Ecosystem: The ecosystem is the functional unit of nature in which living organisms

interact with each other as well as their surrounding physical environment.

Types of the Ecosystem:

1.  Aquatic Ecosystem: Forest, grassland, desert, etc.
2. Terrestrial Ecosystem: Pond, wetland, lake, estuary, river, etc.
These are the natural ecosystems.
An ecosystem can be artificial or man-made like the croplands, aquarium, etc.

(2) Structure: The structure of any ecosystem is formed of two components,

namely: 
(i) Abiotic factors
(ii) Biotic factors
(3) Abiotic factors: The abiotic factors of an ecosystem include the non–living
substances of the environment. eg. water, soil, air, light, temperature, minerals,
climate, pressure etc. The biotic factors of the ecosystem depend on the abiotic
factors for their survival.
(4) Biotic factors: The biotic factor includes the living organisms of the
environment. e.g. Plants, animals, bacteria, viruses etc. The biotic factors of an
ecosystem are classified into three main groups, namely:
(i) Producers                    
(ii) Consumers                 
(iii) Reducers or Decomposers.
(i) Producers:

Energy flow:
(1) The transfer of energy from one trophic level to another trophic level is called
energy flow.
(2) The flow of energy in an ecosystem is unidirectional. That is, it flows from the
producer level to the consumer level and never in the reverse direction. Hence
energy can be used only once in the ecosystem.
(3) But the minerals circulate and recirculate many times in the ecosystem.
(4) A large amount of enregy is lost at each trophic level.
(5) It is estimated that 90% of the energy is lost when it is transferred from one
trophic level to another.
(6) Only about 10% of the biomass is transferred from one trophic level to the next
one is a food chain. And only about 10% of chemical energy is retained at each
trophic level. This is called 10% law of Lindeman (1942).

Ecological pyramids:
(1) The number, biomass and energy of organisms gradually decrease from the
producer level to the consumer level. This can be represented in the form of a
pyramid called ecological pyramid.

(2) Ecological pyramid is the graphic representation of the number, biomass, and
energy of the successive trophic levels of an ecosystem.
(3) The use of ecological pyramid was first described by Charles Elton in 1927.

(4) In the ecological pyramid, the producer forms the base and the final consumer
occupies the apex.

(5) There are three types of ecological pyramids, namely: