ECOSYSTEM

ECOSYSTEM

An ecosystem is an ecological unit consisting of both living and non-living factors of the environment. The word ecosystem was first termed by A.G. Tansley in 1935. Its two major’s components are biotic component and abiotic component.

 The biotic component includes all living organisms present in the environment. Plants and animals together depend on each other for their food and life. They can be classified differently as producers, consumers and decomposers. Producers are those members of an ecosystem that are capable of producing their own food from inorganic compounds. Autotrophic green plants are producers as they synthesize their own food. Consumers are the living member of the ecosystem which consumes the food matter built up by the producer. Under this category, all different kinds of animals that are found in an ecosystem are included. According to their food, consumers are of three types- primary consumer (insects, rabbit, deer etc), secondary consumer (sparrow, crow, fox, dog) and tertiary consumer (lion, tiger, vulture). Decomposers are also living components of an ecosystem and are composed of microorganisms.  They break down the organic compound of dead producers and consumers which can be used green plants. Bacteria and fungi are decomposers.

Abiotic components constitute the non living factors in the environment. The basic components are organic and inorganic compounds. The major inorganic elements and compounds are water, oxygen, carbonates, phosphorous, calcium, etc. proteins, and carbohydrates, liquid are important organic compounds. It also includes physical factors such as temperature, rainfall, light, soil etc.

Based upon the particular kind of habitat , there are different types of ecosystem;-

Aquatic ecosystem

 Marine ecosystem:- the sea ecosystem is one of the major examples of water ecosystem. The sea is several kilometers deep, but the majority of organisms live on the upper portion of the water which is called the euphotic zone. Only some animals, like squids, inhabit the deep, dark layers of the sea. Planktons are a kind of organisms found in the sea. They are eaten by fish as food.

Freshwater ecosystem:- a pond is a good example of a freshwater ecosystem. There are two main components, abiotic and biotic components

Abiotic components- the most important abiotic component is water since all the organisms of pond must live in water. Gases like carbon dioxide and oxygen contained in water in dissolved form are available to plants and animals for photosynthesis and respiration. Plants absorb minerals directly from the water

Biotic components- producer:- the major producers in this ecosystem are algae and other aquatic plants which produce their own food by converting the radiant energy of the sun intro potential energy through the process if photosynthesis. Some of these producers are rooted like hydrilla; vallisnaria and other are free-floating plants like diatoms, spirogyra, euglena etc

Consumers:- primary consumers are herbivorous feeding directly in living plants and plants remain. In the pond, the important primary consumers are amoeba, paramecium and zooplankton. Different kinds of insect larvae and tadpole also come under this category.

Decomposer:- fungi and bacteria act as decomposers in a pond. When plants and animals die, a large number of fungi and bacteria attack their dead bodies and convert the complex organic substances into simpler form. Green plants in their nutrition again utilize the chemical elements liberated by decomposer.

Terrestrial ecosystem – Forest component:- forest is the best example of a terrestrial ecosystem

Abiotic components: abiotic components of this type of ecosystem are; soil, moisture, air, sunlight straight from the physical factors.

Biotic components: the biotic components as the ecosystem are divided to producers, consumers and decomposers.

Grassland ecosystem

Abiotic components: there are the inorganic as well as the organic substance present in the soil and atmosphere.

Biotic components: Producer, Consumer, decomposer