MAJOR COMPONENTS

of an ecosystem
 ECOSYSTEM
Ecosystem is the basic functional unit of ecology. The term ecosystem is
coined form a Greek word meaning study of home.
Ecosystem is the basic functional unit of ecology. The term ecosystem is coined
form a Greek word meaning study of home.
A group of organisms interacting among themselves and with environment is
known as ecosystem.
Thus an ecosystem is a community of different species interacting with one another
and with their non living environment and one another and with their non- living
environment exchanging energy and matter.
The term ecosystem, as defined by A.G. Tansley in 1935, is a functional unit of
nature encompassing complex interaction between its biotic (living) and abiotic
(nonliving) components.


COMPONENTS OF AN ECOSYSTEM
 ABIOTIC COMPONENTS
are the nonliving physical
and chemical elements in
the ecosystem.
 1. Physical factors
Physical factors in an ecosystem are the ones that can sustain or limit the
growth of organisms.

Examples: sunlight, temperature, rainfall and humidity

 2. inorganic substances
In an ecosystem it is consist of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, oxygen,
phosphorus, sulfur, water, rock, soil and other minerals.
 3. Organic compounds
building blocks of living systems. They serve as the link between the biotic
and abiotic components.

Examples: Carbohydrates, proteins, lipids and humic substances.

 BIOTIC COMPONENTS
The living organisms (or) living members in an
ecosystem collectively form its community
called biotic components (or) biotic
community.
 1. producers
are the living things that can make their own food.
Green plants and other chloroplast- bearing microorganisms manufacture food for the entire ecosystem
process of photosynthesis, where they absorb water and nutrients from the soil, carbon dioxide from
the air, and solar energy from the sun for the process.
Producers can be categorized into 2 groups:
a. . Photoautotrophs - These are producers that use solar energy in the process of photosynthesis.
b. Chemoautotrophs-These producers obtain energy through chemosynthesis, a process carried out through
the oxidation of electron donors in the environment.
 2. Consumers
The consumers are heterotrophic organisms that obtain food from feeding on other organisms. They
can be classified into three groups, according to their food preferences.
a. Herbivores - those that feed directly on plants (e.g., cow, deer, rabbit)
b. Carnivores - those that feed on the meat of other animals (e.g., lion, tiger, wolf)
C. Omnivores - those that feed on both plants and animals (e.g., human, pig, rat)
 3. decomposers
The decomposers are organisms that feed on dead and decaying matter. Most bacteria and fungi are
considered as decomposers; they secrete enzymes outside their bodies to the decaying matter in order to
feed on them.
Decomposers play a vital role in the recycling of nutrients. They absorb only the nutrients they need to
survive, while the excess of the nutrients are reabsorbed into the environment.
They are also called detrivores or detritus
SUMMARY
 quiz:
1. According to ____ it is is a functional unit of nature encompassing complex
interaction between its biotic (living) and abiotic (nonliving) components.
a. A.F. Tansley
b. A.G. Tansley
c. G.A. Tansley

2. Those that feed directly on plants (e.g., cow, deer, rabbit)

a. Carnivores
b. Omnivores
c. Herbivores
 quiz:
3. Examples are sunlight, temperature, rainfall and humidity.
a. Physical factors
b. Inorganic substances
c. Organic Compunds

4. Those are feed on both plants and animals (e.g., human, pig rat)
a. Carnivores
b. Herbivores
c. Omnivores
 quiz:
5.Living things that can make their own food.
a. Consumers
b. Producers
c. Decomposers

6. What is the basic functional unit of ecology?

7. It is the building blocks of living systems.
8. Its is also called as heterotrophic organisms that obtain food
from feeding on other organisms.
9.-10 What are the 2 components of an ecosystem?