through food chains
Each food chain has three or four links.
.
Functional aspects – 3) Diversity - Inter linkages between
organisms
The different plant and animal
species are linked to one another
through food chains.
Each food chain has three or four
links. However as each plant or
animal can be linked to several
other plants or animals through
many different linkages.
These inter-linked chains can be
depicted as a complex food web.
This is thus called the ‘web of life’
that shows that there are
thousands of interrelationships in
nature.
Functional aspects – 4) Nutrient cycles- (Biogeochemical cycles)
(2) Consumers
Consumers are herbivorous, carnivorous, and omnivorous
animals; they eat the organic matter produced by other
organisms.
(3) Reducers
Reducers are heterotrophic organisms like animals; they are fungi
and bacterial that decompose dead organic matter.
Functions of Eco-system
Functions of Eco-system
1. Transformation of Solar Energy into Food Energy
(Photosynthesis)
The solar radiation is the basic input of energy entering the
ecosystem.
The green plants receive it. And is converted into heat energy.
It is only a small proportion of radiant solar energy that is used
by plant to make food through the process of photosynthesis.
Green plants transform a part of solar energy into food energy
or chemical energy.
The chemical energy becomes the source of energy to the
herbivorous animals of the food chain.
Solar Energy into Food Energy
2. The Circulation of elements through Energy Flow (e.g
Carbon Cycle)
Definition:
Biological diversity’ or biodiversity is that part of nature
which includes the differences in genes among the
individuals of a species, the variety and richness of all the
plant and animal species at different scales in space, locally,
in a region, in the country and the world, and various types
of ecosystems, both terrestrial and aquatic, within a
defined area.
Biodiversity
Levels of
Biodiversity
Genetic diversity
It includes the genetic variations within species, both
among geographically separated populations and among
individuals within single population.
e.g. variety of rice, teak wood ,dog etc.
Each member of any animal or plant species differs widely
from other individuals in its genetic makeup because of
the large number of combinations possible in the genes
that give every individual specific characteristics.
Thus, for example, each human being is very different
from all others. This genetic variability is essential for a
healthy breeding population of a species
Genetic diversity
Genetic diversity
It refers to the variations among the genetic
resources of the organisms.
Every individual of a particular species differs from
each other in their genetic constitution.
That is why every human looks different from each
other.
Similarly, there are different varieties in the same
species
Species diversity
Species diversity
It includes full range of species from micro organisms to giants
and mammoth varieties of plants and animals, e.g. single celled
viruses and bacteria etc. and multi-cellular plants, animals and
fungi.
Plant species - e.g. Apple, mango, grapes etc.
Animal species- e.g. Lion, tiger, elephant etc.
Natural undisturbed tropical forests have a much greater species
richness than plantations developed by the Forest Department
for timber
At present conservation scientists have been able to identify and
categorize about 1.8 million species on earth
Species diversity
Ecosystem diversity
It provides variation in the
biological communities in
which species Jive, exist and
interact.
e.g .River ecosystem, Forest
ecosystem,
Desert ecosystem etc.
There are a large variety of
different ecosystems on
earth, which have their own
complement of distinctive
inter linked species based on
the differences in the habitat.
India is exceptionally rich in
its ecosystem diversity.
Threats to the Biodiversity
Biodiversity is under
serious threat as a result of
human activities.
CAUSES OF BIODIVERSITY
LOSSES
There are four major causes
(called “The Evil Quartet”) of
biodiversity losses:
1. Habitat loss and
fragmentation,
2. Over exploitation,
3. Alien species invasions
4. Co-extinction
Threats to the Biodiversity
1. Habitat loss and fragmentation:
The tropical rain forests, once covering 14
per cent of the land surface of Earth, but
now they cover only 6 per cent of the
land area.
The Amazon rain forests (called the
‘lungs of the planet’) are cleared for
cultivation of soybeans or are converted
into grasslands for raising beef-cattle.
The loss of a habitat deprives many
animals and plants their homes and they
face extinction.
Degradation of many habitats by
pollution threatens the survival of many
species.
Threats to the Biodiversity
2. Over-exploitation
•Humans have always depended on
nature for food and shelter, etc.
•The population explosion is the
major reason for the over-
exploitation of available resources.
• Forests ecosystems
Biodiversity • Inland wetlands ecosystems
Assessment • Coastal and marine ecosystems.
Initiative in
India
Biodiversity