Ecosystem Types

WHAT IS AN ECOSYSTEM?
An ecosystem is a structural and functional unit of ecology where the living organisms interact
with each other and the surrounding environment. 
- An ecosystem is defined as a community of lifeforms in concurrence with non-living
components, interacting with each other.
STRUCTURE OF THE ECOSYSTEM
The structure of an ecosystem is characterized by the organization of both biotic and abiotic
components. This includes the distribution of energy in our environment. It also includes the
climatic conditions prevailing in that particular environment. 
The structure of an ecosystem can be split into two main components, namely: 
• Biotic Components
• Abiotic Components

Biotic Components
Biotic components refer to all living components in an ecosystem.  Based on nutrition, biotic
components can be categorised into autotrophs, heterotrophs and saprotrophs (or decomposers).

 Producers include all autotrophs such as plants. They are called autotrophs as they can
produce food through the process of photosynthesis. Consequently, all other organisms
higher up on the food chain rely on producers for food.
 Consumers or heterotrophs are organisms that depend on other organisms for food.
Consumers are further classified into primary consumers, secondary consumers and
tertiary consumers.

 Primary consumers are always herbivores as they rely on producers for food.

 Secondary consumers depend on primary consumers for energy. They can either
be carnivores or omnivores.
 Tertiary consumers are organisms that depend on secondary consumers for food. 
Tertiary consumers can also be carnivores or omnivores.

 Quaternary consumers are present in some food chains. These organisms prey on

tertiary consumers for energy. Furthermore, they are usually at the top of a food
chain as they have no natural predators.
 Decomposers include saprophytes such as fungi and bacteria. They directly thrive on the
dead and decaying organic matter.  Decomposers are essential for the ecosystem as they
help in recycling nutrients to be reused by plants.
Abiotic Components
Abiotic components are the non-living component of an ecosystem.  It includes air, water, soil,
minerals, sunlight, temperature, nutrients, wind, altitude, turbidity, etc. 
FUNCTIONS OF ECOSYSTEM
- Ecosystem function is the capacity of natural processes and components to provide goods
and services that satisfy human needs, either directly or indirectly.
- Ecosystem functions are subset of ecological processes and ecosystem structures.
- Each function is the result of the natural processes of the total ecological sub-system of
which it is a part.
- General characterization of ecosystem functions are:
- (1) Regulatory functions: this group of functions relates to the capacity of natural and
semi-natural ecosystems to regulate essential ecological processes and life support
systems through bio-geochemical cycles and other biospheric processes. In addition to
maintaining the ecosystem (and biosphere health), these regulatory functions provide
many services that have direct and indirect benefits to humans (i.e., clean air, water and
soil, and biological control services).
- (2) Habitat functions: natural ecosystems provide refuge and a reproduction habitat to
wild plants and animals and thereby contribute to the (in situ) conservation of biological
and genetic diversity and the evolutionary process.
- (3) Production functions: Photosynthesis and nutrient uptake by autotrophs converts
energy, carbon dioxide, water and nutrients into a wide variety of carbohydrate structures
which are then used by secondary producers to create an even larger variety of living
biomass. This broad diversity in carbohydrate structures provides many ecosystem goods
for human consumption, ranging from food and raw materials to energy resources and
genetic material.
- (4) Information functions: Since most of human evolution took place within the context
of an undomesticated habitat, natural ecosystems contribute to the maintenance of human
health by providing opportunities for reflection, spiritual enrichment, cognitive
development, recreation and aesthetic experience.

TYPES OF ECOSYSTEM

Terrestrial Ecosystem

Terrestrial ecosystem refers to all such ecosystems which are mainly located on land. Although
the presence of water in these ecosystems is measured, they are entirely land-based and exist on
land. More specifically, a low and sufficiently needed amount of water is located in terrestrial
ecosystems. The low amount of water separates these ecosystems from aquatic ecosystems. 
Aquatic Ecosystem

Aquatic ecosystems refer to all such ecosystems that are primarily located on or inside water
bodies. The nature and characteristics of all living and non-living organisms in the aquatic
system are determined based on the environment surrounding their ecosystem. Organisms in
these ecosystems interact with other organisms in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.

