Name - Khan imran sultan

Subject – Foundation course

Roll no - 162

Professor – Mohammad sir

Stream – Marketing

Division – B sybms
 ECOSYSTEM
INTRODUCTION : The natural environment Earth's natural environment can be seen as four
interacting spheres. The solid part of the earth's crust, consisting of rocks and soil, is known as
the lithosphere. All of earth's water bodies, including lakes, rivers, streams, oceans,
groundwater and ice caps, are known as the hydrosphere, and the layer of gases surrounding
the earth is known as the atmosphere. As energy and materials flow between these first three
spheres, the perfect conditions for life to exist are produced which supports the fourth sphere.
This realm of living things, including plants and animals, is known as the biosphere. Earth's four
spheres can be identified in the photograph below.

Ecosystems are specific areas of the environment that develop as a result of the interaction
between the earth's four spheres. They are characterised by a unique collection of living
organisms (plants and animals) which have adapted to their surrounding non-living
environment (climate, rocks, soils and water). The sizes of ecosystems vary. They can be as
large as the earth's biosphere itself or the Sahara Desert, or as small as a fishpond. It is
important to remember, however, that over time most of earth's ecosystems have been
influenced in some way by the activities of humans, so there are very few ecosystems which
remain in their purely natural state. The model below shows the living and non-living
components of an ecosystem. Each component is closely related and affects, or is affected by,
each of the other components. The arrows in the diagram represent the interrelationships that
occur between each part of an ecosystem. It is these specific interactions which cause each
ecosystem to develop its own unique characteristics.

Climate is arguably the most important factor influencing each of the components
of an ecosystem. For example, the temperature and amount of precipitation
received directly influences the type of vegetation produced. Warmer climates
with higher rainfall will be the most productive having taller and more closely
spaced trees, like that of the tropical rainforest. Areas with the coldest climates
and lowest rainfall figures have very little vegetation, like that of the Arctic
Tundra.
NEEDS AND IMPORTANCE:

1. Boundless Benefits

Understanding nature in economic terms, while not perfect, allows us to put everything into
the same comparison unit. Despite nature being such an integral part of the human existence, it
is sometimes an afterthought in today’s economy. Nature and money are often on competing
terms, so to make a more level playing field, environmental economists have tried to bridge this
gap by placing a monetary value on the benefits nature provides.

2. The Foundation For Sustainable Development

Ecosystem Services help measure the true cost of industrial development. Often, the impact
industrial development has on the economy and job creation overshadows the cost it will have
on surrounding lakes, forests, keystone species, and so on. Assigning a dollar value to these
lakes and forests, and the Ecosystem Services they provide, helps adjust the cost benefit
analysis by evaluating the negative effects development will have on the natural environment.

3. Essential For Our Survival

Whether you live in rural Newfoundland or downtown Los Angeles, your dependence on
Ecosystem Services is the same. As a society, we depend on healthy ecosystems to do many
things; to purify the air so we can breathe properly, sequester carbon for climate regulation,
cycle nutrients so we have access to clean drinking water without costly infrastructure, and
pollinate our crops so we don’t go hungry. As the world’s population continues to grow, so too
does our dependence on healthy ecosystems to provide the necessities essential to our
survival.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The main objective of the research program of the Excellence Center is to obtain insight into
the characteristics of eco- and socio-evolutionary dynamics and their impact on biological
responses to environmental changes in a well-chosen set of model systems, strongly
broadening the scale of earlier research. Several review and opinion papers have drawn
considerable attention to the attractiveness of the conceptual framework offered by evolving
metacommunities and eco-evolutionary dynamics in general, but empirical data are limited to
simplified model systems.

In this Excellence Center, we aim at an integrative approach in which our ultimate aims are to
grasp realistic complexity in two ways:

(a) by considering multiple organism groups and their interactions, and

(b) by analysing the signature of eco-evolutionary dynamics in natural populations

OCEAN

The ocean is a huge body of saltwater that covers about 71 percent of Earth’s surface. The
planet has one global ocean, though oceanographers and the countries of the world have
traditionally divided it into four distinct regions: the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, and Arctic oceans.
Beginning in the 20th century, some oceanographers labeled the seas around Antarctica the
Southern Ocean, and in 2021 National Geographic officially recognized this fifth ocean.

An estimated 97 percent of the world’s water is found in the ocean. Because of this, the ocean
has considerable impact on weather, temperature, and the food supply of humans and other
organisms. Despite its size and impact on the lives of every organism on Earth, the ocean
remains a mystery. More than 80 percent of the ocean has never been mapped, explored, or
even seen by humans. A far greater percentage of the surfaces of the moon and the planet
Mars has been mapped and studied than of our own ocean floor.

