ECOSYSTEM

BY E. CHAULUKA
 Contents
Define ecology
• Define ecosystem
Describe major principles of ecosystem
Identify Components of an ecosystem
Abiotic components
Biotic components
Explain Movement of energy and nutrients
Food chain
Food webs
Trophic levels, biomass and biome
Explain the functions of ecosysem
Introduction:

• Environment involves both living organisms

and the non-living physical conditions. These
two are inseparable, but inter-related.
For food, shelter, growth and development,
all life systems interact with the environment.
Environment is a life supporting system
What is Ecology?
a branch of science concerned with the
interrelationship of organisms and their
environments
 the totality or pattern of relations between
organisms and their environment
Ecology is the study of relationships between
living things and their environment
What is an ecosystem
The term `eco' refers to a part of the world
and `system' refers to the co-coordinating
units.
An ecosystem is a grouping of organisms that
interact with each other and their
environment in such a way as to preserve the
grouping.
There is a great variety of ecosystems in
existence, all of them are characterized by
general structural and functional attributes.
Services of Ecosystem
The ecosystem is an open system. It receives
energy from an outside source (the sun), as
input, fixes and utilities the energy and
ultimately dissipates the heat into space as
output.
An ecosystem has a physical environment, or
factors, biological components and
interactions between them.
The human economy depends upon the services
performed for free by ecosystems.
The ecosystem services supplied annually are
worth many trillions of dollars.
Economic development that destroys habitats and
impairs services can create costs to humanity
over the long term that may greatly exceed the
short-term economic benefits of the development.
These costs are generally hidden from traditional
economic accounting, but are nonetheless real
and are usually borne by society at large.
Three major principles of ecosystem
Nutrient cycling:
Movement of chemical elements from the
environment into living organisms and from
them back into the environment through
organisms live, grow, die and decompose.
Energy flow:
Energy is required to transform inorganic
nutrients into organic tissues of an organism.
Energy is the driving force to the work of
ecosystem.
Structure
It refers to the particular pattern of inter-
relationships that exists between organisms in
an ecosystem.
Nutrient cycling
Energy flow
Structure
Ecosystem:
Nutrient cycling, energy flow and structure
Components of an ecosystem
Abiotic components
The abiotic components are the non-living components
of the ecosystem.
They are of three categories
1. Climatic and physical factors -air, water, soil and
sunlight; rainfall, temperature, humidity, soil texture
and geomorphic conditions.
2. Inorganic substances- There are various nutrient
elements and compounds, such as carbon, nitrogen,
sulfur, phosphorous, carbon-di-oxide, water, etc.
These are involved in the cycling of materials in
the ecosystems.

3. Organic compounds- These are proteins,

carbohydrates, lipids, humic substances, etc.
They largely form the living body and link the
abiotic compounds with the biotic factors.
The abiotic factors determine the type of
organisms that can successfully live in a
particular area.
Some of the major non-living factors of an
ecosystem are: Sunlight, Water,
Temperature, Oxygen, Soil and air
Major Non-living Factors Of An Ecosystem
Sunlight is necessary for photosynthesis; it influences
organisms and their environment; it has a profound
effect on the growth and development of life.

 Water is the elixir of life; all living things require

water for their survival, but some can live with lesser
amounts
 Temperature -- all living things have a range of temperatures in which they can
survive; beyond those limits it will be difficult for them to live.

 Oxygen -- many living things require oxygen; it is necessary for cellular respiration,
a process used to obtain energy from food; others are actually killed by the presence
of oxygen (certain bacteria)

 Soil -- the type of soil, pH, amount of water it holds, available nutrients, etc
determine what type of organism can successfully live in or on the soil; for example,
cacti live in sand, cattails in soil saturated with water.

