ECOLOGY &

ECOSYSTEM
 Total of all around us

Two components

1. ABIOTIC---- Non-living/ Non-biological

Example: sunlight, temperature, wind, land soil etc

2. BIOTIC---- Living/ Biological

Example: plant, animals, human beings microorganisms etc
Our environment has four domains

1. Lithosphere- (Land)
 The lithosphere refers to the hard, rocky outermost layer of any terrestrial
planet or natural satellite.
 On Planet Earth, the lithosphere is mainly made up of the crust and the
solid outer portion of the upper mantle.
 One of the major spheres of the Earth, the lithosphere is primarily the
terrestrial component comprising solid landmasses such as the continents
and islands on which all biological life exists.
 The lithosphere is severely affected by human activities such as mining,
deforestation, agriculture, overgrazing, and urbanization.
2. Hydrosphere: It includes all liquid and frozen surface waters, groundwater
held in soil and rock, and atmospheric water vapour. (Sea)
Water masses at Earth's surface
volume (in cubic
reservoir percent of total
kilometres)
*As liquid equivalent of water vapour.
**Total surpasses 100 percent because of upward rounding of individual reservoir
volumes.

Source: Adapted from Igor Shiklomanov's chapter "World Fresh Water Resources" in
Peter H. Gleick (ed.), Water in Crisis: A Guide to the World's Fresh Water Resources,
copyright 1993, Oxford University Press, New York, N.Y. Table made available by the
United States Geological Survey.

oceans 1,338,000,000 96.5

ice caps, glaciers, and
24,064,000 1.74
permanent snow
ground ice and
300,000 0.22
permafrost
groundwater (total) 23,400,000 1.69
groundwater (fresh) 10,530,000 0.76
groundwater (saline) 12,870,000 0.93
lakes (total) 176,400 0.013
groundwater (saline) 12,870,000 0.93
lakes (total) 176,400 0.013
lakes (fresh) 91,000 0.007
lakes (saline) 85,400 0.006
soil moisture 16,500 0.001
atmosphere* 12,900 0.001
swamp water 11,470 0.0008
rivers 2,120 0.0002
biota 1,120 0.0001
total** 1,409,560,910 101.67
3. Atmosphere (Air)

“Atmosphere is a protective layer of gases that shelters all life on Earth,

keeping temperatures within a relatively small range and blocking out
harmful rays of sunlight.”
What Would Happen if the Earth’s Atmosphere Disappeared?
 Have you ever wondered what would happen if the Earth lost its
atmosphere? Here is a breakdown of what could happen:

 Birds and planes would fall from the sky. Although we can’t see air, it has a
mass that supports flying objects.
 The sky would turn black. The sky gets its colour blue due to the
atmosphere. Gases and particles in Earth’s atmosphere scatter sunlight in
all directions. Blue light is scattered more than other colours because it
travels as shorter, smaller waves. This is why we see a blue sky most of the
time.
 There would be no sensation of sound. Although you could feel vibrations
from the ground you wouldn’t hear anything. Sound requires a medium to
travel.
 All the water bodies such as rivers, lakes and oceans would boil away.
Boiling occurs when the vapour pressure of a liquid exceeds external
pressure. In a vacuum, the water readily boils.
 Organisms that breathe air to survive would die.
 Summary of Layers of Atmosphere

Altitude Temperatu Important

Region Range re Characteri
(km) Range(0oC) stics

Weather
Troposphere 0-11 15 to -56 occurs
here

The ozone
Stratospher layer is
11-50 -56 to -2
e present
here

Meteors
Mesosphere 50-85 -2 to -92 burn in
this layer

Thermosphe -92 to Auroras

85-800
re 1200 occur here
4. Biosphere
 Components of Biosphere
 Biosphere is made up of the parts of the earth where life exists not only
human but also plant and animal life. It includes deep forests to grassland
from ocean to rain forests from mountains to plains.

 Biosphere consists of the following components :

 Lithosphere
 Atmosphere
 Hydrosphere
 Biosphere Examples
 The part of the world where living creatures reside is known as the
biosphere, which also includes the air and the surface of the planet. The
area where life exists on, above, and below the surface of the Earth is
referred to as the biosphere. the region of the planet that is naturally home
to life, which extends from the deep crust to the lower atmosphere.
 The biosphere also referred to as the ecosphere, is the dynamic, unknown
biological skin of the planet. It is where living things naturally live. It is
composed of the hydrosphere, the lower atmosphere, and the surface of
the lithosphere.
 The entire ecological system of the planet is known as the biosphere. It
includes every type of life that exists on Earth as well as every habitat that
can support life. The biosphere is made up of numerous biomes. These
regions have particular climatic conditions, flora, fauna, and adaptation
requirements in order to survive.
 The primary energy source for ecological operations is photosynthesis. The
biosphere’s processes are entangled with those of the geosphere,
hydrosphere, and atmosphere. Biological processes significantly affect how
much CO2 is present in the atmosphere by balancing photosynthesis and
respiration.
 What are the Benefits of Biosphere?