Although there is much more to learn, oceanographers have already made some amazing
discoveries. For example, we know that the ocean contains towering mountain ranges and deep
canyons, known as trenches, just like those on land. The peak of the world’s tallest mountain—
Mount Everest in the Himalaya, measuring 8.84 kilometers (5.49 miles) high—would not even
break the surface of the water if it was placed in the Pacific Ocean’s Mariana Trench or
Philippine Trench, two of the deepest parts of the ocean.

On the other hand, the Atlantic Ocean is relatively shallow because large parts of
its seafloor are made up of continental shelves—parts of the continents that extend far out into
the ocean. The average depth of the entire ocean is 3,720 meters (12,200 feet).

It is unknown how many different species call the ocean their home. With many marine
ecosystems suffering from rising sea temperatures, pollution, and other problems, some
oceanographers believe the number of species is dropping. Still, there may be many positive
surprises awaiting oceanographers in the years ahead. It could be that more than 90 percent of
the ocean’s species are still undiscovered, with some scientists estimating that there are
anywhere between a few hundred thousand and a few million more to be discovered.
Currently, scientists know of around 226,000 ocean species.
AQUACULTURE

Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled
cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other
organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lotus). Aquaculture involves
cultivating freshwater and saltwater populations under controlled or semi-natural conditions,
and can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is the harvesting of wild
fish.[3] Mariculture, commonly known as marine farming, refers specifically to aquaculture
practiced in seawater habitats, opposed to in freshwater aquaculture.

Aquaculture can be conducted in completely artificial facilities built on land (onshore

aquaculture), as in the case of fish tank, ponds or raceways, where the living conditions rely on
human control; on well-sheltered shallow waters nearshore of a body of water (inshore
aquaculture), where the cultivated species are subjected to a relatively more naturalistic
environments; or on fenced/enclosed sections of open water away from the shore (offshore
aquaculture), where the species are exposed to more diverse natural conditions such as ocean
currents, diel vertical migration and nutrient cycles.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), aquaculture "is understood to mean
the farming of aquatic organisms including fish, molluscs, crustaceans and aquatic plants.
Farming implies some form of intervention in the rearing process to enhance production, such
as regular stocking, feeding, protection from predators, etc. Farming also implies individual or
corporate ownership of the stock being cultivated. The reported output from global
aquaculture operations in 2014 supplied over one half of the fish and shellfish that is directly
consumed by humans however, there are issues about the reliability of the reported
figures. Further, in current aquaculture practice, products from several pounds of wild fish are
used to produce one pound of a piscivorous fish like salmon.

Aquatic plants
Microalgae, also referred to as phytoplankton, microphytes, or planktonic algae, constitute the
majority of cultivated algae. Macroalgae commonly known as seaweed also have many
commercial and industrial uses, but due to their size and specific requirements, they are not
easily cultivated on a large scale and are most often taken in the wild.

Fish
The farming of fish is the most common form of aquaculture. It involves raising fish
commercially in tanks, fish ponds, or ocean enclosures, usually for food. A facility that releases
juvenile fish into the wild for recreational fishing or to supplement a species' natural numbers is
generally referred to as a fish hatchery. Worldwide, the most important fish species used in fish
farming are, in order, carp, salmon, tilapia, and catfish.
BEACHES

A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles
composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc.,
or biological sources, such as mollusc shells or coralline algae. Sediments settle in different
densities and structures, depending on the local wave action and weather, creating different
textures, colors and gradients or layers of material.

Though some beaches form on freshwater locations, most beaches are in coastal areas
where wave or current action deposits and reworks sediments. Erosion and changing of beach
geologies happens through natural processes, like wave action and extreme weather events.
Where wind conditions are correct, beaches can be backed by coastal dunes which offer
protection and regeneration for the beach. However, these natural forces have become more
extreme due to climate change, permanently altering beaches at very rapid rates. Some
estimates describe as much as 50 percent of the earth's sandy beaches disappearing by 2100
due to climate-change driven sea level rise.
Sandy beaches occupy about one third of global coastlines.[2] These beaches are popular
for recreation, playing important economic and cultural roles—often driving
local tourism industries. To support these uses, some beaches have man-made infrastructure,
such as lifeguard posts, changing rooms, showers, shacks and bars.

