I.

Ecosystem
Grassland Ecosystem Fresh water Ecosystem

Dr. A.A. NAPOLEON, M. Pharm., Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Chemistry Division, SAS,
VIT University, Vellore – 14.
 Module: 1: Environment and Ecosystem
• Key environmental problems and their basic causes;

• Ecosystem, Earth – life support systems;

What is an Ecosystem, Structure and Functions
Types of Ecosystem-
Terrestrial ecosystem: Forest, Grassland, Desert ecosystems.

Aquatic ecosystem: Pond, Lake, Stream, River, Marine ecosystems.

Major components of an Ecosystem: - Producers, Consumers, Decomposers

Food chain, Foodweb

• Energy flow in an ecosystem;

• Ecological Succession

• Nutrient, water, carbon, nitrogen cycles;

Effect of human activities on these cycles.

 Ecosystem: Ecology : Definition
• Study of organisms in their natural home interacting with their surroundings.

• Ecosystem (ecology) is the integrated study of biotic and abiotic components and their
interactions with their surroundings.
• Ecology: Science that focuses on how organisms interact with one another and with
their non living environment of matter and energy.

• Combined physical and biological components of an environment.

Physical (abiotic) factors of the environment: Air, Water, Rocks & soil.
Biotic organisms: Plants and animals, within the same habitat.

Ecosystems can be permanent or temporary.

• The term ecosystem was coined in 1930 by Roy Clapham to mean
The combined physical & biological components of an environment.
• British ecologist Arthur Tansley in 1935, later refined the term, describing it as
"The whole system,… including
Not only the complex organism, but also the whole complex of physical factors
forming what we call the environment“.
 Ecology:- Parts of the Ecosystem
• .
Ecology: Science that focuses on how organisms interact with one another and with their
non living environment of matter and energy.
• Scientists classify matter into levels of organization ranging from atoms to galaxies.
• Ecologists study interactions within and among five of these levels—
Organisms, Populations, Communities, Ecosystems, & the biosphere,
Parts of the Ecosystem
Biosphere: Parts of the earth's air, water, and soil where life is found.

Ecosystem: A community of different species interacting with one

another and with their non living environment of matter and energy.

Community: Populations of different species living in a particular

place, and potentially interacting with each other.

Population: A group of individuals of the same species living in a

particular place.

Organism: An individual living being.

Cell: The fundamental structural and functional unit of life.

H
OH Molecule: Chemical combination of two or more atoms of the same or
different elements.(H2O)
H O Atoms: Smallest unit of a chemical element that exhibits its chemical
properties. (Hydrogen, Oxygen)
 Parts of the Ecosystem: Biomes
Biomes are climatically & geographically defined as similar climatic conditions on
the Earth such as
Communities of plants, animals and soil organisms.

In ecology, Biome is a major regional group of distinctive plant and animal

communities best adapted to the region's physical natural environment, latitude,
elevation, and terrain.

A fundamental classification of biomes is:

Terrestrial (land) biomes

Aquatic biomes ( Freshwater biomes and marine biomes)

5
Ecosystem: Classification Types of Ecosystem:
 Aquatic ecosystem: Marine, Freshwater ecosystem
 Terrestrial ecosystem:

Tundra: Treeless plain in the frozen

regions of the earth.
Types of Ecosystem
A. Terrestrial Ecosystem
Forest
Grassland
Desert

B. Aquatic Ecosystem
Pond
Lake
Stream
River
Marine
 Ecosystem:

Examples of ecosystems:
Aquatic ecosystem,
• Marine ecostem Pond ecosystem,
Forest ecosystem Fresh water ecosystem,

Terrestial ecosystem
• Grass land ecosystem
• Desert ecosystem,
 Ecosystems: Fundamental Characteristics
• Structure:
 Living (biotic)
 Nonliving (abiotic)

• Process:
 Energy flow
 Cycling of matter (chemicals)

• Change:
 Dynamic (not static)
 Succession, etc. Key living and non-living
components of an eco system
 Structure of an ecosystem
Ecosytem

Biotic Abiotic

Autotrophic Heterotrophic Physical Chemical

components components Components Components

(producers) (Consumers)

Air, Water, organic inorganic

Soil, Sunlight substances substances
Macro Micro etc.
consumers consumers

(decomposers)
Proteins, micro and macro elements
Carbohydrates
1. Primary consumers
2. Secondary consumers
3. Tertiary consumers
4. Quaternary consumers
Main structural components of ecosystem-(energy, chemicals & organisms)

Diagram shows the main structural components of an ecosystem (energy, chemicals and
organisms). Nutrient cycling and the flow of energy—first from the sun, then through
organisms, and finally into the environment as low-quality heat—link these components.

