ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

I-B, USAP

Group members: Ann, Anushka, Muskan Pal, Prakriti, Shruthi Nair

 GROUP NO: 5

ECOSYSTEM DEVELOPMENT
&
ECOLOGICAL SUCCESSION
 ECOSYSTEM
The term ecology was coined by Earnst Haeckel in 1869. it is
derived from the Greek word oikos- home + logos- study. So,
ecology deals with the study of organisms in their natural
home interacting with their surroundings.

• An ecosystem is a grouping of organisms that interact with

each other and their environment in such a way as to preserve
the grouping.
• There is a great variety of ecosystems in existence, all of them
are characterized by general structural and functional
attributes.
 ABIOTIC COMPONENTS
• They form the environment and determine the type / structure of
ecosystem.
– Sunlight (temperature)
– Nutrients
• Rainfall, minerals, carbon, nitrogen,…..

• Type of ecosystems:
– Tropical rainforest, Desert, Tundra, Grassland,…..
 BIOTIC COMPONENTS
• Producers (Autotrophs):
– All green plants. They use solar energy, chlorophyll, inorganic nutrients and
water to produce their own food. (Photosynthesis)

• Consumers:
– They consume the organic compounds in plant and animal tissues by eating.
• Herbivores (plant feeders) Primary consumers
• Carnivores (meat eaters) Secondary consumers
• Omnivores (general feeders)

• Decomposers
– They are tiny organisms includes bacteria and fungi, which turn organic
compounds in dead plants and animals into inorganic materials.
– They cause the continual recirculation of chemicals within ecosystem
(nutrient cycle)
ECOLOGICAL SUCCESSION
 Succession
◊ What is succession?
A number of people or things of a similar kind following
one after the other.

In a similar way, ecological succession refers to the process

of change in the species structure of
an ecological community over time. The time scale can be
decades (for example, after a wildfire), or even millions of
years after a mass extinction.
 Types of Ecological succession:
PRIMARY
: Process of creating life in an
area where no life previously
existed / in an uninhabitated
environment.
SECONDARY
: Process of re-stabilization that
follows a disturbance in an area
where life has formed an
ecosystem.
 PRIMARY SUCCESSION:

1st – 2nd year 3rd – 18th 19th –30th 30th – 100th 100th plus
year year year years
Horsewood Grass scrub mature pine Climax
community,
Young
dominant, pines forest; okhickory
broomsedge
crabgrass, forest understory of forest
grass, pines
pigweed, coming in young hardwoods,
asters during this pine to hardwood
dominant stage transition
 Examples of primary succession:
Volcanic lava creating new land Glacial retreat exposes a new
land

Lava cools and hardens into a new
barren land and then pioneer
succession takes place in which lichens
and mosses and reproduces and forms
a new land with new soil and then later
grows into a forest.
As the seasons change and the
temperature of Earth is warming up,
glaciers are retreating and when they
do, they exposes a new barren land
beneath them. As a result, a new
ecosystem will develop in that area.
 SECONDARY SUCCESSION

Secondary succession is the series of community changes which take place on a

previously colonized, but disturbed or damaged habitat. Examples include areas
which have been cleared of existing vegetation (such as after tree-felling in a woodland)
and destructive events such as fires.
Secondary succession is usually much quicker than primary succession for the
following reasons:
 There is already an existing seed bank of suitable plants in the soil.
 Root systems undisturbed in the soil, stumps and other plant parts from previously
existing plants can rapidly regenerate.
 The fertility and structure of the soil has also already been substantially modified by
previous organisms to make it more suitable for growth and colonization.
 Changes that occur during a succession:

 Pioneer species colonize a bare of disturbed site. Soil building.

 Changes in the physical environment occur (eg. Light, moisture)
 New species of plants displace existing plans because their seedlings
are better able to become established in the changes environment.
 Newly arriving species alter the physical conditions , often in ways
that enable other species to become established.
 SURVIVAL
 Eventually a climax community that is more or less stable will
become established and have the ability to reproduce itself
 Disturbance will start the succession again.
MASHPI LODGE IS LOCATED IN CHOCÓ RAIN FOREST,
ECUADOR.

Nature meets luxury at Mashpi, a breathtaking creation of steel and glass

deep in the cloud forests of Ecuadorian Chocó, one of the planet’s
biodiversity hotspots. With floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall windows throughout,
nothing competes with nature here. You might catch sight of a howler
monkey while soaking in the indoor Jacuzzi, or wake up to the flitting of a
velvet-purple coronet just outside your room. Though only three hours from
downtown Quito, Mashpi is a true wilderness retreat, set on 3,200 acres of
cloud forest of which 80% is primary growth. Its 22 guest rooms are simple,
stylish, and spacious, and the dining room soars two stories, so that guests
can watch life play out in the trees as they dine on world-class cuisine that
incorporates the fruits of the jungle.
THANK YOU