Ecology & Ecosystem

Ecology and Ecosystem
Organism- Any living being is called an organism.

Spices- Species is a group of similar organisms.
Population- Population is a group of individual members of the same species
living in a given area at the same time. for example, frogs in a pond.
Community- A community consists of populations of different species (plants,
animals, microorganisms) living and interecting in a given area at a given time.
Ecosystem- One or more communities of different species interacting with one
another and with their non-living environment. example pond ecosystem,
grassland ecosystem. The word ecosystem was first used by A.G. Tansley in
1935.
Biome- A biome is a Terrestrial and regional ecosystem with a distinct climate
and distinct biological community of plants, animals and other organisms. for
example, forest, desert.
Biosphere-The biosphere is the part of Earth where life exists and it includes
the atmosphere, Hydrosphere, lithosphere.
Structure of an ecosystem- An ecosystem consisting of two main components
abiotic (non-living) and biotic(living) components. A biotic part of an ecosystem
consists of the living organisms that are the plants, the animals and
microorganisms. The abiotic parts of an ecosystem consisting of all the
conditions under which the organisms live.
Ecology - The scientific Study of the interactions between organisms and their
environment is known as an ecology. The word Ecology was used first time by
the German biologist Ernst Haeckel in 1869. The word Ecology was derived
from the Greek word “oikos” meaning ‘House’ and “logos” meaning “study of”.
Food chain- Food chain is a sequence of organisms in which each one prays on
the preceding one. The food chain shows the Predator prey relationship.
Example- grass- grasshopper- frog- snake- Hawk
There are two types of food chain-
i) Grazing food chain- When the food chain starts from Green plant base goes
to grazing herbivores and on to carnivores , is the grazing food chain. The
grazing food chain will be illustrated as
Autotrophs - herbivore - primary carnivore- secondary carnivore.
ii) Detritus food chain- This food chain starts from dead organic matter and
goes to microorganisms and then to detrivores.
The biotic components of an ecosystem is classified as follows-

i) Autotrophs- This category includes all those organisms, green plants,
bacteria and algae which are capable of converting solar energy into chemical
energy and storing food stuff in the presence of carbon dioxide and water.
ii) Heterotrophs or consumers- All other organisms are consumers which
cannot convert Solar energy into food.
Depending upon the following habit heterotrophs are classified
as follows-
a) Primary consumer- Organism or animals which feed on green plants(
autotrophs) to obtain energy for survival are the primary consumers. They are
also known as the Herbivores. Example- cow, goats, Mouse rabbits insect etc.
b) Secondary consumer- Animals which feed on herbivores are known as
secondary consumers. Example- frog, lizards etc. they are also known as
carnivores.
c) Tertiary consumers- They eat secondary consumers. Example- eagle. They
are also known as carnivorous or top carnivorous.
iii)Decomposers- A decomposer is an organism that digest and breakdown

dead organisms and wastes of living organisms. Decomposers are mainly
bacteria and fungi. Decomposers are also called micro consumer.
Detrivore - A detrivore eats detritus which consists of organic litter, debris and
dung. For example- flies, cockroaches, earthworms, wood beetles, carpenter
ants.
Trophic level- The trophic level of an organism is its position in the food chain.
Food web-In an ecosystem various food chains are linked together and
intersect each other to form a complex network called food web.
Ecological pyramid- Ecological pyramids are the graphical representation of
the number, Biomass and energy of the successive trophic level of an
ecosystem. Charles Eilton(1927) was first described the ecological pyramid.
There are three types of ecological pyramids
i) Pyramid of number -It shows total number of individuals at each tropic
level.It maybe upright or inverted.
ii ) Pyramid of biomass- It shows dry Total weight of matter at any time in the
ecosystem. It may be upright or inverted.
iii) Pyramid of energy- The herbivores eat producer as their food and same
way the primary consumers eat the herbivores and secondary consumers take
primary consumer as their food and the tertiary consumer eat secondary
consumer as their food. So, each and every successive level the energy transfer
only 10% and the rest 90% energy is loss. The pyramid of energy is always
upright as it shows loss of energy at every trophic level of food chain.
Ecological succession- according to the concept of evolution species never

found in permanent form but they keep on changing over a period of time due
to variation in climatic and physiographic factor and by inter specific activities.
This is called ecological succession.
Biogeochemical cycle- In a self-sufficient ecosystem, there occurs the flow of
minerals (C, N, O2, S, P) and energy through the abiotic and biotic components
of the ecosystem. Cyclical path of the elements from the abiotic system to the
biotic system and back is called biogeochemical cycle.
There are three types of biogeochemical cycle. these are-

i) Hydrological cycle (water cycle).
ii) Gaseous cycles (carbon, nitrogen and oxygen cycle).
iii) Sedimentary cycles (Phosphorus and sulphur cycle).
The Carbon cycle :
The Water cycle :

The Oxygen cycle:
THE DESCRIPTION OF A GRASS LAND ECOSYSTEM

The grass land ecosystem is a terrestrial ecosystem. In a grass land ecosystem,
there present various components. These are as follows-
Biotic components-
Producer- different types of grass species namely-Cynodon, Desmodium,
Brachiaria etc , few shrubs and a very few number of trees are present.
Consumer-Primary consumer- herbivores like cow, deer, goat, sheep,
buffaloes, rabbit, mouse etc are found.
Secondary consumer- it includes fox, hyena, snake, lizard, small birds etc.
Tertiary consumer- it includes owl, kites, hawk etc.animals.
Abiotic components- it includes sunlight, air, water, soil, rain, humidity,
temperature, soil nutrients etc.
Decomposers- the bacteria and fungi are the decomposers.
THE DESCRIPTION OF A FOREST ECOSYSTEM
The forest is an ecosystem dominated by trees and woody vegetation. The
components of a forest ecosystem is as follows-
Abiotic components- it includes sunlight, air, water, soil, rain, humidity,
temperature, soil nutrients, organic matter etc.
Biotic components-
Producer- in tropical moist forest different types of trees species present
namely- Tectona grandis, Shorea sp., Butea sp. etc. In temperate deciduous
forest trees like Acer, Thuja, Betula, Picea species are dominantly found and in
temperate coniferous forest there mainly found Abis,Picea,Pinus, Oak,
Rhododendron etc.
Consumer-
Primary consumer- different types of insects, flies, ants, mouse, spider etc are
found. The grazing herbivores like deer, elephant, rabbit, squirrel, monkey etc
are found.
Secondary consumer- it includes fox, hyena, snake, lizard, small birds etc.
Tertiary consumer- it includes tiger, lion, owl, kites, hawk etc. animals.
Decomposers- the bacteria and fungi are the decomposers.

Ecology & Ecosystem

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Ecology and Ecosystem

Organism- Any living being is called an organism.

The biotic components of an ecosystem is classified as follows-

iii)Decomposers- A decomposer is an organism that digest and breakdown

Ecological succession- according to the concept of evolution species never

There are three types of biogeochemical cycle. these are-

The Water cycle :

THE DESCRIPTION OF A GRASS LAND ECOSYSTEM

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