Forest Ecosystem
- A forest ecosystem consists of several plants, particularly trees, animals and
microorganisms that live in coordination with the abiotic factors of the environment.
Forests help in maintaining the temperature of the earth and are the major carbon sink.

1. Tropical evergreen forest

- The tropical evergreen forests usually occur in areas receiving more than 200 cm of
rainfall and having a temperature of 15 to 30 degrees Celsius. They occupy about seven
per cent of the earth's land surface and habours more than half of the world’s plants and
animals. They are found mostly near the equator.
- These forests are dense and multi-layered. They harbour  many types of plants and
animals. The trees are evergreen as there is no period of drought. They are mostly tall and
hardwood type. Leaves are broad and give out excess water through evapo-transpiration.
2. Tropical deciduous forest
- Tropical deciduous forests occur in regions with heavy rainfall for part of the year
followed by a marked dry season. These forest formations are dense and lush during the
wet summers, but become a dry landscape during the dry winters when most trees shed
their leaves.
- Shedding their leaves allows trees to conserve water during dry periods. Bare trees open
up the canopy layer, enabling sunlight to reach ground level and facilitate the growth of
thick underbrush. Trees use underground water during the dry seasons. These dramatic
changes in water availability have a great impact on the plants and animals living in this
ecosystem.
3. Temperate evergreen forest
- A temperate evergreen forest is essentially a temperate forest that exists in regions where
the temperatures rarely go below freezing, even in the winter, and also don't get very high
during the summer.
- Unlike temperate deciduous forests where trees lose their leaves in the fall in preparation
for winter, temperate evergreen forests (like that found on the west coast of North
America) stay green year-round as they consist largely of evergreen trees like western red
cedar, western hemlock, Sitka spruce, grand fir, evergreen huckleberry, and Douglas fir.
4. Temperate deciduous forest
- Temperate deciduous forests can be found in the eastern part of the United States and
Canada, most of Europe and parts of China and Japan.
- The temperate deciduous forest is a biome that is always changing. It has four distinct
seasons: winter, spring, summer and fall. Winters are cold and summers are warm.
 Temperate deciduous forests get between 30 and 60 inches of precipitation a year.
Precipitation in this biome happens year round. Because the soil is very fertile and
hardwood trees are good for building, this biome has some of the world's largest
population centers in it.
- The leaves of deciduous trees change color and fall off in the autumn and grow back in
the spring.
5. Taiga
- The taiga is a forest biome located in the northern hemisphere. Also known as boreal
forest, the taiga lies south of the Arctic tundra and north of the northern temperate forests.
- Covering around 11.5% of the Earth’s entire land area–that’s roughly 17 million sq. km /
6.6 million sq. miles–the taiga is Earth’s largest land biome.
- Winters in the taiga are long and cold, and for much of the year the trees and exposed
ground of the region are covered in snow. In the summer the taiga explodes with life as
plants and animals make use of the short growing season.
- The Taiga is an important ecosystem for the health and stability of the planet and a place
of profound beauty. It is home to such animals as the moose and gray wolf, and is a major
source of lumber. It helps to moderate weather extremes and their impacts,
maintain biodiversity, purify air and water, and contribute to climate stability. 
- The taiga is not as biodiverse as the temperate forest biome that lies to its south. Its
landscape is dominated by just three main types of tree: spruces, larches and pines. These
hardy conifers are better adapted to life in the cold north than broadleaved trees.
Grassland Ecosystem
- In a grassland ecosystem, the vegetation is dominated by grasses and herbs. Temperate
grasslands and tropical or savanna grasslands are examples of grassland ecosystems.
Savanna
- Savannas are usually a transitional zone between a forest and a grassland. This
means that while there are still tall trees, like a forest, they are spread out and the
ground is covered in grasses, like a grassland.
- The climate is also transitional with rotating dry periods, like a desert, and wet
periods, like a rainforest. During the winter, no rain falls, and the land is very dry. In
the summer, it usually rains quite a lot. This is called seasonal rainfall because it
only rains in a certain season.