 The benefits of the Biosphere are:

 Work as a Pollution Marker.

 Help to check Pollutants in the Environment.
 Eliminate harmful Toxic from the Earth.
 Provide us food and raw materials.
 Help to generate Organic Matter.
 Promotes Life on Earth.
 What steps are taken to preserve the biosphere?

 After understanding the importance of the biosphere the United Nations

started a project called Man and the biosphere in the 1970s to promote
sustainable development. Currently, there are around 600 bio reserves in
the world set to promote sustainable development.
 The biosphere, or “zone of life,” an energy-diverting layer that uses the
matter of Earth to create living substance, was created by this
development of life in the thin outer layer of the geosphere.

 It contains to all living organisms

 It interacts with land, water and soil

 These 4 domains interact with each other

 What is Ecology?
 Ecology is a broad area of study about the ecosystems as a whole. In
ecology, biologists study various relationships of living organisms. These
include intra-relationships among the living organisms and the inter-
relationships between the living and the non-living components.

 Thus, in ecology, three main components of the study are present. They
are the living organisms, the relationships between organisms and the
relationships between organisms and the surrounding environment.
Ecology further describes the physiological, genetic, behavioural and
nutritional patterns of organisms. Moreover, nutrition is a major branch of
ecology. With regards to nutrition, in ecology organisms are grouped into
various categories such as symbionts, saprophytes, parasites, predators,
etc.
 Ecology also concerns on the threats to the environment and the manner in
which those could be minimized. Also, ecology sometimes interferes on the
processes of the ecosystem thereby altering the natural process in order to
conserve the ecosystems.

 Besides, ecology provides an insight into the biodiversity of a single unit,

which is the ecosystem.
 What is Ecosystem?
 The ecosystem is a branch of ecology. An ecosystem includes all the biotic
and abiotic components of a particular community.

 The biotic components include all the living organisms of that particular
community.

 The abiotic components include the non-living components such as

sunlight, water, minerals and the climate in which they are living.

 These living and non–living factors link through the energy flow in the
ecosystem and the nutritional requirement.
Functions of Ecosystem
 It regulates the essential ecological processes, supports life systems and
renders stability.

 It is also responsible for the cycling of nutrients between biotic and abiotic
components.

 It maintains a balance among the various trophic levels in the ecosystem.

 It cycles the minerals through the biosphere.

 The abiotic components help in the synthesis of organic components that

involve the exchange of energy.
 What are the different types of ecosystems?
 Human development has generally been parasitic on the environment
because there is fundamental interdependence between the environment,
the physical, biological, and social surroundings, and their interactions that
sustain all life forms

 There is a close relationship between environment and life.

 Destruction of environment leads to destruction of all living creatures

including human beings.

 Over production, over exploitation of resources, nuclear radiations,

industrial wastes, industrial accidents, brutal exploitation of indiscriminate
quarrying, pollution of rivers, and water resources, rapid increase of air,
and noise pollution are the contributing gators for environmental
degradation.
 Global warming, ozone depletion and pollution are some of the negative
effects of existing development strategy, which badly affect the human life.

 The notion of development should be to protect soils, animals, forests,

human health and the atmosphere but not mere insistence on progress of
development.

 Therefore, there is a need to identify a development that promotes both

ecological development and international viability.
 Ecology is the scientific analysis and study of interactions among
organisms and their environment, such as the interactions organisms have
with each other and with their biotic environment.

 Ecology is not synonymous with environmentalism, natural history, or

environmental science.

 It is closely related to evolutionary biology, genetics, and ethology

 Ecology is a human science as well.
 There are many practical applications of ecology in conservation biology,
wetland management, natural resource management (agro ecology,
agriculture, forestry, agro forestry, fisheries), city planning (urban ecology),
community health, economics, basic and applied science, and human
social interaction (human ecology).

 Forexample, the Circles of Sustainability approach treats ecology as

more than the environment 'out there’.

 It is not treated as separate from humans.

 An ecosystem is a community of living organisms (plants, animals and
microbes) in conjunction with the nonliving components of their
environment (things like air, water and mineral soil), interacting as a
system.

 These biotic and abiotic components are regarded as linked together

through nutrient cycles and energy flows.
 Ecosystems are controlled both by external and internal factors. External
factors such as climate, the parent material which forms the soil and
topography, control the overall structure of an ecosystem and the way
things work within it, but are not themselves influenced by the ecosystem.

 Internal factors not only control ecosystem processes but are also
controlled by them and are often subject to feedback loops. While the
resource inputs are generally controlled by external processes like climate
and parent material, the availability of these resources within the
ecosystem is controlled by internal factors like decomposition, root
competition or shading. Other internal factors include disturbance,
succession and the types of species present.
 Although humans exist and operate within ecosystems, their cumulative
effects are large enough to influence external factors like climate.