Environment - Concepts - IES General Studies PDF

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Recent Posts
Quiz-March 6,2018
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1. Environment and ecosystem  March 7, 2018
1. What is meant by environment? March 7,2018

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2. The components of an environment  March 7, 2018
3. What is an ecosystem? March 6,2018
4. How an ecosystem is different from an environment?  March 6, 2018

0
5. Different types of ecosystem Quiz-March 5,2018

6. What is a biome?  March 6, 2018
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2. Ecological interactions
Quiz-March 3,2018
1. What is meant by ecological interactions?  March 5, 2018
0
2. What is ecology?
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3. Different biotic interactions IES-GS Paper1 strategy
4. Biotic-abiotic interactions
How to crack Engin…
1. Energy transfer
2. Material transfer
5. Explain the food chains and food webs
6. Ecological pyramids
7. Ecological niche
3. Productivity Motivational lecture
1. What is meant by productivity of an ecosystem?
Motivational lecture…
2. How productivity and biotic potential related?
3. Carrying capacity
4. Ecological footprint
4. Ecosystem services
1. Different ecosystem services
2. How the environmental degradation affects the services?
Important dates for IES
5. Biodiversity
Preliminary exam
1. Different types of diversities
Noti cation – 27th Sep,2017
2. Keystone species and Foundation species
Last date to apply- 23rd Oct,17
3. Endemic and Exotic species
Prelims Exam on 7th Jan, 2018
4. The Evil Quartet
6. FAQs Mains exam on 01-07-18
1. Trophic level Offline

7. Practice Questions
1.Environment and ecosystem

1.1 What is meant by environment?
The term environment means ‘what that surrounds’.
The environment is the sum total of all material and non-material factors around us.
It includes both biotic and abiotic components – plants, animals, soil, water, air etc.
It also includes the conditions such as culture, political institutions etc.
It can be both natural or manmade. Examples are as shown in the following gure
Offline
Image source: NCERT
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1.2 What are the components of an environment?
Components of Environment can be divided as
Natural environment
Human environment and
Human made environment
A.Natural Environment
The natural environment refers to both Biotic(plants and animals) and Abiotic
conditions(soil, water, air) existing on the earth
It has four domains namely
Lithosphere,
Hydrosphere,
Atmosphere and
Biosphere.
a)Lithosphere
It is the solid crust or the hard top layer of the earth.

It is made up of rocks & minerals and is covered with soil.
It has various landforms such as mountains, plateaus, plains etc.
b)Hydrosphere
It is the domain of water.

It comprises of various sources of water – rivers, lakes, seas, ocean etc.
c)Atmosphere
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It is the thin layer of air that surrounds the earth.
d) Biosphere
Plant & animal kingdom together make the Biosphere or the living world.
It is the narrow zone of the earth where land, water and air interact with each other to
support life.
B.The human environment
It refers to the activities, creation and interactions among human beings

Ex- family, community etc
C.The human made environment
It includes the settlements, infrastructure, industries etc made by human Offline

1.3 What is an ecosystem?
Ecosystem is an environmental system consisting of inter related and interdependent
elements
It denotes the complex interconnection between the different components of the
environment
It includes both abiotic-biotic interactions and biotic-biotic interactions
1.4 How an ecosystem is different from an environment?

The environment forms the elements of the system, and the elements along with the
interrelations form the ecosystem
It means – an ecosystem is something more than the the sum total of all elements (the
environment)
For ex, human body can be considered as a system, with the organs as its elements. We
know that a human is not merely a sum of all organs, but has life.
Similarly in an ecosystem, it is the interactions between the different elements that gives it
life
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1.5 What are the different types of ecosystem?
Ecosystems can be natural and manmade.
Plants, animals, insects, microorganisms, rocks, soil, water and sunlight are major
components of many ecosystems.
Ecosystems are divided based on the different physical conditions.
Terrestrial and Offline
Aquatic
It can be further divided to speci c ecosystems like forest, grassland, desert, marine, pond
etc
1.6 What is a biome?

Biome is a large terrestrial ecosystem
It is characterised by a particular type of natural vegetation and animal life
The different biomes are shown in the map below
Image source: kidsdiscover.com
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2. Ecological interactions
2.1 What is meant by ecological interactions?
We have seen that the components of the environment interact with each other. The different
types of interactions are
1. Of an organism with the physical environment for food, water, air etc (biotic- abiotic)
2. Interactions of organisms with each other(biotic-biotic)
Ex: competition for food, predator-prey relation, community living etc
2.2 What is ecology?

