03 Environment - PRRC 2024

PRRC 2024
Ecosystem Env#003
Concepts -
Carrying capacity – capacity of earth to regenerate the resources
• The carrying capacity of an environment is the maximum population
size of a biological species that can be sustained by that specific
environment, given the food, habitat, water and other resources
available.
Planetary boundaries – safe operating limits for humanity

Decided based on – Carrying capacity and ecological footprints
Ecological footprints -
Adds up all the biologically productive areas for which a population, a person
or a product competes.
Counted by –
Global ecological footprint network – Non- profit Organization
• if a population’s Ecological Footprint© exceeds the region’s
biocapacity, that region runs a biocapacity deficit.
• Earth Overshoot Day
o Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humanity has
exhausted nature’s budget for the year.
o For the rest of the year, we are maintaining our ecological
deficit.
o In 2023, Earth Overshoot Day falls on August 2.
Functions of ecosystem -
1. Ecological succession
2. Energy flow
3. Nutrients cycling
4. Homeostasis
Ecological succession -
The process by which communities of plant and animal species in an area
are replaced or changed into another over a period of time is known as
ecological succession.
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PRRC 2024
Ecosystem Env#003
Primary succession
Primary succession takes place an over a bare or unoccupied areas such as
rocks outcrop, newly formed deltas and sand dunes, emerging volcano
islands and lava flows- where no community has existed previously.
The plants that invade first bare land, where soil is initially absent are
called pioneer species.
Pioneer species - show high growth rate but short life span
1. Primary succession
~ Difficult to observe as there are relatively very few places on earth
that do not already have communities of organisms.
Takes a very long time
Each transitional (temporary) community that is formed and replaced during

succession is called a stage in succession or a seral community
The entire sequence of communities in a given area, succeeding each other,

during the course of succession is termed sere
The terminal (final) stage of succession forms the community which is called
as climax community.
A climax community is stable, mature, more complex and long lasting.
2. Secondary succession -
Occurs when a community is removed, disturbed or destroyed by a natural
event like hurricane or forest fire or by human related events like tilling or
harvesting land.
PRRC 2024
Ecosystem Env#003
A secondary succession is relatively fast as, the soil has the necessary
nutrients with it
With each succession -

• Biodiversity ++
• Productivity ++
• Complexity ++
Ecological succession
1. Autogenic – if brought by internal communities itself
2. Allogenic – by external agents – fire, flood etc
Factors affecting succession -

1. Climate – sunlight, rainfall temperature
2. Soil type
3. Biotic factors
4. Physiographic – hills, plain areas etc.
5. Fire factor – growth is checked by fire Eg. Jhum cultivation, Savana
grass lands
Note – human affects secondary succession mostly
2. Energy flow -
Trophic levels -
Levels through which food energy passes from one group of organisms to
the other group are called trophic levels.
Number of trophic levels depend on – transmission of energy from one
trophic level to the another
Some ecological rules -

1. 10% rule – Energy transfer from one trophic level to other – 10%
Hence, 4 to 5 trophich levels – in terrestrial ecosystems
2. The total biomass tends to decrease progressively from the base of
the upper trophic level
PRRC 2024
Ecosystem Env#003
Ecological productivity -
Growth of organic matter or energy per unit time
1. Primary productivity – Radiant energy --> chemical compounds

sugsr and starch
a. Gross primary productivity (GPP) is the total rate of
photosynthesis, including the organic matter used up in
respiration
b. Net primary productivity (NPP) is the rate of storage of organic
matter in plant tissues that exceeds the respiratory
NPP= GPP - R
2. Secondary productivity - Rates of energy storage at consumer levels

Note :
Because consumers use only food materials already produced, with
appropriate respiratory losses, and convert this food energy to different
tissues by one overall process – there is no concept of gross and Net
productivity
Tropical rainforest, swamps and marshes and estuaries are 2000 dry
grams/m2/year in each case.
High productivity -
1. Tropical rainforests / swamps and marshes / algal beds and
Estuaries – 2000
2. Temperate forests – 1300
3. Boreal forests – 800
4. Tropical Savana - 700
PRRC 2024
Ecosystem Env#003
5. Woodland and Shrub –600

6. Temperate grasslands – 500
Very low net primary productivity -

1. Extreme desert, rock and ice (3 dry grams/m7/ year),
2. Desert scrub (70 dry gram m7/year),
3. Open ocean (125 dry grams/m /year) and
4. Tundra and Alpine ecosystems (140 dry grams/m-/year).
Food chains -
- Sequence of energy transfer from the lower trophic levels to the
upper or higher trophic levels.
Food chain does not remain simple and linear rather it is also complicated
by several inter-
A simpler food chain represents an unstable ecosystem and poor

biodiversity.
There are two types of food chains:

(i) Grazing food chains: which start from the green plants
(ii) Detritus food chain - start from the dead organic matter to the
detrivore organisms
1. Plants --› herbivorous -›carnivorous animals -›carnivores/omnivores

(secondary carnivores).
2. Grass ->sheep ->wolves
3. Grass->insects->frogs->snake- > hawk-> leopard.
Aquatic food chains. -

• Trophic level can be 6 to 7 or more also
1. Diatoms --> Baraccle larva --> Arrow Worm --> Herring Fish
PRRC 2024
Ecosystem Env#003
Number of species, the total biomass and energy availability decrease with
successive higher trophic levels in the food Chain in such a way that the
shape becomes like a pyramid. This is called the ecological pyramid.
There are three types of Ecological pyramids

(i) the Pyramids of numbers,
(ii) Biomass Pyramid, and
(ili) Energy pyramid.
1. Number pyramids include only the number of species and not their sizes
Generally -
The pyramid of number means progressive decrease in the number of
species with successive higher trophic levels
PRRC 2024
Ecosystem Env#003
Exception -
1. Inverted, i.e herbivores are more than primary producers
Eg. caterpillars and insects feed on a single tree
2. Spindle shape -
PRRC 2024
Ecosystem Env#003
Note – Numbers pyramid

Always upright – grass chains
Inverted or spindle shape – forest or tree
2. Biomass Pyramid
Pyramids of biomass include the biomass
Terrestrial – Upright
Aquatic – always inverted
Biomass pyramid does not give any idea of the rate of ecological/ecosystem
production.
3. Energy pyramids
The energy pyramids are constructed, thus, on the basis of the total
amount of energy used at each trophic level per unit area per unit
time.
This pyramid is used in comparative study of ecological productivity
of various ecosystems.

03 Environment - PRRC 2024

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03 Environment - PRRC 2024

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PRRC 2024

Planetary boundaries – safe operating limits for humanity

Each transitional (temporary) community that is formed and replaced during

The entire sequence of communities in a given area, succeeding each other,

With each succession -

Factors affecting succession -

Some ecological rules -

1. Primary productivity – Radiant energy --> chemical compounds

2. Secondary productivity - Rates of energy storage at consumer levels

5. Woodland and Shrub –600

Very low net primary productivity -

A simpler food chain represents an unstable ecosystem and poor

There are two types of food chains:

1. Plants --› herbivorous -›carnivorous animals -›carnivores/omnivores

Aquatic food chains. -

There are three types of Ecological pyramids

Note – Numbers pyramid

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