WHAT IS AN ECOSYSTEM ?
An ecosystem is a community of living organisms
interacting with each other and their non-living
environment.
What makes up an ecosystem?
• All living things (plants, animals, and bacteria)
• Non living things (the sun, rocks, and soil)
Types of Ecosystem
An ecosystem can be as small as an oasis in a desert, or as big as
an ocean, spanning thousands of miles. There are two types of
ecosystem:
Terrestrial Ecosystem
Aquatic Ecosystem
Terrestrial Ecosystem
Terrestrial ecosystems are exclusively land-based ecosystems.
There are different types of terrestrial ecosystems distributed
around various geological zones. They are as follows:
1. Forest Ecosystem
2. Grassland Ecosystem
3. Tundra Ecosystem
4. Desert Ecosystem
Aquatic Ecosystem
Aquatic ecosystems are ecosystems present in a body of water.
These can be further divided into two types, namely:
1. Freshwater Ecosystem
2. Marine Ecosystem
What is a pond?
A pond is a quiet body of water that is too small for wave action and too shallow
for major temperature differences from top to bottom. It usually has a muddy or
silty bottom with aquatic plants around the edges and throughout. However, it is
often difficult to classify the differences between a pond and a lake, since the two
terms are artificial and the ecosystems really exist on a continuum.
Generally, in a pond, the temperature changes with the air
temperature and is relatively uniform. Lakes are similar to ponds,
but because they are larger, temperature layering or stratification
takes place in summer and winter, and these layers turnover in
spring and fall.
Pond Ecosystem Producers
Phytoplankton
Phytoplankton, literally “wandering plants,” are microscopic algae that float in the
open water and give it a green appearance. They carry out photosynthesis using
carbon dioxide that is dissolved in the water and release oxygen that is used by the
bacteria and animals in the pond. Phytoplankton are not actually plants-they are
protists!
Periphytic algae
Periphytic algae are microscopic algae that attach themselves to substrates and give
the rocks and sticks a greenish brown slimy appearance. They also carry out
photosynthesis and produce oxygen, often near the bottom of the pond where it can
be used by decomposers.
Submerged plants
Submerged plants grow completely under water.
Partially submerged aquatic vegetation, water chestnut.
Floating plants
Floating plants include plants that float on the surface and plants that are rooted on
the bottom of the pond but have leaves and/or stems that float.
Emergent plants
Emergent plants are rooted in shallow water but their stems and leaves are above
water most of the time.
Shore plants
Shore plants grow in wet soil at the edge of the pond.
Consumers
Zooplankton
Zooplankton are microscopic animals that eat phytoplankton or smaller
zooplankton. Some are single-celled animals, tiny crustaceans, or tiny immature
stages of larger animals. Zooplankton float about in the open water portions of the
pond and are important food for some animals.
Invertebrates
Invertebrates include all animals without backbones.
Copepod
(left) and a damsel fly (right). Credit: Jan Porinchak
Macroinvertebrates
Macroinvertebrates are big enough to be seen with the naked eye. Some of them
are only found in clean water.
Vertebrates
Vertebrates are animals with backbones. In a pond these might include fish, frogs,
salamanders, and turtles.
Decomposers
Animal waste and dead and decaying plants and animals form detritus on the
bottom of the pond. Decomposers, also known as detritovores, are bacteria and
other organisms that break down detritus into material that can be used by primary
producers, thus returning the detritus to the ecosystem. As this material
decomposes it can serve as a food resource for microbes and invertebrates.
During decay, microbes living on detritus can pull nutrients from the overlying
water thus acting to improve water quality. In the process of breaking down
detritus, decomposers produce water and carbon dioxide.
