Unit-II

Ecosystem

Prepared By: Mr. Vikas Rena

Faculty, AECC-Environmental Studies
Maitreyi College, University of Delhi
Table of Content
• Ecology
• Concept of an Ecosystem
• Structure and Functions of an ecosystem
• Trophic Levels- Producers, Consumers and Decomposers
• Food chain, food webs
• Ecological pyramids
• Energy flow and Nutrients dynamics
• Ecological succession
• Different types of ecosystem and their structure and functions
 Forest ecosystem
 Grassland ecosystem
 Desert ecosystem
 Aquatic ecosystem (ponds, streams, lakes, river, oceans,
estuaries)
 Introduction
• Ernst Haeckel, a 19th-century scientist, developed the concept of
ecology (1869) and named it—Oikos from the Greek word for
“house” and Logos from the Greek word for “study.” Thus, ecology
literally means “the study of one’s house.”
• The study of interaction or interdependence of organism with
their environment is called Ecology.
Organism Environment
• The environment—one’s house—consists of two parts, the biotic
(living) environment, which includes all organisms, and the abiotic
(nonliving, or physical) surroundings, which include living space,
temperature, sunlight, soil, wind, and precipitation.
• Father of Ecology- Reiter
• Father of Indian Ecology- Prof. Ram Deo Misra
• Ecology: The study of systems that include interactions among
organisms and between organisms and their abiotic environment.
• Atoms are organized into molecules, which in turn are
organized into cells. In multi-cellular organisms, cells are
organized into tissues, tissues into organs such as a bone
or stomach, organs into body systems such as the
nervous system and digestive system, and body systems
into individual organisms such as dogs and ferns.
Cell
Tissue
Organ
OrganSystem
Organism
Species
Community
Ecosystem
Landscape
Biome
Biosphere
Branches of Ecology
Autecology-Study of the relation of a species with its environment
Synecology- Study of the relation of the group of different species with
their environment.

Organism: An organism is the smallest unit of ecological

hierarchy and the basic unit of ecological study.
Species: A group of organisms similar in structure, function,
behavior having common gene pool, whose members can freely
interbreed with one another in the wild to produce fertile
offspring; members of one species generally do not interbreed
with other species of organisms.
Population: A group of organisms of the same species that live in
the same area at the same time.
Community: A natural association that consists of all the
populations of different species that live and interact within an
area at the same time.
Ecosystem: A community and its physical environment.
 Ecosystem?
The term ecosystem was coined by A.G. Tansley (1935) who defined
as “A system as a symbol of structure and function of nature resulting
from the integration of all living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic) factors
of the environment in a particular area”.
Father of Ecosystem ecology- E.P. Odum
Odum (1971) gave a more elaborative definition: “Any unit that
included all the organisms in a given area interacting with the physical
environment so that a flow of energy leads to clearly defined trophic
structure, biotic diversity and material cycles (i.e. exchange of
materials between living and non-living parts) within the system is an
ecological system or ecosystem.
An ecosystem is the basic structural and functional unit of nature.
It is a self-regulating group of organisms interacting with one
another and also with their abiotic environment through energy
flow and nutrient dynamics.
Characteristic-Features of an Ecosystem

Basic Structural and Functional Unit of Nature.

Inter-dependence, Inter-relationship and Interaction
(Biotic and Abiotic).
Energy flow and Nutrient dynamics
Self-sustained and Self-regulatory system.
Integrated unit of living and non-living components
Structure and functions of an ecosystem
• In simple, An ecosystem is the assemblages of organisms and their associated
environment, functioning collectively as a system to exchange material and
energy.

ECOSYSTEM

Biotic INTERACTION Abiotic

Water (H2O),
Producer Consumer
Air (CO2),
Soil (C, N, Humus)

Primary Secondary Climate

Primary (Temperature
and light)

Decomposer
Structure of Ecosystem
Producers, Consumers and Decomposers
 Producers
Autotrophs of an Ecosystem
• Prepare their own food
• In process of photosynthesis producers absorb solar energy and
convert into chemical energy so that producers are also called as
transducers or converters.
• Energy enter into an ecosystem through producers only.
Green Plants (Photoautotrophs)

• Solar energy is the ultimate source of energy in an ecosystem,

only this energy is available to the remaining living organisms

Chemoautotrophs:
Iron Bacteria, Sulphur Bacteria, Nitrifying Bacteria
 Consumers
Heterotrophs of an ecosystem
• Directly (Herbivores) and Indirectly (Carnivores) depend on producers
for food.
• Phagotrophs or holozoic- Digest their food inside the body of
organism i.e. first ingestion and then digestion.
Primary Consumers- Obtain food directly from producers. e.g. Cow,
Grazing cattle, Rabbit etc.
Secondary Consumers- Feed upon primary consumers and obtain e.g.
food.e.g.Dog, cat, snake etc.
Top Consumers- The animals which Kill other animals and eat them
but they are not killed and eaten by other animal in nature. e.g. Lion,
Man, Hawk, Peacock, Shark etc.
Those carnivores which kill and eat the herbivores are called as Predators.
Special Consumers- The organisms which completely depend on dead animals
are not example of predators but they are the Scavengers or Detrivores. e.g.
Vulture, Crow, Fox.
All predators are carnivores but all carnivores are not predators.
 Decomposers
Micro consumers/ Saprotrophs/ Osmotrophs/
Transformers/ Decomposer/ Reducers
• The living organisms which decompose the dead body
of producers and consumers.
Bacteria and Fungi

Play a significant role in mineral cycle.

Process of decomposition takes place outside the body
and they release the enzymes on dead remains and
convert the complex organic material into simpler
organic substances and then absorb it.
 Special Points

Vulture is a Scavenger not Predator.

Whale is a secondary consumer-filter feeder.
Plant Parasites- Primary consumers
Animal Parasites- Secondary consumers
Insectivorous Plant Play the double role i.e.
producer as well as secondary consumer.
Organisms which use milk or curd are known as
secondary consumer.
Human and Peacock are omnivores.