ECOSYSTEM

BY- VELUVALI SREENIDHI

BA HONS PSYCHOLOGY
Ecosystem definition
 The structural and functional unit of life is called the ecological
system or the ecosystem.
 It is a spatial and organisational unit, formed by the interactions of
the living organisms with each other and with their physical
environment.
 The community of living and non-living components in an area come
together to form an ecosystem.
Types of ecosystems
They can mainly be categorised in the following ways:
 Biosphere contains all the ecosystems
 Mega-ecosystem contains marine, limnic, semi-terrestrial, terrestrial and urban-
industrial ecosystems.
 Macro-ecosystems consists of forests within the mega-ecosystem
 Meso-ecosystems, micro-ecosystems and nano ecosystems are even lower levels of
ecosystem.
 The lower levels are withing the higher level ecosystems but still differ from other
lower level ecosystems.
Types of ecosystems
Ecosystems can also be categorised into two broad categories:
 Natural ecosystem: ecosystems like forests, rivers, grasslands, etc which occur
naturally without the interruption of man.
 Artificial ecosystem: ecosystems like gardens, parks, ponds, lakes, etc which are
created by man
 Terrestrial ecosystem: ecosystems that exist on land like forests, deserts, grasslands
etc.
 Aquatic ecosystems: ecosystems that exist in water bodies or which depend heavily
on water bodies like rivers, ponds, lakes, oceans, etc.
Structure of ecosystems
The ecosystem contains mainly two components:
 Abiotic components: the non-living part of the ecosystem is the
abiotic components. For e.g. rocks, water, wind, temperature etc.
 Biotic components: the living part of the ecosystem makes the biotic
components. For e.g. bacteria, fungus, trees, animals etc.
Food chain
 The order or consuming and being consumed in an ecosystem is
known as a food chain.
 All living and non-living animals are food for some other organism.
There is naturally no waste in a natural ecosystem.
 For e.g. a worm eats a leaf, then a bird eats the worm, an eagle eats
the bird and when the eagle dies, it is consumed by bacteria or fungi.
Levels of food chain
 Grazing food chain: it starts with green plants and ends with
carnivores. For e.g. grass is eaten by a rabbit and the rabbit is eaten by
a wolf.
 Detritus food chain: it starts with dead organic matter and ends with
detritivores or decomposers. For e.g. dead organic matter is eaten by
fungi and the fungi is eaten by bacteria.
 Parasitic food chain: parasites obtain nutrition form plants and animals
which are still alive, as they slowly start to lose energy.
Food web
 In a natural ecosystem food chains come together to form food webs
because they cannot exist alone.
 Multiple food chains form a network, interconnecting different types of
organisms, which creates a food web.
 E.g. in the grazing food chain, if there is no rabbit, the grass could be
eaten by a deer and the deer in turn may be eaten by a lion.
 Food webs are very important to maintain the balance and the stability of
the natural ecosystem
Ecological pyramids
 The graphic representation of the structure and function of an
ecosystem, which begins with the producers at the bottom and the
successive trophic levels as you go up, is called ecological pyramids.
 There are three different kinds of ecological pyramids:
Pyramid of numbers
Pyramid of biomass
Pyramid of energy
Pyramid of numbers
This represents the number of individuals at a trophic level.
 Upright pyramid: since the producers are in huge numbers and the top-
level carnivores are significantly less. E.g. grasslands, ponds etc
 Diamond pyramid: the producers are lesser than the primary consumers
and the numbers gradually decrease towards the top. For e.g. forest
ecosystems.
 Inverted pyramid: the producers are in lower numbers than top-level
consumers. E.g. parasitic food chains.
Pyramid of biomass
Shows the total biomass at each trophic level of the food chain
 Upright pyramid: the producers gather huge biomass while it
decreases as it goes towards the top level. E.g. forest ecosystem.
 Diamond pyramid: the total biomass of the producers is much less
compared to the herbivores and then it keeps increasing as it goes
higher. E.g. pond ecosystem.
Pyramid of energy
Shows the energy present at each trophic level.
 It is always upright.
 Every level loses about 90% of the energy that was taken from the
lower level, in the form of heat, respiration, etc.
 Therefore, only 10% of the energy passes to the next level.
Thank you.