Tundra Ecosystem
- Tundra ecosystems are treeless regions found in the Arctic and on the tops of mountains,
where the climate is cold and windy, and rainfall is scant. Tundra lands are covered with
snow for much of the year, but summer brings bursts of wildflowers.
- Plants and Animals in Tundras
 Mountain goats, sheep, marmots, and birds live in mountain—or alpine—tundra and feed
on the low-lying plants and insects. Hardy flora like cushion plants survive in the
mountain zones by growing in rock depressions, where it is warmer and they are
sheltered from the wind.
- Climate Change Impact on Tundras

The Arctic tundra is changing dramatically due to global warming, a term that falls
within a wider range of trends scientists now prefer to call climate change. The impacts in
this region are broad and somewhat unpredictable. Animals that are typically found
farther south, like the red fox (Vulpes vulpes), are moving north onto the tundra. This
means the red fox is now competing with the Arctic fox for food and territory, and the
long-term impact on the sensitive Arctic fox is unknown.

Desert Ecosystem
- Deserts are found throughout the world. These are regions with little rainfall and scarce vegetation.
The days are hot, and the nights are cold.

1. Sand desert
- Deserts cover huge areas, mostly between 10-30 degrees N and S of the equator.
Many of these deserts are sandy, at least partly. Good example is Sahara — the
largest desert in the world.
2. Rock desert
- An upland desert in which bedrock is either exposed or is covered with a thin veneer of coarse rock fragme
nts.
3. Stony desert
- The stony deserts comprise a variety of landscape formations. They may be flat or with low hills,
with rubble or a sandy-shingle surface, coarse- grained gravel, grey- brown soils and poor
rarefied vegetation.
4. Plateau desert
- A plateau is a flat, elevated landform that rises sharply above surrounding area on at least one
side. Plateaus can be formed by a number of processes, including upwelling of volcanic magma,
extrusion of lava, and erosion by water and glaciers.
5. Cold desert
- These deserts are characterized by cold winters with snowfall and large rainfalls widely during
the winter and occasionally over the summer. They occur in areas with extremely high rainfall
periods such as the Antarctic and Greenland and also the Nearctic realm.

Freshwater Ecosystem
 - Freshwater ecosystems naturally share resources between habitats. The ecosystems in
rivers and streams, for example, bring salts and nutrients from the mountains to lakes,
ponds, and wetlands at lower elevations, and eventually they bring those nutrients to the
ocean. These waterways also enable migrating species, like salmon, to bring nutrients
from the ocean to upstream freshwater ecosystems.
Lentic ecosystem
- A lentic ecosystem entails a body of standing water, ranging from ditches, seeps,
ponds, seasonal pools, basin marshes and lakes. Deeper waters, such as lakes, may
have layers of ecosystems, influenced by light. Ponds, due to their having more light
penetration, are able to support a diverse range of water plants.
Lotic ecosystem

- A lotic ecosystem can be any kind of moving water, such as a run, creek, brook, river,
spring, channel or stream. The water in a lotic ecosystem, from source to mouth, must
have atmospheric gases, turbidity, longitudinal temperature gradation and material
dissolved in it.

- Lotic ecosystems have two main zones, rapids and pools. Rapids are the areas where
the water is fast enough to keep the bottom clear of materials, while pools are deeper
areas of water where the currents are slower and silt builds up.

Lentic ecosystem (also called the lacustrine ecosystem or the still water ecosystem) and lotic
ecosystem (also called the riverine ecosystem) are two types of water ecosystems, the first
dealing with still water ecosystems and the second dealing with flowing water ecosystems.

Wetland ecosystem
- A wetland is an area of land that is either covered by water or saturated with water. The
water is often groundwater, seeping up from an aquifer or spring. A wetland’s water can
also come from a nearby river or lake. Seawater can also create wetlands, especially in
coastal areas that experience strong tides.
- A wetland is entirely covered by water at least part of the year. The depth and duration of
this seasonal flooding varies.

Marine Ecosystem
- Marine ecosystems are aquatic environments with high levels of dissolved salt, such as
those found in or near the ocean. Marine ecosystems are defined by their
unique biotic (living) and abiotic (nonliving) factors. Biotic factors include plants,
animals, and microbes; important abiotic factors include the amount of sunlight in
 the ecosystem, the amount of oxygen and nutrients dissolved in the water, proximity to
land, depth, and temperature.
- Sunlight is one of the most important abiotic factors for marine ecosystems.