 The inorganic substances like nitrates, carbonates and phosphates occur either freely
or in the form of compounds dissolved in water and soil
Biotic components

 Biotic components - include all living

organisms and their products.
Based on their activity, biotic
components are classified into four
categories as
a) producers / autotrophs
b) consumers /heterotrophs
c) transformers and
d) decomposers.
1. Consumers/Autotrophs
An autotroph (self-feeding) or producer, is an
organism that produces complex organic
compounds (such as carbohydrates, fats, and
proteins) from simple substances present in its
surroundings, generally using energy from light
(by photosynthesis) or inorganic chemical
reactions (chemosynthesis).
 They are the producers in a food chain, such as
plants on land or algae in water.
 plants are able to make their own food through
a process called photosynthesis.
2. Heterotrophs:

 Organisms that consume other organisms

as a food source. Eg animals

 Heterotrophs function as consumers in food

chains: they obtain organic carbon by
eating other heterotrophs or autotrophs.
Classifications of heterotrophs
Depends on food habits
The PRIMARY CONSUMERS are solely feed on plants.
Herbivores are plant eaters - grasshopper, rabit, goat, sheep are
primary consumers.

The SECONDARY CONSUMERS feed on some primary

consumers.
Carnivores-are flesh eaters. Eg. - Hawks ,Tiger and Lion.
Omnivores (Biophages ) - eat both vegetables and
flesh( cockroaches, fox, humans).
TERTIARY CONSUMERS are the predators of
predators. They are mostly larger animal
3. TRANSFORMERS :

Transformers are certain types of bacteria .

 They attack on materials excreted by other living
organisms (even dead plants and animals ).
• They transform the above into either organic or
inorganic substances.
• These substances are suitable for the nutrition of
green plants.
Transformers help in recycling the nutrients
which came as waste already.
4. DECOMPOSERS
 They are also called as microconsumers.

 They depend on dead organic matter for their food

 They are chiefly micro organisms like bacteria and fungi.

 They break the complex organic matter found in plant

and animal bodies, and release simple substances .

 These substances will be used by autotrophs once again.

 Some invertebrate animals like protozoa and earthworms

use these dead organic matter for their food.
Movement of energy and nutrients

Food chain
Food webs
Trophic level, biomass and biome
Biotic components and food chain
Food Chain
The particular pathway of nutrient and
energy movement depends on which
organism feeds on anther.

Decomposers
Food Webs
All the food chains in an area make up the
food web of the area.
Trophic Levels
A trophic level means a feeding level.

A trophic level is the position occupied by an organism in a

food chain

Energy and Nutrients are passed through the ecosystem by

food chains and webs from lower trophic level to the higher
trophic level.

However, only 5% to 20% energy and nutrients are transferred

into higher trophic level successfully.

For this reason, first trophic level has the largest number of
organisms, and second trophic level is less than first one; the
third level is less than second level, and so on.
Trophic levels can be analyzed on an energy pyramid

Producers are found at the base of the pyramid and

compromise the first trophic level.

Primary consumers ( all herbivores) make up the

second trophic level.

Secondary consumers ( first level carnivores)

make up the third trophic level.

Finally tertiary consumers ( second level

carnivores) make up the top trophic level.
Trophic levels
Biomass
• Energy is sometimes considered in terms of
biomass, the mass of all the organisms and organic
material in an area.
• Bio=life Mass=weight
• Bio + Mass = Weight of living things within an
ecosystem.
Biomass means the total combined weight of
any specified group of organisms.
The biomass of the first trophic level is the
total weight of all the producers in a given
area.
Biomass decreases at higher trophic levels.
Biomass
 Benefits from ecosystem services
Benefits of ecosystems
1. purification of air and water (Daily et al 1997).
2. mitigation of droughts and floods.
3. generation and preservation of soils and renewal
of their fertility.
4. detoxification and decomposition of wastes.
5. pollination of crops and natural vegetation.
6. dispersal of seeds.
7. cycling and movement of nutrients.
 Benefits from ecosystem services
8. control of the vast majority of potential
ctd
agricultural pests.
9. protection of coastal shores from erosion by
waves.
10.protection from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet
rays.
11.partial stabilization of climate.
12.moderation of weather extremes and their
impacts.
13.provision of aesthetic beauty and intellectual
stimulation that lift the human spirit.
Reference
• Allender, J.A., Rector, C. & Warner, K.D. (2010).
Community Health Nursing: Promoting &
Protecting the Public’s Health. (7th Ed.) New
York: J B Lippincott.
Balasubramanian, A. (2008) Ecosystem And Its
Components
(https://www.researchgate.net/publication/3142
13426_ecosystem_and_its_components
• Daily et al (1997). Ecosystem services: Benefits
supplied to human societies by natural
ecosystems
http://www.epa.gov/owow/watershed/wacademy/a