Beaches are the result of wave action by which waves or currents move sand or other
loose sediments of which the beach is made as these particles are held in suspension.
Alternatively, sand may be moved by saltation (a bouncing movement of large particles). Beach
materials come from erosion of rocks offshore, as well as from
headland erosion and slumping producing deposits of scree. A coral reef offshore is a significant
source of sand particles. Some species of fish that feed on algae attached to coral outcrops and
rocks can create substantial quantities of sand particles over their lifetime as they nibble during
feeding, digesting the organic matter, and discarding the rock and coral particles which pass
through their digestive tracts.

The composition of the beach depends upon the nature and quantity of sediments upstream of
the beach, and the speed of flow and turbidity of water and wind. Sediments are moved by
moving water and wind according to their particle size and state of compaction. Particles tend
to settle and compact in still water. Once compacted, they are more resistant to erosion.
Established vegetation (especially species with complex network root systems) will resist
erosion by slowing the fluid flow at the surface layer. When affected by moving water or wind,
particles that are eroded and held in suspension will increase the erosive power of the fluid that
holds them by increasing the average density, viscosity, and volume of the moving fluid.
Fine sediment transported from lower down the beach profile will compact if the receding
water percolates or soaks into the beach. Compacted sediment is more resistant to movement
by turbulent water from succeeding waves

COASTAL ECOSYSTEM

The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets
the ocean,[1] or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake.
The Earth has around 620,000 kilometres (390,000 mi) of coastline. Coasts are important zones
in natural ecosystems, often home to a wide range of biodiversity. On land, they harbor
important ecosystems such as freshwater or estuarine wetlands, which are important for bird
populations and other terrestrial animals. In wave-protected areas they
harbor saltmarshes, mangroves or seagrasses, all of which can provide nursery habitat for
finfish, shellfish, and other aquatic species. Rocky shores are usually found along exposed
coasts and provide habitat for a wide range of sessile animals (e.g. mussels, starfish, barnacles)
and various kinds of seaweeds. Along tropical coasts with clear, nutrient-poor water, coral
reefs can often be found between depths of 1 – 50 m.

According to a United Nations atlas, 44% of all people live within 150 km (93 mi) of the
sea.[5] Because of their importance in society and high concentration of population, the coast is
important for major parts of the global food and economic system, and they provide
many ecosystem services to humankind. For example, important human activities happen
in port cities. Coastal fisheries (commercial, recreational, and subsistence) and aquaculture are
major economic activities and create jobs, livelihoods, and protein for the majority of coastal
human populations. Other coastal spaces like beaches and seaside resorts generate large
revenues through tourism. Coastal ecosystems can also provide protection against sea level
rise and tsunamis. In many countries, mangroves are the primary source of wood for fuel (e.g.
charcoal) and building material.

The Earth has around 620,000 kilometres (390,000 mi) of coastline. Coastal habitats, which
extend to the margins of the continental shelves, make up about 7 percent of the Earth's
oceans, but at least 85% of commercially harvested fish depend on coastal environments during
at least part of their life cycle. As of October 2010, about 2.86% of exclusive economic
zones were part of marine protected areas.

The definition of coasts varies. Marine scientists think of the "wet" (aquatic or intertidal)
vegetated habitats as being coastal ecosystems (e.g. seagrass, salt marsh etc.) whilst some
terrestrial scientist might only think of coastal ecosystems as purely terrestrial plants that live
close to the seashore (see also estuaries and coastal ecosystems).
Nations defend their coasts against military invaders, smugglers and illegal migrants.
Fixed coastal defenses have long been erected in many nations, and coastal countries typically
have a navy and some form of coast guard.

CORAL REEFS

A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed
of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built
from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups.
Coral belongs to the class Anthozoa in the animal phylum Cnidaria, which includes sea
anemones and jellyfish. Unlike sea anemones, corals secrete hard carbonate exoskeletons that
support and protect the coral. Most reefs grow best in warm, shallow, clear, sunny and agitated
water. Coral reefs first appeared 485 million years ago, at the dawn of the Early Ordovician,
displacing the microbial and sponge reefs of the Cambrian.
Sometimes called rainforests of the sea, shallow coral reefs form some of Earth's most diverse
ecosystems. They occupy less than 0.1% of the world's ocean area, about half the area of
France, yet they provide a home for at least 25% of all
marine species, including fish, mollusks, worms, crustaceans, echinoderms, sponges, tunicates a
nd other cnidarians. Coral reefs flourish in ocean waters that provide few nutrients.
They are most commonly found at shallow depths in tropical waters, but deep water and cold
water coral reefs exist on smaller scales in other areas.