Chemical nutrients Heatt

(carbon dioxide,
Heatt oxygen, nitrogen,
minerals)

Heatt Heatt

Decomposers Producers
(bacteria, fungi) (plants)

Consumers
(plant eaters,
Heatt meat eaters) Heatt
 Major Components of an Ecosystem

Producers, autotrophs (self-feeders),

• An autotroph is an organism that produces complex organic compounds from
simple inorganic molecules using energy from light (by photosynthesis) or
inorganic chemical reactions.

Autotrophs are the producers in a food chain, such as

• plants on land or algae in water.
• Bacteria which derive energy from oxidizing inorganic compounds

Plants typically capture about 1% of the solar energy that falls on their leaves and use it
in combination with carbon dioxide and water to form organic molecules, energy-rich
carbohydrates (such as glucose, C6H12O6 which store the chemical energy they need.

Carbon dioxide + water + solar energy --- glucose + oxygen

 1. Autotrophs (Producers)
• A groups of organisms that can use the energy in sunlight to convert water
and carbon dioxide into Glucose (food)

• Autotrophs are also called Producers because they produce all of the food that
heterotrophs use.

• Without autotrophs, there would be no life on this planet

Ex. Plants and Algae
 1. Heterotrophs: Consumers, or (“other-feeders”),
Heterotroph is an organism that uses organic carbon for growth.
• All other organisms in an ecosystem are consumers, or heterotrophs (“other-feeders”), that
cannot produce the nutrients they need through photosynthesis or other processes .

• Heterotrophs are known as consumers in food chains and obtain organic

carbon by eating other heterotrophs or autotrophs.

• They must obtain their energy-storing organic molecules and many other nutrients by
feeding on other organisms (producers or other consumers) or their remains.

• In other words, all consumers (including humans) depend on producers for their
nutrients.

There are several types of consumers.

• Primary Consumers: or herbivores (plant eaters),: Cows, Elephants, Caterpillars,
Giraffes
• Secondary Consumers:
• Tertiary (or higher-level) consumers :
 2. Heterotrophs: Consumers:
Primary Consumers: or herbivores (plant eaters),: Cows,
Elephants, Caterpillars, Giraffes
2. Herbivores – eat ONLY plants
• Ex. – Cows, Elephants, Caterpillars, Giraffes
 Heterotrophs
Consumers 3. Carnivores – Eat ONLY meat,
• Carnivores (meat eaters) are animals that feed on the flesh of other animals.

• Some carnivores spiders, lions and most small fishes are secondary consumers that
feed on the flesh of herbivores.
• Ex. – Lions, Tigers, Sharks.

Other carnivores such as tigers, hawks, and killer whales (orcas) are tertiary (or

higher-level) consumers that feed on the flesh of other carnivores.

 Heterotrophs
• Consumers
4. Omnivores – Eat BOTH plants and animals
• Ex. pigs, rats, Bears and Humans
 3. Decomposers
Decomposers are consumers that, in the process of obtaining their own nutrients, release
nutrients from the wastes or remains of plants and animals and then return those nutrients to
the soil, water, and air for reuse by producers.
Most decomposers are bacteria and fungi.

Examples: Earthworms, some insects, and vultures.

1. Scavengers/Detritivores – feed on the tissue of dead organisms (both plants and

animals) feed on the wastes or dead bodies of other organisms; these wastes are
called detritus (dee-TRI-tus), which means debris.
Examples are earthworms, some insects, Crows and vultures
 Various detritivores and decomposers

Various detritivores and decomposers (mostly fungi and bacteria) can “feed on” or
digest parts of a log and eventually convert its complex organic chemicals into
simpler inorganic nutrients that can be taken up by producers.

Detritus feeders Decomposers

Long-horned Bark beetle Carpenter Termite &

beetle holes engraving ant galleries carpenter Dry rot
ant work fungus

Wood reduced Fungi

to powder

Time progression Powder broken down by

decomposers into plant
nutrients in soil
Ecological niche- an important principle of ecology- Species’ way of life in a
What is an ecological niche? community
It is an important principle of ecology is that each species has a specific role to play in the
ecosystems where it is found.

Ecological niche ( often pronounced “nitch”).

is defined as that a ‘species’ way of life in a community and includes everything that affects
its survival and reproduction, such as
 How much water and sunlight it needs,
 How much space it requires,
 What it feeds on, what feeds on it, and
 The temperatures it can tolerate.

A species’ niche should not be confused with its habitat, which is the place where it lives. Its
niche is its pattern of living.

Scientists use the niches of species to classify them broadly as generalists or specialists.

Generalist species have broad niches,

They can live in many different places, eat a variety of foods, and often tolerate a wide
range of environmental conditions.
Mice, rats, white-tailed deer, raccoons and humans are generalist species.

Specialists species: They can live in particular places,

Able to live in only one type of habitat, use just one or only a few type of food
Tolerate a narrow range of climatic and other environmental conditions.
giant panda
 Generalist species and Specialists species

China’s giant panda is highly endangered because of a combination of habitat loss,

low birth rate and its specialized diet consisting mostly of Bamboo.
Ecological niche- as an important principle of ecology
 Ecological niche- Native and Non native species
Niches can be classified further in terms of specific roles that certain species play
within ecosystems.

Native species are those species that normally live and thrive in a particular ecosystem.

Non-native species: Other species that migrate into, or are deliberately or accidentally
introduced into, an ecosystem are called nonnative species,

It is also referred to as invasive, alien, and exotic species.

Some people tend to think of non-native species as threatening.

In fact, most introduced and domesticated plant species such as food crops and flowers
and animals such as chickens, cattle, and fish from around the world are beneficial to us.

However, some non-native species can compete with and reduce a community’s native
species, causing unintended and unexpected consequences.

In 1957, for example,

Brazil imported wild African honeybees to help increase honey production. Instead, the
bees displaced domestic honeybees and reduced the honey supply.

Human activities are decreasing biodiversity by causing the extinction of many species and
by destroying or degrading habitats needed for the development of new species.
Deliberately and Accidentally Introduced Species
 Natural capital- ecosystem services, make human life possible.
Natural Capital can be defined as the world's stocks of natural assets which include
geology, soil, air, water and all living things.

Natural capital: One such component of the natural resources and natural services that keep
us and other forms of life alive and support our human economies are called Natural capital.
It is supported by energy from the sun—another of the principles of sustainability.

Natural capital is the land, air, water, living organisms and all formations of the Earth's
biosphere that provide us with ecosystem goods and services imperative for survival and
well-being.
Furthermore, it is the basis for all human economic activity.

It is from this Natural Capital that humans derive a wide range of services, often called
ecosystem services, which make human life possible.
 Ecological footprint
• The ecological footprint is a measure of human demand on the Earth's ecosystems.

• It is a standardized measure of demand for natural capital that may be contrasted with
the planet's ecological capacity to regenerate.

• It represents the amount of biologically productive land and sea area necessary to
supply the resources a human population consumes, and to assimilate associated waste.
•
 Functions of an Ecosystem
• In the ecosystem, biotic components and other materials like N, C, H2O circulated within
and outside of the system.
• The energy is transferred from one trophic level to the other in the form of a chain called
as food chain.
• Important source of energy is the Sun.
• Climatic changes.

An ecosystem provides the services and goods are often undervalued.

Broad examples include:
• Regulating climate, floods, nutrient balance, water filtration.

• Provisioning food, medicine, fur etc..

• Cultural (science, spiritual, ceremonial, recreation, aesthetic)

• Supporting nutrient cycling, photosynthesis, soil formation.

 Ecosystem: Functions
Major functional attributes of an ecosystems are as follows

 Food chain, Food webs and tropic structure.

 Energy flow

 Cycling of nutrients (Biogeochemical cycles)

 Primary and secondary production

 Ecosystem development and regulation.

 Trophic Levels
• A trophic level is the position occupied by an organism in a food
chain.

• Producers are found at the base of the pyramid and compromise the
first trophic level.

• Primary consumers make up the second trophic level.

• Secondary consumers make up the third trophic level.

• Finally tertiary consumers make up the top trophic level.

Trophic level: All the organisms that are
the same number of food-chain steps
from the primary source of energy

Modified from: General Ecology, by David T. Krome

 Biotic Components
1. AUTORTROPHS : PRODUCERS: MAINLY GREEN PLANTS
2. HETEROTROPHS : CONSUMERS: MAINLY ANIMALS
3. DECOMPOSER : MAINLY BACTERIA AND FUNGAI.

Herbivores : Plant eating

Carnivores : Animal eating
Omnivores : Eating all kinds of food
Producers, Consumers, Decomposers

Hawk
 A. Terrestrial Ecosystem
1.Forest Ecosystem

♣ A Forest: Collection of biological organisms & non-biological factors.

♣ Includes all the things from trees to the bacteria, and the
soil type to the microclimates.

♣ Natural forces such as wind, fire and succession shape Forest

structure.