Various Human Activities That Affect an Ecosystem

Agriculture

With the ever-increasing number of the world’s population, there is similarly a soaring demand
for sufficient food. The population growth rate is hence driving the world to clear forests in order
to create more room for agriculture. Based on data by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO), more than 40% of earth’s surface now supports agriculture, and a bigger fraction of these
lands were formerly covered by forests. The result is devastating, as discussed below:

i) Destruction of Wildlife

Forests are critical habitats for wildlife, and as ecosystems supporting the intricate relationship
between the living and non-living things, they have been adversely affected by agricultural
practices. A larger percentage of Europe, for example, was densely covered with temperate
forests, but with time it has been cleared to make room for farmland.

ii) Global Warming and Climate Change

Population growth-influenced deforestation is to blame for three billion tons of CO2 released
into the atmosphere each year, which is equivalent to the destruction of 13 million hectares of
land annually as put forward by the Union of Concerned Scientists. This rate of deforestation
affects the ecosystem by raising global temperatures and disrupting the cycle of condensation
and evaporation.

Various ecosystems, such as the Polar regions, are, in turn, affected by the rising global
temperatures and changes in the atmospheric water cycle.

iii) Aquatic Resources Degradation

The injection of vast amounts of phosphorous and nitrogen nutrients into natural soils, lands and
water systems due to fertilizer use have created far-reaching effects, altered ecosystems, and
rapidly expanded aquatic dead zones.

Deforestation

Deforestation occurs when a forest or stand of trees is removed, converting the land to a non-
forest use. This changes the ecosystem drastically and results in a dramatic loss of biodiversity.
With an exponential expansion in human beings, more food, materials, and shelter are being
manufactured at stupendous rates, mostly stemming from forestry. Deforestation can be the
result of timber harvesting or of clearing land for agricultural, commercial, or residential use.

Overpopulation & Overconsumption

Overpopulation has grown into an epidemic since mortality rates have decreased, medicine has
improved, and methods of industrial farming were introduced, thus keeping humans alive for
much longer and increasing the total population.

Plastic Production

The invention of plastic has created one of the most problematic pollution problems ever
witnessed on the face of earth. Waste plastic is everywhere on earth, even in the oceans. Plastics
remain in the environment for thousands of years and have long-lasting consequences on the
fragile ecosystems and regulatory cycles.

Emission of Carbon Dioxide and Other Greenhouse Gases

The emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, namely methane and
hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), are human-induced through the combustion of fossil fuels and the
use of man-made products. In a bid to generate energy, the world has continued to depend on
carbon-rich fossil fuels, namely gas, oil and coal.

Destruction of the Reefs

Ocean reefs are the globe’s richest oceanic ecosystems, but human activities have led to their
destruction by upsetting the natural flow of nutrients and energy that support plant and animal
species in the marine world. Water pollution, climate change, overfishing and acidification of
marine waters are the repercussions of human activities that have caused the destruction of coral
reefs.

Draining Streams/Rivers and Destruction of Critical Freshwater Aquifer Recharge Areas

(Water Pollution)

Various anthropogenic activities have heavily destroyed freshwater supplies such as rivers,
streams, and aquifers. Intensive agriculture is a leading cause on account of the large amounts of
chemical fertilizers, herbicides and other agrochemicals that find a way into waterways.

Overhunting and Overexploitation

Overhunting and overexploitation of natural resources through activities like overfishing and

mining have caused a reduction in the number of varied plant and animal species. In other words,
the diverse existence of animal and plant species in different habitats has been widely affected by
overhunting and overexploitation. These human activities do not give room for the
replenishment, growth, or new development of already exploited or harvested products.

Invasive Species

Invasive species are brought on by transporting species either intentionally or accidentally from
other areas of the world. This can be devastating to existing species as invasive species are
introduced on a timescale much more quickly than typically would happen with evolution over
longer time periods. This can include outcompeting native species in the ecosystem, leading to
the decline or extinction of local species and overpopulation as these invasive species may not
have any predators in this new ecosystem. They also can be a major economic cost.