Ecology

❑ Relationship among Environment, Society and Technology

❑ Environment and Earth System

❑ Ecology and Ecosystem

❑ Structure and Function of Ecosystem

✔ Energy Flow

❑ Carrying Capacity of Natural Resources

Relationship among Environment, Society and Technology

Environment

Technology

Society Economy

Figure: Dimension of Sustainable Triangle

 Environment and Earth System
Environment
The environment is the aggregate of all external factors or
conditions that influence the activities and existence of all
living beings including human.
Or
the environment is the interaction within and among
physical, living and human world in our surrounding.

Surroundings!!!
- A certain distance? -Country?
- the room; we live in? - Planet?
- building?
- City?
- District or division?
 Environment and Earth System
Earth System

The earth is a complex system consisting of different

components; the lithosphere, the hydrosphere, the
atmosphere and the biota inhabiting it.
Environment and Earth System
 Ecology and Ecosystem

The study of living organisms in the natural environment. How

they interact with one another and how they interact with their non
living environment.
Ecology is the relationship between organism and environment
by Hackel and Tansley

Terminologies
Autecology: Individual (Study of RB Tiger Population)
Synecology: Group/community (Study of Forest Ecosystem)
Ecological Succession: process of change in the species structure over time
Ecological Niche: Physical + Functional role of a species in a community
Ecological Equivalent: Similar niche in different geographical regions
Ecology and Ecosystem

Ecological Succession
 Ecology and Ecosystem

Biomes:
very large ecological areas; climate, vegetation, soil
 Ecology and Ecosystem

1. TUNDRA 2. CONIFEROUS FOREST (TAIGA)

• Bitterly cold and covered with snow • Confers = cone-bearing trees (pines, fir)
and ice. • Cold climate
• Ground remains permanently frozen • Dense forests (tree tops block out a lot of sunlight)
(permafrost). • Grasses, small trees cannot grow –only some shrubs,
• Only certain small plants such as ferns and mosses thrive.
mosses and grasses can grow. • Animals such as squirrels, moose (sambur), birds,
and insects live here.
 Ecology and Ecosystem
3. DECIDUOUS (TEMPERATE) FOREST 4. TROPICAL RAIN FOREST
• Thrive in moderate climates. • Excellent for plant growth and soil development.
• Summers may be hot and winters • Plants grow thick and tall.
may be cold. • Found in areas near the equator.
• Dense forests • Support more plant life and animal species than any
• Provides habitats for many animals. other biome.
 Ecology and Ecosystem
5. GRASSLANDS 6. DESERT
• Mostly grass! • Very dry; receives very little rainfall.
• Temperatures similar to deciduous • Very hot during the day, cold at night.
forest. • Soil is very dry and poor.
• Do not receive much rainfall –enough • Only a few kinds of plants grow in the desert.
rain to support grasses but not trees. • Very few animals can survive in the desert.
 Ecology and Ecosystem
Species
A group of organisms that can breed to produce fully fertile offspring

Great White Pelican Pelecanus onocrotalus

 Ecology and Ecosystem
Population

A group of organism of the same

species which live in the same
habitat at the same time where
they can freely interbreed

The black-veined white butterfly

(Aporia crataegi) mating
 Ecology and Ecosystem

Biodiversity
The total number of different species in an ecosystem and their relative
abundance
 Ecology and Ecosystem

The characteristics of the Habitat

type of environment where
an organism normally lives.
(e.g. a Stoney stream, a
deciduous temperate
woodland, Bavarian beer
mats)
 Ecology and Ecosystem
A unit which consists of all living organisms functioning together in a
given area and interacting with the physical environment in a manner,
whereby, flow of energy leads to clearly defined biotic structures an
cycling of materials between living and non-living parts is know as an
ecosystem.
• Ecosystem, the term coined by Tansley
• Smallest structural and functional unit of nature
• Consisting of both biotic community and the abiotic environment
which have close interactions
• The interaction is conducted by
energy flow (Solar energy)
in the system and cycling of materials (Nutrient cycle)
• Entire biosphere is considered as a global ecosystem
 Ecology and Ecosystem
Community + Abiotic environment, interacting
 Ecology and Ecosystem
Characteristics of Ecosystem
Boundaries are indistinct and over-lapping; could be temporary or
permanent; even may be small (drop of water) or large (whole earth)
Types of Ecosystem: on the basis of the origin

1.Natural Ecosystem; terrestrial (forest, grassland and desert) and

aquatic (pond, lake, wetland, river and estuary).
In aquatic ecosystem, more biodiversity is found in LOTIC ecosystem
(running fresh water; stream, river) than in LANTIC ecosystem (Stagnant
fresh water; lake, pond, swamp)