Ecology is the study of the interaction of the living beings among themselves and also
living beings as a whole with their environment.
Ecology is studied at many levels, including organism, population, community, ecosystem,
and biosphere.
2.3 Different biotic interactions?

Biotic interactions are among living organisms themselves. The main types of interactions are
1.Producer – Consumer – Consumer relation (Food relations)
Green plants are the primary producers.

The food to the whole ecosystem occurs through the complex relations called food chain
and food web
2. Other relations
The organisms compete, collaborate with each other in different ways to sustain their life.
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There are different types of interactions depending on the effect of the interactions on the
corresponding species
Different Biotic Interactions
Effect on
Biotic Effect on
species Example
Interactions species B
A
Positive Positive Corals(A) and zooxanthellae algae(B) live

Mutualism
effect effect together
Positive
Commensalism No effect Orchid(A) growing on a tree(B)
effect
Allelopathy – certain plants, algae, bacteria,

Negative
Amensalism No effect coral, and fungi (A) suppress the growth other
effect
species (B) by release of toxic substances
Positive Negative Micro-organism plasmodium(A) infect

Parasitism
effect effect humans(B) causing malaria
Positive Negative
Predation Tiger(A) feeds on deer(B)
effect effect
Negative Negative Woodpeckers(A) and squirrels(B) compete for

Competition
effect effect nesting in same place
Let us take one example – mutualism
In mutualism, both species are gainers
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The relation of coral polyps and algae zoothanthellae is a well known example. Coral
provides habitat for the algae and the algae gives food to the coral polyps.
Image source: gbrmpa.gov.au
When zooxanthellae is expelled/dead due to any factors, the coral also dies.
Such a close and often long-term interaction between two or more different biological
species is called Symbiosis
2.4 Biotic-abiotic interactions

Offline
Both energy and materials are transferred from one element to another in an ecosystem. The
two main interactions are
The energy ow and

The material cycle.
a) Energy transfer
The sun is the main source of energy.
Only the photosynthetic plants can directly use this energy and produce biomass.
The energy ow is unidirectional.
The energy ow in an ecosystem is represented through food chains and food webs
As per Lindeman’s law, only 10% of energy is transferred from one trophic level to another,
while 90% is used for metabolic processes or lost as heat.
The percentage of energy transferred from one level to another is called ecological
e ciency
Earth is an open system with respect to energy
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Image modi ed from NCERT
b) Material transfer
1. Water, nutrients, oxygen, carbon etc are the main materials which are transferred between
the biotic and abiotic world continuously.
2. Earth is a closed system with respect to material transfer. It means that the materials used
gets recycled here itself
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3. In this process materials passes through various chemical, geographical and biotic forms.
Hence these cycles are called biogeochemical cycles
A Carbon Cycle (Image source: NCERT)
2.5 Explain the food chains and food webs?

Food chains shows the transfer of energy in an ecosystem.
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Image source : NCERT
In an ecosystem food chains are not always simple as shown in above gure. But it is a
complex web of feeding relations.
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2.6 Ecological pyramids

Ecological pyramid is a graphical representation of biomass or energy or population at each
trophic level [FAQ 1]in an ecosystem. Thus pyramids can be of different kinds like energy
pyramid, biomass pyramid or population pyramid.
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Image : Pyramid of Energy
2.7 What is an ecological niche?

In nature, many species occupy the same habitat but they perform different functions. The
functional characteristics of a species in its habitat is referred to as ‘niche’.
Habitat of a species is like its ‘address’ (i.e. where it lives) and niche can be equated to its
‘profession’ (i.e. activities and responses of the species).
It is the sum of all the activities and relationships of a species by which it uses the
resources in its habitat for its survival and reproduction.
A niche is unique for a species, ie no two species in a habitat can have the same niche.
This is because if two species occupy the same niche they will compete with one another
until one is displaced.
Ex- In a tree habitat, the bird’s niche will be centered around the fruits, pollination, nesting
etc. Where as a snake in the same habitat feeds differently and behaves differently from a
bird.
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There can be similar niches in different geographic regions
3.Productivity
3.1 What is meant by productivity of an ecosystem?
Productivity is the e ciency at which energy and matters are stored in different trophic
levels.
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It is expressed in terms of weight per year or energy per year
Ex- The annual net primary productivity of the whole biosphere is approximately 170 billion
tons (dry weight) of organic matter
Primary productivity
means the rate at which solar energy is converted to energy in biomass by the
photosynthetic organisms
productivity depends on different environmental factors like availability of nutrients
and also the photosynthetic capacity of plants
Primary productivity varies in different types of ecosystems
Secondary productivity
means the rate at which energy is stored in different consumer levels
3.2 How productivity and biotic potential related?