Coral reefs have declined by 50% since 1950, partly because they are sensitive to water
conditions. They are under threat from excess nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus), rising
temperatures, oceanic acidification, overfishing (e.g., from blast fishing, cyanide
fishing, spearfishing on scuba), sunscreen use, and harmful land-use practices,
including runoff and seeps (e.g., from injection wells and cesspools

Most coral reefs were formed after the Last Glacial Period when melting ice caused sea level to
rise and flood continental shelves. Most coral reefs are less than 10,000 years old. As
communities established themselves, the reefs grew upwards, pacing rising sea levels. Reefs
that rose too slowly could become drowned, without sufficient light. Coral reefs are found in
the deep sea away from continental shelves, around oceanic islands and atolls. The majority of
these islands are volcanic in origin. Others have tectonic origins where plate movements lifted
the deep ocean floor.
Coral reef ecosystems contain distinct zones that host different kinds of habitats. Usually, three
major zones are recognized: the fore reef, reef crest, and the back reef (frequently referred to
as the reef lagoon).
The three zones are physically and ecologically interconnected. Reef life and oceanic processes
create opportunities for the exchange of seawater, sediments, nutrients and marine life.

FISHERIES

Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or
more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place (a.k.a. fishing
ground).[2] Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, both
in freshwater bodies (about 10% of all catch) and the oceans (about 90%). About 500 million
people worldwide are economically dependent on fisheries. 171 million tonnes of fish were
produced in 2016, but overfishing is an increasing problem — causing declines in some
populations.
Because of their economic and social importance, fisheries are governed by complex fisheries
management practices and legal regimes, that vary widely across countries. Historically,
fisheries were treated with a "first-come, first-served " approach; however threats by human
overfishing and environmental issues, have required increased regulation of fisheries to prevent
conflict and increase profitable economic activity on the fishery. Modern jurisdiction over
fisheries is often established by a mix of international treaties and local laws.

Declining fish populations, marine pollutions and destruction of important coastal ecosystems
has introduced increasing uncertainty in important fisheries worldwide, threatening economic
security and food security in many parts of the world. These challenges are further complicated
by the changes in the ocean caused by climate change, which may extend the range of some
fisheries while dramatically reducing the sustainability of other fisheries.

According to the FAO, "...a fishery is an activity leading to harvesting of fish. It may involve
capture of wild fish or raising of fish through aquaculture." It is typically defined in terms of the
"people involved, species or type of fish, area of water or seabed, method of fishing, class of
boats, purpose of the activities or a combination of the foregoing features".

The definition often includes a combination of mammal and fish fishers in a region, the latter
fishing for similar species with similar gear types. Some government and private organizations,
especially those focusing on recreational fishing include in their definitions not only the fishers,
but the fish and habitats upon which the fish depend.
The fishing industry which harvests fish from fisheries can be divided into three main
sectors: commercial, recreational or subsistence. They can
be saltwater or freshwater, wild or farmed. Examples are the salmon fishery of Alaska,
the cod fishery off the Lofoten islands, the tuna fishery of the Eastern Pacific, or the shrimp
farm fisheries in China. Capture fisheries can be broadly classified as industrial scale, small-scale
or artisanal, and recreational.

The full relationship between fisheries and climate change is difficult to explore due to the
context of each fishery and the many pathways that climate change affects.

MARINE BIOLOGY

Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given
that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and
others that live on land, marine biology classifies species based on the environment rather than
on taxonomy.
A large proportion of all life on Earth lives in the ocean. The exact size of this large proportion is
unknown, since many ocean species are still to be discovered. The ocean is a complex three-
dimensional world[1] covering approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The habitats studied in
marine biology include everything from the tiny layers of surface water in which organisms and
abiotic items may be trapped in surface tension between the ocean and atmosphere, to the
depths of the oceanic trenches, sometimes 10,000 meters or more beneath the surface of the
ocean. Specific habitats include estuaries, coral reefs, kelp forests, seagrass meadows, the
surrounds of seamounts and thermal vents, tidepools, muddy, sandy and rocky bottoms, and
the open ocean (pelagic) zone, where solid objects are rare and the surface of the water is the
only visible boundary. The organisms studied range from
microscopic phytoplankton and zooplankton to huge cetaceans (whales) 25–32 meters (82–105
feet) in length. Marine ecology is the study of how marine organisms interact with each other
and the environment.