Characteristic: Types of Forest

Tropical forest : Dense ever-green to semi-evergreen.
Mountain forest : Mountain areas upto 1500 m altitude
Temperate forest: Forests exist above 1600 m altitude
Alpine forest: High mountain forests, above 3000 m altitude.
 Structure of Forest Ecosystem

Abiotic Biotic components

components Producers Consumers Decomposers
Organic and Mainly trees 1° - Ants, flies, snails Fungi,
inorganic subs. and shrubs (herbivores) bacteria,
(soil & atmos.) 2° - Snakes, birds Actinomycetes
Climate, temp., (carnivores) etc.
light, rainfall 3°- Lion, Tiger, etc.

Functions
♣ Wood- manufacturing & marketing
♣ Industrial wood- paper & pulp
♣ Protects biodiversity
♣ Maintains climate & rainfall
Forest Ecosystem
 2. Grassland Ecosystem

 Grassland occupies about 19% of earth’s surface.

Characteristics

♠ Dominated by grass with few trees and shrubs.

♠ Average and erratic rainfall.

♠ Primary production of food.

 Structure of Grassland Ecosystem

Abiotic Biotic components

components Producers Consumers Decomposers
Nutrients in soil Mainly grasses 1° - Cows, buffaloes, Microbes like
and aerial and few shrubs rabbits, sheep. Fungi, bacteria,
environment( C, H, 2° - Snakes, birds lizards. actinomycetesetc
O, N, P,S, H2O, 3°- Hawks .
CO2)

Functions
♠ Traps solar energy and biomass is consumed by producers.
♠ Serves as a pool of energy for grassing animals.
♠ Prevent soil erosion.
♠ Insects living and breeding takes place.
Grassland ecosystem
 3. Desert Ecosystem

 Desert constitutes about 17 % in the world.

Characteristics
☼ Annual precipitation is less than 25 cm.

☼ Poor species diversity.

☼ Atmosphere is very dry.

☼ Contains thorned plants and thick skinned animals.

 Structure of Desert Ecosystem

Abiotic Biotic components

components Producers Consumers Decomposers
Dry soil with Some grasses, 1° - Insects, reptiles Thermophilic
fewer rainfall and shrubs and 2° - Collared lizards, fungi and
high temperature few trees darking beetle bacteria.
3°- red tailed Hawk,
Agaves.

Functions
☼ Rich in nutrients.
☼ Storehouse of micro and macronutrients.
☼ Place for evolution of adoptive animal like camel.
Desert Ecosystem
Desert Ecosystem
 B. Aquatic Ecosystem
1. Pond Ecosystem
 Pond is a fresh water ecosystem.
 Self sufficient & self regulating.

Characteristics
♠ Stagnant fresh water body.

♠ May be temporary, only seasonal.

♠ More polluted due to over utilization by community.

 Structure of Pond Ecosystem
Abiotic Biotic components
components Producers Consumers Decomposers
Temperature, Rooted plants 1°- Animals Microbes like Fungi,
light, pH, H2O, (macrophytes)& feeding bacteria,
Organic and floating plants macrophytes, Actinomycetes etc.
Inorganic (phytoplankton) birds feeding
compounds. phytoplankton &
zoo planktons.
2° - Insects, fishes
3°- Large fishes
Functions
♠ Serves as resource for small water requirements.

♠ Contains small algae, plants, animals.

♠ Place for human activity like drinking, swimming, washing cloths.

Pond Ecosystem
 2. Lake Ecosystem
 Bigger fresh water body.

Characteristics
 Shallow fresh water body.

 Permanent water body with large water resource.

 Helps in irrigation and village community life.

 Self sufficient ecosystem.

 Structure of Lake Ecosystem
Abiotic Biotic components
components Producers Consumers Decomposers
Temperature, Rooted plants, 1°- Zoo planktons, Fungi, bacteria,
light, pH, H2O, floating plants, fishes actinomycetesetc
Organic and phytoplankton 2° - small fishes, .
Inorganic
compounds. snails
3°- Big fishes, fish
hunting birds.

Functions
§ Reservoir for large fresh water.
§ Stores water during rainy season and latter used for irrigation.
§ Used for transport of goods and people in the offshore.
 3. Stream Ecosystem
 Moving water systems & fresh water ecosystem.

Characteristics:
 Dynamic fresh water ecosystem.

 Have high self purification capacity.

 Might be dry during summer.

 Structure of Stream Ecosystem
Abiotic Biotic components
components Producers Consumers Decomposers
Temperature, Green algae. 1°- floating algae, Fungi, bacteria,
light, pH, H2O, Aquatic mosses. phytoplankton. Actinomycetes
Organic and 2° - small fishes feeding etc.
Inorganic on algae, zooplankton.
compounds. 3°- Large fishes, fish
hunting animals.

Functions
 Provides fresh water for large community of people living near.

 Used for irrigation of small land area.