2. Man-made Ecosystem; crop field and aquarium.

 Ecology and Ecosystem
Types of Ecosystem: on the basis of the size
❑ Mega Ecosystem: Entire Biosphere
❑ Macro Ecosystem: Major Biomes like Tropical Rain forest (Amazon)
❑ Micro Ecosystem: Pond
❑ Nano Ecosystem: Drop of water
COMPONENTS OF ECOSYSTEM
1.Biotic Components includes living component from smallest microbe, fungi
to largest animals and plants
2.Abiotic Component includes Inorganic substance (carbon, nitrogen, CO2,
H2O etc.) involved in natural cycles, air, water and other physical factors,
organic compounds (Proteins, Carbohydrates, Humus)
 Ecology and Ecosystem
Among all abiotic components; The important ones are:
•Temperature; spatial distribution of species decreases on either side of
equator towards the poles and as we go above and below the MSL.
•Water; Life started in water about 3.5 billion years ago.
•Light; photosynthesis
•Soil; edaphic factors. Based on formation process, it is classified in two
types:

Residual soil – Weathering and pedogenesis occur at the same place

Transported soil - Weathering and pedogenesis occur at different places
(Colluvial- Brought by gravity, Alluvial- brought by water, Glacial- by snow,
Eolian- by wind)
 Structure and Function of Ecosystem
Vertical distribution species occupying different levels is called
stratification. For instance, trees canopy is top layer of a forest while
grasses are at the bottom.

Functions:
a) Productivity b) Decomposition c) Energy Flow and d) Nutrient Cycle

a) Productivity
Biomass: Mass of living biological organism in a given area at a given time
species biomass-mass of one species
community biomass- mass of all species in the community (including
microorganisms, plants or animals). It is measured either in terms of
dry weight (60-80% weight of water not included) or by measuring
organically bound carbon.
 Structure and Function of Ecosystem

Primary Production: Total amount of biomass or organic matter

produced per unit area. Unit in terms of weight (gm-2) or energy
(kcal/m2)

Primary productivity: Amount of biomass produced per unit area over a

time period by plants during photosynthesis (gm-2yr-1/kcalm-2yr-1)
Secondary Productivity is defined as the rate of formation of new
organic matter by consumer

Decomposition
Decomposers break down complex organic matter into inorganic
substances like CO2, water and nutrients and the process is called
decomposition.
 Structure and Function of Ecosystem
Energy flow

Sun is the only source (with negligible exceptions) of energy for all
ecosystems on earth.

Incident solar radiation, if 100, about 50 per cent is Photosynthetically

Active Radiation (PAR) from 400-700 nm, which is also the visible
spectrum. Out of PAR, 2-10% is actually fixed into organic matter. And the
Unidirectional flow of energy from sun to autotrophs to heterotrophs
start.

• Law of thermodynamics are obeyed in this energy flow.

• Energy neither created not destroyed, only transformed.

• Entropy law, transfer of energy leads to loss of energy as heat.

 Structure and Function of Ecosystem

Energy is transferred from one trophic level to another

• First trophic level (T1) = Producer (Phytoplankton, Grass, Trees)

• Second trophic level (T2) = Primary consumer (Zooplankton,

rabbit)

• Third trophic level (T3) = secondary consumer (Birds, fishes)

• Fourth trophic level (T4) = top consumer (Man, Lion)

 Structure and Function of Ecosystem

Rule of 10% (10% law of Lindeman): energy is reduced by 10% during

flow to every higher trophic level. Because of this law, the number of
trophic levels are usually restricted to 4-5.

Right from the sunlight being trapped by autotrophs into organic

material, and further transfer of energy to higher trophic levels. On an
avegrage, 10% (2-20%) of energy is transferred while rest 90%
(80-98%) is lost in respiratory and other losses. So as the number of
trophic levels increase in a food chain, most of the energy is lost.
Structure and Function of Ecosystem
Energy Flow in the Food Chain
 Carrying Capacity
Carrying capacity of environment or an ecosystem is the threshold limit of
use of that system without damaging it.

Every ecosystem has its resources that are used for economic development,
for survival and for habitat creation. Environment and ecosystems have got
the abilities to recover the loss of its resources by regenerating them over
the period of time that are temporary and not exceeding the threshold
damage limit.
 Carrying Capacity

Catton (1986), defined an environment’s carrying capacity as

its maximum persistently supportable load.

Ecological carrying capacity is a measure

of the amount of renewable resources in
the environment in units of the number
of organisms these resources can
support. Normally, K is a function of both
the species and the environment, and is
expected to change only in evolutionary
time (Daily and Ehrlich, 1992).