Biotic potential is the potential of a species to reproduce at the maximum rate
The productivity can be a limiting factor for the organism to achieve the biotic potential
When environmental factors are not favourable, biotic potential cannot be achieved
3.3 What is carrying capacity?

The maximum number of a species that can be accommodated in a given area
It takes into consideration availability of food sources, water, and all the other necessities
to sustain life
It also takes into consideration the capacity of environment to assimilate the waste
generated
Is usually calculated as the number of individuals of a species per square kilometre
Offline
Example, For human, carrying capacity refers to the maximum number of persons that can
be sustained per sq. km of the given area.
If the population increases beyond carrying capacity, the population decline will happen.
This concept is known as “The Limits to Growth”
3.4 What is meant by ecological footprint?

Is measure of the ecological impact of an entity
It is expressed as the land area needed to completely sustain the entity, ie global hectares
per capita (gha/ cap)
Offline
For example the ecological footprint of a human being would be the equivalent unit of area
needed by each human to maintain that individual’s current style of life till death
If the ecological footprint of a human population exceeds the carrying capacity of its
environment, the situation is unsustainable
Presently, worldwide the total human ecological footprint is almost 1.5 times the total
worldwide carrying capacity
It means we are living on the capital of the planet rather than its income
Offline
4. Ecosystem services
The products of ecosystem processes are called as ecosystem services
For ex – healthy forest ecosystems purify air and water, mitigate droughts and oods,
cycle nutrients, generate fertile soils, provide wildlife habitat, maintain biodiversity,
pollinate crops, provide storage site for carbon and also provide aesthetic, cultural and
spiritual values.
Out of the various ecosystem services, the soil formation is said to be most costliest
service
4.1 What are the different ecosystem services?
Offline
Image source:WWF
Ecosystem services are classi ed into four types of services:
a)Provisioning Services:
Includes the products, raw materials, energy outputs

Examples are food, water, medicines, wood, biofuels
Offline
They also provide conditions for these resources to grow
b)Regulating Services:
These services regulate the ecological balance

Examples are regulating air quality, preventing soil erosion, controlling greenhouse gases
etc
c)Supporting services:
These services form the basis for other services

Examples are providing habitat for different life forms, retaining biodiversity, nutrient
cycling, soil formation etc
d)Cultural services:
Provides recreational, aesthetic, cultural and spiritual services

Examples are tourist and religious locations like landscapes, mountains, caves etc
4.2 How the environmental degradation affects the services?

Unsustainable exploitation – provisioning services are being used at unsustainable rates
depleting the resources
Improper use – for example, present agricultural practices have depleted the sources of
water, excessive nutrient or pesticide use are harmful and causes soil loss
Modifying the ecosystems – alters the regulating services such as disease and climate
regulation
Altering the biogeochemical cycles – for example, land use changes has increased the
amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases such as methane and nitrous oxide
in the atmosphere
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Changes in biodiversity – Hampers the capacity of ecosystems to adjust to changing
environments ,causes irreversible changes in ecosystem processes, increase the potential
for infectious disease transmission, increases the risk of crop failure etc
5. Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the totality of genes, species and ecosystems
5.1 Different types of diversities

Genetic Diversity: Diversity of genes within a species.
Species Diversity: Variety of species in a given region.

Offline
Ecological Diversity: Variation of habitats, community types and abiotic environment of
given area. For example India has rich ecosystem diversity due to the presence of a variety
of ecosystems such as Himalayan Mountains, Northern Plains, Peninsular Plateau, Desert,
Coastal Plains, Islands, different types of forests, mangroves, coral reefs, wetlands,
estuaries, alpine meadows etc.
5.2 Keystone species

In architecture, keystone is a single stone supporting an arch. Arch cannot exist without
that stone
Similarly keystone species is a species whose presence and role within an ecosystem is
very important for the survival of ecosystem itself
They are comparatively lesser in numbers compared to other species in an ecosystem
Example are pollinators and some predators like tiger, parrot sh
Foundation species are found in abundance and they support the needs of the entire
ecosystem
Primary producers are example of foundation species
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5.3 Endemic and exotic species
Endemic species are plants and animals that exist only in one geographic
region.Examples of endemic species in India are
Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros.
Nilgiri Tahr.
Bengal Tigers.
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Asiatic Lion.
Black Buck.
Lion Tailed Macaque.
Snow Leopard. Etc
They are special because they are found in only one location on the planet, and nowhere
else.
Exotic or Alien Species are that introduced into ecosystem from the outside.
Non-native species can have various positive and negative effects on the local ecosystem.
Indigenous species are those whose presence in that region is the result of only natural
process, with no human intervention.
All indigenous species may not be endemic
5.4 The Evil Quartet

The phrase ‘the evil quartet’ is used to describe the four main human-induced causes of
biodiversity loss. They are
1. Habitat degradation and fragmentation

This is the most important cause of extinction of species
Habitats are broken up into small fragments due to various human activities
Mammals and birds requiring large territories and certain animals with migratory
habits are badly affected
2. Alien species invasions

Introduced species can turn invasive, and cause decline or extinction of indigenous
species
3. Over exploitation
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When ‘need’ turns to ‘greed’, it leads over-exploitation of natural resources
4. Co-extinctions
When a species becomes extinct, the plant and animal species associated with it also
may become extinct
FAQs
1.Trophic levels
The word trophic means relating to feeding and nutrition.
Trophic levels denotes the different hierarchical levels in an ecosystem.
Each level consists of organisms sharing the same function in the food chain and the
same nutritional relationship to the primary sources of energy
Example,
All green plants are at the rst level,
The worms, cattle etc feeding on plants them forms the second level,
Tigers feeding on cattle and birds feeding on worms form the third level.
The numbers of trophic levels in an ecosystem is limited by the energy availability.
As we have seen, only 10% of energy is transferred to next level. Normally after 3-4 levels,
the energy level will be so less so that no more higher levels can exist
Predators like tiger and omnivores like human occupy the highest trophic level in an
ecosystem.
Hey.. Do not Ignore Me!

Hi there.. We know, you just need single reading to grasp the concepts…Please prove us right Offline
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44 Comments
RAHUL WATHRA says: Reply
July 18, 2017 at 5:18 pm
SIR,
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HATS OFF TO UR WORK
Shashank says: Reply
July 18, 2017 at 6:37 pm
Great work Sir, content is very concise & helpful for understanding the subject, & I four websites very
interactive & student friendly.
We need more people like you not just in education but in other elds as well.
satendra bhokhandi says: Reply
July 18, 2017 at 7:43 pm
really awesome work sir … easy to understand the whole concept via diagrams
Himanshu says: Reply
July 21, 2017 at 6:07 am
Wonderful job, Thanks a lot
Himanshu says: Reply
July 21, 2017 at 6:07 am
Sir
SOURAV KUMAR says: Offline

July 24, 2017 at 4:55 am Reply
excellent piece of work sir…

thanks for this
Yogesh Deshmukh says: Reply
July 31, 2017 at 7:31 pm
great notes sir aisehi sab notes nikalo sir may god bless u always
awsome cration
PRASAD SARWADE says: Reply
August 1, 2017 at 7:04 am
A Big Thanks sir…
MIHIR says: Reply
August 1, 2017 at 6:01 pm
Awesome materials sir… Hats off to you. Keep doing this wonderful activity.
Thanks a lot………..
Neerajmishra says: Reply
August 6, 2017 at 5:55 am
Great work………. please keep it

.
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Akhil says: Reply
August 24, 2017 at 2:55 am
Awesome sir…
Kuldeep Gupta says: Reply
September 3, 2017 at 6:56 am
How to chk the correct answers??
IES GS says: Reply
September 3, 2017 at 2:06 pm
Please click on ‘view questions’ button after nishing the quiz
Yacon Root says: Reply
Awesome Blog. Very much enjoyed reading.
DIGGI says: Reply
SIR,YOU ARE DOING GREAT WORK. KUDOS!!!!
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mukesh says: Reply
great job content is very useful
Dhiraj kumat tiwari says: Reply
October 1, 2017 at 5:00 am
Thank u sir.
Shivam says: Reply
Just awesome…. =D
shobhan says: Reply
October 1, 2017 at 12:50 pm
Very lucid way u have taught these topic

Ecosystem de nition was nice
Thank u sir
PRINCE says: Reply
Very nice sir ji

Offline
Amrit raj says: Reply
Nice material is provided by u sir I salute to u
Raj says: Reply
Ist day task completed sir..according to study plan
gautam says: Reply
great work sir.i have started following your strategy and the notes are very clearly unerstood.
thank u vw
ery much sir……..god bless u.
anoop says: Reply
i think option A is right in question no 3
IES GS says: Reply
The answer is not A.
Offline
The ques asks incorrect option(s).
No two species can have same niche.
Varma says: Reply
Sir,So much Thankful for your efforts,we love your material but a small request from my side,if this
material available in pdf,it wil be easy to highlight and for revision even in o ine..
IES GS says: Reply
Open in google chrome and then click on print option..and then save to desktop
Anupam says: Reply
I have a doubt in question 2, Can’t biomes be classi ed as aquatic and terrestrial? Here it is speci ed
that only terrestrial systems can be called biomes. Why aquatic systems can’t be a biome? It satis es
all the criterion, right?
Thanks.
IES GS says: Reply
As per NCERT text books, only terrestrial systems can be called biomes. Biomes are
de ned as collection of plant and animal community, within a speci c climate conditions.
Offline
As per this de nition only terrestrial systems quali es to be biomes.
https://scontent.fhyd7-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t34.0-
12/20643916_1558587230859545_324008492_n.jpg?
oh=0d4ac9caa1e6a69218b13c0f0acc27c7&oe=59D73861
Anupam says: Reply
thank you for the clari cation!!!!
Divyesh says: Reply
Sir please can u provide it in pdf format by so we can have it in hardcopy..which will be helpful in quick
revision.
Abhishek Mishra says: Reply
Sir, pls provide the PDF format so we can print out and easily study it.
IES GS says: Reply
it takes lot of effort..So you can open in google chrome and then by using print option,
save the documents
Offline
aman says: Reply
great sir
aman says: Reply
thanks alot, got an oportunity to study,may i continue to the

end ,,i cheated in exam,in third attempt.
aman says: Reply
i printed in refox using foxit,good pdf to revise,no problem of data:jio jio
Kalyan kumar says: Reply
Thanks a lot sir….
SAGAR SUROSHI says: Reply
Sir in Net productivity order …. Coral reef>Estuary>Tropical rainforest. Is the order correct ?
Offline
IES GS says: Reply
Yes. estuary and rainforest have almost same productivity.
Dinesh bhati says: Reply
Great effort thnku u so much
KULPRIYA KUMAR says: Reply
sir please prove pdf of all these notes… awesome notes
IES GS says: Reply
You can open in google chrome and then by using print option, save the documents
Karthik Vasista says: Reply
December 2, 2017 at 6:51 pm
Sir really great work…hats off…really enjoying the subject..
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vivek says: Reply
December 22, 2017 at 10:15 pm
thanks sir..
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 9248323400  ies.gspaper1@gmail.

 42 Published by  IES GS at  July 3, 2017 Tags  Categories  Wr

1. What is meant by environment? March 7,2018

3. What is an ecosystem? March 6,2018

4. How an ecosystem is different from an environment?  March 6, 2018

5. Different types of ecosystem Quiz-March 5,2018

1. Trophic level Offline

1.Environment and ecosystem

It is the solid crust or the hard top layer of the earth.

It is the domain of water.

B.The human environment

It refers to the activities, creation and interactions among human beings

C.The human made environment

It includes the settlements, infrastructure, industries etc made by human Offline

1.4 How an ecosystem is different from an environment?

1.6 What is a biome?

Image source: kidsdiscover.com

2.2 What is ecology?

2.3 Different biotic interactions?

1.Producer – Consumer – Consumer relation (Food relations)

Green plants are the primary producers.

Different Biotic Interactions

Positive Positive Corals(A) and zooxanthellae algae(B) live

Allelopathy – certain plants, algae, bacteria,

Positive Negative Micro-organism plasmodium(A) infect

Negative Negative Woodpeckers(A) and squirrels(B) compete for

Let us take one example – mutualism

In mutualism, both species are gainers

Image source: gbrmpa.gov.au

2.4 Biotic-abiotic interactions

The energy ow and

A Carbon Cycle (Image source: NCERT)

2.5 Explain the food chains and food webs?

2.6 Ecological pyramids

2.7 What is an ecological niche?

3.2 How productivity and biotic potential related?

3.3 What is carrying capacity?

3.4 What is meant by ecological footprint?

4.1 What are the different ecosystem services?

Ecosystem services are classi ed into four types of services:

Includes the products, raw materials, energy outputs

These services regulate the ecological balance

These services form the basis for other services

Provides recreational, aesthetic, cultural and spiritual services

4.2 How the environmental degradation affects the services?

5.1 Different types of diversities

Species Diversity: Variety of species in a given region.

Image source : NCERT

5.2 Keystone species

5.4 The Evil Quartet

1. Habitat degradation and fragmentation

2. Alien species invasions

Hey.. Do not Ignore Me!

July 16, 2017 July 10, 2017 July 6, 2017

All you want to know Climate Change Environmental

RAHUL WATHRA says: Reply

July 18, 2017 at 5:18 pm

Shashank says: Reply

July 18, 2017 at 6:37 pm

satendra bhokhandi says: Reply

July 18, 2017 at 7:43 pm

Himanshu says: Reply

July 21, 2017 at 6:07 am