Marine life is a vast resource, providing food, medicine, and raw materials, in addition to
helping to support recreation and tourism all over the world. At a fundamental level, marine life
helps determine the very nature of our planet. Marine organisms contribute significantly to
the oxygen cycle, and are involved in the regulation of the Earth's climate.[2] Shorelines are in
part shaped and protected by marine life, and some marine organisms even help create new
land.[3]

Many species are economically important to humans, including both finfish and shellfish. It is
also becoming understood that the well-being of marine organisms and other organisms are
linked in fundamental ways. The human body of knowledge regarding the relationship between
life in the sea and important cycles is rapidly growing, with new discoveries being made nearly
every day. These cycles include those of matter (such as the carbon cycle) and of air (such
as Earth's respiration, and movement of energy through ecosystems including the ocean). Large
areas beneath the ocean surface still remain effectively unexplored.
Marine biology can be contrasted with biological oceanography. Marine life is a field of study
both in marine biology and in biological oceanography. Biological oceanography is the study of
how organisms affect and are affected by the physics, chemistry, and geology of
the oceanographic system. Biological oceanography mostly focuses on
the microorganisms within the ocean; looking at how they are affected by their environment
and how that affects larger marine creatures and their ecosystem. Biological oceanography is
similar to marine biology, but it studies ocean life from a different perspective. Biological
oceanography takes a bottom up approach in terms of the food web, while marine biology
studies the ocean from a top down perspective. Biological oceanography mainly focuses on the
ecosystem of the ocean with an emphasis on planktontheir diversity (morphology, nutritional
sources, motility, and metabolism); their productivity and how that plays a role in the global
carbon cycle; and their distribution (predation and life cycle). Biological oceanography also
investigates the role of microbes in food webs, and how humans impact the ecosystems in the

OCEANOGRAPHY

Oceanography (from the Ancient Greek ὠκεανός "ocean" and γράφω "write"), also known
as oceanology, is the scientific study of the ocean. It is an important Earth science, which covers
a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical
fluid dynamics; plate tectonics and the geology of the sea floor; and fluxes of various chemical
substances and physical properties within the ocean and across its boundaries. These diverse
topics reflect multiple disciplines that oceanographers utilize to glean further knowledge of
the world ocean,
including astronomy, biology, chemistry, climatology, geography, geology, hydrology, meteorol
ogy and physics. Paleoceanography studies the history of the oceans in the geologic past.
An oceanographer is a person who studies many matters concerned with oceans including
marine geology, physics, chemistry and biology.

Humans first acquired knowledge of the waves and currents of the seas and oceans in pre-
historic times. Observations on tides were recorded by Aristotle and Strabo in 384-322 BC. Early
exploration of the oceans was primarily for cartography and mainly limited to its surfaces and
of the animals that fishermen brought up in nets, though depth soundings by lead line were
taken. The Portuguese campaign of Atlantic navigation is the earliest example of a systematic
scientific large project, sustained over many decades, studying the currents and winds of the
Atlantic.

Knowledge of the oceans remained confined to the topmost few fathoms of the water and a
small amount of the bottom, mainly in shallow areas. Almost nothing was known of the ocean
depths. The British Royal Navy's efforts to chart all of the world's coastlines in the mid-19th
century reinforced the vague idea that most of the ocean was very deep, although little more
was known. As exploration ignited both popular and scientific interest in the polar regions
and Africa, so too did the mysteries of the unexplored oceans.
In 1881 the geographer John Francon Williams published a seminal book, Geography of the
Oceans. Between 1907 and 1911 Otto Krümmel published the Handbuch der Ozeanographie,
which became influential in awakening public interest in oceanography. The four-month
1910 North Atlantic expedition headed by John Murray and Johan Hjort was the most ambitious
research oceanographic and marine zoological project ever mounted until then, and led to the
classic 1912 book The Depths of the Ocean.

The first international organization of oceanography was created in 1902 as the International
Council for the Exploration of the Sea. In 1903 the Scripps Institution of Oceanography was
founded, followed by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in 1930, Virginia Institute of
Marine Science in 1938, and later the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia
University, and the School of Oceanography at University of Washington.

CONCLUSION

You should now understand that:

  Ecology is a scientific approach to the study of the biosphere.
 Ecosystems are created by the interrelationships between living organisms and the
physical environments they inhabit (land, water, air). Ecosystems require a source of
energy to make them work and for most, although not all, this is light from the sun.
 To study ecosystems we have to start to identify the components involved and the
interrelationships between them. We can list the living organisms by identifying the
species involved.
 Food chains and food webs are a way of mapping one type of interrelationship
between the organisms in an ecosystem.
 Human beings are part of ecosystems, as well as manipulators of ecosystems. As such
we are dependent on, as well as responsible for, the ecological health of the
ecosystems we inhabit.

REFERENCE

Hatcher, Bruce Gordon (1990). "Coral reef primary productivity. A hierarchy of pattern and
process". Trends in Ecology and Evolution.

.Adams, C.E. (1994). "The fish community of Loch Lomond, Scotland: its history and rapidly
changing status".